socsci2-fascism

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A Brief Introduction to Fascism

History has its fair share of Fascist leaders all over the world. Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler are some of the well-known examples of Fascist dictators who terrorized millions of lives.

Fascism is the far-right ideology that involves the unification of all countries under a single rule. Usually, it involves racial and cultural purity that entails mass murder and genocide of a certain race, religion, or a specific group of people. This was the ideology of the Axis powers which fueled World War 2 and the Holocaust.

It led to the suffering and death of millions of people around the world including the Philippines. Since then, we can say that Fascism is not just immoral but a danger to society and its people. The problem, however, is that Fascism is slowly rising again in different parts of the globe.

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Machiavelli and Fascism

As a victim of regime change in Florence, Machiavelli’s treatise The Prince makes a break away from moralistic view of authority and focuses instead on the ruler’s acquisition and sustenance of power. Adrian Iliopoulus enumerates five tactics of leadership that can be deduced from The Prince and we will call them the Machiavellian tactics to easily refer to them as a whole. According to Iliopoulus, these five are:

It’s better to be feared than loved;

Reputation is everything but it also demands acting;

People are not ready for the truth;

Loyalty needs to be constantly scrutinized and bought and resistance be crushed;

Success = fortune + free will

Machiavelli’s answer to the question “Is it better to be feared than loved?” can be found in the most famous passage of The Prince, “The answer is that one would like to be both one and the other; but because it is difficult to combine them, it is far better to be feared than loved if you cannot be both.” He explains that a prince must resemble the necessary “bad” characteristics so his authority will not be questioned. Embracing dishonesty to be an effective weapon in dealing with lack of conflict is what Machiavelli suggests. Resistance is an omnipresent force that must be crushed quickly so that the prince can focus on the change and reform that will benefit the people he is serving. Lastly, the prince can control his actions so that he can protect himself from misfortune and be able to acquire “malleable” characteristics fit for a prince. Although the Machiavellian tactics might come off as evil, these have been espoused by some of the world’s successful leaders.

Parallels can be drawn from The Prince and the Italian fascism that was later developed by dictator Benito Mussolini and Giovanni Gentile. Gentile is considered as the father of fascism who founded the pillars of this ideology. Mussolini was an admirer of Machiavelli who badly interpreted his ideas to establish a fascist regime in Italy. In Femia’s paper, he demonstrates the Machiavellian principles deeply rooted in the Italian fascism that dominated the country until the death of Mussolini in 1945. Based on the writings of Gentile and Machiavelli, they both seem to disregard the idea of moral progress and regard the state’s wellbeing above the individuals. The most defining feature of fascism is the belief that “the end justifies the means” is Machiavelli’s famous quote. The works of Machiavelli have made a huge influence on the fascist ideology. Although Benito Mussolini was inspired by Machiavelli’s principles and ideas, his actions during his tyrannical reign does not reflect the Prince in Machiavelli’s work. Mussolini failed to comply with the virtues Machiavelli suggested in The Prince, he also failed to protect the people and the state. Mussolini did not stay in power for the benefit of the state, he tried to hold on to it to feed his ego because he saw himself as the Prince.

In this sense, Machiavellian tactics and his theories are being used by world leaders like Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping to put the interests of the state over any form of individualism. It is difficult to see what Machiavelli wanted the society to be like if modern “princes” like them were to lead the states. But it is vital that we must keep in mind the darkest parts of the world’s history so we will not repeat the same mistakes again. As Trotsky said in his book Their morals and ours, “The end may justify the means as long as there is something that justifies the end.”

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Locke’s Works Essential to the Formation of Political Thought

John Locke’s works laid the initial foundations of modern philosophical empiricism and political liberalism19. He is renowned for his works, Essay on Toleration and Two Treatises of Government. He advocated for freedom of belief and liberality that is evident in his ‘Essay on Toleration’ written in 1667 as a response to the question of what ought we to do to those who oppose our religious beliefs or views -- from which the idea was brought about due to English Protestantism’s questioning of religion in the 16th century.

In the essay, three significant points were made to solidify his advocacy:  

‘because Earthly judges, the state in particular, and human beings in general, cannot dependably evaluate the truth-claims of competing religious standpoints’

‘even if they could, enforcing a single “true religion” would not work, because you can’t be compelled into belief through violence’

‘coercing religious uniformity leads to far more social disorder than allowing diversity’.

It is through these three arguments that we can infer that he emphasizes the importance of open-mindedness, diversity and toleration of opposing beliefs and we believe that it is a must that we look at this in a much larger sense not just of religion but as of politics as well for these will hopefully bring society much closer in achieving peace and/or equilibrium rather than forcing society to a one uniform belief which could eventually start a revolution and instigate chaos.  

