Dr Alison Broinowski has written and edited nine books on Australia, Asia, and the UN. She is a Visiting Fellow at ANU and UNSW. The following speach was delivered to the Sedition Conference at Huskisson on the 18th of March. Thanks to Alison and also to Christine Nobel of the Sedition Conference for permission to republish this article on Webdiary.
I am aware that many Webdiarists are supportive of the Howard government (and the Bush government), and they will no doubt be rightly pointing out all the important ways in which Australia is not fascist. Given that fascism is historically one of the possible spawn of social democratic systems, it is my view that there is no point talking about emerging fascism after the fact, when it is no longer possible to do so. Rather it is my view that it is the role of the media and citizens in a democracy to be on the constant alert for features of fascism, to be ever mindful of the latent possibility within their own type of society, and to err, if at all, on the side of caution. Remember the stakes involved. Hamish Alcorn.
by Alison Broinowski
I recently heard Nobel prize-winner JM Coetzee, who now lives in Adelaide, say that Australia now reminds him of South Africa under the apartheid regime, which was not only racist but fascist. We used to think the old Internal Security Acts left on the books by the British in former colonies like Burma, Singapore, Malaya, and Hong Kong were intimidatory and authoritarian. But now, the most conservative Australian Prime Minister ever is taking us back 50 years. We have rediscovered and revived our own sedition laws after five decades of disuse. Australia is the only country in the OECD that has no bill or rights or human rights act to defend us against their misuse. Trust us, says Mr Howard, we won’t misuse them. He has lied to us on plenty of other matters: why not on this too?
All governments lie, and fascist governments lie through their teeth.
When we think of fascists, it’s more often Hitler, Mussolini, Franco, Sukarno, and Pinochet who come to mind, or regimes like those of the former Greek, Portuguese, or Argentine military. Not the governments of George W Bush or John W Howard. But in early 2003, Lawrence Britt, an American scholar who had studied fascist regimes, published the 14 characteristics that they had in common. [1] That made many people think again about our leaders, and even compare them with those fascists.
Whose government does Dr Britt’s list of characteristics of fascist regimes make us think of? Here they are:
- nationalism and its symbols: emphasis on the observance of flags, songs, and anthems
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.
- disdain for human rights: approval or condoning of torture, capital punishment, and incarceration in the name of ‘security’.
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.
- enmity: identification of outsiders, communists, terrorists, minorities, and elites as opponents of patriotism
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.
- militarism: disproportionate government funding for military purposes to the neglect of social needs, and glamorisation of military service
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 glamorised.
- male dominance: rigidifying of gender roles, raising opposition to abortion, support for ‘family values’ and anti-gay legislation
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.
- media compliance: indirect control of the media by government regulation, concessions to sympathetic media organisations and individuals, and censorship, whether direct, indirect, or voluntary
6. Controlled Mass Media
Sometimes the media are directly controlled by the government, but in other cases, the media are indirectly controlled by government regulation, or sympathetic media spokespeople and executives. Censorship, especially in war time, is very common.
- national security as national interest: use of fear and ‘the national interest’ to induce consent
7. Obsession with National Security
Fear is used as a motivational tool by the government over the masses.
- religion and government: mainstream theology used to manipulate public opinion, while government actions ignore its tenets
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.
- power elites: politicians owe their tenure to corporate supporters, and return favours to business
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.
- suppression of labour: unions are eliminated or disempowered in the name of reform and fairness
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.
- hostility to intellectuals and artists: free expression is attacked and government funding is threatened or removed from those it doesn’t approve of
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.
- civil liberties and judicial independence forgone: restraints are overridden, and police abuses are overlooked
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.
- cronyism without accountability: those who protect politicians from scrutiny are rewarded with favours, promotions, and possessions
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.
- fraudulent elections: electoral rules are manipulated and media reports distorted, and cooperative judges legitimize the outcomes.
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.
All of these characteristics of fascism, you will notice, are now evident in the United States. Number 14, electoral fraud, appeared in Florida in 2000, but has not yet migrated to Australia: not unless you count the use of taxpayers’ money for fraudulent political campaigning, or government overriding the expressed will of the majority. But some aspects of all the others apply to Australia. So according to most of Britt’s 14 criteria, our Federal government is fascist too, or on the way to becoming fascist.
Take Number 11, hostility to intellectuals. Last year Padriac P McGuinness, the Education Minister’s lay appointee on the quality and scrutiny committee of the Australian Research Council, opposed 27 research applications in the humanities and social sciences, which he reportedly described as silly, ill-designed, and contributing nothing to knowledge in Australia. Dr Nelson himself overruled the chair and expert members of the committee and vetoed seven projects without explanation. The Australia Council has been reduced to conservative conformity, and the ABC is on the way.
Take Number 12, civil liberties. The Federal government and the compliant premiers have agreed to write additional sedition provisions into the new Anti-Terrorism legislation. Even after some amendments, they restrict freedom of expression in ways that are unprecedented in our history. They are unnecessary, and are designed to intimidate, silence criticism, and give unprecedented powers to police and intelligence agencies.
Fascism can be defeated by rational argument (that’s why fascists hate intellectuals), by genuine democracy (that’s why they despise civil libertarians), by legal principle (that’s why they criticise independent judges), and by international conventions (that’s why they fulminate about the United Nations). They claim they are defending our way of life, or our civilisation, even while they are undermining its fundamental principles. All civilisations have tried to raise people above fascism, but the fight has to be had over and over again.
Fascism always poses as the national interest; fascist methods are always deceptive and illegitimate; and all fascists seek to control people’s words and thoughts. Fascism was not the way to deal with communism, and it will not stop terrorism: we already have enough laws to do that. These laws don’t defend freedom: they curtail it, which is what terrorists also want to do. Are we too behaving like terrorists, and not only abroad but at home?
What can we expect from a fascist government? Inside Australia, worse conditions for workers whose jobs aren’t exported; an even wider gap between the highest and the lowest paid; further erosion of social security, and destitution for those on welfare; less affordable health insurance and pharmaceuticals; refusal to take long-terms decisions to prevent environmental destruction; increasing impoverishment of public education; debilitation of independent media, control of the Internet, and evisceration of the ABC; tightening controls on freedom of artistic expression and civil liberties; detouring around Parliament and banishing Opposition to the margins of public life; ostracism and criminalisation of those who protest;. Outside Australia, our escalating defiance of international law and unquestioning involvement in our allies’ unending wars will make Australia the target of more threats, not just from Muslim terrorists, but from those exasperated with the US and its supporters. That will lead to more fear, more patriotism, more calls for ‘security’, and more people in jail for no offence, or for sedition. Many of us will be too scared to joke about it, let alone express outrage.
When this happens, and I am not exaggerating its likelihood, it will be illegal or at least courageous to hold this conference, and for all of us to make statements like these. So thankyou to the organizers for bravely taking this opportunity.
Endnote
[1] Lawrence Britt, in Fascism Anyone? compared social and political agendas common to the fascist regimes of Hitler, Mussolini, Franco, Suharto, and Pinochet. Free Inquiry, Volume 23, Number 2, Spring 2003. See also a A Sermon on Fascism, by Minister Davidson Loehr, 1 November 2004, First Unitarian Universalist Church of Austin, Texas. (Loehr’s summaries appear above in numbered paragraphs).