The Availability of Fascism

In anticipation of traveling in central europe this summer I am reading the amazing graphic novel, Safe Area Goradze by Joe Saco. The first couple chapters follows the recollections of several characters of things going bad in the former Yugoslavia. It’s a diverse place, with a generation of Muslim, Orthodox Christian, & Catholic children growing up together in Tito’s authoritarian but desegregated and secular nation. Milosevic rises to power by exploiting historical tensions between these groups, grafting the blame for current struggles to the deep roots of ethnic identity.

Ethnic divisions are always there for us to use. Central Europe slid back because common values across cultures were not deeply entrenched enough to withstand racist reflexes when times got hard. A benevolent dictator can only ever be half of a solution.

I feel us sliding back. If we had truly experienced a second great depression in the wake of 2008, our fascism might be fully out of the closet. Imagine the conversation we would be having about immigration, Islam, police brutality… Unemployment never quite hit 10% and we have, in Donald Trump, a philosophical shape shifter enjoying his greatest success in the shape of a racist. Defeating him in November will not change the tendencies of the millions whose shape he takes. We have deep cultural work to do here, and we’d better make progress before times get hard again.