Violence (alone) doesn’t solve the problem of fascism. But it absolutely does in part.
The thing one must really come to grips when dealing with fascism is acknowledging what it really is. It’s societal cancer. It infects a society if it can, and it grows and multiplies, and if it’s only treated with violence it may be beat back a bit but it will still keep growing until it either strangles the host society to death or it’s properly dealt with. And even then, it’s only ever in remission.
The other half of it is understanding the paradox of tolerance and knowing that if you want a society of ideas and beliefs and ethnicities etc. You cannot ever be tolerant of tenants of fascism. And to ensure that, a society needs three strong pillars:
a robust education system that is free and accessible by all citizenry.
the basic set of rights most would agree enshroud common dignity of people. This should include healthcare and labor laws. Protection for labor and not just capital.
finally the defense of truth. Not opinions but objective truth. Those that like to sow the seeds of fascism will usually use lies to do so. So by making the freedom of speech apply to hate speech is usually a way to always give fascism a foothold.
Now none of this as you see says oh and we need violence. Violence tends to be what happens when fascism has already taken hold of the host. Because one way or another throughout history of fascism has it ended itself through burning itself out.
But if we continue a good practice of social hygiene each and every one of us every single day… then it’s far less likely that people will turn to fascism as a societal solution to political issues.
Violence (alone) doesn’t solve the problem of fascism. But it absolutely does in part.
The thing one must really come to grips when dealing with fascism is acknowledging what it really is. It’s societal cancer. It infects a society if it can, and it grows and multiplies, and if it’s only treated with violence it may be beat back a bit but it will still keep growing until it either strangles the host society to death or it’s properly dealt with. And even then, it’s only ever in remission.
The other half of it is understanding the paradox of tolerance and knowing that if you want a society of ideas and beliefs and ethnicities etc. You cannot ever be tolerant of tenants of fascism. And to ensure that, a society needs three strong pillars:
Now none of this as you see says oh and we need violence. Violence tends to be what happens when fascism has already taken hold of the host. Because one way or another throughout history of fascism has it ended itself through burning itself out.
But if we continue a good practice of social hygiene each and every one of us every single day… then it’s far less likely that people will turn to fascism as a societal solution to political issues.
This is my Ted talk.