[1]Terry Pinder

Spring 2003

Global Politics

Dr. Irini Kutoroff

Nationalism & Fascism: Old Ills, Future Evil?

Fascism:    n. 1a: A system of government marked by centralization of authority under a dictator, stringent socioeconomic controls, suppression of the opposition through terror and censorship, and typically a policy of belligerent nationalism and racism.  1b: A political philosophy or movement based on or advocating such a system of government. 2:  Oppressive, dictatorial control.

Nationalism: n 1: love of country and willingness to sacrifice for it 2: the conviction that the culture and interests of your nation are superior to those of any other nation.[1]

The French Revolution led to the birth and rise of nationalism, which unchecked led to the horrors of World War One. World War One led to the rise of the militant and belligerent nationalism known as fascism in Italy and Germany, World War Two was fought to erase it from the earth. The United Nations, which arose in the aftermath of World War Two, was seen as the demise of nationalism as a new and global cooperative took shape.  Nationalism was seen as creating conflicts; the UN was supposed to end that. However, violent events of the late 20^th century and the opening years of the 21^st have proven that nationalism is not quite dead, and even its most virulent form may quietly be on the rebound in Europe (its birthplace) and the Middle East. Nationalism, and its militant and vicious offspring fascism, once thought dead, is in fact alive and on the rebound on a global scale.

Nationalism in its benevolent form is seen to be a uniting force. It encourages self-determination, economic development, diversity and the democratic process. Nationalism instills pride in ones heritage.[2]  The French and American Revolution and their ideas of liberty and freedom instilled nationalist feelings in oppressed peoples in Europe and began the philosophic thought to self-determination. One of those many thinkers was Johan Gottlieb Fichte, who wrote and gave the Addresses to the German Nation in 1807-1808. Among the ideas that Fichte professes is the idea of a unified German state, which did not exist at the time. Eventually, the 300 or so small states that made up the former Holy Roman Empire would evolve into Germany.[3] 

However, nationalism has and does more often than not lead to xenophobia. Xenophobia can be defined as fear or contempt of that which is foreign, especially of strangers or foreign peoples.[4] In Europe, anti-immigrant political parties have risen in many Western European nations and Great Britain. Even the United States is not immune from negative nationalism. Afghanistan and the oppression that occurred under the Taliban were given little attention prior to the September 11 attacks.[5] A clear case of ultranationalism has been visibly playing itself out in the Balkan region of Europe for much of the last decade. There, after the fall of Communism in former state of Yugoslavia, the long-simmering ethnic tensions rose to the forefront, which lead to war, ethnic cleansing, and atrocities that required the intervention of NATO and the United Nations. Yugoslavia as the world once knew it has finally dissolved: The new state, which came into being in 2003, is now called Serbia and Montenegro.

Nationalism can also lead to external aggression, a lack of concern for others, and internal oppression.[6]  As Yugoslavia fell to pieces, the internal oppression and lack of concern for others was apparent in the ethnic cleansing of Croats, Bosnian Serbs, Bosnian Muslims, and then later, Kosovar Albanians.  However, the negative problems of nationalism are not confined to Europe alone. The world’s second most populous nation, nuclear-armed, has become witness to a rising militant and fundamentalist nationalism.

The Hindu nationalist BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) currently holds power by coalition in India’s parliament. In the Indian state of Gujarat, which borders Pakistan, Hindu nationalist groups have often targeted Muslims. BJP elections are often followed by violence, most recently in December when the BJP took many seats in the local assembly.[7] 

Indian cities have been renamed- Bombay is now Mumbai, Madras is now Chennai, and Calcutta is now Kolkata. India is also home to an organization known as the RSS (Rashtriya Swayamensvak Sang), or National Volunteers Association. It is a militant Hindu organization that is anti-Islamic, anti-Chrisitian, and anti-Western. The RSS has been known to protest violently at Ms. World Pageants, burn Valentine’s Day Cards, and attack New Years celebrations.[8] Often, violence against other religious groups within India (namely Muslims) has occurred.  In 1992, Hindu nationalists, whipped into a xenophobic frenzy by BJP politicians, destroyed a 16^th century mosque in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh because the mosque was believed to have been built on the site of an ancient Hindu temple. In the ensuing chaos, some 1,400 people were killed, most of them Muslim.[9]  Neither religious building has yet been rebuilt. Despite accusations to the contrary from other secular parties, the BJP claims that it is not a fundamentalist political party, merely a nationalistic one.[10]

In foreign affairs, India under the BJP has been belligerent. India is a known nuclear power. A clear aim of the BJP is to maintain India’s nuclear arsenal as a way to deter India’s traditional enemies of China and Pakistan.[11] In the last few years, the border wars between Pakistan and India have heated up and India itself has mulled the option of a pre-emptive strike against Pakistan because it accuses it of funding terrorism within India and the territory of Kashmir.[12] Next-door Muslim Pakistan has also mulled preemption to deter its neighbor as well.