Furthermore, his other work, the ‘Two Treatises of Government’ of 1689, expounds on the problem of who shall rule a territory and to what parameters the ruler should and shall govern his constituency. In this book, Hobbes revolved on the proposal of a pessimistic view on the State of Nature, a time when governments did not yet exist and where anarchy, chaos, barbaric and primitive life were prominent. “Men living together according to reason, without a common superior on earth, with authority to judge between them, is properly the state of nature.” (Two Treatises 2.19). It is possible to have in the state of nature either no government, illegitimate government, or legitimate government with less than full political power.  It is through this view that he was able to assert the importance of a governing persona evident in the statement -- ‘the totalitarian power of kings was justified by their ability to keep order and prevent repetitions of chaos that reigned from the state of nature’.  Moreover, because of the work’s pessimist nature, he encourages people to compromise in standards to the idea of how a ruler was meant to be and emphasizes that surpassing his state of nature is the goal without the necessary guarantee of religious freedom and/or human rights in attaining organization, harmony, and civilization.

In the First Treatise of Government, he denies the notion that God created kings; Locke singles out Sir Robert Filmer’s contention in the Divine Right of Kings doctrine that men are not “naturally free” as the key issue, for that is the “ground” or premise on which Filmer erects his argument for the claim that all “legitimate” government is “absolute monarchy”—kings being descended from the first man, Adam, and their subjects being naturally slaves.

Whereas in the Second Treatise of Government, he takes on Hobbes’ concept of the social contract.

Natural rights are those rights which we are supposed to have as human beings before ever government comes into being. We might suppose, that like other animals, we have a natural right to struggle for our survival. Locke will argue that we have a right to the means to survive. When Locke comes to explain how government comes into being, he uses the idea that people agree that their condition in the state of nature is unsatisfactory, and so agree to transfer some of their rights to a central government, while retaining others.

Evidently, Locke therefore insists that in a society, citizens voluntarily consented to compromise some of their freedom only insofar as this better preserve their rights collectively. In line with this, if the situation unfolds that a ruler decides to act as a tyrant and oppress his constituents of their voluntary consent -- citizens reserve the right to withdraw their consent, overthrow, and constitute a new government.

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Donald Trump

Recently, in the United States, thousands of Trump supporters flocked the Capitol in support of the former US president’s plea to recount the ballots in favor of him winning the 2020 elections. Among the riot were white supremacists wielding confederate flags which has long been a symbol of racial cleansing and the dehumanization of people of color. This ideology of racial superiority has very deep roots in American history that can be seen and felt until now. Trump’s particular brand of fascism is evident in the ideologies that he pushes onto his supporters and how these supporters put these ideologies into action. The riot at the Capitol showed the harm it brought not only to other people but to the rioters themselves. 5 deaths were reported and many more were injured. An article from Vox by Fabiola Cineas details some of the many acts of violence incited by Trump supporters such as the mass shooting in El Paso, Texas that left 23 dead with the shooter’s manifesto parroting Trump’s rhetoric about immigrants and a case about a man from Florida who threatened to burn his Muslim neighbor’s house down using Trump’s Muslim ban to justify these threats. These are not isolated cases however, fascism is not only present in America but in other countries as well.

Donald Trump’s presidency gave way to the rise of many right-wing groups that have a specific set of beliefs and were intolerant of others who did not share their beliefs. Examining this intolerance from the perspective of John Locke who said that enforcing religious (which in Trump’s case extends to beliefs aside from religion such as beliefs on homosexuality, race, immigration, feminism and fire arms or gun laws) uniformity allows for more chaos than diversity and that one cannot coerce another person through violence, we can see that, indeed, the former US president’s intolerance of diversity has caused chaos in America. During his term, there have been many cases of racially driven violence such as the case of Anthony Hammond who screamed racial slurs at an African American man in California before stabbing the man with a machete. An article by The Guardian says that according to Ryan Lenz (senior investigative writer with the Southern Poverty Law Center) “Trump supporters are now feeling legitimized in their hatred and wanting to act out further. It speaks to a climate of hate and intolerance across the country.”

