Attended “Fascism: Fake News or Fact?” at RIT College of Liberal Arts today. The event was organized and facilitated by three extraordinary women (Paulette Swartzfager, Elisabetta Sanino D’Amanda, Sara Scott Armengot) and Vincent Serravallo.
Elisabetta mentioned Ettore Scola’s “A Special Day” – a film set during a massive rally that marked the visit of Adolf Hitler to Mussolini’s Rome in 1938.
Sara discussed some of the features of fascism as described by Umberto Eco in Ur-Fascism. Much of it aligns uncomfortably with the experience of living in Trump’s America: fear of difference, appeal to frustrated middle class, xenophobia, anti-intellectualism, and impoverished syntax. Some of it (traditionalism, the veneration of ancient Rome, the idea that there’s nothing to be learned and one must look back at a mythical, unified past) reminded me of the Taliban and their wish to return to some idealized, unified point in Muslim history (yeah, the Taliban are a product of modernity, not the stone age).
Edward Kannyo reminded us of Aimé Césaire’s analysis that fascism was colonialism coming back home to Europe. There was a discussion about othering. Some said it was not a useful term, that we needed to name and address the systems of oppression on which it’s built. Others talked of education as a means of countering the fear of the unknown.
One young woman played “devil’s advocate” and challenged the group about othering fascists. I hear that in “nice” liberal circles frequently, this accusation that Ben explained beautifully as: being intolerant of the intolerant is also a form of intolerance. Paulette clarified that political disagreement is not othering which is embedded in structures of oppression.
We also talked about corporate media, capitalism, class and privilege, Modi and India, RIT’s own problems with diversity, and ways of organizing and resisting. Loved the interactive, democratic format of the discussion and Paulette’s terrific moderation. The delicious lasagna and cake didn’t hurt either 🙂
