Featured image: Scene from the Fourth International Summit Against Fascism, held in Venezuela during April 11-13, 2022. File photo.
By Yoselina Guevara – Apr 15, 2022
The Fourth Summit against Fascism was held in Caracas, Venezuela, during April 11, 12 and 13, under the leadership of President Nicolás Maduro, within the framework of the commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the popular counter-coup of April 2002, through which the Venezuelan people regained power and the constitutional order, rescuing Commander Hugo Chávez FrĂas from the captivity to which he had been subjected by de facto powers.
The meeting was attended by 200 international guests from 58 countries belonging to the five continents, who discussed fascism, a political and cultural ideology whose traces as a movement are still latent in the world, despite its defeat as a structured political regime.
Events such as this one, at the present time, take on vital importance in view of the need to counteract the fascist penetration that is making a dent in some sectors of the global population, in addition to the rampant aggressiveness of the reactionary wave that is present in several countries. In recent days, it has been demonstrated that fascism remains a real threat. This has been made visible through the disclosure of the crimes that have been perpetuated in Ukrainian territory by Nazi battalions and whose atrocities have been made known through the denazification program being carried out by the Russian Federation with the implementation of a special military operation in Ukraine.
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Fascist organizations in the Balkans
In addition to the existence of Nazi paramilitary groups in Ukraine, which have murdered, mutilated, abused and raped hundreds of people, mostly civilians, it is astonishing that in the old continent meetings are promoted to support fascism. Such is the case of the meeting, held at the end of September 2021 in Belgrade, called the Congress of the Serbian National and Neo-Fascist Right. A country in which there are more than 20 organizations of fascist type, some of which have been active for years, located mainly in Serbia and the Balkans. It is the formation of a kind of test laboratory in Eastern Europe that is only the tip of an iceberg of fascism that continues to grow throughout Europe.
The American continent has not escaped expansion attempts of these organizations—the coalition of right and extreme right parties led by the Spanish neo-nazi party Vox is trying to create a fascist arm in South and Central America, and their meetings with their followers in Mexico and Colombia are widely known.
Adaptability of fascism to the new times
Fascism as a political regime disappeared in 1945, with one of its greatest exponents, Benito Mussolini, who through terror led Italy to dehumanization, legalized racism, war, and moral and material destruction. However, in some countries, such as El Salvador, attempts are being made to impose forms of government that are close to fascism, whose characteristics are totalitarianism and real violation of both national and international laws.
Moreover, beyond isolated examples, fascism is emerging with unusual force as a movement that is taking the form of prevaricating, xenophobic, racist, homophobic and discriminatory violence against all minorities. The most serious thing is that these atrocities, through the behavior of hegemonic media, can become an everyday occurrence, even justifiable in public opinion.
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The dynamic and continuous attempt of the extreme right wing to take hold of political parties, and above all of the institutions should also be taken into account, always trying to combat the structures of the left, no longer seeking its ruin from the outside, but accepting its formal rules and then corroding it from within.
It is these fascists of the third millennium, who stir up the murky waters, who pretend to be close to the modern proletariat, to the underprivileged social classes in order to win their goodwill, their votes and even their consent in the long run. It is this sympathy that these fascists intend to build, seeking to establish social unrest and authoritarian drift, identifying the right moment to channel popular anger into support for right-wing political parties and organizations. Fascism also uses other tools, and information plays a fundamental role in indoctrinating through the media so that the citizen cannot discern what is false from what is true, generating violence at disproportionate levels.
The challenge of antifascism
This is the great dilemma confronting us, to make antifascism a grand movement contextualized in the great transformations of our time that will prevent the advance of authoritarian and discriminatory temptations. That is why the progressive left has a huge responsibility to promote anti-fascism. There can be no struggle against fascism without a political change aimed at improving the living conditions of millions of people who are prey to poverty and discrimination. It is necessary to always keep in mind the thought of Hugo Chávez FrĂas: unity, struggle, battle and victory. Without this, we will continue to be an archipelago of isolated islets drowning in the sea of our own contradictions.
Featured image: Scene from the Fourth International Summit Against Fascism, held in Venezuela during April 11-13, 2022. File photo.
Yoselina Guevara
Venezuelan professor. Correspondent for Correo del Alba Magazine in Europe. Her articles have been published in Spanish, Italian and English by different news outlets in Europe (RebeliĂłn, IdeologĂa Socialista, Libya 360, etc) as well as in Latin America (Cubadebate, Redh-Cuba, Redh-Argentina, Portal Alba, Transformar Argentina, Resumen latinoamericano in English, Orinoco Tribune, Quinto Poder Argentina, etc).