This is not an isolated case, during the same weekend of the stabbing, another case was of a white man driving a pick-up truck who reportedly intentionally ran over a 20-year-old Native American man. Trump also has a history of associating with anti-LGBTQ+ organizations such as the Family Research Council whose president, Tony Perkins, who has been vocal about his opposition to the rights of LGBTQ+ people in the US and abroad. During the annual Value Voters Summit (hosted by the Family Research Council) in 2019, Trump repeatedly opposed the Equality Act, a bill passed by the House to secure federal nondiscrimination of LGBTQ+ people. Since Trump’s election in 2016 there has been a reported rise of hate crimes across the United States. This intolerance and hate for diversity shows the complete opposite of Locke’s ideas of tolerance and freedom of beliefs. According to him, if a leader shows signs of becoming a tyrant, the ruler’s constituents are within their rights to question the ruler’s leadership and overthrow said ruler. Trump has been impeached twice, the first for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress and the second for incitement of insurrection.

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Rodrigo Duterte

Another alarming manifestation of modern fascism is the Duterte regime in the Philippines. Ever since the start of his presidency, he mainly focused on the increase of military power and the eradication of drug use in the Philippines. The reason why he was favored by many Filipinos was his ability to rule with an iron fist. He successfully governed Davao and made it one of the safest cities in the Philippines. However, the problem is his methods of achieving his goals are questionable and unethical. According to the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, around 5,526 suspected drug users and pushers have died from July 1, 2016 to June 30, 2019. Most of these deaths are questionable as no due process is done before the actual killing. Duterte is also known for silencing media critics for calling him out. Some examples of which are the ABS-CBN shutdown and the arrest of the executive editor of Rappler, Maria Ressa. Multiple human rights activists and press were red-tagged and even received death threats. Children were also involved in the war on drugs such as Kian Delos Santos, a 17 year-old-boy who was murdered by three policemen. The policemen said that Kian was a drug user and they killed him in self-defense. Further investigation and CCTV footage show that he was innocent and the policemen were lying. Luckily, there was evidence that proves Kian’s innocence in this case. However, there are thousands of undocumented EJKs that we can’t know for certain if the person was guilty or not.

The Duterte administration agrees with Machiavelli as he uses brute force and unethical ways to gain power or control over the people. He persecutes anyone who dares to criticize him or his methods. An example of this would be the arrest of Leila de Lima. She was Duterte’s biggest critic in the war on drugs and investigated the Davao Death squad. She questioned the ethics of Duterte’s methods which lead to her detainment for alleged drug charges which she says are fabricated. Many believe that she was unlawfully accused and that this was Duterte’s way of silencing her. Even the United States president issued a visa ban on those involved in De Lima’s arrest from entering. She has been detained for about four years now and  is still hopeful that “my will to fight for what is right remains undeterred and, in fact, is validated and reinvigorated by recent developments and successes."

His iron fist strikes fear to anyone who dares come in his way even to regular filipinos. This can be seen in the newly passed The Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020. At first glance, this law is beneficial to the Philippines as it seeks to “protect life, liberty, and property from terrorism.” The problem arises from the definition of “terrorism.” According to the law, acts of terrorism includes “intimidate the general public,” “create an atmosphere or spread a message of fear,” and “provoke or influence by intimidation the government or any international organization.” This definition is too general that any form of resistance or criticism to the government can be labeled as terrorism. Neri Colmenares says "It chills freedom of expression. It chills free speech. It chills freedom of the press. It chills freedom of association." This is against the ideologies of John Locke as he says that when a leader removes the rights of the people, they must revolt. To counter this, the Anti-Terrorism Act further removes the rights of the people to revolt and gain control over them. Duterte’s approach is Machiavellian as he uses the fear of being arrested to silence the masses.

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Fake News and Alternative Facts

Machiavelli believed in the supremacy of power over social values. According to him, what is evil from the viewpoint of morality and religion can be good from the viewpoint of the reason of the state if it serves to acquire, retain or expand power. This concept can be applied to both Trump and Duterte in that both leaders use questionable and unethical methods to retain power. The term “alternative facts” was coined by Kellyane Conway who was a counselor to the former US president. Trump claimed that his inauguration drew even bigger crowds than his predecessor Barack Obama, and even went as far as saying that it garnered the biggest crowd for an inauguration in America. Aerial shots of the event however showed this claim to be grossly exaggerated. Conway then stated that the pictures that debunked these claims were merely “alternative facts.” Trump is also famous for using his Twitter account as a platform for his unfiltered thoughts. This tool is used to bolster his image and make fake claims as most of the people who follow him consider his word as the truth. 

Duterte uses a similar tactic with Mocha Uson and trolls on the internet. Mocha Uson is famous for her blog on Facebook where she writes pro-Duterte political commentary aimed at Diehard Duterte Supporters (DDS). These DDS trolls then share and comment on her posts to take advantage of Facebook’s algorithm. The algorithm promotes posts that have high user engagement (which includes comments, likes and shares) at the top of its Newsfeed and determines if a post goes viral. Paid trolls are also prevalent on other social media platforms such as Twitter.