Havdalah #11: Politics, Printmaking, and Unpacking Fascism

Again, a new week. Calendar time is fake, but I won’t turn down the chance to harness the “fresh start” energy to recommit to what matters.

Recently, the Biden administration decided to suspend U.S. funding to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees, thereby impeding the delivery of desperately needed aid to civilians. Also recently, the International Court of Justice found sufficient evidence that South Africa’s case against Israel for perpetrating genocide is plausible, and mandated preliminary measures such as allowing humanitarian aid to enter Gaza. More heartbreak, and more hope.

Let’s put it to good use.

As always, here are some upcoming opportunities to take action and advocate. And in our Sidebar, Katherine offers a helpful explanation of the characteristics of fascism.

In solidarity,

Lee

PVD Get Louder for Palestine! Rally & March

• When: Sunday, February 4, 2:00pm

• Where: Providence Innovation District Park, 120 Peck Street, Providence, RI 02903

• Join PSL Rhode Island on the next day of action to #ShutItDown4Palestine in Providence. They will be making noise to make sure that the police and politicians hear our support for Palestine.

• Bring noisemakers, pots & pans, whistles, and more!

• Get Louder for Palestine Info

AMOR Celebrating Seven Years

• When: Wednesday, February 14, 5:30pm-7:00pm

• Where: AMOR Office, 545 Pawtucket Avenue, Pawtucket, RI 02860

• The Alliance to Mobilize Our Resistance (AMOR) celebrates seven years of resistance and community work, supporting community members and families who are suffering the injustices of the broken immigration system. From the Trump administration to the Biden administration, for 7 years the AMOR community has continued to resist the systems of white supremacy that see the lives of Black, Indigenous, and people of other colonized races and nationalities as unworthy of the right to cross borders with dignity and life.

• Join AMOR for a night full of community, joy, food, music, and raffles to celebrate community resistance!

• This event is totally free. Please bring your family and friends!

• If you can, please bring a dish to share (let AMOR know by email if you plan on bringing food: [email protected])

• It is requested to wear a mask to prevent the spread of COVID. Masks will be available.

• Celebrating 7 Years Instagram Post

Power Half-Hours for Gaza

• When: every day, Monday through Friday, 3:00pm EST

• Where: online

• Jewish Voice for Peace is holding Power Half-Hours for Gaza every day — join us as we channel our fury and sorrow into collective action to stop genocide.

• The same link will work every day.

  • Power Half-Hours for Gaza Registration

Jewish Voice for Peace Website

Continuing Actions for Palestine

The siege of Gaza has continued and intensified. Palestinians are in desperate need of water, fuel, medical supplies, and more; however, this aid has been locked up at the border and prevented from entering into Palestine. Please contact your representatives to call on them to work for a ceasefire and to get aid into Gaza.

This toolkit has a variety of links, including call scripts, groups accepting donations, phone banks, petitions, and more:

• Ceasefire Today Toolkit

Telecom services in Gaza are periodically being disrupted. This makes knowledge of what is happening there very difficult to get and to verify. Various social media websites — including and especially Twitter — while vitally necessary in getting ordinary voices heard, have also been full of dis- and misinformation of people deliberately trying to cause trouble. Especially now, be aware of who is sharing information and why they’re doing it.

• Al Jazeera reporting has continued to be the most accurate and reliable so far:

  • Al Jazeera News Coverage

Community Needs Pantry at the West Warwick Public Library

The West Warwick Public Library has a take what you need, give what you can community needs pantry near the front entrance. Please stop by to take something or to donate. The pantry is most in need of pasta, pasta sauce, shelf stable milk (all kinds), cereal, oatmeal, peanut / nut butter, and toilet paper.

Where: 1043 Main Street, West Warwick, RI 02893

Below the Surface: An African American Story in Printmaking

• When: Saturday, February 17, 1:30pm-3:30pm

• Where: Auditorium, Westerly Library & Wilcox Park, 44 Broad Street, Westerly RI 02891

• Curlee Raven Holton, of Easton, PA, is a nationally known printmaker, painter, and arts educator whose work has been exhibited professionally for over twenty-five years in more than thirty one-person shows and over eighty group shows. He is the recently retired Executive Director of the David C. Driskell Center for the Study of Visual Arts & Culture of African Americans & the African Diaspora. He is currently the Founding Director and Master Printmaker at Raven Fine Art Editions in Easton, PA. He will speak about his work and the central importance of printmaking in African American art. Learn more about Dr. Holton at The Petrucci Family Collection of African American Art or at the David C. Driskell Center.

• This event is free and open to the public.

• The organizers, the Westerly Anti-Racism Coalition, ask that you please consider making a donation to benefit the Johnnycake Center of Westerly and its charitable mission in our community.

