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Wednesday, October 20, 2004 7:53 PM

Wake up and smell the fascism

 

 

14 points of fascism under george bush in the united states

 

 

 

Download the informative trifold pamphlet of these 14 points in .pdf

format here (right click, save target as)

 

In " Fascism Anyone?, " Dr. Lawrence Britt, a political scientist,

identifies 14 characteristics common to fascist regimes. His comparisons of

Hitler, Mussolini, Franco, Suharto, and Pinochet yielded this list of 14

" identifying characteristics of fascism. "

 

 

 

1.) Powerful and Continuing Nationalism

Fascist regimes tend to make constant use of patriotic mottos, slogans,

symbols, songs, and other paraphernalia. Flags are seen everywhere, as are flag

symbols on clothing and in public displays.

 

 

 

 

and let's not forget the failed " Bring 'em on! "

 

 

 

 

2.) Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights

 

Because of fear of enemies and the need for security, the people in

fascist regimes are persuaded that human rights can be ignored in certain cases

because of " need. " The people tend to look the other way or even approve of

torture, summary executions, assassinations, long incarcerations of prisoners,

etc.

 

House bill looks to legalize torture by foreign operatives

 

Ashcroft refuses to give Congress torture memo

 

July 1, 2003: U.S. Suspends Military Aid to Nearly 50 Countries: The

United States on Tuesday suspended military assistance to nearly 50 countries,

because they have supported the International Criminal Court and failed to

exempt Americans from possible prosecution.

 

Outsourcing Torture: Contractors act as interrogators: Defense Department

turned to private sources to question prisoners for intelligence gathering.

 

US has at least 9000 prisoners in secret detention

 

al-Qaida Detainees 'Disappeared' : At least 11 al-Qaida suspects have

" disappeared " in U.S. custody, and some may have been tortured, Human Rights

Watch said in a report issued Monday.

 

President Bush today distanced himself from his administration's quiet

effort to push through a law that would make it easier to send captured terror

suspects to countries where torture is used.

 

Guantanamo Eyes Possible Execution Chamber

 

Bush Civil Rights report released: " ...the administration has failed to

exhibit leadership or define a clear focus, relegating civil rights to a low

priority. "

 

 

 

3.) Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause

 

The people are rallied into a unifying patriotic frenzy over the need

to eliminate a perceived common threat or foe: racial, ethnic or religious

minorities; liberals; communists; socialists, terrorists, etc.

 

Cheney warns that if Kerry is elected, the USA will suffer a " devastating

attack "

 

A scared populace is a compliant populace Terrorists are likely planning

U.S. attacks, a U.S. Homeland Security official said Friday.

 

Slander: Liberal Lies About the American Right

 

How U.S. Attorney-General, a Christian Evangelist With Anti-Islamic Views

On Record, Is Waging War On American Muslims

 

Dr. James J. Zogby: A co-ordinated and bigoted assault The anti-Arab

campaign being waged today in the U.S. is an organised multi-pronged effort

targeting a variety of Arab leaders, institutions and Islam.

 

Congressman: Muslims 'enemy amongst us'

 

 

 

4.) Supremacy of the Military

Even when there are widespread domestic problems, the military is given a

disproportionate amount of government funding, and the domestic agenda is

neglected. Soldiers and military service are glamorized.

 

 

 

If you haven't seen the Oreo flash animation yet, see it here

 

 

 

 

5.) Rampant Sexism

The governments of fascist nations tend to be almost exclusively

male-dominated. Under fascist regimes, traditional gender roles are made more

rigid. Opposition to abortion is high, as is homophobia and anti-gay legislation

and national policy.

 

Bush refuses to sign U.N proposal on women's " sexual " rights

 

Partial Birth Abortion Act of 2003 failed to provide any exception if a

woman's health is at stake.

 

Justice Dept. Demands Abortion Records

 

W. David Hager chairman of the FDA's Reproductive Health Drugs Advisory

Committee does not prescribe contraceptives for single women, does not do

abortions, will not prescribe RU-486 and will not insert IUDs. Hager believes

that headaches, PMS and eating disorders can be cured by reading Scripture.

