To put things in perspective, upping the hourly wage to 62 cents would have cost Hanes an additional $1.6 million each year. Hanesbrands turned $211 million in profit last year and CEO Richard Noll personally was paid $10 million.

Sacre bleu! The Smurfs may not be as innocent as they look.

The tribe of little blue creatures who live peacefully among the mushrooms are “steeped in Stalinism and Nazism,” according to a French sociologist.

“Collective work always focuses on self-sufficiency for food and energy,” Antoine Buéno states in Le Petit Livre Bleu (The Little Blue Book). “The Smurfs do not have private property; their leader is Papa Smurf who shows very authoritarian and paternalistic characteristics.”

Buéno also makes the connection that the little blue men’s biggest enemy, the magician Gargamel, seems to have a Jewish background — citing similarities to the anti-Semitic images of the World War II era.

The French writer also claims that the Smurfs do not just resemble Nazis, but sexist Nazis to boot! Smurfette—traditionally the only woman living in the Smurf’s village — allegedly meets the Aryan ideal of beauty with her blonde hair and refined features.

For more information, see original article.

Cynthia McKinney

To add to the discussion started by Danny Schechter’s post Does Fascism Lurk Around The Corner In The USA?, here is the beginning of Chris Hedges’ column from March of last year, Is America ‘Yearning for Fascism’?:

The language of violence always presages violence. I watched it in war after war from Latin America to the Balkans. The impoverishment of a working class and the snuffing out of hope and opportunity always produce angry mobs ready to kill and be killed. A bankrupt, liberal elite, which proves ineffectual against the rich and the criminal, always gets swept aside, in times of economic collapse, before thugs and demagogues emerge to play to the passions of the crowd. I have seen this drama. I know each act. I know how it ends. I have heard it in other tongues in other lands. I recognize the same stock characters, the buffoons, charlatans and fools, the same confused crowds and the same impotent and despised liberal class that deserves the hatred it engenders.

“We are ruled not by two parties but one party,” Cynthia McKinney, who ran for president on the Green Party ticket, told me. “It is the party of money and war. Our country has been hijacked. And we have to take the country away from those who have hijacked it. The only question now is whose revolution gets funded.”

The Democrats and their liberal apologists are so oblivious to the profound personal and economic despair sweeping through this country that they think offering unemployed people the right to keep their unemployed children on their nonexistent health care policies is a step forward. They think that passing a jobs bill that will give tax credits to corporations is a rational response to an unemployment rate that is, in real terms, close to 20 percent. They think that making ordinary Americans, one in eight of whom depends on food stamps to eat, fork over trillions in taxpayer dollars to pay for the crimes of Wall Street and war is acceptable. They think that the refusal to save the estimated 2.4 million people who will be forced out of their homes by foreclosure this year is justified by the bloodless language of fiscal austerity. The message is clear. Laws do not apply to the power elite. Our government does not work. And the longer we stand by and do nothing, the longer we refuse to embrace and recognize the legitimate rage of the working class, the faster we will see our anemic democracy die.

The unraveling of America mirrors the unraveling of Yugoslavia. The Balkan war was not caused by ancient ethnic hatreds. It was caused by the economic collapse of Yugoslavia. The petty criminals and goons who took power harnessed the anger and despair of the unemployed and the desperate. They singled out convenient scapegoats from ethnic Croats to Muslims to Albanians to Gypsies. They set in motion movements that unleashed a feeding frenzy leading to war and self-immolation. There is little difference between the ludicrous would-be poet Radovan Karadzic, who was a figure of ridicule in Sarajevo before the war, and the moronic Glenn Beck or Sarah Palin. There is little difference between the Oath Keepers and the Serbian militias. We can laugh at these people, but they are not the fools. We are.

Read more at Truthdig.

Benito Mussolini

Fascism is one of those words that sounds like it belongs in the past, conjuring up, as it does, marching jack boots in the streets, charismatic demagogues like Italy’s Mussolini or Spain’s Franco and armed crackdowns on dissent and freedom of expression.

