Resident Scholars of the A.P.I.
Warning Signs of Fascism
Laurence W. Britt, political scientist, WWII history buff, and a concerned citizen has provided the American people with a list of the characteristics of Fascism. Britt began his research in 2002. He analyzed seven fascist regimes: Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, Franco's Spain, Salazar's Portugal, Papadopoulos's Greece, Pinochet's Chili and Suharto's Indonesia. He found fourteen traits that were common to all seven fascist states.
The list provided below is a shortened version, in that the text explaining each characteristic, is not included. It is frightening that all of these characteristics are not only present in Bush's Amerika, but are on the increase.
The list provided below is a shortened version, in that the text explaining each characteristic, is not included. It is frightening that all of these characteristics are not only present in Bush's Amerika, but are on the increase.
1. Powerful and Continuing Nationalism
2. Distain For Human Rights
3. Identification of Enemies as a Unifying Cause
4. Supremacy of the Military
5. Rampant Sexism
6. Controlled Mass Media
7. Obession with National Security
8. Religion and Government Intertwined
9. Coporate Power Protected
10. Labor Power Suppressed
11. Distain for Intellectuals & the Arts
12. Obsession with Crime and Punishment
13. Rampant Cronyism and Corruption
14. Fraudulent Elections
There are hundreds of examples of fascist behavior in America under George W. Bush. See how many you can find! It is up to each and everyone of us to fight for Democracy right here at home. Think about it.
Laurence W. Britt's list is available as a poster or as post cards from the Syracuse Cultural Workers, Tools For Change web store...go to......
www.syrculturalworkers.com
Beware.... Fascists are known to wrap themselves in flags!
.......................Kitchen Window Woman........................
www.syrculturalworkers.com
Beware.... Fascists are known to wrap themselves in flags!
.......................Kitchen Window Woman........................
posted by Kitchen Window Woman at 1:15 PM
9 Comments:
There's just one fundemental change though. Fascism is a Leftist ideology. I didn't realize Bush was a Leftist.
Suggested reading list to start with: "Animal Farm" and "1984" both by George Orwell are both available in paperback (cheaper). Animal Farm is also available on video and DVD. Another excellant book, and one of Karl Rove's favorites, is "True Believer" by Eric Hoffer. Hoffer, a self-educated, migratory field laborer and pacific coast longshoreman, examines how mass movements are manipulated into being and the types of personalities most easily persuaded to follow, often without question. It is very informative, interesting, and applicable today, even 54 years after it's publication.
.......Enjoy....KWW
Those are signs of Fascism? But, but the Godfearing Karl Rove told us those were good things. Have we been had?
One of main points that the author failed to identify is that fascism resulted from a strong communist movement. It is fairly ludicrous to say that we are close to fascism, as one could say we were close to communism under Clinton. Come on grow-up.
"Beware.... Fascists are known to wrap themselves in flags!"
And Neo-Coms burn them.
Straight up though, if you think America is heading down the road to fascism, you need to just pack up everything you can smoke, and up and move to France. Perhaps you'd be happier there.
Communism is no longer feared here in Europe. It's been tried and failed miserably. The Communist Party is still relevant but I doubt it will ever be powerful enough to gain control again. Communist are the extreme left.
As Okdemocrat said correctly, fascism comes from the extreme right. An example would be France's le Pen who because of voter apathy made it into the presidential runoff in our last election. Le Pen heads the Front Nationale (FN) an extreme rightwing, nationalist and racist political party.
The differences in Fascim and Communism are more clear here in Europe. America is not fascist yet, but the seeds are being planted. Denial will only allow the seeds to grow.
So Fascism is a "leftist" philosophy, caused by "communism."
You know, only a Bush supporter would be ignorant enough to even think such unadulterated tripe, let alone post it.
We must remember to be as skeptical of the labels politicians award themselves as those they try to pin on others. For example, Stalin was a ruthless dictator, not a communist; that claim was just another lie. Hitler claimed to be the leader of a socialist worker's party (that's roughly what "Nazi" stood for) and that was a lie too. And the Democratic People's Republic of North Korea is anything but.
There are coherent political philosphies called "fascism" and "communism" that unfortunately bear little relation to the policies of those who most loudly claim to follow them. And not all who claim to support democracy and liberty actually do; one must judge politicians by their actions, not their words of self-praise.
By any yardstick, the Bush administration has emphasized jingoism, militarism, "loyalty," "patriotism," and intolerance of dissent more than any administration since the height of the Cold War. While these may be reminiscent of fascism the Bush administration is not fascist, because fascism is not consisent with their actions: emphasis on self-reliance (as opposed to reliance on the State--witness the privatization of social security), placing individual desires over community needs (cutting taxes for the rich rather than paying for state education, national health care, or mass transportation), the preeminence of religion (fascism typically denies God), and the globalization of trade and corporations (fascism tends to be insular.)
In other words, the flag-waving and inveterate lying of the Bush administration may be disgusting to most of us, but Bush isn't actually a fascist, and we score no points by making a claim that we know, in our hearts, does not stand up to scrutiny. Bush's policies are just cynical, selfish, self-righteous, and misguided by misremembered tradition; in other words, they are conservative.
I think I disagree with part of this-El Shrubbo aims to make the broad American mass dependent on the favors of the Church and the Corporation just to survive, and these elements are now being blended into Government. I think the argument that the El Shrubbo regime is Fascistic in nature, therefore, holds water.
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