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Shafik authorizes NYPD to sweep ‘Gaza Solidarity Encampment,’ officers in riot gear arrest over 100
(www.columbiaspectator.com)
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This isn't fascism. These people will get a slap on the wrist and be sent home in a day or two. Under fascism these people would never be heard from again.
So punishing free speech and protest is not fascist provided that they are "only" in jail for a couple of days? Seriously?
Obviously cracking down on protests doesn't mean it's 1930s Germany but it's part of the same playbook, surely?
(Emphasis added. Source.)
I'm certainly not defending the silencing of protest. It's just that all fascism is authoritarian, but not all authoritarianism is fascist. Fascism has a specific definition and it's a whole other degree of bad.
Fair enough. It is being used more colloquially in this case, you're right. I retract the accusation of fascism and substitute "an unjust authoritarian crackdown on the right to freedom of speech and expression, undermining the very tenets of democratic society. A national embarrassment."
100% agree with you then.
would you be able to link to a page that helps describe fascism as you say: that relies on severity of consequence?
asking because whilst i agree that fascism is specific - and this doesn’t cover it - im not sure that degree of severity is part of the definition and that could be a dangerous precedent to set because the other parts of fascism about control and quashing dissent enable the severe consequences once they are present
I usually go by Umberto Eco's Ur-Fascism essay for a definition.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ur-Fascism
Suppression of protest would fall under #4 "Disagreement is Treason". Under fascism it is not enough to silence opposition. They must be treated as enemies of the state and be eradicated.
really appreciate you taking the effort! i see where you’re coming from with the “enemies of the state” part, and think that id agree there
It was at a private college campus and the dean suspended all the students protesting and requested to have NYPD come remove them. In other words, the property caretaker was being a dick and had them removed from the premises.
Hmmm.. well that almost sounds like capitalism in a Republic democracy. Shit, now what?
Keep doing it until almost the entire student body is suspended, or protest off campus?
Sounds like a plan! Can't suspend alumni, so I'm game
This is fascism-lite. Just because people aren't disappeared doesn't mean it's not in the same category. And the only way we can hope to stop from getting to "actual" fascism is by resisting shit like this.
Exactly.
Fascism doesn't come in detended stages, it's tiny increments where the state seizes more power and restricts rights gradually until suddenly you notice that people are disappearing and everyones primary emotion is fear
I don't disagree that silencing protest is bad. It's just not fascism. Fascists kill dissenters.
Treating protestors like this is the norm (though it always must be fought). It's how they were treated during Occupy Wall Street. It's how they were treated during Vietnam and the civil rights fight. Authoritarianism can come from both the left and the right. Fascism is always from the right.
Not in the beginning. In the beginning it's more about the economic side of fascism. And that has definitely happened in the US. For decades now.
Boot licker
Y'all need to hear the fable of the boy who cried wolf.