It is a term we are used to reading in histories about World War 2 — not in news stories from present day America.

And yet the word, and the dark reality behind it, is creeping into popular contemporary usage.

Radical activists on the left have never been hesitant to label their opponents with this “F word” whenever governments support laws that limit opposition or overdo national security or abuse human rights. Government paranoia turns critics paranoid.

One example: writer Naomi Wolf forecast fascism creeping into America during the Bush years accelerated by the erosion of democracy, writing:

“It is my argument that, beneath our very noses, George Bush and his administration are using time-tested tactics to close down an open society. It is time for us to be willing to think the unthinkable – as the author and political journalist Joe Conason, has put it, that it can happen here.”

Wolf feared Americans couldn’t see the warning signs:

“Because Americans like me were born in freedom, we have a hard time even considering that it is possible for us to become as unfree – domestically – as many other nations. Because we no longer learn much about our rights or our system of government – the task of being aware of the constitution has been outsourced from citizens’ ownership to being the domain of professionals such as lawyers and professors – we scarcely recognize the checks and balances that the founders put in place, even as they are being systematically dismantled. Because we don’t learn much about European history, the setting up of a department of “homeland” security – remember who else was keen on the word “homeland” – didn’t raise the alarm bells it might have.”

Now, those bells are now being rung by John Hall, an outgoing Democratic Congressman from upstate New York. His fear of fascism has less to do with repressive laws and militarism than the influx of corporate money into politics, swamping it with special interests that buy influence for right wing policies and politicians.

“I learned when I was in social studies class in school that corporate ownership or corporate control of government is called Fascism,” he told the New York Observer. “So that’s really the question — is that the destination if this court decision goes unchecked?”

The Observer commented:

“The court decision he is referring to is Citizens United, the controversial Supreme Court ruling that led to greater corporate spending in the midterm elections, much of it anonymous. In the wake of the decision, Democrats tried to pass the DISCLOSE Act, which would have mandated that corporate donors identify themselves in their advertising, but the measure failed amid GOP opposition. Ads from groups with anonymous donors were particularly prone to misleading or false claims.

Hall said the influx of corporate money in the wake of Citizens United handed the House of Representatives to Republicans  “Fascism should more appropriately be called Corporatism because it is a merger of State and corporate power.”

Many in mainstream politics who understand that big money can dominate elections although not in every case share Hall’s fears. In California, two well-known female candidates from the corporate world raised millions but still went down in defeat.

So money alone is not the be all and end all of a shift towards a red white and blue brand of fascism. Other ingredients are needed and some may be on the way—like an economic collapse, defeat in foreign wars, rise in domestic terrorism and the emergence of a right-wing populist movement that puts order before justice and wants to crush its opponents

Some argue we have just such a movement in the Tea Party although other critics focus on the rise of the Christian right that promotes fundamentalist politics in the name of God.

The Tea Party is not just after Democrats; it has started a campaign against the liberal Methodist Church.  It is not internally democratic either with no elected officers or set of by by-laws. It seems to be managed and manipulated by shadowy political operatives and PR firms, financed by a few billionaires who support populism to defang it.

Already militias are forming because of fears of immigration, and there is also concern that if unemployment remains high there is likely to be more violence with police forces understaffed because of government cutbacks. Gun sales went up after the recent violent incidents in Arizona.

The erosion of economic stability with the rise of foreclosures and the shredding of social services is already turning a financial crisis into a social one.

We already have sharp partisan divide and inflation of hateful rhetoric with vicious putdowns of the President and condemnations by members of Congress calling him corrupt, even a traitor.

According to set of the characteristics of fascist nations, there is “a disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights – Because of fear of enemies and the need for security, the people in fascist regimes are persuaded that human rights can be ignored in certain cases because of “need.” The people tend to look the other way or even approve of torture, summary executions, assassinations, long incarcerations of prisoners, etc.

