Saturday, January 5, 2008

Fascism Checklist

Below is my best attempt to define fascism.

Ideology

(These are beliefs that all fascists hold in common. I repeat the word “all.” Many political groupings on the left and right hold one or two of these beliefs, but all of them combined in uniquely fascist.)

1. Call for the restoration of a glorious past
2. Extreme Free Market Capitalism
3. Extreme Nationalism
4. Belief that the current order is controlled by a vast conspiracy seeking to destroy the nation.
5. Belief that the nation has lost its sovereignty.
6. Belief that the majority ethnic and religious group is repressed by a conspiracy of minorities.
7. Belief that the current woes of society are due mainly to past reforms

Enemies

(These are groups that fascists hate, and seek to destroy. The focus of fascists at particular period in their movement changes; for example, in the 1950s when communists were the ones to hate, they became the target of fascists, however in the 1930s when Anti-Semitism and Anti-Black sentiment were more widespread, Jewish people and black people were the main targets. Fascists hold contempt for all these group, though the focus may change at various times. Currently fascists are focusing on the mainstream right. Sometimes fascists will engage in pseudo-alliances with these groups,
but they always remain vocal about their distaste of them.)

1. Left Wingers (Socialists, Communists, Anarchists, and Social-Democrats)
2. Organized Labor
3. Feminists
4. The GLBTQ Community
5. Immigrants
6. Ethnic and Religious Minorities
7. The Traditional/Mainstream/Established Right-Wing
8. The Religious Establishment
9. Non-Conventional Artists

Behavior

(Fascists all behave in these manners before taking power. As fascist movements develop, they begin to use these tactics more and more, gradually becoming more and more controlling of its members and fiery in its rhetoric.)

1. Builds a following among mainly men, members of the dominant ethnic and religious groupings, small business owners, students, and veterans.
2. Agitates about the need for a “revolution.”
3. Calls its enemies unpatriotic and traitorous to the nation.
4. Creation of a cult of personality, around a leader who embodies the described ideology.
5. Cult mind control tactics, including but not limited to Sleep Deprivation, Love Bombing, information intake control, guilt and fear mongering toward its membership.
6. Organization of Extra-Legal brigades to attack its enemies as listed above.

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