"The New Fascism" In Canada And The Western World

Ironically, Hamas became the democratically elected government of the Palestinians because Israel, the U.S., Canada, and the European Community refuse to demand a minimum of democratic rights and freedoms for the Palestinian population. The “New Fascist”, Stephen Harper government in Canada was first to sever financial support to the Palestinian democracy when the Palestinian people freely and democratically chose a government which is a challenge to “The New Fascism” – a term defined later in this column. Hamas presents a challenge to those of us who believe in democracy. But it should be a democratic challenge – not a military assault and a rape of Palestinian democracy. Primarily, Hamas describes the failure of the Western nations to demand real democratic accountability in the Middle East. It does not describe, primarily, the blind aggressiveness of “fundamentalist”, “anti-democratic” Palestinians. Even at this moment Switzerland is the only Western country to point out that the Israeli invasion of Gaza is a violation of international law. Persistently, focus upon Western-nation failure is blocked at every point by governments, press, and the Western media. Take, for instance, The Globe and Mail’s “new generation” columnist Doug Saunders. Usually writing nonsense, and shown in a picture as if he’s just stepped out of bed after sleeping the night in his suit, Saunders continues his vacuous pattern of “analysis” in the July 8 issue with a column entitled: “When jihad comes with a local accent”. Saunders refers to Britain and Canada, quotes an English sociologist – all to point out that second-generation immigrant people often are searching for roots and often become politically extreme. That is Saunders’ explanation of Muslim violence and threats of violence in the West. Got it? Second generation malaise explains the “rage and alienation that lead people to blow themselves and others up in the name of an abstract cause”.(page F3) “…in the name of an abstract cause”. What more insulting phrase could be used? The U.S./NATO illegitimate invasion and occupation of Afghanistan; the horrendous, U.S. Coalition, illegal rape of Iraq; the brutality and sadism of Guantanamo; the racist disregard of international law in relation to Arabs and other Muslims; Palestinians scattered in refugee camps decades old – 220,000 in Lebanon alone; the blight of Israeli oppression; and the repression in Arab puppet states where (like Hamas) the Muslim Brotherhood is growing are, declares white, Western Doug Saunders – an “abstract” cause. Speaking for journalism in The New Fascism, Saunders blames the Muslims, the Muslims, the Muslims. He pretends the U.S.-led West is not conducting a horrendous, racist, economic and military jihad against Arab and other Muslim countries and peoples daring to want real independence. That is a fact people in Doug Saunders’ world will never admit. Take Guantanamo. The Supreme Court of the USA has ruled the Guantanamo operation is unconstitutional. The Bush administration is ignoring the U.S. Supreme Court in an act of national and international lawlessness. One might call the Bush behaviour a New Fascist rejection of the rule of law – though it is not the first rejection in U.S. history by a long shot. The Iraq war itself is a violation and rejection of international law. Much earlier, in 1823, a major legal battle was fought in the U.S. about, essentially, the eradication and genocide of the native people there. Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court John Marshall found the U.S. federal government was obliged to protect the Indians from genocide. President Andrew Jackson ignored the Supreme Court and “is reputed to have said, ‘John Marshall has made his decision, now let him enforce it’”. (Anthony Hall, The American Empire and the Fourth World, McGill/Queens, 2003, p. 405). Genocide of the native Indians in the USA continued unchallenged. Throughout the Second World War, IBM supplied (and profitted from doing so) the necessary components to make the Nazi Death Camps efficient. IBM’s president, Thomas Watson, an open admirer of Hitler, received the highest Nazi honour available to a non-German, in 1937. Edwin Black writes: “When the war ended, IBM NY was able to recapture its problematic but valuable German subsidiary, recover its machines and assimilate all the profits.” (Edwin Black, IBM and the Holocaust, NY, Crown, 2001, p. 398) What was, in effect, trading with the enemy and active support for the Nazis' brutal genocide somehow escaped U.S. justice. A historical pattern of profit-opportunism erasing justice is clear in the USA. The Supreme Court decision about Guantanamo has been abandoned by the press and media (and Congress) in the world of The New Fascism. A hugely important decision by the Court, it is quickly ignored so that it may be forgotten. A key sign of The New Fascism is contempt for international law. Historically, totalitarian countries have often erased humane and international safeguards for enemies in order to dominate with whatever brutality they have wished to employ. The U.S. is in that precise situation, and the Stephen Harper “New Fascist” Canadian government backs the U.S. totally. Look at Mexico. As a half million people demonstrate in Mexico City, claiming a fraudulent election, The Globe and Mail (July 8 06 A12) presents a carefully photographed and sanitized Felipe Calderon, the Right (PAN) candidate who claims election. Hardly mentioning the conflict over the election, the Globe’s story is a series of warm testimonials to Felipe Calderon’s political abilities. The Globe doesn’t report that Lopez Obrador, convincingly claiming victory, represents the party which – it is almost universally agreed – had its election fraudulently stolen in 1988. The electric system failed (?) in the midst of the election count, the counting machines all went down, and – to everyone’s surprise – the candidate for the Right (the PRI) won the election. The U.S. was delighted and entered quickly into good terms with the fraudulent PRI president. The 1988 fraudulent election was not seriously questioned by any Western “democratic” government. Now, with