Sunday, September 21, 2014

Savant's Points

One ought to be very careful now. If you argue that France, or the US or Western Europe generally is ALREADY Fascist, then there's no point in calling on people to resist the rising tide of fascism. If we're already have fascism then the practical necessity must be to go underground, and perhaps prepared for a popular armed struggle against the totalitarian state (and the criminal 1% who imposed it on us). And I wouldn't be too sure that the National Front won't be worst than Sarkhozy reactionary administration. The problem is that the National Front represents a kind of fascism that is POSSIBLE in France. Jihadism may be a fascism that could happen in Turkey or in a good number of Middle Eastern states. If I were a citizen of one of those lands with more or less the same kind of social consciousness I now have, I'd be warning my fellow citizens about the dangers of Jihadism--and imperialism (the two have worked together more often than many of us suspect). But you are misleading people if you have them believe that an Al Qaeda or ISIS type regime can happen in France or the USA. When Fascism takes root it always makes use of themes in the cultural tradition native to the host society. Spain called up images of the great Spanish kings and even the Crusades (which didn't stop them from turning Moroccan colonial troops, mainly Muslim, against the Spanish Republic.). Jihadism has no roots in the national cultures of France or the USA. And an American fascism would more likely draw upon the cultural resources of Christian fundamentalism. (of course, an alliance between Christian and Muslim fundamentalists might also be an option. Jihadism simply is not). We must oppose ALL fascism, but do not oversimplify. Not even Italy and German had precisely the same fascism, though similar in many important respect. The West can't have the kind of Jihadist fascism that threatens the Middle East. People must oppose all fascism, but be especially prepared to face the fascism than CAN happen in their country, and which is already in progress. If the National Front could gain FULL power in France, the land of Voltaire would become a totalitarian state.

-Savant

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