 

Bush Administration to Extend Health Coverage to Fetuses but Not to

Pregnant Women

 

The State Department has awarded an explicitly anti-feminist U.S. group

part of a US$10 million grant to train Iraqi women in political participation

and democracy.

 

Bush calls for constitutional ban on same-sex marriages

 

 

 

6.) Controlled Mass Media

Sometimes the media is directly controlled by the government, but in other

cases, the media is indirectly controlled by government regulation, or

sympathetic media spokespeople and executives. Censorship, especially in war

time, is very common.

 

In bed with the republicans and banning antiwar songs: Clear channel

 

The White House recently called the president of NBC News, to discourage

that network from broadcasting interviews with author of book about the Bush

family

 

Anti-Kerry film to air in prime-time Nation's largest TV chain orders all

62 stations to show movie without commercials right before election

 

US seizes webservers from independent media sites

 

Fibbing It Up at Fox

 

If it's allowed to stand, an FCC ruling will feed media merger mania

 

Articles published by American outlets suppressed in their own country

 

Reporters in chains: Under Homeland Security orders, journalists from

England, Sweden, Holland and other friendly countries are being detained at U.S.

airports, strip-searched and deported.

 

Bush releases another fake news video See an excerpt from the

Education Department fake news propaganda video here (realplayer)

 

 

 

7.) Obsession with National Security

Fear is used as a motivational tool by the government over the masses.

 

 

 

 

Bush Aides ADMIT 'stoking fear' for political gain

 

GOP convention in a nutshell (quicktime)

 

 

 

8.) Religion and Government are Intertwined

Governments in fascist nations tend to use the most common religion in the

nation as a tool to manipulate public opinion. Religious rhetoric and

terminology is common from government leaders, even when the major tenets of the

religion are diametrically opposed to the government's policies or actions.

 

Falwell says evangelical Christians now in control of Republican Party

 

Religious networks broadcasting Bush's White House prayer event

 

Thou shalt be like Bush: What makes this recently established, right-wing

Christian college unique are the increasingly close - critics say alarmingly

close - links it has with the Bush administration and the Republican

establishment.

 

Presidential Prayer Team

 

US is 'battling Satan' says general

 

US soldiers in Iraq asked to pray for Bush

 

Park Service Continues to Push Creationist Theory at Grand Canyon and

other nat'l parks

 

 

 

9.) Corporate Power is Protected

The industrial and business aristocracy of a fascist nation often are the

ones who put the government leaders into power, creating a mutually beneficial

business/government relationship and power elite.

 

Halliburton, Bechtel, and the Carlyle group: Why were lied into war

 

Bush's talent for cronyism: foxes guarding the henhouse

 

Bush Administration Exempts Oil Industry From Clean Water Act

 

Controversial drilling method may be protected Energy bill compromise

would exempt 'hydraulic fracturing'

 

 

 

10.) Labor Power is Suppressed

Because the organizing power of labor is the only real threat to a fascist

government, labor unions are either eliminated entirely, or are severely

suppressed.

 

Organized labor locks horns with White House Union leaders are working to

displace GOP candidates

 

President Bush Attacks Organized Labor Bush attacked organized labor

Saturday, issuing orders effectively reducing how much money unions can spend

for political activities and opening up government contracts to non-union

bidding.

 

March 2001: President Bush signed his name to four executive orders on

organized labor last month, including one that cuts the money unions will have

for political campaign spending.

 

Congress and the Department of Labor are trying to change the rules on

overtime pay, eliminating the 40 hour work week, taking eligibility for overtime

pay away from millions of workers, and replacing time and a half pay with comp

days.

 

 

 

11.) Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts

Fascist nations tend to promote and tolerate open hostility to higher

education, and academia. It is not uncommon for professors and other academics

to be censored or even arrested. Free expression in the arts is openly attacked,

and governments often refuse to fund the arts.

 

Bush's new economic plan cuts funding for arts, education

 

NEA vows to undo President Bush's education programs

 

Artists from all over the world are being refused entry to the US on

security grounds.