“In place of human rights enemies are turned into scapegoats as a Unifying Cause — The people are rallied into a unifying patriotic frenzy over the need to eliminate a perceived common threat or foe: racial ethnic or religious minorities; liberals; communists; socialists, terrorists.”

This process is already far along in the USA

Among the classical characteristics of fascism is a shutting down of debate and a focus on the state—which in our country is controlled by lobbyists and private interests. Wall Street and the military-industrial complex have far more clout than elected officials.

In the past, during the depression, there was a plot to overthrow Franklin Delano Roosevelt. It was exposed and neutered.  Could something like that happen again?

Maybe it doesn’t have to, what with hawks already in control of Congress, major media outlets, the military and poised to slash the power of unions and curb progressive social programs including public education.

Several writers believe that if and when fascism comes to America it will be packaged in a friendly form tied to beneficial advertising slogans and public interest messaging. It will be sold, 1984, style as being unavoidable, even cool, and in our best interest.

Louisiana Senator Huey Long, a mesmerizing agitator, once said,  “Fascism will come to America in the name of anti-fascism.”

Filmmaker and News Dissector Danny Schechter edits Mediachannel.org.

For more on his film Plunder: The Crime of Our Time and companion book The Crime Of Our Time: Why Wall Street Is Not Too Big To Jail, visit plunderthecrimeofourtime.com.

I was contacted this morning by Bay Area National Anarchists founder Andrew Yeoman. He felt that I had unfairly maligned his group in my recent article on radical traditionalist website Alternative Right. I don’t really want to get into the specifics of our exchange, however, I would now like to present the videos I referenced (but did not post) in my previous article. The event they are protesting is the Folsom Street Fair, which is a leather / BDSM event, not explicitly a gay pride event.

I stand by my claim that harassment takes place on these videos and that the demonstration attempts to target homosexuals. Indeed, Folsom Street Fair is largely (if not predominantly) an event for the gay leather / BDSM community.

As I generally do not feel comfortable presenting fascistic material “without comment”, I would like to say a few things before presenting readers the video:

1. Why is this event being protested? There are no videos on YouTube of BANA protesting wars that are more harmful to children, nor the proven international conspiracy to rape children within the Catholic Church. Why not? Why this?
2. Note the signs: “FOLSOM ST. FAIR / BE THERE BE QUEER / BUT LEAVE YOUR KIDS AT HOME!” and “PERVERSION IS NOT A FAMILY VALUE.”
3. What are the politics of describing the Folsom Street Fair as “child abuse?”
4. Andrew Yeoman, while getting the troops ready for battle says that the city government is ignoring Folsom Street Fair and “we need to do something about it.” What do you suspect that “something” means? What would BANA do if they had 100 members? 1,000? 10,000?
5. “Is it unreasonable to think that those who get off on abusing one another might also get off on abusing children?”–AY, ~3:40
6. One of the “shocking” banners at the Folsom Street Fair is about homosexuality being compatible with Christianity. Who would find this scandalous? Similarly, what are the politics of focusing on a painting of Barack Obama at a leather booth?
7. Does following a man and his child with a camera and implying that the man is pimping his child amount to harassment? Similarly, does implying that a woman gave her child drugs on camera amount to harassment? Consider the long history of the far-right in relation to using cameras and videos to harass and intimidate the left.
8. Note the amount of homosexual men and women videotaped. Yes, I think it’s safe to assume that many of the men in chaps and / or skirts are gay. If BANA are not there to harass gay people, why do they spend so much time focusing on them?
9. Context matters. What does all of this mean in the context of high praise given to Troy Southgate (a veteran of fascist groups such as the International Third Position and the British National Front, as well as the premier worldwide theorist of “national anarchism”) by BANA founder Yeoman?

I apologize to my readers for presenting this information in list, rather than essay form. I suspect that National Anarchism may require more insight and writing than I can give it at the moment. However, I did feel that it was necessary to put this up in a timely fashion. For further information, I recommend the Southern Poverty Law Center’s article on the matter. While I give no political support to the SPLC’s methods of cops and courts, they run good intel on these kinds of groups, detailing all their quirks in an easily digestible format.

