Draft:Fascist movements by country

This is a draft that anyone is free to edit as they would a mainspace page. Do not add categories to draft pages; use {{draft categories}} instead for a view. Contributors should nominate draft articles for deletion only if they believe that the article is not applicable to RationalWiki's mission. Articles involving living persons must conform to our guidelines on biographies of living people.

Almost every country has had their own fascist movement, and this page will focus on those movements.

India

India's fascist movement is primarily Hindutva, a form of Hindu nationalism, was founded by Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, a man who openly admired Mussolini's fascism, modeled his views after Nazis, and publicly called Hitler the "saviour of Germany," to the point of lambasting Jews for "failing to absorb into the German national fabric." This means he actively supports forced conversions for religious minorities, something he wants for Indian Muslims as well. Savarkar adopted actual Nazi-like rhetoric, including “One Nation! One Culture! One Religion! One Language!" as the primary slogan for the Hindutva movement, a slogan that remains to this very day. Much like Italian fascism and German Nazism, Hindutva's inception came from the 1920s, borne from Savarkar's deep-seated bigotry against Jews, Christians, and especially Muslims, all of whom he saw and wrote as incapable of sharing Hindu values, equating them to "cults" and believing that Hindu civilization ends when introduced to faiths which are "altogether different from the Hindu one," as if that's a bad thing in itself. In 1923, he wrote a book outlining his criteria for Indian identity, from citizenship (which he wants to strip from non-Hindus), common ancestry (which he claims Jews and Christians do not have), and common culture (which he claims Muslims do not have), all of which must conform to his regard for India as a sacred land on top of that.

He wasn't just a blowhard playing heel, either. Whether for attention or out of sincerity, Savarkar admitted to destroying mosques and attacking Muslims with knives, pins, and foot rulers at the age of 12, as a reaction to the surge in attacks on Hindus.

“”We vandalized the mosque to our heart’s content and raised the flag of our bravery on it. We followed the war strategy of Shivaji completely and ran away from the site after accomplishing our task.

His pamphlet Essentials of Hindutva (1923), written secretively in jail, remains the most influential work of Hindu nationalism. In this and subsequent works, he called for Hindus, hopelessly divided by caste, to come together as one homogeneous community and reclaim their ancient homeland from those he considered outsiders, primarily the Muslims. Savarkar advocated violence against Muslims as the principal means to bind antagonistic lower and upper castes, writing:

“”Nothing makes Self conscious of itself so much as a conflict with non-self. Nothing can weld peoples into a nation and nations into a state as the pressure of a common foe. Hatred separates as well as unites.

If this sounds uncomfortably close to Hitler and Mussolini's belief that might makes right and violence builds character, and as such, war makes men mighty, that's because it's the exact same thing Savarkar believed. organization

What makes Savarkar different from a bog-standard violent crackpot is that Hindutva is popular within India. The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) is a is a far-right paramilitary organization infamous for pioneering "Saffron terror," meaning terrorist actions derived from the Hindutva ideology. They aren't subtle: they actively and openly promote Hindu nationalism using Hindutva as the basis for their Nazi-like beliefs. The desire for a Hindu state is inexorably linked to the struggle against democracy and secularism which has existed throughout modern Indian history, and it led to the creation of an organization explicitly dedicated to, at best, an apartheid Hindu state where all non-Hindus are second class citizens, if not outright exterminated altogether. The RSS are so intensely bigoted and so utterly extreme that they murdered their fellow Hindus who practiced secularism and promoted peace. If you're a Hindu Indian, and you use your faith to promote peace, human rights, civil rights, compassion, and empathy for your fellow man, the RSS sees you as an enemy who must be eliminated immediately. This isn't an idle threat. On January 30, 1948, Mahatma Gandhi was murdered by Nathuram Godse, a former RSS member, causing the Indian government to ban the RSS from India and label it a terrorist organization. But sadly, this incident is emblematic of Hindutva's hold on Indian society. Including Gandhi's death, the RSS was banned on three separate occasions, most recently over the destruction of the Babri Mosque, but all three times, they were acquitted and unbanned, allowing its members to deny its militancy.

