Fear The State

"Fascism, the more it considers and observes the future and the development of humanity, quite apart from political considerations of the moment, believes neither in the possibility nor the utility of perpetual peace."

"The twentieth century will be known in history as the century of Fascism."

- Benito Mussolini

Mussolini's timing might be a few years out, but his description of fascism is spot on. An essentially unprincipled form of governance, whose operational mode is guided by political expediency and whose defining essence is a belief in perpetual war - a perfect match for the neocon oligarchy running the Western hemisphere. Neocon is what we call fascists these days. It stands for neo-conservative, although they are hardly conservative and there's certainly nothing new about what they propose.

The past few years have seen Western, so-called democracies in the United States, the UK and Australia lurch towards the kind of fascism unseen in the West for over fifty years. Laws such as the USA PATRIOT Act and its possible successors, as well as new legislation being tabled in the UK and Australia are rapidly eroding fundamental civil liberties which are the bedrock of our democracy. Yes folks, rights such as freedom of speech, the right of habeas corpus, protection from unreasonable search and seizure, right to peaceful assembly and many others are under a calculated, sustained and vicious attack from the instruments of government charged with protecting us and our rights.

Many reasonable citizens are being bamboozled by repeated pronouncements that in the "current climate", "in the face of increased threats", "in order to stave off terrorist attacks" we need to introduce new laws and tighten existing ones so that we can "vanquish terrorism", "starve evil ideologies of oxygen" and "safeguard our way of life". What a crock! Terrorists are not interested in our way of life. You think Osama cares if you prefer the Rolling Stones to Britney Spears? They are interested in their way of life. They want us to stop meddling in their back yards. Sounds like a damn good idea to me. I leave you alone, and you leave me alone! And could someone please explain how taking away MY rights improves my security?

Wake up people! The arrival of the fascist state will not be announced on the evening news, nor will it make the headlines of the daily papers. The infrastructure of fascism is being built up all around us in tiny increments and being sold to us by concerned politicians and sincere pundits. Already the noose is tightening. But people are happy to let each right disappear. Why? Through lack of exercise! Freedom of speech? Peaceful assembly? "You mean stopping the radical, ratbag protesters? Good riddance." Habeas corpus? "Habeas what? Oh, you mean detention without charge, kangaroo courts, secret decisions and no legal representation. Well obviously that's for terrorists not citizens...right?". Don't kid yourself. Our civil rights are not optional extras. They are not the pickles on the burger. They ARE the burger! Democracy without civil rights is like football without the ball - kind of pointless and not much fun.

Today's fascists don't wear brown shirts and jackboots. They wear business suits and polished shoes. They don't wield the state-run media as propaganda outlets. Powerful friends wield their media empires as propaganda outlets for them. They don't protect the state from infiltrators and subversives. They protect "our way of life" from terrorists and evil ideologies. Like their glorious predecessors they seek a unipolar world with themselves as unchallenged hegemons. They wield their might unilaterally out of sure knowledge of their own superiority. To them, the ends justify any means including torture and pre-emptive nuclear strikes. They seek to impose their vision of a new world order on all and sundry, by force if they have to. And the rod they use to keep us all in line, citizens and foreigners, friendly states and rivals alike - is fear.