A Global Counter to the Global Rise of Fascism

As America enters the Age of Trump, it is important to recognize that what’s happening is not just about Trump, and not just about America. Forces kindred to Trump have lately been ascendant around the world. We see different manifestations of this same ascendant force that has borne Trump into the presidency in Putin’s Russia, in Erdogan’s Turkey, in Britain’s Brexit movement, in right-wing ethno-nationalist parties across Europe (France, the Netherlands, Austria, Poland, etc.), in Netanyahu’s Israel, and in Duterte’s Philippines. Trump himself recognizes this kinship. And one can see a degree of de facto alliance forming among the leaders who embody this dark spirit.* [NOTE below] The global nature of this rising spirit has important implications for how it can be defeated. Although each nation faces its own challenges and its own unique circumstances, a dangerous global phenomenon like this calls for an effective global response. Those who face a common threat always do better to coordinate their resistance. “Stronger together” may not have prevailed in the American elections, but the principle is valid nonetheless. Of course, it is also true that, in each nation, the forces of resistance must do the political work of organizing to win elections within their boundaries. An essential part of the battle, therefore, is at the level of electoral politics within sovereign entities. But clearly, the very fact of the global nature of the ascendancy of this dark force shows that national politics is not the only level involved. When electorates in very different nations are empowering such a dark force, something has been percolating in today’s civilization at the level of ideas and passions. Accordingly, it is at that level that part of the battle against this force must be conducted. What is needed, in other words, is a transnational movement to win over the “hearts and minds” of the citizenry of the democratic (or once democratic) nations whose future is threatened by that rising dark force. A global movement at the level of the spirit —dedicated to the values that uplift the human world — can provide fuel to power the partisan political combat against those in each nation who are channeling this ascendant, dark. transnational force. To envision the nature of what is required of such a movement, we can begin by asking: What is it that this battle is being fought over? And to answer that, we can start with the question: What is the nature of the force (or spirit) that Trump and these others represent. What do these pathologies add up to? One might call it “The Rule of the Thug.” I would suggest that the best single designation for this dark thing we see ascendant around the globe is “The Rise of Fascism.” Or “The Rise of the Fascistic Spirit.” (A similar mix of ethno-nationalism, economic distress and insecurity, and an overweening lust for power gave rise to a similar transnational dark force in the 1930s.) All of which points toward what might be an effective […]

A Global Counter to the Global Rise of Fascism is courtesy of CelluliteSolutions

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