Political repression, carried out in secret, is no not new this is very very true. These campaigns, often involving the co-operation of judicial organs are by necessity in-disguise. Repression during liberal-democratic regimes in a sense must adopt underhand measures, deception, false evidence and varieties of setups and the occassional assination carried out by third parties.
It is not that such repressive measures are undertaken which is the problem but the form. The fact that such things are conducted in spite of laws and civil rights protections, that by nature they are deceptions is entirely different to when the laws themselves of disposed of and the veneer of civil protection is simply dissolved.
Once this happens (and it looks like it is a process well underway) and repression becomes an open arm of governement we get into severe problems. As I said Australian security/intelligence agencies have been given the right for mid-night knocks at the door, holding people incommunicardo not because they are accused of crimes but may know something of such "crimes". They are denied legal representation, their dentition can be extended and with-holding information can itself become a crime (ie not knowing anything can lead to a prison sentence).
10 year prison sentences for habouring and/or abetting illegal migrants is now in law. Passing on information through the internet (forwarding mail) can be a criminal offence. All governement documents (regardless of their security classification) are given protection - gaol for giving out, obtaining or using in any form such documents is now a security offence.
None of the things have presently been applied that anybody knows of. But as repressive measures on paper, they put us in a position which is new and dangerous. In recent years (well before S11) special forces became involved in industrial disputes, though it is debatable to what extent.
Whatever you want to lable it, widescale repression, openly conducted is waiting on the wings. We are in a period where this is being tested, if they can get away with it then we are in a distinctly different suituation - we stand on the breach at this moment.
I have in the past had my disagreements with Hakki, but when he says (in this thread):
"So what is the best countermove? An antifascist bloc is a good idea even if the state isn't fascist, because all the elements of fascism are there except one - obedience "
I agree wholeheartedly. In fact perhaps obedience is the last element which will bring all these measures into existence on a significant scale. If this trend is met and rebuffed, then the "fascism"may be safely written-off but not before, and the direction it is presently taking, though not resembling any past fascism in how these measures are being created, is I think unmistakably bad.
Again I point to the significance of the collapse of liberal democratic and social democratic mediation as the most important element. This is the most significant factor, the basic ground work to the rise of fascism and bonapartism in the past. An anlysis which does not take this into account miusses the point for it is these factors which in the past acted as govenors of repressive measures, ensuring not so much that they did not take place but that they could only do so on a limited basis and by subtefuge.
Repression unlimited and overt is something very different to what many of us have ever experienced, the social, economic and cultural effects damaging to the working class and perhaps in this last stage of capitalism the first step towards historic and long lasting barbarianism as suggested by Marx as being the only alternative to transforming an exhausted mode of production.
So Chip I would harken back to Hakki's words and suggest that the problem is at this stage less theoretical then it may appear. We do need to nut-out what is in fact going on, perhaps some new expression will emerge other then fascism, but in the process we must also act.
I praise Hakki's suggestion of an anti-fascist front (he will probably not agree but in my parlance a popular front), we need to lay aside are sectarian squabbles, act as a rallying point for the defeated liberal democrats and social democrats and strike out against the forces of reaction. Few will agree with my formulation but something within it is begging to come forth and time is running out.
--- Message Received --- From: "Chip Berlet" <cberlet at igc.org> To: <lbo-talk at lists.panix.com> Date: Sat, 16 Feb 2002 11:23:51 -0500 Subject: RE: Bonapartism, Fascism & our new order
Hi,
The basic problems we have are (1) primarily the use of the term fascism, and (2) the question of how different things are now compared to other moments in history in capitalist economies.
I agree with you that there are reactionary elements involved in the current wave of repression, but there are also forward thinking elements that are merely being opportunistic.
The situation in Australia (and New Zealand) has some similarities and some differences. In both nations US conservative business-oriented groups have helped set up think tanks to promote "neo-liberal" economic policies. In Australia, there has been the growth of a xenophobic populist mass movement similar to the forces that suport Pat Buchanan in the U.S. At least in New Zealand (I don't know about Australia) there have been tours by Christian fundamentalists concerned about gender and sexuality issues, although this is very different from the power these forces have in the US.
As for the rise of global repression...yes, it is in a period of growth, but historically this has happened before. I am not brushing it off as an issue, I am arguing that while repression is resugent, it is not a new phenomena, and that to see it as "new" rather than "resurgent" is an analytical error. In terms of the US, try looking at:
Churchill, Ward and Jim Vander Wall. (1988). Agents of Repression: The FBI’s Secret Wars Against the Black Panther Party and the American Indian Movement. Boston: South End Press.
Churchill, Ward and Jim Vander Wall. (1989). COINTELPRO Papers: Documents from the FBI's Secret Wars Against Dissent in the United States. Boston: South End Press.
Cunningham, David. (Forthcoming). "State vs. Social Movement: The FBI's COINTELPRO Against the New Left" In Jack Goldstone, ed., States, Parties, and Social Movements. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
Donner, Frank J. (1980). The Age of Surveillance: The Aims and Methods of America’s Political Intelligence System. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
Donner, Frank J. (1990). Protectors of Privilege: Red Squads and Police Repression in Urban America. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Gelbspan, Ross. (1991). Break–Ins, Death Threats and the FBI: The Covert War Against the Central America Movement. Boston: South End Press.
Glick, Brian. (1989). War at Home: Covert Action Against U. S. Activists and What We Can Do About It. Boston: South End Press.
Goldstein, Robert J. (1978). Political Repression in Modern America, 1870 to Present, 2nd edition. Rochester VT: Schenkman Books, Inc.
Herman, Edward and Gerry O'Sullivan. (1989). The “Terrorism” Industry: The Experts and Institutions That Shape Our View of Terror. New York: Pantheon.
Schultz, Bud and Ruth Schultz. (1989). It Did Happen Here: Recollections of Political Repression in America. Berkeley: University of California Press.
The more useful analogy is not to fascism, but to previous periods of political repression in the US. Only by ignoring this history can one seriously suggest that fascism is the proper analogy when so few elements of fascism are actually present, save those related to authoritarian state action.
-Chip Berlet
Greg Schofield Perth Australia g_schofield at dingoblue.net.au _______________________________________________ _______________________________________________
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