fascism

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• 1/24/2021
  

  Cheese to Chalk: Can Democracies be Compared to Dictatorships?

  by Leonid Luks

  A German historian argues that American scholars and commentators have for years been too quick to equate antidemocratic measures taken by Republicans with Hitler's seizure of dictatorial power, dismissing ample research on the nature of totalitarian regimes. The last three months have shown that America's core institutions are not weak enough to be crushed. 

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• SOURCE: The Conversation
  1/15/2021
  

  That Time Private US Media Companies Stepped in to Silence the Falsehoods and Incitements of a Major Public Figure … In 1938

  by William Kovarik

  "There’s not much that separates, on the one hand, the mad fanaticism that held Jews supposedly responsible for their own persecution in 1938 and, on the other, the fevered delusion of 2020."

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• 1/14/2021
  

  Donald Trump’s Situational Fascism

  by Gavriel Rosenfeld

  Rather than engage in an unproductive debate about whether Donald Trump is or is not a bona fide fascist, scholars should consider the events of January 6 (and Trump's role in inciting them) as emergent, contingent results of the interplay of factors latent in American liberal democracy.

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• SOURCE: New Statesman
  1/13/2021
  

  Why Trump Isn't a Fascist

  by Richard J. Evans

  Richard J. Evans argues that "fascism" arose in the specific context of states defeated in World War I and thus embraced military expansionism and a concurrent militarization of domestic life in addition to racial domination. While Trump is dangerous, labeling him a fascist doesn't explain his political movement. 

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• 1/10/2020
  

  Will the Republicans Take the Fascist Option?

  by Kevin Matthews

  Before this past week, too many in the GOP seemed too willing to choose the fascist option.  Now they have seen what it looks like and where it leads.  The question Republicans must answer is simple: Will they choose fascism anyway? 

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• SOURCE: Daily Beast
  1/6/2021
  

  Trump’s Neo-Fascism Takes America’s Racism to the Next Level

  by Jason Stanley

  The Republican Party has long embraced herrenvolk democracy, where participation is limited (as much as possible) to favored ethnic groups. But Trumpism is harnessing this system of racial rule to an authoritarian cult of personality.

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• SOURCE: Washington Post
  12/18/2020
  

  Proud Boys Leader Says He Burned Black Lives Matter Banner Stolen From Church During Demonstrations In D.C.

  Enrique Tarrio claims that his destruction of the banner was not motivated by racial bigotry but by the supposed terrorization of the nation by the Black Lives Matter movement. 

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• SOURCE: JStor Daily
  12/12/2020
  

  How the Fascists Rewrote Spanish National History

  The revision of myths of Spanish heritage under Franco was rapid and broad, showing how critical those myths were to the goals of fascist rule. 

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• SOURCE: New York Times
  12/14/2020
  

  Just How Dangerous Was Donald Trump?

  Times columnist Michelle Goldberg checks on competing evaluations from scholars including Corey Robin, Roger Griffin and Robert O. Paxton – did Trump's lack of command of the machinery of government make him a play-acting authoritarian, or was his rhetoric of national regeneration through his personal leadership exemplary of fascist movements? 

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• SOURCE: Salon
  12/2/2020
  

  Historian Ruth Ben-Ghiat: Trump's Coup Is Not Over; His Enablers Aren't Done

  Historian Ruth Ben-Ghiat speaks with Salon's Dean Obeidallah and argues that the danger of a collapse of democracy is not over. 

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• SOURCE: Associated Press
  11/30/2020
  

  US Embassy in Hungary slams article likening Soros to Hitler

  A Hungarian culture minister suggested that the Hungarian-American Jewish financier's advocacy of stronger democratic standards in the EU--which reflect criticism of right-wing governments in Poland and Hungary--are similar to the crimes committed against the two nations by Nazi Germany, among other attacks.

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• SOURCE: WBUR
  11/12/2020
  

  What The 'Strongmen' Of History Reveal About Modern Politics

  Historian Ruth Ben-Ghiat studies authoritarian regimes, like Italy under Mussolini. Can a democracy pry itself out of a strongman's grip?

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• SOURCE: New York Times
  11/10/2020
  

  Authoritarians From Mussolini to Trump (review)

  by Francis Fukuyama

  The political theorist Francis Fukuyama offers a brief review of Ruth Ben-Ghiat's book on authoritarian strongmen, and suggests paying more attention to Trump's unique characteristics in order to prepare for future instances of Trumpism.

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• SOURCE: Washington Post
  11/11/2020
  

  The Dangers of Trump's Last Stand

  While Trump's refusal to concede is alarming, historians Federico Finchelstein, Ruth Ben-Ghiat and Samuel Moyn say that Trump's presidency has been mostly bark and little bite; he has the bluster of a dictator, but not the skill or diligence to consolidate his power to transform major institutions. 

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• SOURCE: The Atlantic
  11/6/2020
  

  America’s Next Authoritarian Will Be Much More Competent

  by Zeynep Tufekci

  Trump grasps the theatrics of authoritarian leadership, but doesn't have the skill or diligence to follow through with policy to turn the crises he creates to his advantage. More resilient autocrats elsewhere provide examples that other American politicians are likely to follow. 

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• SOURCE: iItaly.com
  11/8/2020
  

  What Does The Triumph of Biden-Harris Represent Historically?

  by Stanislao Pugliese

  "Americans should not make the same mistake committed in Italy after World War II in thinking that fascism was merely a “parenthesis” in Italian history."

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• SOURCE: The Baffler
  11/3/2020
  

  Trumpania, U.S.A.: Making Federal Buildings Fascist Again

  by Ed Simon

  Trump's obsession with establishing neoclassical architecture as the default style for federal buildings echoes the delusional plan of Adolf Hitler to rebuild bombed Berlin in a monumental style purged of "decadent" modernism. 

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• SOURCE: The New Fascism Syllabus
  10/31/2020
  

  How to Keep the Lights On in Democracies: An Open Letter of Concern by Scholars of Authoritarianism

  "We need to turn away from the rule by entrenched elites and return to the rule of law. We must replace the politics of “internal enemies” with a politics of adversaries in a healthy, democratic marketplace of ideas."

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• SOURCE: The Guardian
  11/1/2020
  

  Scholars Warn of Collapse of Democracy

  More than 80 signatories, including professors and other scholars at universities in the US, Canada, and Europe, do not agree on whether to label Donald Trump a “fascist."

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• SOURCE: Boston Review
  10/28/2020
  

  The Long Shadow of Racial Fascism

  by Alberto Toscano

  Black thinkers have long argued that racial slavery created its own unique form of American fascism.