A New Axis Of Evil: The Threat of Hindutva, Zionism and Christo-Fascism
By Robert Alex Stubblefield
Across the globe, fascist movements are gaining power and are undermining democracy. Whether it is the recent elections of Javier Millei of Argentina, or Geet Wilders of the Netherlands, the spread of fascism in this time period is eerily reminiscent of the rise of Fascism exactly a century ago. What is equally terrifying is what we are seeing in real time is a fascism that is mixed with a religious fervor and intentional misinterpretation of their respective scriptures. Despite the difference in origins, all three of these ideologies have come together to form a new axis of evil that not only seeks to empower the right, but also suppress any dissenting voices that seeks to speak up for the oppressed. The ideological rise of Hindutva, Zionism, and Christian Fascism have dangers that must not only be called out and snuffed out, but also highlights why liberation movements must no longer be a check on power, but must be in power themselves to stop these ideologies.
Hindutva, Zionism, and Christian Fascism: What are they?
Before one explains how dangerous these ideologies are and how they are the New Axis of Evil, one must understand what these ideologies are. With Hindutva is an ideology developed by V.D Savarkar in the 1930’s that seeks to create a Hindu-ethno state in India and was heavily influenced by Hitler’s” Nazi Germany and Mussolini’s Fascist Italy. Like the aforementioned, Hindutva seeks to purge what they deem to be foreign and corrupting influence — Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, Sikhism, Dalits, Siddhis — from India.Zionism is the ideology that seeks the creation and development of Jewish-ethno state in the ‘Land of Zion’.The term Christian/Christo-Fascism was coined back in 1970 by Dorothee Solle to describe an ideology that creates a ultra-conservative Christian-ethno state and to impose Christianity on other religions and minorities. While the term was coined in 1970, one can argue that Christo-fascism has been around since the founding of the United States from the whole of city of hill mythology to the Manifest Destiny Doctrine, to the Big Stick Policy, each one of these has emphasized a so-called “Christianizing” mission to bring civilization to so-called uncivilized beings, despite history saying otherwise. While there may be difference in religious origins, the common end game is the same: All minorities killed or subjugated and only one group in power.
The Dangerous Three: Why We Need to Be Aware
These three far-right ideologies should all have us concerned from the dangers they pose both individually and collectively.Beginning with Hindutva, under the regime of Narendra Modi, Christian and Muslim cemeteries have been desecrated in places like Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh and churches in Manipur have been left to burn. Not only that, but with Hindutva, Muslims have had their mosques such as the Babri Masjid destroyed and homes bulldozed over and being forced to re-convert to Hinduism and if found preaching either the Bible or the Koran, they can be killed. This violence isn’t limited to Christians and Muslims however. The Dalit, Sikh and Buddhist communities have also been threatened with Sikhs being attacked with mob violence and the Dalit-Ambedkarite community ( fka as the untouchables) face caste discrimination in every facet of life from school, to work options, to even marriages. With Zionism, the main target has been and continues to be the overwhelmingly Muslim Palestinian people. With regards to Christian Fascism, we see the violence committed towards Black Lives Matter activists and anybody who doesn’t practice their particular brand of “Christianity”. For instance, if a Christian actually practices what Jesus taught, which is to love your neighbor unconditionally and to challenge the status quo, a Christo-Fascist will either shut down the conversation or threaten violence. In many cases Christian-Fascists have defaced synagogues, mosques, temples, and in many cases, set fire to black churches.
Another reason why we need to be concerned is because these ideologies are forming an axis of evil that paints themselves as honorable and others as barbaric. For instance India, Israel and the United States all use Islamophobia and state that Muslims are a threat and in the case of Israel and India, use Islamophobia to paint themselves as alleged bastions of democracy surrounded by “hostile” Muslim nations. Another thing that these ideologies are converging on is the roots of anti-blackness. For instance, just like here in the United States with attacks on Black Lives Matter protestors, in India the Siddhi community, a community that was enslaved in India from modern day Kenya and Uganda, are losing their land despite agreements with the Indian government back in 1947 that their land is theirs, are being robbed of their land and being told that they don’t belong to India. In Israel due to Zionism, not only are Afro-Palestinians under attack but also Ethiopian and Sudanese migrants. It has recently been revealed that the Israeli government has been sterilizing Ethiopian women without them knowing. This is what has gone and still occurs here in the United States in which black and brown women were sterilized in prison. The last two ways that these are converging on are in both education and playing the victim. In the education area, Hindutva, Zionism and Christo-Fascism attack education by trying to create a revisionist history that whitewashes or ignores the contributions of the marginalized to society while at the same time banning books by authors that critique or tell the truth about how each of these societies have attacked their own. Whether it is outlawing slavery, or Black History Month, whether it is not talking about caste, or whether it is talking about their land always being theirs despite people living there thousands of years prior, it is, in essence, propaganda that these ideologies want taught. On playing the victim, whenever anyone with a conscience calls out these fascist ideologies, or criticizes their human rights violations, these persons or groups get accused of being Anti-Semitic, Hinduphobic or Anti-American. Recently commentators from the far-right Zionist and Hindutva movements met in Washington DC in Congress to create a Namaste-Shalom Alliance that will partner with each other to ensure that not only will they see their programs have influence but to also in a way shield each other under the guise of religious liberty.
The Point
The point of all of this convergence is the end game of fascism, which is twofold: genocide and creating an ethno-state. Beginning with creating an ethno-state, it has been announced that the current Israeli government has announced a Greater Israel which would encompass in their words “All of Judaea and Samaria.” The lands that would be part of the Greater Israel would be all of Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon, part of Iraq, and part of Syria. If this sounds familiar, it is because India has made similar statements of a Greater India with it’s territory being Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Nepal, Afghanistan, Bhutan, Maldives, and Tibet as one nation. This theory has been propagated by organizations such as the RSS, The Shiv Sena and other organizations under the Sangh Paravar. On the genocide front, all three of these ideologies call for the death or complete subjugation of groups, be they Muslim, Buddhist, Dalit, Sikh, African-American, Indigenous, etc — anybody who they consider ‘other’ can be killed and are already being killed.
#democracy #history #antifascism
Robert Alex Stubblefield is a poet, author, activist and organizer currently located in the DMV. He is a member of the Bethesda African Cemetery Coalition, Racial Justice Now!, Montgomery County Chapter of Democratic Socialists of America, Young People for Progress, No Hindutva MD, and a host of other organizations. He has been published in Black Agenda Report, Maryland Matters and Medium. When not fighting the power, he can be found exercising or hanging with friends and family.