 

In a highly unusual use of the USA Patriot Act, which its creators say was

designed to prevent terrorist attacks in the United States, The New York Times

reports that three artists have been served subpoenas to appear before a federal

grand jury June 15

 

 

 

12.) Obsession with Crime and Punishment

Under fascist regimes, the police are given almost limitless power to

enforce laws. The people are often willing to overlook police abuses and even

forego civil liberties in the name of patriotism. There is often a national

police force with virtually unlimited power in fascist nations

 

U.S. Patriot Act Summary of fascist parts

 

EFF Analysis of " Patriot II "

 

 

 

13.) Rampant Cronyism and Corruption

Fascist regimes almost always are governed by groups of friends and

associates who appoint each other to government positions and use governmental

power and authority to protect their friends from accountability. It is not

uncommon in fascist regimes for national resources and even treasures to be

appropriated or even outright stolen by government leaders.

 

Bush Cronyism: Foxes Guarding the henhouse

 

Iran-Contra Felons Get Good Jobs from Bush

 

Big Iraq Reconstruction Contracts Went To Big Donors

 

The companies making the most off the new Medicare contracts also donated

the most to the GOP

 

 

 

14. Fraudulent Elections

Sometimes elections in fascist nations are a complete sham. Other times

elections are manipulated by smear campaigns against or even assassination of

opposition candidates, use of legislation to control voting numbers or political

district boundaries, and manipulation of the media. Fascist nations also

typically use their judiciaries to manipulate or control elections.

 

RNC funds voter suppression efforts in at least 5 states

 

Republican judge upholds RNC efforts to supress Democratic party voters

 

Bush campaign chairman quits over illegal phone jamming

 

the 2000 election

 

How To Rig An Election In The United States

 

Scoop: Diebold Memos Disclose Florida 2000 E-Voting Fraud

 

Election officials all over the country are erecting illegal barriers to

keep young voters from casting ballots. From New Hampshire to California,

officials have designed complex questionnaires that prevent college students

from registering, hired high-powered attorneys to keep them off the rolls, shut

down polling places on campuses and even threatened to arrest and imprison young

voters

 

This picture is what stopped the ballot recounts in Florida shortly after

it seemed that legitimate President Gore had a lead. The " citizens " started

what was later called " the preppy riot " . Screaming, yelling, pounding on the

walls, these " outraged citizens " intimidated the polling officials to halt the

court mandated recount. A closer look reveals who they really were. They were

bussed and flown in at Republican lawmakers expense. Some even flew in on Tom

Delay's private plane.

 

 

 

more election fraud information

 

 

 

 

 

If Mussolini defines fascism as " the merger of corporate and government

power " what does that make the Republican party?

 

Related Articles:

 

" Now and Then " - Part 1 A 3 part series by W David Jenkins III on the

similarities between America now and Germany post Reichstag fire

 

 

" Now and Then " - Part II: The Propaganda Machine

 

Now and Then- Part III

Hitler's Playbook: Bush and the Abuse of Power

 

The Road to Fascism

Make that roads, and three great libertarians explained them, says

Roderick T. Long.

 

Is America Becoming Fascist?

 

Eternal Fascism:

Fourteen Ways of Looking at a Blackshirt

 

The Danger of American Fascism:

With a fascist the problem is never how best to present the truth to the

public but how best to use the news to deceive the public into giving the

fascist and his group more money or more power.

 

Sheila Samples: Freedom To Fascism -- A Bumpy Ride: Republicans don't seem

to realize that they are no longer individual members of a coherent " party, " but

are merely part of a mean-spirited and dangerous movement that is threatening to

sweep away democracy as we know it.

 

Germany In 1933: The Easy Slide Into Fascism

 

The Brownshirting of America: Bush's supporters demand lock-step consensus

that Bush is right. They regard truthful reports that Saddam Hussein had no

weapons of mass destruction and was not involved in the September 11 attack on

the US - truths now firmly established by the Bush administration's own reports

- as treasonous America-bashing.

 

Three women kicked out of Bush rally for wearing t-shirts that say

" Protect Our Civil Liberties. "

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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