Tag: thinking about fascism

Paul Blumenthal: Trump’s MAGA Myth Reaches Its Catastrophic Conclusion / Schwarzenegger compares Capitol riot to Kristallnacht / Bharat Bhushan: Vigilantism threatens India too

The French syndicalist theorist Georges Sorel provided the most detailed explanation and theory for eschatological political myths in his 1908 book, “Reflections on Violence,” which focused on socialism and the myth of the general strike. Myths like Make America Great Again contain “all the strongest inclinations of a people, of a party or of a… Read More Paul Blumenthal: Trump’s MAGA Myth Reaches Its Catastrophic Conclusion / Schwarzenegger compares Capitol riot to Kristallnacht / Bharat Bhushan: Vigilantism threatens India too

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Rebecca Solnit: The violence at the Capitol was an attempted coup / It took thugs roaming the halls of Congress for media to speak the truth / Reports & Photos of the Siege of the US Congress

I call it a coup attempt because, though I assume it will not prevent the Biden presidency, it certainly intended to, and is part of a campaign to delegitimize and thereby weaken the incoming administration. It was a long time coming, building up for years with white rage, especially white male rage fuelled by everyone… Read More Rebecca Solnit: The violence at the Capitol was an attempted coup / It took thugs roaming the halls of Congress for media to speak the truth / Reports & Photos of the Siege of the US Congress

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Donald Trump's gift to America: Realizing we've never been a liberal democracy. By PAUL ROSENBERG

NB: What America has been doing to the rest of the world for decades after the Second World War, it is now doing to itself. Four people are dead after a Trump-sponsored riot: see pictures. There’s so much to say its difficult to begin. Those who imagine the USA to be the leader of ‘the Free… Read More Donald Trump's gift to America: Realizing we've never been a liberal democracy. By PAUL ROSENBERG

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Ramachandra Guha: Under cover of Covid-19, Modi regime has stepped up its attack on Indian democracy

2020 has been a bad year for the health of Indians and for the health of Indian democracy too. The Modi-Shah regime, which is authoritarian by instinct and belief, has used the pandemic to further undermine the processes of constitutional democracy and strengthen its hold over State and society. In pursuit of its ambitions, the… Read More Ramachandra Guha: Under cover of Covid-19, Modi regime has stepped up its attack on Indian democracy

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Avani Bansal: Raid on Mehmood Pracha’s Office: India’s Hans Litten Moment?

The Indian legal community seems to have witnessed its own ‘Hans Litten’ moment as Advocate Mehmood Pracha’s office was raided by the Special Cell of the Delhi Police this week. Hitler hated lawyers, but one lawyer whose name couldn’t even be mentioned in Hitler’s presence was that of Hans Achim Litten. He opposed the Nazis at… Read More Avani Bansal: Raid on Mehmood Pracha’s Office: India’s Hans Litten Moment?

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Umberto Eco on Eternal Fascism, or Fourteen Ways of Looking at a Blackshirt (1995)

In spite of some fuzziness regarding the difference between various historical forms of fascism, I think it is possible to outline a list of features that are typical of what I would like to call Ur-Fascism, or Eternal Fascism. These features cannot be organized into a system; many of them contradict each other, and are… Read More Umberto Eco on Eternal Fascism, or Fourteen Ways of Looking at a Blackshirt (1995)

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Ramachandra Guha: Gandhi said RSS was ‘communal with a totalitarian outlook’ – and that’s still true

The members of the RSS who control the Union government have subjugated the press, allegedly tamed the judiciary and used bribery and coercion to undermine or overthrow state governments run by other parties. The new laws aimed at curbing NGOs are animated by the desire to reduce to insignificance all voluntary organisations that do not… Read More Ramachandra Guha: Gandhi said RSS was ‘communal with a totalitarian outlook’ – and that’s still true

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Matthew Rozsa: This Marxist philosopher foresaw the rise of Trumpism more than 80 years ago

His name was Walter Benjamin; born to a Jewish family in Berlin, Benjamin was present for a pivotal moment in history, and watched Hitler rise to power. By the time he wrote his most famous essay, he was an exile living in France amidst financial hardships, having recognized that the Reichstag fire three years earlier… Read More Matthew Rozsa: This Marxist philosopher foresaw the rise of Trumpism more than 80 years ago

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Pratap Bhanu Mehta: SC was never perfect, but the signs are that it is slipping into judicial barbarism

In political science literature there is a familiar term — democratic barbarism. Democratic barbarism is often sustained by a judicial barbarism. The term “barbarism” has several components. The first is the overwhelming appearance of arbitrariness in judicial decision-making. The application of law becomes so dependent on the arbitrary whims of individual judges that the rule… Read More Pratap Bhanu Mehta: SC was never perfect, but the signs are that it is slipping into judicial barbarism

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Book review: How Did Josef Mengele Become the Evil Doctor of Auschwitz?

If anyone embodies the archetype of the evil that was Auschwitz, it is surely Josef Mengele. Dubbed by the inmates and survivors of the camp the “Angel of Death,” the immaculate doctor – with a slight flick of the finger – would casually select those permitted to live and work and those destined to die… Read More Book review: How Did Josef Mengele Become the Evil Doctor of Auschwitz?

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