Fascism is on the rise again, with groups like Britain First gaining attention and other political parties in Europe making grounds, notably the AfD in Germany, a party who have expressed sympathies and praise over the actions of the Nazi party during World War II and before. Furthermore, Donald Trump's election in the US highlights the issues that surround western Europe and the ideology that underpins its very nature.
Following a retweet by Donald Trump of a video that is accompanied by factually incorrect claims from Britain First, MPs in the House of Commons were heard shouting "Fascist" and "racist" as descriptions for Donald Trump.
This raises serious questions over the nature of Western Democracy.
Fascist underpinnings?
The idea that fascism was defeated after WWII is both naïve and absurd, the problem of fascism and Nazism is that they were born from an emotive response to a crisis. If you look at the economic and political system applied by the UK before and since WWII, there is an underpinning of the fascist ideology. Whether it is Labour, Liberals or Conservatives, each party have in the past promoted a nationalist agenda claiming that Britain has always had open and tolerant views, but that notion is a complete fabrication and propaganda to make people feel good about themselves.
Even when it comes to the EU and other global organisations, every UK Prime Minister has fought against large swathes of policy and legislation put forward, for example the Euro and the Schengen Agreement.
Not that the EU is perfect or necessarily the answer, that is a different debate. But this highlights that UK politicians have always promoted the UK as different or perhaps better than the rest of Europe because of the false heroism over WWII. This idea that Britain won the war is a lie, the US, India and Russia had key roles in the allied forces victory.
The UK's economic and political system has always placed the blame of its problems on a certain section of society, whether it's the poorest, an ethnicity or religious group, local communities often harbour resentment towards them. This very nature has always been exploited by the leaders in a bid to democratically gain power.
When you see people like Donald Trump gain power, they aren't an anomaly, it is simply fascist resentment that has lingered and never been tackled because politicians understand that emotive and nationalistic rhetoric is effective, and this is down to peoples' desire for a sense of belonging and identity.
The study of Fascism
If you study ideology and the rise of Nazism, which is different from Fascism, there are parallels to the very system we vote and live within. Brexit is symptom along with Trump, for decades most people have been ignored by the political class and that's why you get tragedies such as Grenfell Tower, that penetrate at the very heart of a community. This ignoring of communities also creates an environment for those who simply hate to thrive, they can use the emotive subject of personal poverty of families to blame communities that are suffering just as much, if not more, and that's why Fascism or Nazism can thrive because our own economic and political system has the underpinnings of these ideologies.
Perhaps stating it has the underpinnings is going too far and certainly more research is required on the subject, but this does raise the questions over whether our system creates an environment for ideologies such as Fascism to thrive or it has the underpinnings of the far-right ideology?
