Sociology and Explanations

Chip Berlet cberlet at igc.org
Mon Oct 1 17:50:47 PDT 2001


Thank you for your patronizing response. I am not aware of anyone on this list in the last three years taking the position that fascism is any form of force to achieve political ends. I asked you for an explanation, not a snide response.

Here is my serious response.

It would seem that I should assume from your statement that you do not believe that the German Nazi Party was fascist before Hitler was given state power?

Most analysts think there are fascist political movements.

May I suggest reading:

Griffin, Roger. (1991). The Nature of Fascism. New York: St. Martin’s Press.

or his introduction to fascism:

Fascism...modern political ideology that seeks to regenerate the social, economic, and cultural life of a country by basing it on a heightened sense of national belonging or ethnic identity. Fascism rejects liberal ideas such as freedom and individual rights, and often presses for the destruction of elections, legislatures, and other elements of democracy. Despite the idealistic goals of fascism, attempts to build fascist societies have led to wars and persecutions that caused millions of deaths. As a result, fascism is strongly associated with right-wing fanaticism, racism, totalitarianism, and violence.

Find the whole article at:

http://www.brookes.ac.uk/schools/humanities/staff/FAECRG2.htm

Sincerely,

-Chip Berlet

----- Original Message ----- From: "Charles Jannuzi" <jannuzi at edu00.f-edu.fukui-u.ac.jp> To: <lbo-talk at lists.panix.com> Sent: Sunday, September 30, 2001 9:15 PM Subject: Re: Sociology and Explanations


> Chip directed this at me, so I'll respond below:
>
> CHIP wrote in part:
>
> >>It seems that you are arguing that a person, group, or movement cannot be
> fascist unless they are a state? Or that fascist movements can't cross
> national
> boundaries?
>
> Where is this coming from?<<
>
> Because I identify fascism with nationalist statism. If you wanted to make
> an argument that Syria and Iraq--Baathist states--have elements of fascism,
> I'd agree.
>
> OBL is not in charge of any state, and the Taliban barely are. I'm not sure
> OBL wants to be in charge of any state.
> His groups seem to thrive on the margins of modern Arab states and he has
> refuge in a geographical entity with an inarguably failed state.
>
> I prefer to keep fascism in my lexicon of useful political terminology than
> as a catch-all word for anyone who uses force to achieve political ends.
>
> Yours,
> Charles Jannuzi
> Fukui, Japan
>
>
>



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