By the 21st century, Hindutva found its voice in the Bharatiya Janata Party, whose parent organization is literally the RSS. Founded in 1980, the BJP plays host to multiple anti-social and downright inhumane beliefs, all of which were taken directly from the Nazis. In 2015, Sadhvi Deva Thakur urged Hindus to have more children to increase their population and outnumber Muslims. BJP MP (member of parliament) Sakshi Maharaj said that every Hindu woman must have four children. This is eugenics, and it doesn't stop there.

On May 2017, the health wing of the RSS Arogya Bharati announced their grand plan titled "Garbh Vigyan Sanskar" (lit. Science & Culture of the Womb), which included giving prescription to those babies of the "intended parents" (ie. Hinduism fundamentalist parents, rich, backing the project) and brainwashing "purifying" (shuddhikaran) for 3 months. These "ubermenschen" über-babies (uttam santati) are purported to be smarter, taller, and fairer. Not only is this exactly like the Nazis, the RSS claims the Nazis got the idea from them. The RSS health wing cited a Hindu scripture called Mahabharata as the source of this idea. Ashok Kumar Varshney, a longtime RSS thought leader and national organizer, says the project was inspired by the advice a senior RSS officer received many years ago in Nazi Germany. In 2015, the vice-president of the Hindutva organization All India Hindu Assembly (Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Mahasabha (ABHM) in Hindi), Sadhvi Deva Thakur, said that the population growth of Muslims and Christians in India need to be controlled by forcibly sterilizing them.

“”The population of Muslims and Christians is growing day by day. To rein in this, Centre will have to impose emergency and Muslims and Christians will have to be forced to undergo sterilisation so that they can't increase their numbers.

—Sadhvi Deva Thakur

Rajeshwar Singh, who is both an RSS and BJP leader, openly boasted of his intent to “ethnically cleanse 200 million Muslims and 28 million Christians,” in 2014, said:

“”Wait and watch... Muslims and Christians will be wiped out of India by December 31, 2021... This is our pledge.

“”We will cleanse our Hindu society. We will not let the conspiracy of church or mosque succeed in Bharat… The Hindu wave has just begun. In 10 years we will convert all Christians and Muslims.

—Rajeshwar Singh, RSS member

In 1991, L.K Advani got BJP members to support the building of Ram Temple on the site of Babri Mosque. In 1992, the mosque was destroyed. While they were unbanned shortly thereafter, surely this was enough to stop them dead in their tracks, right? Nope! In the 1999 general election, the BJP won 183 seats in the parliament and formed the goddamn national government, with Atal Bihari Vajpayee becoming prime minister. In 2002, communal riots happened in the BJP-ruled state of Gujarat, leaving 1,044 dead, 223 missing, and 2,500 injured. The person many deem most responsible for this riot was the Chief Minister of Gujarat, Narendra Modi, who was banned from entry into the United States until he became Prime Minister of India in 2014.

Prime Minister Modi is the culmination of a century's worth of anti-intellectualism, anti-secularism, theocratic fervor, cultural exclusion, and social cleansing leading directly into violence. Here's the best example. India loves cows, one of their most sacred animals in their culture. Anybody believed to have killed, harmed, or eaten a cow is seen as an enemy of Hindu nationalists, leading to a rise in "beef lynching" where people are killed for the possibility that they harmed a cow. When he gained power in 2014, Modi campaigned for more laws against against beef and cow slaughter. 87% of the lynching victims are Muslims and 97% of these lynchings came after Modi came into power. The category for ‘beef lynchings’ and cow related violence did not even exist before Modi. Under laws that Modi's government passed, and that he eagerly signed into law, if you were suspected of possessing beef, you are presumed guilty. For example, a Muslim man named Asif Khan was killed in Haryana due to a beef lynching. Was there an outpouring of public sympathy? Nope! Instead, a gathering was held in support of his killers. The man who called the meeting said: "Muslim brothers? What brothers? These bastards are butchers." He was made the BJP’s spokesman for Haryana only a few days later.