Welcome to a new feature on Red Star Times, right-wing blog watch. I am introducing this feature for the sake of keeping a close eye on right-wing blogs, ranging from hardline conservative to outright fascist. My first subject of study is Alternative Right, a particularly noxious website that brands itself as “radical traditionalist.” For those who aren’t familiar with the term, radical traditionalist is a term used by hipsters, goths and faux-erudite who espouse fascist ideology but want a term with more intellectual cache.

Radical traditionalist favorites include Oswald Spengler, Julius Evola and Alain de Benoist. Associated (allegedly) political movements include Eurasianism, metapolitics, third positionism and national anarchism. Alternative right is an exemplar of radical traditionalism and fascism in as much as it begins with hatred of minorities, women and the working class and proceeds to construct a bizarre mish-mash of gobbledygook as “ideology” after the fact.

I first came across Alternative Right when a friend of mine posted this article to his Facebook page. After posting a reasoned argument against the groundless nonsense espoused in the article, a predictable shitstorm ensued. The shitstorm was predictable in as much as it happened. What was not predictable was homophobic slurs thrown my way for suggesting that the Holocaust and atomic bombing of civilian populations in Japan might have been a bad thing. It’s worth noting that most of the more inflammatory rhetoric is found not in the articles, but in the comments section. I strongly urge readers to peruse the comments of the articles I post in addition to the articles themselves.

Full Article at Red Star Times

Last year the economy entered a free fall. Conditions that haven’t been approximated since the 1930s were the norm. It is time to take a cold, hard look at America as it exists at the beginning of 2010.

It is time to look at things in a way that goes beyond the surface, bullshit analysis of the corporate media. America and the world currently stand at a cross roads. We are in the eye of a perfect storm that combines the worst elements of 1914 and 1929.

Full Article at Black Sun Gazette

Hey kids. Sorry I’ve been a little incommunicado as of late. I had to move Fort Black Sun Gazette and it was really time consuming. I’ve also ended my life as a jizz-mopper to be a full-time freelance writer. All in all, it’s going really well. But you aren’t here to hear about my personal life. You’re here to get information that gets you pissed. To welcome myself back to the site, I’d like to give you this morning’s nightmare roundup of news you can’t use. Read this and get pissed. Then take action.

Full Article at Black Sun Gazette

One way to fight fascism is to get some historical perspective. Fascism is distinct from capitalism and socialism. It’s as silly for the left to say capitalists and fascists are the same, just as it ridiculous for the right to say that socialists and fascists are the same. Take a look at the people in the Nazi’s concentration camps – Jews, Gypsies, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Communists, Anarchists and Trade Unionists – not capitalists. The answer is organizing among the working class, paying special attention to the working poor, reaching out to the lower middle class who were some of the biggest early supporters of the fascists. I urge people to read stuff by people who were eyewitnesses to the rise of fascism like Daniel Guerin (an anarchist) and Leon Trotsky.

Full Article at Black Sun Gazette

For decades the German philosopher Martin Heidegger has been the subject of passionate debate. His critique of Western thought and technology has penetrated deeply into architecture, psychology and literary theory and inspired some of the most influential intellectual movements of the 20th century. Yet he was also a fervent Nazi.

Now a soon-to-be published book in English has revived the long-running debate about whether the man can be separated from his philosophy. Drawing on new evidence, the author, Emmanuel Faye, argues fascist and racist ideas are so woven into the fabric of Heidegger’s theories that they no longer deserve to be called philosophy. As a result Mr. Faye declares, Heidegger’s works and the many fields built on them need to be re-examined lest they spread sinister ideas as dangerous to modern thought as “the Nazi movement was to the physical existence of the exterminated peoples.”

