Daily Times

Mankind paid a huge price to win the battle against fascism in the 20th century. This victory probably prevented the rebirth of fascism, synonymous with Hitler’s conquest and genocide on a vast scale.

Hitler’s ally, Mussolini and his fascist regime used dictatorial methods. They were responsible for war crimes during their expansionist campaign in North Africa and Europe. But they didn’t commit large scale racial genocide.

There is a likelihood that Mussolini inspired dictators will use fascist tactics to propel and entrench themselves into power. Nevertheless, a significant ever-present danger to democracies remains. It is modern-day authoritarianism, which bears many facets of old-fashioned fascism with an acceptable new face.

Based on the Economist Intelligence Unit’s Democracy Index, democracy ranks a distant second to authoritarianism/fascism in terms of people living under governance systems. Nearly a third of humanity lives under authoritarian rule (China being the largest) versus around 5% currently living under a “full democracy.” The Index comprises 60 indicators across five broad categories-electoral process and pluralism, the functioning of government, political participation, democratic political culture, and civil liberties.

Fascism offers alternative leadership to democratic societies on promises of jobs and a better standard of living for the masses. It prospers when it can target enemies of progress. This list includes parasitic elites, minorities, and immigrants. The tried and failed European fascist models of the 20th century offered similar hope. They affirmed traditional beliefs such as masculinity, family values, religious faith, patriotism, social structure, honour, and hard work.

The cynicism and despair that people feel have a lot to do with the news and the images they assimilate daily – full of blood, violence, and cruelty. People usually find extremists solutions attractive when distrust in the democratic system spreads and people’s lives are overwhelmed by insecurity, violence, unemployment, and the high cost of living.

Modernism has unleashed human energies that are very liberating for the individual. Even so, individuality matters little during political, social, and economic turmoil. Nationalist movements can divert democratic political cultures in a fascist direction. And modern authoritarian systems are more subtle, thus more effective, than previous models. A favorite fascist tactic is to divide societies, by harping on the need for a mass upsurge, to correct alleged past injustices.

Some pseudo-democratic systems adopt a form of democratic governance while emptying it of actual content. At best they fall in a category between democracy and authoritarianism. These systems provide some benefits to make up for the loss of freedoms and rights. Such as the veneer of a free press and freedom of expression. They are careful not to provoke citizens excessively. Democratic forces in such countries are often naturally allied to the powerful military within the framework of “controlled democracy.” The system is invested in by other influential reactionary sectors in society, who collectively despise the messy contentiousness of parliamentary democracies.

Additionally, the appeal of messiahs gets a fillip in states that have fallen into a state of collective cynicism and despair under the crushing weight of national problems. The spin-doctors peddling authoritarian solutions point to weak democratic leadership, fragmented societies, and poor economic outlook. They make a case for extreme measures to deal with rampant crime, endemic corruption, and social decadence.

Conditions are ripe for fascism when the people begin to disbelieve and lose confidence in the governmental institutions and those running them whom they hold directly responsible for their problems. The people’s representatives are elected in basically free and fair elections. However, they fail to manage the democratic process which includes meeting the growing, increasingly multifarious and often impossible demands of their constituents.

The cynicism and despair that people feel have a lot to do with the news and the images they assimilate daily – full of blood, violence, and cruelty. People usually find extremists solutions attractive when distrust in the democratic system spreads and people’s lives are overwhelmed by insecurity, violence, unemployment, and the high cost of living.

The key growth areas for the new fascism is in the volatile developing world where ultra-nationalist, dynastic and clerical dictatorships, and religious fundamentalist movements are flourishing. These entities generally reject individual rights, pluralism, and liberal and secular institutions.

They find common cause in persecuting vulnerable minorities and women. Religion doesn’t necessarily drive the ultra-nationalists who subordinate all loyalties to the nation as the supreme entity. On the other hand, Islamic fundamentalist movements are underpinned by religious dogma serve as a major anti-imperialist opposition force.

Faced with these circumstances, the task for nascent democracies is significant and more grave. It is to build citizenship and institutions in a society often sunk in pessimism, create hopefulness in people’s own abilities to evolve solutions, and build a body of citizens who can shake off their fantasies and put their country’s failures and problems as well as its various leaders, with both their successes and their limitations, in the right perspective.

Democracies also need to make a concerted effort to encourage education and enlightenment to help fight the major stumbling blocks to accommodating popular aspirations such as feudalism, tribalism, and traditionalism. This approach is the best way to battle the constant threat from fascism.

The writer is a freelance contributor. He can be reached at shgcci@gmail.com.