Alongside Hindutva, there have also been several instances of Islamist fascist groups, some of which have clashed with Hindutva. An example of one such group is the Indian Mujahideen, which seeks to establish India as an Islamic state much like what happened to Iran after the 1979 revolution.

Iran

“” When I repeatedly describe Iran’s regime as “fascist,” please understand that it’s not partisan language. This is literally the definition of fascism.

—

Iran's indigenous fascist movements are Islamist, though there once were handful of secular fascist parties (however all but one have since become defunct). The last remaining secular fascist party is the Pan-Iranist Party, a banned far-right party currently operating in exile and advocating Iranian/Persian nationalism and supremacy, in addition to irredentism through the retrieval of old Iranian territory as part of a new Persian empire. Even before the Iranian revolution, these parties did not have much ground politically and only had a few seats in parliament. After the revolution, far-right and fascist movements in Iran have been overwhelmingly Muslim-aligned/Islamist. The Iranian Principlists are one such example, and while they aren't as outright fascist as their counterparts in other nations (such as the Republican party or Fidesz), are still authoritarian and far-right to some degree. They embrace a victim narrative about Israeli invaders seeking to destabilize the country, piggybacking off of legitimate war crimes committed by Israel against Iran (such as the murder of a nuclear scientist, which was suspected of having been caused by an Israeli agent). Iran's leaders and their supporters also view the United States with contempt as a foreign invader driving the nation away from Islam (despite the nation not being Muslim anyway) and towards "Western degeneracy".

Common targets of this Iranian movement are Jews and Arabs, though other targets also includes Christians, Zoroastrians, Bahais, Women, Afghan and Pakistani immigrants, LGBT people and activists, Kurds, Turks, Western-aligned youth, feminists, and America. This paranoia stems from the current Iranian regime harboring a deep anti-American sentiment due to the Shah's close ties with the West. A particularly grim example of bigotry in Iran is the deep roots of Holocaust denial amongst the regime's leaders and their supporters, most likely stemming from Iran's close relation with Israel under the Shah's reign. One such example of their extreme and deep seated antisemitism was their holocaust cartoon event, endorsed by the Ayatollah's cronies, and created in response to Everybody Draw Muhammad Day in the West. Many of these cartoons depicted obscene scenarios of Jews creating the holocaust as a fictional event created by zionists, often contrasted with the oppression of Palestinians.

Prior to the rise of the Islamist regime in Iran, fascist movements in the country were aligned with the Nazis during World War 2, and one such movement formed as a result of those close bond. The party, named SUMKA, was a neo-nazi party that heavily emulated the Nazi party in Germany. The founder of the party was himself an SS member and fought for Germany during the war. The Shah at the time (the father of the last Shah of Iran) allied himself with Germany and Hitler because of American, British, and Russian forces occupying the nation for their neutrality, ironically forcing their hand in choosing a side in the war.

There have been fears of possible Zoroastrian fascist movements taking hold in Iran (equivalent to Hindutva in India), due to the high influx of Zoroastrian reverts since private polls have revealed Iranians deeply disdaining Islam. Many claim the movement may rise as a response to Islamist fascist movements and replace them once the current regime falls and they can fill the power vacuum. Though this is highly unlikely, it may be possible for such a movement to rise with the right opportunity.

Israel

A formerly controversial but no less disturbing strain of fascism has taken hold of modern day Israeli culture and society. Buoyed by Jewish nationalism and expansionism, prior to the establishment of Israel, multiple far-right Jewish groups openly promoted Israeli sovereignty over all of Mandatory Palestine and the whole of Transjordan. This was a specific ideology called Revisionist Zionism which promoted expansion through armed struggle. They saw themselves as a "revision" of the "practical" Zionism of David Gen-Gurion, who also wanted all of Palestine (and actively prevented Palestinian refugees from returning), but settled for what the UN originally recommended in 1948. Ben-Gurion was himself an ardent Jewish nationalist, but even he privately acknowledged "The country is theirs, because they inhabit it, whereas we want to come here and settle down, and in their view we want to take away from them their country."]