First published in France in 2005, the book, “Heidegger: The Introduction of Nazism Into Philosophy,” calls on philosophy professors to treat Heidegger’s writings like hate speech. Libraries, too, should stop classifying Heidegger’s collected works (which have been sanitized and abridged by his family) as philosophy and instead include them under the history of Nazism. These measures would function as a warning label, like a skull-and-crossbones on a bottle of poison, to prevent the careless spread of his most odious ideas, which Mr. Faye lists as the exaltation of the state over the individual, the impossibility of morality, anti-humanism and racial purity…

[continues in the New York Times]

From Chris M. at Black Sun Gazette

Some think fascism in America will resemble Nazi Germany, but I think it will it will look more like Fascist Italy. People picture skinheads and Klansmen, but in Italy it was different. Fascists used racist rhetoric, like Slavs were backwards and Africans were savages, but these were typical attitudes in Europe at the time. Institutionalized racism didn’t occur til 1938 when Mussolini under pressure from Hitler passed anti-Jewish laws. Italo Balbo the charismatic right hand of Benito protested this change. Hell, Mussolini even had a Jewish mistress. The fascists of today will look a lot like the very familiar, mostly white, working and middle class.

Full Story at Black Sun Gazette

At first, Mussolini opposed World War I. He was a socialist and raised in radical working class family who named him after Benito Juarez. Later, he joined joined the pro-war socialists who advocated Italy joining France and Great Britain against the German and Austro-Hungarian Empires. They argued that these empires were more oppresive and by fighting a “revolutionary war” they could create new opportunities for the Italian working class and liberate the subjects of the evil empires. Italy was victorious in battle, but was swimming in debt due to the war. Italy also failed to get the former German colonies in Africa or any of Austria’s former possessions in the Balkans.

Full Article at Black Sun Gazette

From Chris M. at Black Sun Gazette

Fascism is complex and sometimes contradictory ideology. While it may be fun to call Bush Hitler and Obama Stalin, it doesn’t make it so, they are both capitalists. Democrats and Republicans have been playing good cop, bad cop for the capitalist system for well over a hundred years now. This doesn’t mean fascism can’t happen here in the good old USA. We should examine where fascism came from, what is it, and how it works. By knowing these things we can figure out what fascism might look like in America and how we can fight it.

Full Article at Black Sun Gazette

I am somewhat bewildered at the inability of my readers to see the Oath Keepers as the threat to American democracy that they clearly are. It’s almost as if my British friends were to say that the BNP were stand up guys, using their platform as the ultimate means of appraisal. Indeed, the constant recourse to the “Declaration of Orders We Will Not Obey”- as if this stood outside of a broader social context, and their framing was without meaning- is particularly troubling. As is the sentiment, repeated by people intelligent and politically savvy enough to know better, that the Oath Keepers are worthy of praise because they “defend the Constitution” or some other vague, trans-class expression of support.

Full Article at Black Sun Gazette

There are more troubling signs of a growing fascist movement not only domestically, but internationally. It seems that the problem is far more advanced than I would have originally thought. Once again, the sum total of recent history (Clinton impeachment, Bush v. Gore, the 2004 election), current social conditions, rising street level right wing movements, disaffected soldiers coming back from Iraq, the history of fascist movements, and the piss poor track record of declining powers, paints a very grim picture of a growing fascist movement both at home and abroad. The Democrats will not protect you. The only way to stop them is through militant action in the streets.

Full Article at Black Sun Gazette

To their credit, the “Oath Keepers” acknowledge the Patriot Act’s erosion of civil liberties as well. But where were they during the 8 years that Bush was president? Obama gets 400% more death threats than Bush but still lets people carry assault rifles around him, and the Oathers think that they’re being persecuted? Bush had people hauled away for wearing the wrong t-shirts.

I have little good to say about Obama, but I can’t say that his administration is less tolerant of dissent than Bush’s.

From the Oather’s Declaration of Orders We Will NOT Obey: “We will NOT obey any order to conduct warrantless searches of the American people, their homes, vehicles, papers, or effects — such as warrantless house-to house searches for weapons or persons.”

