Anti-Fascism/Art/Theory an Introduction to What Hurts Us
Anti-fascism/Art/Theory An Introduction to What Hurts Us Angela Dimitrakaki and Harry Weeks Three Narratives We will begin by stating the obvious. For reasons explained by many but averted by none, the consolidation of global capitalism executed by neoliberalism has generated such levels of polarisation and discontent as to have apparently raised fascism from the dead, given it – besides electoral purchase – an internet connection and a clickbait farm guaranteeing followers in the millions. That’s how one narrative goes. According to another narrative, it is not spectral, or even zombie, fascism that has entered the political room of the Global North while sweeping very large territories of the Global South, but a new configuration of authoritarianism and social hatred: Enzo Traverso, author of The New Faces of Fascism (2019), speaks of ‘post-fascism’, arguing that many of the authoritarian parties and rulers of the radical right do not claim a connection with fascism: On the one hand, the new far right is no longer fascist; on the other hand, we cannot define it without comparing it with fascism. The new right is a hybrid thing that might return to fascism, or it could turn into a new form of conservative, authoritarian, populist democracy. The concept of post-fascism tries to capture this.1 But at the same time, Traverso admits, ‘the new right is nationalist, racist, and xenophobic’, to which, we would add, that it also tends to be attached to strongman-type, ‘charismatic’ leadership.2 These are pretty solid attributes of fascism, especially when they congeal into a violent discourse identifying as a core cause ‘external’ and ‘internal’ enemies that must be 1 Nicolas Allen and Martín Cortés, ‘Fascisms Old and New: An Interview with Enzo Traverso’, Jacobin, 4 February 2019, https://jacobinmag.com/2019/02/enzo-traverso-post-fascism-ideology-conservatism, accessed 10 January 2019.
[Show full text]