One can only wonder and worry where the rebound of negative and aggressive nationalism can lead. Sadly, it can only lead to one difficult conclusion: a new form fascism. It appears to have begun in Europe with neo-Nazi skinhead movements across Western Europe, ethnic cleansing in the Balkans, and the rise of nationalistic parties throughout Europe.[13] Fascism has even taken on a religious form in the Middle East in the form of Islamic fundamentalism and in North America in the form of Christian fundamentalism.[14]

It is highly unlikely that the type of fascism defined in dictionaries by 1930s Italy and Germany will recur in that form. In fact, the word fascist, in some circles, has lost all meaning, as everyone is invariably someone else’s fascist. However, it is more likely that the rebound of fascism will occur under the guise of negative and often xenophobic nationalism that has rebounded in the last two decades. Current-day fascism will likely resemble the form of nationalism that created it. If it were to occur in the United States, fascism would likely be pious, conformist, and anti-minority.  A new Western European fascism would likely be anti-Islamic and probably anti-immigrant. Indian fascism would likely be Hindu, anti-Islamic and anti-Western.[15]  Both forms would be far right and nationalistic in nature, and across Europe, far-right political parties and movements have gained alarming steam and power.

As European nations have united their economies under capitalism, a need for foreign workers has increased. Germany, France, Great Britain and other European nations invited foreigners from Turkey, North Africa, and the Caribbean to work within their nation to supply a work force for low-level jobs. As many of these nations have substantial social welfare programs, they have come under strain and created a right-wing backlash against the foreigners.

In Great Britain, for example, the British National Party is planning on fielding 200 candidates for local elections to be held in May of 2003. [16] The BNP is a political party that wants to expel all immigrants from the United Kingdom, either with financial incentives or by force. It also wishes to expel foreign military presences from Great Britain. In addition, the BNP is extremely nationalistic. Much of their platform puts the interests of white British citizens ahead of all others at the expense of others, mainly through the “resettlement” of immigrants who have come to the United Kingdom. [17]

Next-door France is home to the xenophobic National Front, headed by Jean-Marie Le Pen. Le Pen. As unemployment rose in France in the 1970s and 1980s, and as immigrants from former French possession in North and West Africa settled in France, Le Pen’s neofascist movement gained power. Le Pen’s party is pro-big business as fascism often supports.[18] The National Front often is known for its revisionist history often stating that the Holocaust did not occur. It harps on the anti-immigrant sentiment in France. Le Pen’s movement is anti-globalist in its economics, highly nationalistic, is often pro-Hitler, and calls for all immigrants in France to be officially discriminated against in the French job market and advocates the creation of a separate and inferior system for minorities.[19] Most recently, Le Pen and his National Front, which often polls 30 to 35% in local elections,[20] ran for the presidency of France. In the end, he obtained 18% of the vote.[21]

Austria’s Freedom party briefly controlled that nation thru coalition government for three years beginning in 1999.  Headed by Jorg Haider, it often plays down Nazi war crimes. It is anti-immigrant and xenophobic, playing on the fears of native Austrians about immigrants. Haider himself expresses admiration for SS veterans. Much of the popularity of the far-right Freedom party has much to do with the fact that Austria was not put through a program of de-Nazification much like neighboring Germany was following World War Two.[22] However, Haider’s party barely polled 10 percent in the November 2002 elections after three years of coalition rule and is no longer in control of Austria.[23]

What has characterized and tied all of these movements and political parties together is a negative nationalism whipped up by fear. Europe, and North America to a lesser extent, are dealing with large immigrant populations often invited as guests but unwelcome and even feared by the native population. A new and aggressive form of nationalism is taking shape in the post-Cold War world. In parts of the world, religion fuels it. In other parts, anti-immigrant xenophobia fuels it. It is an alarming trend. If left unchecked, the world could possible see another sinister round with the fascism that struck the world some 70 years ago and plunged a continent into a murderous war.