cei fascismu?
Gicabulla
a brutal goose-stepping soldier wearing a uniform emblazoned with a
swastika. Most people in the U.S. are aware that the U.S. and its allies
fought a war against the Nazis, but there is much more to know if one is
to learn the important lessons of our recent history.
Technically, the word NAZI was the acronym for the National Socialist
German Worker's Party. It was a fascist movement that had its roots in
the European nationalist and socialist movements, and that developed a
grotesque biologically-determinant view of so-called "Aryan" supremacy.
(Here we use "national socialism" to refer to the early Nazi movement
before Hitler came to power, sometimes termed the "Brownshirt" phase,
and the term "Nazi" to refer to the movement after it had consolidated
around ideological fascism.)
The seeds of fascism, however, were planted in Italy. "Fascism is
reaction," said Mussolini, but reaction to what? The reactionary
movement following World War I was based on a rejection of the social
theories that formed the basis of the 1789 French Revolution, and whose
early formulations in this country had a major influence on our
Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and Bill of Rights.
It was Rousseau who is best known for crystallizing these modern social
theories in . The progeny of these theories are sometimes called
Modernism or Modernity because they challenged social theories generally
accepted since the days of Machiavelli. The response to the French
Revolution and Rousseau, by Hegel, Marx, Nietzsche, and others, poured
into an intellectual stew which served up Marxism, socialism, national
socialism, fascism, modern liberalism, modern conservatism, communism,
and a variety of forms of capitalist participatory democracy.
Fascists particularly loathed the social theories of the French
Revolution and its slogan: "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity."
*** Liberty from oppressive government intervention in the daily lives
of its citizens, from illicit searches and seizures, from enforced
religious values, from intimidation and arrest for dissenters; and
liberty to cast a vote in a system in which the majority ruled but the
minority retained certain inalienable rights.
*** Equality in the sense of civic equality, egalitarianism, the notion
that while people differ, they all should stand equal in the eyes of the
law.
*** Fraternity in the sense of the brotherhood of mankind. That all
women and men, the old and the young, the infirm and the healthy, the
rich and the poor, share a spark of humanity that must be cherished on a
level above that of the law, and that binds us all together in a manner
that continuously re-affirms and celebrates life.
This is what fascism as an ideology was reacting against_and its support
came primarily from desperate people anxious and angry over their
perception that their social and economic position was sinking and
frustrated with the constant risk of chaos, uncertainty and inefficiency
implicit in a modern democracy based on these principles. Fascism is the
antithesis of democracy. We fought a war against it not half a century
ago; millions perished as victims of fascism and champions of liberty.
"One of the great lies of this century is that in the 1930's
Generalissimo Franco in Spain was primarily a nationalist engaged in
stopping the Reds. Franco was, of course, a fascist who was aided by
Mussolini and Hitler."
"The history of this period is a press forgery. Falsified news
manipulates public opinion. Democracy needs facts.
_George Seldes Hartland Four Corners, Vermont, March 5, 1988