• Below the Surface Event Info

Katherine (she / her)

What is Fascism? 

It’s a word that gets used in any number of places — news reports and internet forums, banners and protests, thrown by sulky teenagers at their teachers. The word fascism has a tendency to devolve into buzz-word nothingness. The slipperiness of the phrase, and of the idea, however, isn’t just conceptual laziness; even among academics and historians, the people you’d expect to have a firm grip on the word, the definition of fascism is hard to grasp — like nailing jelly to a wall, as one said — and varies in its particulars from political leader to academic to historian. 

Fascism is less a coherent political ideology than the use of a particular set of tactics engaged towards an ultimately non-ideological but definitely political goal — absolute power embodied in a state, or a person (or both). And those types of means, and that type of end, tend to attract a certain type of stage dressing — racism, antisemitism, militarism — though those are not enough to make something fascist.

The Encyclopaedia Britannica defines fascism as a: 

In addition to being clunky, this has the issue of being rather empirical in its definition. That is, rather than saying what fascism is, it simply says certain historical things were fascist. It does add, however, that:

Useful enough, but clearly very specifically tailored to Germany — even other fascists like Mussolini that had their own delusion of Spazio vitale (living space) were hardly going to use a German term for it. And many of these characteristics overlap with any number of other political ideologies — is the rule of elites that different from the House of Lords? What about Veterans Day’s parades? They’re nationalist and militarist. Would you call them fascistic? What about flags in churches and military flyovers at ballgames? It gets messy, at the edges, and more than a bit unsettling in the implications. 

If you want to identify fascism in the wild, there are any number of academics waiting to offer a definition. Roger Griffins’ is:

(Yes, this makes my eyes glaze over as well.)

But if you don’t want to spend the time getting a minor in political theory, one of the definitions I find most useful, and that White Rose RI is using, is from Umberto Eco.

Umberto Eco’s is probably the most well known among non-academics — or at least, I’ve heard of it in multiple different contexts, for what that’s worth — and his summations of fascist tendencies are often used on their own as a shorthand. He wrote a New York Review of Books article in 1995 on the subject, which is well worth reading in its entirety. He talks about his own experiences as a child in fascist Italy, as well as how he saw it reemerging in the world as he wrote. The part that escaped to become catchphrases, however, was a list of features that 

which is a good acknowledgment of the fact that for the most part there isn’t a simple definition that encompasses everything we think of as fascist without catching what we don’t. It does still have a bit of “I know it when I see it”, but for truly robust, self-enclosed definitions, you’d have to go back to the dense academia.

Eco’s fourteen points are as follows, with some explanation from myself:

1. The cult of tradition

This is an obsession or fixation on revealed information from the deep past as a basis of truth. Different sources — even contradictory ones — can be cherry picked as liked or needed, so ancient Egyptians and Norse mythology and gnostic Christianity might all be blended together. There is the conceit that if there are contradictions, it’s because they’re all pointing to some more ancient, still greater truth, and so more analysis is needed to find it out. This means that there cannot be growth or advancement in knowledge or learning; if everything that matters was already revealed to us in the deep past, then the only thing we can do is interpret it. 

• See: Identity Evropa; the originalism in interpretation of the Constitution; the reflective rejection of new analysis of history

1. The rejection of modernism

This is not a rejection of technology — the Nazis adored their rockets and their tanks — but instead a rejection of modern attitudes. A rejection of rationalism, thinking things through, of the Enlightenment and the fruit it bore. This rejection views the modern world, and modern attitudes, as “degenerate” or “depraved”.

• See: tradwives on Tiktok; degradation of evolving concepts of gender and identity; traditionalist Catholics rejecting Vatican II and its reforms; anti-vaxxers and any number of “alternative” and “natural” medicines that are just scams claiming “hidden history” or “mystic knowledge” to convince people to take them instead of actual medication — often invoking traditional / indigenous healing without actually being related to them

1. The cult of action for action's sake

Reflection, nuance, or hesitation to act is considered wrong and weak, while doing something — however ill thought out or impulsive — is treated as a good in and of itself. This also manifests as a distrust and a disdain for what are considered “intellectual professions” — doctors, academics, engineers, scientists, experts, while people “who get stuff done” are considered admirable and manly. 

• See: Silicon Valley’s “move fast and break shit” attitude; comments about “liberal elites”, “coastal elites”, “global elites”; a running down of the liberal arts generally; a disregard for political theory and nuance on both the left and right

1. Disagreement is treason

If you take a reverence for tradition (especially multiple traditions strung together) and a distrust for reason and a dislike of intellectualism, you end up here, where any questioning of authority, of the received wisdom, of the “people’s will” is treasonous. There is no devil’s advocate, no loyal dissent, no minority party — only absolute obedience or exile. 

