racial, and religious minorities, immigrants, and critics of a given ruling political regime. Relying on oversimplified notions of a “golden” past and narrow conceptualizations of “we” (as opposed to “them”), fascists believe that an authoritarian leader and violent repression of his enemies is necessary for the redemption of the nation. Fascism has always developed and been practiced in relation to colonialism. The rise of the original fascist party of Benito Mussolini in Italy was directly related to Italian dreams of reestablishing the Roman empire and Italian sense of being left out of European land grabs of Africa. Consequently, the Italian aggression against the people of Ethiopia was a major development of the Italian fascist movement. In a related way the German Nazi party was able to build popular support based on German resentment and anger after being marginalized and embarrassed about the German defeat in the European imperialist war that began in 1914 (World War I). Adolf Hitler galvanized Germans with dreams of establishing a German Reich or empire aimed at colonizing Europe and Africa. From the classic fascism of Mussolini’s Italy and Nazi Germany emerged populism. Much like fascism, populism relies on oversimplified notions of who “the people” and their enemies are. Populism (from the far left to the far right and everything in between) favors authoritarian leadership, though it may use democratic institutions to establish it. Although fascism and populism are not the same, populism is an offshoot of fascism. And populism today may create the conditions for fascism to emerge tomorrow. It appears that today’s global political and economic realities are demonstrating how that process works in real time. The Road to Authoritarianism and Fascism For colonized people enduring domination from the colonizer, there is always some aspect of authoritarianism and tyranny in our everyday lived experience. This holds true even when the colonizer nation is a constitutional liberal democratic one. After the American civil war which ended enslavement of New Afrikans in the South, the former Confederate states established the legal Jim Crow segregation system ensuring the subordination of Black people. Other areas throughout the union also maintained various forms of legal and social domination. State sanctioned lynchings, race riots, and massacres during the early twentieth century demonstrate the pervasiveness of the problem and tools used to justify white privilege and supremacy for decades to come. Some examples include the 1906 race riot and massacre in Atlanta, 1908 race riot in Springfield, Illinois, the Red Summer of 1919, and the Tulsa massacre of 1921. For New Afrikans, this state terror and control mechanism were only defeated by a prolonged struggle for democratic rights and Black Power which lasted through the 1970s. Despite our people’s best efforts, however, the racist ideas and oppressive tendencies upon which this nation was founded continue to endure up to our present day.
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By Any Means Necessary