Something horrifying happened in Charlottesville, Virginia, US, yesterday. A demonstration of white supremacists, neo-Nazis and alt-right (excuse the pleonasm) clashed with a counter-demonstration of anti-fascist activists. In the aftermath, a neo-Nazi decided to use the strategy of ISIS terrorists and run people with his car, fatally wounding 32-year old paralegal Heather Heyer. What to think of this?
Let me be abundantly clear: these people are evil. When politics and opinions in general are the topic there are all sorts of shades of grey, but not on this particular case. This is as dark as it comes. These far-right people are absolutely, utterly, inexcusably wrong. They are on the same level as ISIS militants. We sure can try to understand where their pathological degradation of humanity stems from, its psychological, economical or sociological causes. We must by all means remember that Human Rights apply to them as well (if it’s ethical or not to punch them is debated here, here and in a vaguely Kantian fashion here as well).
What this rally was.
This was a rally of people sharing extremist, fringe views. Whatever euphemism they chose to call themselves, the message, symbols used (shields with “fascies”, swastikas, the colours red-black-white, the salutes, the marches under torch-light, slogans of “blood and soil”, etc), methods and the groups targeted by their hate (Jews, black people, ethnic minorities, homosexuals, left-wing people) are the same as classical Nazi or fascist groups. The prefix “neo” here is not even warranted. Should these positions be allowed in a democracy? Should freedom of thought and speech be given priority over the necessary containment of extremist ideologies which endanger democracy and advocate physical violence? These are tough questions that have been and will – hopefully – continue to be debated in years to come.
What this rally was not.
Was this rally new or extraordinary? No. These marches unfortunately happen frequently in the US. As recently as July, Charlottesville was the stage of a demonstration by 50 KKK members, also attended by 1,000 counter-protesters who surrounded the white supremacists. This weekend’s rally was a national event, and the number of people who attended it is somewhere between 100 and 1,000. According to estimations, KKK and far-right party membership in the US sums to no more than 20,000. This represents 0.006% of the US population! To be sure, this is 20,000 people too many, but it hardly constitutes a menacing mass movement.
More worrisome is the soft extremism of the “loud minority” of internet trolls, more or less affiliated to Libertarian/Tea-Party/Republican groups. Also the vast number of people who – if not attracted outright by these extremist ideology – adhere to the fashionable soundbites of the “dictatorship of political correctness”, “saying it as it is”, “I don’t agree with these people, BUT…” and are willing to excuse or minimise this type of fanaticism. These are the moles that feed populism. I risk saying that, bad enough as populists are in themselves, it’s a different league altogether.
Populism holds many dangers to liberal democracy. It sure reinforces extremist positions and, in its right-wing manifestation, emboldens racists, nationalists, male-chauvinists and far-right groups. But it is a different and more recent phenomenon, with distinct origins and solutions.
What causes it?
The rise of the far-right in Europe and its growing boldness in the US is fed by the ascendancy of right-wing populism in general, and by Trump in particular. But it is not caused by it.
Nor is it caused by globalisation, emigration, women empowerment, economic crisis, or any of the social changes of the recent years. It is, unfortunately, a social pathology that persisted since WWII. It acquired different local causes and historical particularities, like nostalgia for the Confederation in the US. Its speech has changed to fit the times and the grievances of today’s putative supporters and a varnish of respectability is applied (consider Marine Le Pen and the tones of make-up she puts on what is effectively a fascist anti-democratic party). The social and individual origins of far-right extremism were superbly diagnosed by Erich Fromm in his 1941 book “The Fear of Freedom”, by Hannah Arendt in her “The Origins of Totalitarianism” (the sales of which soared after Trump’s election) and more recently by the Dutch philosopher Rob Riemen “The Eternal Return of Fascism”. It is debatable if today’s socio-economic conditions could cause populism to turn into an outright authoritarianism with racist and violent undertones. If the cases of Hungary, Poland and Turkey are alarming, one must acknowledge that today’s citizens are far more literate and aware than they were in the past. We hope that, in the end of the day, that fact will save us all.
What to do about it?
“Fascism asserts authoritarianism but organises rebellion (…) whichever way we approach fascism we find that it is simultaneously one thing and its contrary, it is A and not-A” wrote Spanish philosopher José Ortega y Gasset in 1927. It continues to be true. The Charlottesville demonstrators advocate the harshest authoritarianism yet talk about the importance of free speech, they call themselves patriots yet adopt the ideology and symbols of an enemy defeated by the US at the cost of hundreds of thousands of American lives. Fascism is notorious among political ideologies for being illogical, irrational and not caring about any of it. So, constructive dialogue with these people is futile, as anyone who ever spent five minutes trying to discuss with a far-right sympathiser knows perfectly well.
Does the media give exaggerated coverage to these guys (after all, they were less than 1,000 of them) just because it stirs our fears and raises audiences? Maybe. Should they just be allowed to demonstrate and be summarily ignored, like spoiled unruly children? Here I disagree. They must be always confronted by huge, non-violent, counter-demonstrations. They must feel at all times that they are nothing but 0.006% of the population. That despite their delusions of grandeur they are outnumbered, outwitted and – at least in the US – outgunned. Is non-violence complacency? Not at all, but it is the duty of every democrat and freedom loving person to go out and peacefully confront these monsters.
The Republican Party, of course, has the biggest responsibility. Trump all but excused them, blaming “many sides” for the violence. The president is after all advised by an “alt-right” figure-head himself. In 1930s Germany, a man promised to “Make Germany Great Again” in the middle of an economic, political and social crisis. He ruled a minor party. The centre-right and the conservative-right, fearing communism and democratic socialism, handed him the power, calculating that the practice of government would domesticate him and his thugs. They thought they could easily control him. This went down as one of the most spectacular errors in History. Today’s circumstances are different, obviously, but this lesson should be in the minds of moderate, old-school conservative Republicans. Some rightfully urged Trump to grow some balls. Senator Orrin Hatch tweeted “We should call evil by its name. My brother didn’t give his life fighting Hitler for Nazi ideas to go unchallenged here at home”. Sen. Cory Gardner, tweeted “Mr President – we must call evil by its name. These were white supremacists and this was domestic terrorism.”. Marco Rubio, wrote: “Nothing patriotic about Nazis, the KKK or White Supremacists. It’s the direct opposite of what America seeks to be.”
Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe said everything that Trump should have said to the nation and especially to the terrorists who rallied in Charlottesville, with moral clarity and the simplicity of truth. This is the type of message that is needed: “we are stronger than you. You will not succeed. There is no place for you here and there is no place for you in America”. (between 1:00 and 3:00 in this video)
Spurious historical comparisons must be avoided, though. History is chaotic and, contrary to popular and Steve Bannon’s belief, it does not repeat itself. We should absolutely demonstrate moral outrage at these events, though. Remain watchful and unequivocally condemn these demonstrations. And, seriously, people, don’t punch Nazis. They suffer enough from their micropenis medical condition.
Wise Old Man from the Sea 