I take this to mean they will start refusing to do warrantless searches for drugs? For 28 years the federal government has waged war on its people (a disproportionate number of them black), using militarized civilian law enforcement agents, and it’s only now that a not-right-wing-enough black president has been elected that they are worried?

From Black Sun Gazette

I don’t want to go into a huge thing right now. My feelings on American fascism have been addressed here frequently. But I did want to bring to everyone’s attention The Oath Keepers. Comprised largely of former military and police officers (rut-roh, Shaggy!) they use the most American symbolism possible and couch their opposition to legitimately elected civilian government in (what else) “Constitutionalism.”

Read More at Black Sun Gazette

From the Guardian website.

UK border police used anti-terrorist legislation to prevent a British climate change activist from crossing over into mainland Europe where he planned to take part in events surrounding the forthcoming United Nations summit in Denmark.

Chris Kitchen, a 31-year-old office worker, said he feared his treatment by police could mark the start of a clampdown on protesters, hundreds of whom are planning to travel to Copenhagen for the climate change talks in December.

Read on

Passengers can refuse to undergo virtual strip by full-body x-ray scanner that leaves little to the imagination of security staff.

Originally, passengers had to remove their jackets when passing through airport security. Then it was belts, and soon shoes had to come off too. But those who feared that losing one’s trousers was the next logical step will find scant comfort in the news that an x-ray machine that produces “naked” images of passengers will be introduced at a British international airport today.

Read More.

The Stanford Persuasive Technology Lab creates insight into how computing products — from websites to mobile phone software — can be designed to change what people believe and what they do.

Yes, this can be a scary topic: machines designed to influence human beliefs and behaviors. But there’s good news. We believe that much like human persuaders, persuasive technologies can bring about positive changes in many domains, including health, business, safety, and education. We also believe that new advances in technology can help promote world peace in 30 years. With such positive ends in mind, we are creating a body of expertise in the design, theory, and analysis of persuasive technologies, an area called “captology.”

By arriving at this page, you’ve reached the main website for our research lab, directed by Dr. BJ Fogg. On this site you’ll find an overview of captology, learn about examples, have access to captology resources, and be invited to receive our lab’s free newsletter. We also share some insights in our blog, Captology Notebook.

If you want to watch persuasive technology in action, go to Captology TV. This site has dozens of short videos showing how companies use the web today to influence people’s thoughts and behaviors.

An overview of captology

Captology is the study of computers as persuasive technologies. This includes the design, research, and analysis of interactive computing products created for the purpose of changing people’s attitudes or behaviors. As the graphic shows, captology describes the area where computing technology and persuasion overlap.

This area continues to grow quickly. Each week more computing products, including websites, are designed to change what people think and do. We expect this trend to continue, especially as mobile phones become more capable of running software from third parties and the Internet.

Captology is global

Beginning at Stanford in the 1990s, the study of persuasive technology is now a global area of research and design. In the early days, we were doing research, conducting classes, and organizing events at Stanford. But we did not organize the first global conference. We appreciate our colleagues at the Eindhoven University of Technology for organizing this in 2006: First International Conference on Persuasive Technology for Human Well-Being. Since then, the conference has been an annual event, bringing together researchers and practitioners from around the world:
Stanford University hosted the 2007 International Conference on Persuasive Technology.

Oulu University and Aalborg University hosted the 2008 International Conference on Persuasive Technology.

Claremont College will host the 2009 International Conference on Persuasive Technology.

More on the Stamford Captlogy site

There is a clear trajectory of the American ruling class away from normal, democratic rule. Increasingly, over the last fifteen years, there has been a tendency to move towards naked authoritarianism. I have spoken on Black Sun Gazette repeatedly on the subject of nascent American fascism. While I don’t wish to downplay the significance of obviously fascist figures such as Glenn Beck receiving a hearing in the mainstream media, perhaps this is not the form that dictatorship in the United States will take when democratic norms finally collapse. Indeed, America’s history is arguably closer to and more intimately intertwined with that of Latin America. Perhaps the model for the catastrophic end of American democracy is not the lumpen thugs of Europe, but the Latin American military strong man, and his throngs of tanks “disappearing” all potential opposition. Dictatorial rhetoric, increased saber-rattling abroad, and a clear short-term historical trajectory away from electoral normality add up to a chilling picture for the near future.

