The new fascism - two photos that say it all
vast minority | 11.02.2012 09:18
THESE two photographs, circulating round the world yesterday, tell us all we need to know about the new fascism threatening humanity.
The first shows US Marines in Afghanistan, posing proudly with a home-made addition to the Stars and Stripes which ‘coincidentally’ happens to be the same as the Nazi SS logo.
The second shows a Greek riot cop kicking in the head a protester who had dared to show his opposition to the slavery and poverty being imposed on his people by the IMF and the banks.
We do not think it is an exaggeration to describe the current neoliberal global regime as a new form of fascism.
On the level of political ideology, there are clearly big differences between the nationalist corporatism of Mussolini and Hitler and the internationalist capitalism we now must confront.
But there are similarities, and indeed a traceable continuation, on a deeper level.
At the end of the Second World War, the US and UK recruited large numbers of former Nazis and Fascists into their Gladio network of anti-communist secret armies.
At the same time the West learned from the Nazis’ work in various fields – from rocket science to mass manipulation by propaganda, which also proved so easy to transfer to the commercial realm.
As so often happens, the victory of capitalism over fascism turned out in the long term to have been more of a merger.
While, on paper, the neoliberal model presents itself as the ‘democratic’ opposite of fascism, that has always been a lie, as anybody paying a modicum of attention will have noticed.
Now that it finds its hegemony under threat, its fascistic essence is becoming harder to conceal.
It is significant that more obviously identifiable far-right extremists, who in the 20th century would have been fiercely opposed to ‘cosmopolitan’ capitalism, are now instinctively drawn to defending the neoliberal world order, as we have previously noted.
Like the US Marines attracted to the SS branding, they somehow know that this is the same entity, resurfaced after its apparent death nearly 70 years ago in a new guise but with the same life-hating brutality.
Millions gave their lives to defeat the evil of the original fascist incarnation.
And now a new generation are going to have to do it all again.
The second shows a Greek riot cop kicking in the head a protester who had dared to show his opposition to the slavery and poverty being imposed on his people by the IMF and the banks.
We do not think it is an exaggeration to describe the current neoliberal global regime as a new form of fascism.
On the level of political ideology, there are clearly big differences between the nationalist corporatism of Mussolini and Hitler and the internationalist capitalism we now must confront.
But there are similarities, and indeed a traceable continuation, on a deeper level.
At the end of the Second World War, the US and UK recruited large numbers of former Nazis and Fascists into their Gladio network of anti-communist secret armies.
At the same time the West learned from the Nazis’ work in various fields – from rocket science to mass manipulation by propaganda, which also proved so easy to transfer to the commercial realm.
As so often happens, the victory of capitalism over fascism turned out in the long term to have been more of a merger.
While, on paper, the neoliberal model presents itself as the ‘democratic’ opposite of fascism, that has always been a lie, as anybody paying a modicum of attention will have noticed.
Now that it finds its hegemony under threat, its fascistic essence is becoming harder to conceal.
It is significant that more obviously identifiable far-right extremists, who in the 20th century would have been fiercely opposed to ‘cosmopolitan’ capitalism, are now instinctively drawn to defending the neoliberal world order, as we have previously noted.
Like the US Marines attracted to the SS branding, they somehow know that this is the same entity, resurfaced after its apparent death nearly 70 years ago in a new guise but with the same life-hating brutality.
Millions gave their lives to defeat the evil of the original fascist incarnation.
And now a new generation are going to have to do it all again.
vast minority
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Comments
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the truth
11.02.2012 11:49
anon
Some inaccuracies
11.02.2012 11:56
Fail. Its the Sniper Scouts. Sorry mate - but you have no idea what you are talking about.
>> The second shows a Greek riot cop kicking in the head a protester who had dared to show his opposition to the slavery and poverty being imposed on his people by the IMF and the banks.
Fail. Ironically, I've seen similar photos of rioters do the same to the police BEFORE this photo was taken. Actually worse, with a mob of rioters on the police.
We do not think it is an exaggeration to describe the current neoliberal global regime as a new form of fascism.
>> At the end of the Second World War, the US and UK recruited large numbers of former Nazis and Fascists into their Gladio network of anti-communist secret armies.
So did the communists.
>> At the same time the West learned from the Nazis’ work in various fields – from rocket science to mass manipulation by propaganda, which also proved so easy to transfer to the commercial realm.
That would be engineering and marketing then. So are you saying NASA and the field of Marketing are both the devils work?
anon
No inaccuracy
11.02.2012 15:29
Scout Snipers in Marine infantry battalions fell under the Surveillance and Target Acquisition (STA) units initially, and now, more formalized, they belong to the Infantry Battalion's Scout Sniper Platoon (SSP), usually within the headquarters and service (H&S) company. Marine Corps Scout Snipers are trained at one of the four school house locations. The motto of the Marine Scout Sniper is "One shot, one kill."
The term "Scout Sniper" is only used officially by the Marine Corps but it does not imply a differing mission from the U.S. Army Sniper. "
somebody
They arnt the SS, they are Scout Snipers
11.02.2012 19:56
god
Bit of a clarification
12.02.2012 00:22
Also, the difference between protesters kicking prone riot officers and the above is that riot police are so heavily armoured it's next to impossible to cause any damage with physical force to them, and the protester above is clearly unconscious, shown by his relaxed state - when attacked to the head, it is impossible not to raise the arms otherwise. Not that attacking police is fair game, but it's a different matter entirely.
c.
comatus1649
sort yourselves out
12.02.2012 10:50
They have proved time and time again what they really are with all the videos and photo's leaked. Weak, misguided human biengs, turned into little more than dumbed down servile killers. Fu*k anyone sympathising or making up excuses for their actions, they signed the papers, they hold the guns, they torture civilians for fun, even children, and seem to show pleasure whilst doing so?
Anyone making excuses or sympathising needs to seriously fuxking think about just what it is exactly their sympathising for.
why the whatt
factcheck
12.02.2012 13:10
No they don't. And if anyone does - they are kicked out and locked up for a long time.
As proven by facts.
Rice
they aint worth shit
12.02.2012 19:00
so has every single soldier in that video been kicked out? DOUBT it. And there's countless more examples.
Once again, realize what you're sticking up for.
fuck your facts
SS flag was bought from a Nazi memorabilia website
12.02.2012 20:45
Use of the "SS" symbol
The publication of this image, showing scout snipers posing with an Runic "ᛋᛋ" flag in Afghanistan in 2010, triggered the controversy about the scout snipers' use of the Runic "ᛋᛋ" symbol.
In February 2012, U.S. media reported that Marine scout snipers had been using the double Sig rune (ϟϟ, "SS") in its "Armanen" form (Runic "ᛋᛋ") to symbolize their function since at least the 1980s.[7][8] The same stylized double rune was the symbol of the SS, the paramilitary Nazi organization that was instrumental in conducting the Holocaust. Strong public criticism of this practice ensued, and the Commandant of the Marine Corps gave orders to stop it, issued an apology and ordered an investigation into the prevalence of this practice.[8]
A Marine official was quoted as saying that their leadership believed that the Marines did not understand the significance of the logo.[8] The Military Religious Freedom Foundation, which had helped circulate an image of snipers posing with a blue "SS" flag, questioned this assumption, writing that the flag was sold by a website dedicated to German World War II and Nazi memoriabilia.[9]
anon