• See: the Great Replacement Theory; QAnon; Scientology; House Republicans’ clown car idiocy over the House Speaker

1. Fear of difference

Unity among a group (whether that be a political party, country, or dinner club) is developed and enforced by hatred and fear against outsiders, against people who are different and “other”. There’s always an enemy to unite against, and they are both on the outside trying to get in (invaders, the opposing parties, those damn liberals who keep suing to letting people immigrate) and secretly already inside, hidden and subversive (sleeper agents, political spies, reporters with hidden cameras). 

• See: racism generally; fearmongering about the Deep state, welfare queens, rapists at the border, filthy communists / capitalist pigs, and the classic scapegoat — Jews

1. Appeal to a frustrated middle class

Appeals are made to those who want or expect more than they have; those who have been made promises that haven’t been delivered on. This could be a middle class that is feeling an economic squeeze, or political powerlessness; people who think they don’t have enough and are frightened of losing the privileges they have in favor of the class above them or below. They are promised prosperity; they are promised a voice at the table; they are promised someone who understands them and that they’d want to have a beer with. 

• See: the “Silent Majority”; fearmongering about Welfare queens, foreigners on the dole, greedy unions

1. Obsession with a plot

A way to unite a group of people that otherwise lacks a clear identity — whites, for example — is to give them an enemy to define themselves against. Keep in mind, as of WWII, Germany and Italy had each only been a polity for about eighty years; the eldest living could remember a time when their country didn’t exist. Nationalism can be used to unite a country like that (or like, say, America — a country that is really fucking big, where people often have pretty strong regional ties), but that’s more effective when there is something for the country to define itself against and to combat — and thus you need an enemy. This tactic overlaps a lot with a fear of difference, and reinforces it; the in-group needs to feel under attack; and it’s especially useful if you can also claim there’s a fifth column, people working to undermine the group from within. So, Jewish people work well, along with Communists, Muslims and sometimes Catholics — any group where there’s an identity that stretches across national borders and can be feared as having a strong claim on a person’s identity, rather than their nation. There must be a plot, a conspiracy, a plan, to justify the feeling of being attacked and to justify the actions that will be taken to root it out.

• See: the red scare; the lavender scare; the Patriot Act; antisemitism pretty much always; JFK having to promise he isn’t taking orders from the Pope; the current panic against trans people converting kids; the “New World Order”

1. Fascist societies rhetorically cast their enemies as "at the same time too strong and too weak"

The enemy — such as it is — conjured up in the previous points constantly shifts in strength, depending not on an actual evaluation of their strength, but instead on the argument being made and the rhetorical needs of the moment. Thus, the effeminate cuck elite are somehow also in control of society; Biden is both senile and planning surveillance through vaccines. Not to mention the classic: Jewish people are both weak and useless and part of a global cabal that controls everything.

• See: as above; Alex Jones and Tucker Carlson are also likely to wallow in this sort of nonsense, but I respect myself too much to listen to them

1. Pacifism is trafficking with the enemy because life is permanent warfare

There is always a war looming, there is always a fight to prepare for — get a gun, form a squad, join a militia, make sure you know how to defend your home, stand your ground — the fear and the likelihood of violence and counter violence go up and up. Invasion and infiltration is always happening, always imminent, and the reach for alternative solutions besides force is considered lefty, weak, pointless, and, since it’s a distraction, a betrayal of the cause. 

• See: the obsession with the second civil war; far right accelerationism; Qanon; RAHOWA (Racial Holy War)

1. Contempt for the weak

Contempt for the weak is straightforward enough —  no sympathy for being sick, or vulnerable, or addicted. It also manifests as popular elitism — the members of the party, or the group, or country, are the best because they are part of that group; our country is the best country, and everyone not in it is beneath us. And everyone who isn’t the best, isn’t really part of the country (the party, the movement). But every further ingroup (the city officials above the citizens, the state politicians above the city, the national leader above the state) knows that they’re better than the people below them, because they have more power, so they despise the people below them for being weaker. Eco specifically talks about a military and aristocratic hierarchy, which has strict levels of authority and therefore makes it easy to know one’s place. He especially links it to a full fascist state where the leader is not democratically elected but instead a dictator and conqueror, and thus knows everyone in the country is weaker than them and therefore contemptible; but I think this can also apply to elected officials, where the leaders have manipulated their way into power, through propaganda or election manipulation, and thus have gained their power through guile rather than honest elections, and see themselves as public rulers, not public servants. 