Read More at Black Sun Gazette

Last night I had the opportunity to take in The Baader Meinhof Complex with some friends at Portland, OR’s gorgeous Hollywood Theater. The film is about the Red Army Faction, also known as the Baader-Meinhof Group. The group carried out a series of terrorist attacks on the West German government and the U.S. military in Germany in the 1970s and 80s. The film focuses on the first generation of the group, while touching upon the “Commando” groups that followed. It gives a balanced account of the limitations of political terrorism, while never letting imperialism and war off the hook.

Read More at Black Sun Gazette

Following up on yesterday’s commentary on fascism, I present the following roundup of news sources pertaining to the issue. I would also like to direct my readers to Klintron’s blog Mutate!, which also has a follow-up. If you ever needed clear signs that elements of the ruling elite are moving America toward fascism- real fascism as a mass political movement aimed at the working class, foreigners, Blacks, and anyone else who gets in their way makes a convenient scapegoat- here they are.

Read More: Today’s Signs of Nascent Fascism

My friend Klint blogged an interesting post on the subject of fascism here. I have briefly spoken on the matter here, but wish to provide a fuller, more elaborate picture.

Fascism is more than a nationalist, authoritarian, right-wing political movement. It has certain characteristics which are specific to it, and do not exist in every right-wing political movement. Fascism, so far as I am concerned, is not a cohesive political ideology. Rather, it is a grab bag of “everything and the kitchen sink, too” that serves the needs of the ruling class in utterly destroying independent political and social movement by the working class. Much of my analysis of what fascism is and how it works is lifted directly from Leon Trotsky’s Fascism: What It Is and How To Fight It. I hope to, in my small way, concretize Trotsky’s work for America in 2009. While it is always dangerous to throw around the word “fascism” like a political curse word, make no mistake about it: there is a definite move toward fascism in America. It is very real, it is very dangerous, and the existing liberal parliamentary institutions and the rule of law will not protect you.

Read more: American Fascism: What It Is, How To Fight It

As a follow-up to my recent post Is It Too Late to Stop Fascism in the US?, I worked from the definition of fascism proposed by Robert Paxton.

There are several other definitions of fascism, many of which are listed on the Wikipedia entry Definitions of Fascism. I’ve decided to go through the definitions that include specific lists of criteria and see which of them the United States fits.

I’ve made the case before that when Ronald Reagan signed the Military Cooperation with Law Enforcement Officials Act, he was quietly declaring martial law and creating a police state (and that the US has never really lived up to its liberal democratic ideals). I’m sure those with more knowledge of the right-wing populist movement of the 70s that culminated in Reagan’s election and with the Reagan administration itself could make the case that fascism, under many standard definitions, actually started then. I have more knowledge of the conteporary politics, so I’m focused mostly on the actions of the Bush administration, and to a lesser extent, the Obama administration.

I should also note that by the definition many of the pro-capitalist right wing definitions of fascism, which essentially equate fascism with the left, the entire world is fascist and the US was has been fascist at least since the New Deal. Still, I focus here on elements from contemporary America. For the most part, I’m considering business interests (especially Wall Street), right wing media (especially Fox News and talk radio pundits), the “Tea Party” Movement, the Republican Party, and to a lesser extent the Democratic Party to be one loosely connected coalition (even though some of them often fight amongst themselves).

Sara Robinson outlines the definition of fascism and the stages all fascist nations have gone through in arriving at fascism and concludes that the US is on the brink of fascism. Robinson gives some suggestions on how to fight back and prevent fascism in the future, but I think it may be too late:

Read more: Is it too late to stop fascism in the US?