Somebody like Saddam appears as national liberationist, fascist dictator, American Quisling, Communal demogue and much more. It is precisely:
"What do we learn about fascism or quasi-fascism from this? that it's going to take the form dictated by the structure and factors of that society in which it is operating. so the question really isn't how a state or society fits into a the criteria of fascism but more the other way around. "
But I differ in a detail, this is "fascism" not as a historical force welling up within the very nature of capital, but fascism simply meaning "bad" over which there is an influence of many forces and relationships.Living within it makes precious little difference on this fine detail. However, understanding it fully requires a sharper scapel.
Supporting Saddam externally, means truncating the internal Iraqui contradictions (as clearly seen in the Gulf War when by artificially halting a military operation and allowing nominal enemy forces to crush internal resistence saved the regime's arse - shades of the Prussian halt outside Paris in 1871 so the French could supress the Commune).
These however are all very fine lines. My point is that we must focus in a world perspectives of what is emerging in the US, internal contradictions which I do not believe we even have the most basic grasp are developing from within itself a form of political oppression that is effecting the whole world.
Just as in the early part of the twentith century, internal contradictions generated fascism and fascist tendencies which produced a world war, we are looking at something that is on a huge scale in conditions that are entirely novel. Moreover, despite all the parefinalia of bourgeois democracy, without thugs on the street, apparently by some wierd form of social consensus this new oppression gains strength without significant opposition.
There is a struggle, but such a lopsided one it fails to fall easily into previous concepts.
The reason I am trying to be so finnicky about appling concepts to past experiences and apparently similiar epsisodes (such as Saddam) is a clumsy attempt to gain a better focus.
My only conclusion so far, looking back on main-line fascism as it developed in the past (that is Italy and Germany) is that they shared in common the fact that they were by normal means locked-out of imperial contest (similar to Japan in that respect as well) yet in their own ways had strong capitalist potential (Germany and Japan clearly Italy is a relative strength in the Mediterean region).
Now shift to the US the supreme superpower. Nothing really resembles the other examples, but in a strange way as supreme super-power the US is hitting some limits as to what it can do (in a sense it too is confined) - its actions under Bush (and prefigured by Reagan and Bush Snr) seem only understandable by an attempt to recreate the Superpower as an arbitary world dictator (shades of Adolf). Here the limits seem to have nothing to do with any real threat, or any specific imperial advantage in the economic sense - rather the limits seem to be international relations themselves and it seems to me that this is what is giving some rationality to the changes the US is making to itself and imposing on the world.
The War on Drugs prefigures the War on Terror, as the previous "war" separates out from anti-communism which was enmeshed in international relations and moves towards a self-appointed police role where the police make the laws as suits them and carries out the sentence seems more connected to the War on Terror then either truely does to the many subtefuges and vast ideological supported needed for anti-communist actions.
When people were arguing about the motivation of oil in the Afghan campaign, I was trying to stress that this was a secondary feature not the motivating one. Being in Australia the first period of Bush looms large where his administration seemed to be preparing for a conflict over China without any particular reason, S11 simply was a blessing to Bush supplying all the argument necessary and only requiring a shifting of bomb sights from Asia to the middle east.
Bush's Japan speech refocussed on my region again putting North Korea in the sights but also referring again to China - mentioned in passing was the unilateral decision to occupy Australia (no doubt soon to be invited by our ever-compliant governement). Australia is an important stragetic element in world domination, though it looks like no such thing.
Australia is the strategic lock on Asia, and secures the backdoor to the whole Middle East. Most of the time the lock is simply left open - only in times like these is the key applied. The last time Australia was so used was WWII (during Vietnam it was just a coinventiant way station, as the logistical support was moved much closer to the front and did not have to worry about third party intervention).
A significnt US military presence in Australia is a serious thing - there is no such presence at the moment (a few listening posts and the occassional use of our airfields - while the security forces have never been much but an extension of the CIA). This is the norm, Australia as an open lock, but once significant US forces and logistics come ashore the whole of Asia will know what it means and the world may well shiver.
Michael all of this is extraordinary, my only hope is that it is more wind than substance but I do not think this is the case. A War with China on whatever scale will be a world disaster (I do not include any nuclear scenario in this assessment). If the US can militarily engage in China its dictatorial ambitions will know no bounds, China is the only significant territory that is independant of US will - it does not have to occupy it but if it succeeds in punishing it the message will be clear - international obediance will replace international relations, US policy will displace all forms of international agreements and laws - this I believe in a nutshell is where it all seems to be leading.
No this is not fascism either, it is something new that could quite well realise the nightmares of Nazism. Nothing in previous history has existed on this scale, no past turn of events is directly analogous to it, we have never had a supreme super-power before and who would have dreamt that the veneer of bourgeois democracy and the rule of law could be slothed-off without real opposition. Hitler did not have it that easy.
--- Message Received --- From: Micheal Ellis <onyxmirr at earthlink.net> To: lbo-talk at lists.panix.com Date: Wed, 20 Feb 2002 11:28:58 -0600 Subject: re: fascism
At 10:59 PM +0800 2/20/02, Greg Schofield wrote:
>Now look at Saddam, just another fascist? Not quite, as unpleasant as his regime is, unlike fascism which was always home grown, always sprung from within the society, we find his dictatorship was imposed on Iraq by the US.
in what way? how was Saddam not "home grown"? other than Husseins power being maintained by support of the U.S. after he came to power. is that what you are talking about? Hussiens rise to power within Iraq is from what i've read similar to Stalin's, in fact in an interview with Said K. Aburish (sp?) he gives a fairly detailed account and states that Hussein in fact did idolize Stalin as a hero, he even had pictures of Stalin in his office when he working in the regime that preceded his.
would Hussein have been able to hold power in Iraq without u.s support? ...from what i've read Hussein was able to fully industrialize Iraq by playing the U.S. and the U.S.S.R against each other both bidding and shipping arms to iraq competing for a client state etc. ....anyway that's SKAs account and he worked closely with Hussein even before his rise to power......BUT..who knows, his statements about hussein to the media could have been some part of an asylum deal with the feds, CIA etc. where he get's a nice paycheck and no trouble if he doesn't bring up certain details about the U.S. relationship with Hussein prior to his takeover. on the other hand SKA pretty much blames the U.S. for starting/provoking the gulf war by getting Kuwait to flood the oil market to lower oil prices costing Iraq billions since they had nationalized the oil industry.....i trust his account mostly
as far as fascism, Hussein is about as fascist as Stalin was. Hussien wasn't backed by Iraqi finance capital because there wasn't much capital to finance anything. that was the agenda of the regime Hussein was part of before he came to power was to industrialize Iraq. He did that mostly by nationalizing a majority of Iraqi industry, mostly oil...which a dead on fascist would balk at.... the fascist way of financing industry is the current american way infact that was the main reason anti-semitism was so successful in nazi germany because it provided slave labor to private owned industry. private capital generally doesn't finance lunatics if it doesn't profit from it (obviously) just like private capital withdrew support for JFK when he wanted to escalate the vietnam war that was becoming too costly to private industry (trouble at home etc.)
What do we learn about fascism or quasi-fascism from this? that it's going to take the form dictated by the structure and factors of that society in which it is operating. so the question really isn't how a state or society fits into a the criteria of fascism but more the other way around. It's also not a matter of a 'new fascism", "neo nazism" it's a matter of the motives behind it are always there it's just a matter of what they can get away with and be successful, trial and error, an ongoing social experiment on society by wealth and power.
Greg Schofield Perth Australia g_schofield at dingoblue.net.au _______________________________________________ _______________________________________________
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