Fascism in America
The term fascism is loosely bandied about. When most people think of it the images that come to mind are of stormtroopers and Hitler ranting and raving. It is often automatically assumed that fascism developed in Europe in the 1920s. But it had its origins earlier in the United States. The United States was built on genocidal attacks on Indigenous people, white supremacy and enslaved Black people. Actually, Hitler and the Nazis were greatly impressed and inspired by American fascism. Though the term was not used the United States had developed a sophisticated system of aggressive nationalism, racism and oppression, in other words: fascism. It lingers in the shadows and reappears, as is evident today. Oath Keepers, Proud Boys and other groups are fascist. They fear social equality as a threat to patriarchal, white supremacist domination.
Speaker
Omer Aziz
Omer Aziz is a writer, journalist, lawyer and former foreign policy advisor in the administration of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. He has clerked for the United Nations Special Envoy for Syria. His articles have appeared in The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Washington Post, and many other publications. He is the author of Brown Boy.
Listener in WA –
Omer was fantastic.
Everett Moran –
Generally, an accurate survey of our racist past [and present]. The speaker makes a mistake when he deviates from the theme, declaring the narrative regarding the U.S. “saving Europe in WWII, but fails to offer any evidence to the contrary. Instead, he cites our slave-keeping history and the Jim Crow laws as a major influence on Nazi Fascism. However true that is, it does not refute the fact that, had the U.S. not entered the conflict in Europe, Europe almost certainly would have fallen.
It is frustrating to me when Progressives, with whom I broadly agree, resort to hyperbole. Contrary to the goal of changing hearts and minds in an effort to increase support for progressive policies, including fallacious statements like the one above only serves to delegitimize the thesis and hardens opposition to same. We see the same thing in the environmental movement, which [far too]often utilizes dubious conjecture and, sometimes, outright false statements, in order to persuade – a tactic that almost always fails to do so while, again, delegitimizing an otherwise salient argument.
Not only is there no need to sensationalize our arguments, I would argue that doing so harms the effort(s) to affect beneficial change.
Respectfully….
Nine –
‘ bout time.
T –
A clarion call to wake up