Just about every major right-wing party in Israel either came from Revisionist Zionism directly, or emerged as a result of their ideology replacing Labor Zionism in the 1970s. Their most common characteristics include a desire to fully annex all Palestinian land, racist and dehumanizing language against Palestinians specifically and Arabs or Muslims more generally, a glorification of the military via hero worshipping the IDF, support for war crimes against perceived supporters or members of Hamas, and increasingly violent, if not genocidal language against Palestinians who live in the Gaza Strip.

One infamous party called itself Kach, founded by Rabbi Meir Kahane in 1971. It was a far-right, Orthodox Jewish and Religious Zionist political party who pioneered a modern form of Jewish fascism called Kahanism, which advocated the ethnic cleansing of the Arab population from Israel. It also advocated the establishment of a Jewish theocratic state, a state in which Jews would be the only inhabitants who would have voting rights, directly supporting Apartheid. Kahane was a founder of the Jewish Defense League, which was designated a terrorist organization by the FBI. Kach was banned from running for elections for inciting racism and terrorism following statements in support of Baruch Goldstein's massacre of 29 Palestinians at the Cave of the Patriarchs. But the ideology of Kahanism persisted. The Otzma Yehudit, a Kahanist party, became the ideological descendant of Kach with both parties holding quite a bit of overlap in their membership. Its leader is Itamar Ben-Gvir, who later became National Security Minister under Benjamin Netanyahu, who subsequently formed what many have called the most right wing government in Israeli history.

The rise of Ben-Gvir coalesces with the rise of Israeli ultra-nationalism, which has now become a core tenant of the Israeli government under Netanyahu. Netanyahu's alliance with Kahanists sparked outraged all over Israel; many feared Israel was on the verge of becoming an outright fascist state, with many of Netanyahu's coalition partners, Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich repeatedly expressing rabid anti-Arab, anti-Palestinian rhetoric that borders, if not verges into genocidal language. This has led some critics to call Netanyahu the "godfather" of Israeli fascism.

How did we get here? Before the establishment of the state of Israel, it's important to look into how Revisionist Zionism even grew in prominence to begin with. One group that briefly emerged from Revisionist Zionism called themselves Brit HaBirionim, or the Strongman Alliance led by Russian-born Abba Ahimeir. Under the tenants of so-called "Maximalist Revisionism," they publicly and unironically called for "cult of the leader; dictatorship" as major tenants of their ideology, using the father of fascism himself as a direct inspiration. The Maximalists' goal was to "extract Revisionism from its liberal entrapment," elevate far-right leader Ze'ev Jabotinsky as dictator (which he ironically opposed), and forcibly assimilate the population of Palestine into Hebrew society. The Maximalists believed that authoritarianism and national solidarity was necessary to have the public collaborate with the government, and to create total unity in Palestine. BritHabirionim was unpopular even within the Zionist Revisionism Movement; they tried to push the movement into accepting totalitarianism and dictatorship, but some moderate Revisionists pushed back, refusing to give up democracy. Unfortunately, the moderates lost the factional war. BritHabironim became the largest faction within the Zionist Revisionism Movement in 1933, but the BritHabirionim's support collapsed the moment Ahimeir expressed support for the murder of Hayim Arsoloroff, a Socialist Zionist who called for peaceful cooperation and compromise with Arabs. Arsoloroff successfully negotiated the controversial Ha'avara Agreement with Nazi Germany, allowing for the emigration of over 60,000 German Jews to Palestine along with most of their property. Due to owning a Revisionist newspaper which repeatedly insulted Arsoloroff, Ahimeir himself was charged by the Palestine Police Force with plotting the assassination, but Ahimeir was later acquitted.