• See: pull yourself up by your bootstraps mentality; Trump and the Republicans’ utter scorn for elections and (often) their constituents; ableism; contempt for the immunocompromised, particularly during the ongoing pandemic when they were (and are) regarded as largely disposable 

1. Everybody is educated to become a hero

Take “action for action's sake”, add it to “contempt for the weak” and “elitism”, and you get a hero complex; everyone must be the best and the strongest and demonstrate that by action. And the best demonstration of a hero is dying for the cause! Thus, fascism often trends towards a death cult, or at least an ethos that valorizes the dead martyr for the cause. Eco uses the example of “Viva la Muerte” from Fascist Spain.

• See: Mad Max Fury Road; obsession with honoring military dead (as opposed to giving surviving veterans the help they need); Trump’s disdain for POWs; military and police adoption of the “death’s head” symbol and fetishization of The Punisher; mass shootings and the glorification of the shooter after death as a martyr or saint in Nazi / far right circles (see: Saint Dylann)

1. Machismo

However, most of the time, permanent war and heroism are hard to make happen. Both because martyrdom isn’t usually called for in day to day life, and because most people, when their courage is screwed to the sticking place, don’t actually want to get themselves killed. But do you know what isn’t hard? Being a dick to women! Being an asshole to queer people! And it’ll give you a similar sort of superior elitist high. So the desire to control others, to be superior (“will to power”) turns to sexual matters and gender roles, manifesting as machismo, with a disgust and hatred for any type of sexual behavior and habits that doesn’t cater to straight men — chastity and homosexuality being the examples Eco uses, but this would also include gender nonconformity, and asexuality, and pronoun checks, and many sorts of kink.

• See: machismo, obviously; incels; the destruction of abortion rights while refusing to actually fund things that would help pregnant women; “gay / trans panic”

1. Selective populism

A group of people that the fascist leader wants to claim as their own is considered to have a “common will”, a collective gestalt of what they want and are asking for and what’s best for them. This is, of course, bullshit, as people are not identical and aren’t actually a uniform collective with identical needs and wants. Since this is nonsense, the leader takes it upon himself to speak for and interpret the will of the people — and anyone who disagrees with his interpretation, or wants something different, is considered to no longer be part of the chosen people, and thus an enemy. Eco also makes the point that since the leader has taken it upon himself to speak for the people, things like elections — where the people actually express their will, with all its plurality — are considered, at best, unnecessary, and more often, dangerous, since they might expose the leader as a fraud. 

• See: “sham elections”; “rigged elections”; “the Silent Majority”

1. Newspeak

Newspeak is a reference to the language used in George Orwell’s dystopian novel, 1984; it is a language that is deliberately reduced, with words and concepts excised to prevent them being spoken or thought and thus being used in critical thinking. Multiple words that overlap with similar but different shades of meaning are collapsed into one — doubleplusgood replacing excellent, fabulous, and fantastic, thus removing precision in language, as well as the joy of crafting it. Additionally, political terms — where they are used — are rendered boring, and technical vocabulary is restricted. Thus, critique of the government becomes more difficult, because words to accurately describe the dissent no longer exist while the words used by the government have precise and limited definitions, eliminating nuance and interpretation. Eco takes the term of Newspeak to encompass all efforts to simplify, restrict, or eliminate words or concepts so that they can’t be used to debate or express critical opinion.

• See: book banning; the recent manufactured outrage over CRT or the teaching about racism; banning teachers even mentioning queer topics to their students 

• See: the number of times someone with something unusual about them — queer, trans, asexual, disabled, sick / chronically ill, and on and on — says, “Oh — there’s a word for that! And if there’s a word for it, there must be others — I’m not alone” 

There’s nothing about any of these tactics that necessarily precludes their use in almost any ideology — online leftists have a few in their arsenals, for sure, and populism of ALL stripes takes free advantage. Fascism is placed at the far right of the political spectrum, and certainly far right political strongmen have a particular love for these playbooks, but as tactics, these are lying around to be used by anyone who wants to shortcut the actual hard work of building a party, a community, or a country. Keep an eye out for them; see who’s using them, and how, and for what purpose. Read Eco’s article, linked above; read Animal Farm, and 1984, and history generally, and stay off twitter, if you can. Hold each other, and yourselves, accountable. Call out fascism when you see it, but make sure you understand what it is, and what it wants.

Mind how you go.

Needledrop: “1933”, Frank Turner

Bills have been introduced and hearings are starting to be scheduled. Once again, if you feel the urge, you can watch hearings on Capital TV, streaming from their website. We’ll let you know as soon as we’re made aware of any particular bills, but with such a long sidebar, we thought we’d leave this ‘til later. But if you’ve got one you want to make a fuss about, let us know!