News that another far-right European party has garnered about 20% of the vote in parliamentary elections, as just happened in Hungary, is increasingly deja vue. The banalization of Fascism across Europe is matched only by its pugnacity in Ukraine. I'm tired of reading the same lament over and over: "How can our rulers be so stupid?" If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's a duck, but if it systematically implements fascistic policies, it's not fascism, it's that 'they' don't get it. Really?
As I've written before, as polities are presently organized, governing the sheer number of people on the planet appears all but impossible without the use of force, yet totalitarianism continues to be most loudly condemned by the United States, that spies on the entire world, including its so-called allies, and assassinates its own citizens without a trial in its determination to rule the world. And though no one seems to notice, it consistently supports fascist-like political actors, ranging from Al Qaeda to Al-Sissi ( click here ).
Moving on to the once and forever enemy, Russia/the Soviet Union/Russia, what to make of the philosophy said to be behind Vladimir Putin's 'Eurasian' plans, inspired by the writings of the nineteenth century Berdyaev as refurbished by one Alexander Dugin, who seeks to create a Fourth Political Theory, after liberalism, communism and fascism? One interesting thing about this rumored project is that it sees similarities between the traditions of Russian Orthodoxy and those of Islam. I assume this refers to common social attitudes, but I shall investigate whether there is more.
Putin the strong leader many admire around the world, including citizens of countries with 'democratic' gover-nance, calls his system 'managed democracy'. As described in a 2012 article in Time ( http://world.time.com/2012/10/15/the-managed-democracy-a-how-to-manual-from-putins-russia/ ) it will strike many as hardly more wicked what does on in Washington, and across this country. The description of local 'filters' put in place to limit the number of candidates in mayoral or gubernatorial elections is no less anti-democratic than the use of massive financial means to brain wash voters. And when Time emphasizes low voter turnouts in Russia it counts on its readers ignoring that American turnouts are no better.
Vladimir Putin is an authoritarian leader who allows oligarchs to flourish on condition they not mess with politics. However he is against globalization and the aberrations of modern society that distress progressives around the globe. And the new entity that he seeks to create in the name of a 'Eurasian' 'difference' from both Europe and Asia can only be regarded as a threat by those who seek to control the riches and routes of the 'Stans'.
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On the other hand, the threat of Fascism is very real, especially in Europe, which, to the dismay of those of us who have a personal stake in its trajectory, seems incapable of throwing off that meme once and for all. The embers of its 20th century anti-Semitism are fanned on the left by Israel's policies toward the Palestinians, and on the right by the growing presence of black and brown immigrants.
The worst aspect of the resurgence of Fascism is not government manipulation of voting systems, but the adoption of its repressive methods that invite peaceful citizens to become armed thugs. Happily, we seem to be reaching a tipping point: peoples across the globe are realizing that they they do not have to respond to government violence by putting their lives on the line, as they did on the Maidan and in Tahrir. They can simply reject the Big Ideas backed by Big Guns for the Big Businesses that have taken over nation-states, creating small groups that trust the individual authorities of their members to organize their lives.
An organizing event built around these principles will take place - aptly - in post-industrial Detroit from May 2-4. It is called by The After Party, and is Occupy's response to those who complained it didn't have a platform. See details here: ( http://www.afterpartyusa.org ).
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