Although BritHabirionim and Maximalist Revisionism failed to maintain popular support, Revisionist Zionism itself persisted throughout the 20th Century. Russian-born Zionist Ze'ev Jabotinsky emerged as the founder of Revisionist party called the "Alliance of Revisionists-Zionists," as well as its Zionist youth paramilitary organization Betar. Jabotinsky maintained his demand to establish, with the help of the British Empire, a "modern Jewish state in which equality of rights for its Arab minority were upheld." He maintained, however, that this could only be achieved through force, and condemned the "vegetarians" and "peace mongers" in mainstream Zionism who believed that this could be achieved peacefully. While he began as a liberal democrat, Jabotinsky gradually lost trust in the British and moved closer to the far right. He cited Mussolini's Italy as a natural ally against British dominance and he set up a Zionist naval training school established in Civitavecchia, Italy in 1934 with Mussolini's approval. While Jabotinsky remained anti-Nazi to the very end, he maintained his support for Italian fascism. His top rival, Chaim Weizmann, the president of the World Zionist organization, consistently warned of Betar's connection with Italian fascism throughout the 1920s and well into the 1930s.

Revisionist Zionism had its own paramilitary group called the Irgun, out of which another organization known as Lehi (nicknamed the Stern Gang) emerged. Both the Irgun and Lehi were responsible for terrorist attacks against the British to try to expel them from Palestine, supported by Jabotinsky. Two of the operations for which the Irgun is best known are the bombing of the King David Hotel in Jerusalem on 22 July 1946 and the Deir Yassin massacre that killed at least 107 Palestinian Arab villagers, including women and children, carried out together with Lehi on 9 April 1948. In a letter to The New York Times in 1948, Albert Einstein himself compared Irgun and its successor Herut party to "Nazi and Fascist parties" and described it as a "terrorist, right wing, chauvinist organization."

After the establishment of the State of Israel, it was the Irgun wing of the Revisionist Party that formed Herut, which in turn eventually formed the Gahal party when Herut and the Liberal parties formed a united list called Gush Herut Liberalim (or the Herut-Liberal Bloc). In 1973, the new Likud Party was formed by a group of parties which were dominated by the Revisionist Herut/Gahal. Furthermore, Jabotinsky's most well-known disciple was Menachem Begin, a member of Betar who not only became a member of the Irgun High Command, but also a founder of Herut as well as the alliance that would later become Likud. Begin, long accused of anti-Palestinian terrorism and war crimes against Arabs, became Prime Minister of Israel in the 1970s. Following Israel's capture of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in the 1967 Six-Day War, Revisionism's territorial aspirations concentrated on annexing all remaining Palestinian land. As Prime Minister, Begin presided over the disastrous occupation of Southern Lebanon, during which between 1,300 and 3,500 civilians, mostly Palestinians and Lebanese Shias, were murdered by Christian Lebanese militias in the city of Beirut during the Lebanese Civil War. This came to be known as the Sabra and Shatila massacre, supported by the Israel Defense Force that had surrounded Beirut's Sabra neighbourhood and the adjacent Shatila refugee camp. Both Prime Minister Begin and Defense Minister Ariel Sharon responsible for the Sabra and Shatila massacre, causing both Begin and Sharon to resign. However, Sharon would later become Prime Minister in his own right decades after, as did Benjamin Netanyahu (who is now Israel's longest-serving Prime Minister), himself accused of committing genocide against the people of the Gaza Strip.

Italy

The birthplace of Fascism, the first fascist movement was founded in the nation in 1921 by Benito Mussolini as a bizarre blend of several ideologies. All these ideologies were smashed together and melded for a far-right framework, which is why fascism as an ideology is so incoherent and difficult to explain (Italian fascism especially so, since it was cobbled together to include whatever Mussolini thought would be popular after WW1).

See also

• Fascism

References

This page will be placed in the following categories if it is moved to the article namespace.

Categories:

• Fascism
• Racism