the help of publications like the Globe and Mail, Western countries are trying to ignore the present, almost certainly fraudulent Mexican election. But, this time, the Mexican people refuse to ignore the fraudulence. As the Middle East is proving, continued oppression eventually results in resistance. Resistance to oppression is called by The New Fascism “insurgency”, “terrorism”, “religious fundamentalism”. Finally, come home to Canada. Look at the softwood lumber debacle. In Canada The New Fascism is united with cringing colonialism, with – that is to say – abject fawning upon the USA. We should be clear. In conventional definition, fascism is a political attitude that places the nation-state (as defined by an undemocratic dictatorship or oligarchy) before all else – before individual or human rights or larger international responsibilities. Keys to its general understanding are (a) totalitarian rule (b) the use of violent police force against citizens (c) the use of population members to aggrandize the leadership by rallies, parading, “dying for the country”, and so on (d) a gigantic indoctrination process to force conformity – employing all the press and media (e) and contempt for law, especially international law. The New Fascism in Canada and the Western World, to begin, (1) is marked by a fraudulent misrepresentation of democracy by the corporate class that wants to erase it. Democratic trust and processes are violated in order to destroy democracy. We must remember that a very large segment of serious U.S. opinion believes George W. Bush came to power as president of the United States through violation of democratic trust and democratic processes there. In The New Fascism (2) democracy is presented as a condition permitting unlimited and often immoral “liberty” to private corporations existing in societies for whom democratic elections are more and more a sham. When the Palestinians elect, democratically, a government the Western nations don’t like, the Palestinians may be invaded. When the Mexican people attempt to choose a leftward government, forces in control of balloting set to work to pollute the election process. When the Eurocrats of the European Union wanted to pass a constitution favouring private corporations, press, media, politicans, and corporate leaders lied about its contents, polluting the referendum process, until the French awakened, and with the Dutch prevented passage of the new constitution. The New Fascism is marked (3) by a more persistent taking of democratic power by people working primarily for The New Fascism and its corporate sponsors. David Emerson, MP and cabinet minister, began his political climb by stripping the B.C. forest industry of reasonable safety protections – in concert with Gordon Campbell, B.C. premier. (Since then, forestry deaths have escalated staggeringly.) Then David Emerson (as first Chair of the disabled B.C. Ferries operation) set up the leadership intended to vitiate and destroy B.C. Ferries as a public corporation. A proved henchman of Gordon Campbell, Emerson was lubricated by the greasy provincial/federal Liberal mafia into a federal candidacy for the Liberal Party – “hand-picked” by Paul Martin. Emerson won and became Minister of Industry. He was not Minister of International Trade when the Liberals were to begin yet another negotiation on softwood lumber. Paul Martin and George Bush met at Cancun, and – it is alleged in B.C. – Bush insisted David Emerson be a Canadian negotiator. George Bush insisted…. If the allegation is true, we may assume that sell-out Gordon Campbell made clear to the Bush forces that David Emerson would negotiate on their behalf. Paul Martin’s government was defeated. Having double-crossed the B.C. people, David Emerson proceeded to double-cross Paul Martin. This time he was made Minister of International Trade by Stephen Harper. With Harper’s blessing he worked for the Bush forces and double-crossed Canada; the softwood lumber deal is a huge declaration of colonial subordination and a fawning celebration of inferiority. His third or fourth double-cross seems to be a double-cross of his old soul-mate, Gordon Campbell, since B.C. forest interests (and Campbell) express huge dissatisfaction with the “agreement”. But that may be a ruse. Campbell may want a surrogate to turn B.C. forests over to U.S. interests. In that case he and Emerson will be working together. The New Fascism in Canada means (a) the rule of private corporations (b) the elevation to power of people adhering to The New Fascism (c) the wholesale use of press and media to lie to the population about the meaning of democracy (d) the destruction of health and safety codes, of limits upon police action, and of all publicly owned services and institutions (e) and total subservience to the USA in order to end Canadian sovereignty The New Fascists in Canada intend the end of Canada as a self-determining, self-respecting community. If they gain increasing power and confidence, we may expect them to use any (fascistic) form of force to gain their ends. While that is the condition of the Canadian community now, the political opposition throughout the country is in denial. The federal Liberal Party could very well produce a Stephen Harper clone as new leader. The federal NDP recognizes almost none of the problems I cite. Peace and anti-war groups are in fragmented gatherings doing what would be good work if the whole community were not threatened. None of them appears to be calling for a common front to face The New Fascism. For The New Fascism taking over Canada seems to be a cakewalk. Each public concern group – the Council of Canadians, Canadians Concerned About Free Trade, Peace Groups, Anti-War groups, Social Democrats, Advocates for the Environment, and more, are all focussed on partial issues, forgetting what Mao said when challenged for making a common front with Chiang Kai Shek against the Japanese invaders. Said Mao: “You cannot have a Socialist China if there is no China”. By the same token, you cannot have a democratic Canada if there is no Canada. The New Fascism is at work, now, to wipe it out. [Proofreader's note: this article was edited for spelling and typos on July 13, 2006]