Miniature fascists of democracy

Eliciting approval from the domestic audience, building an atmosphere that creates an aura of self-belief


Dr Muhammad Ali Ehsan January 16, 2022
The writer is Dean Social Sciences at Garrison University Lahore and tweets @Dr M Ali Ehsan

The ‘Hitler Myth’ was a concept and general feeling in Germany during the 1930s and 1940s that no matter what went wrong and no matter how shocking the country’s setbacks, the fuhrer would soon make all things right. Popularly acclaimed as a political and military genius who could do nothing wrong, Hitler was assumed as a national leader who could create economic miracles, could defeat Germany’s enemies and as a military and foreign policy genius could establish a new German nation. This piece that I have written is not about generals and generalship, it is about fascism and what it takes to become a modern 21st century fascist. Being fascist is not an exception but a part of human psychology. The 21st century fascist might have different motivations — be that ambition, greed or hatred. But the very idea of taking everything upon yourself to try and restore national greatness by introducing changes in the political system sounds very ‘Hitlerish’ to me. Democracy in our country harbours miniature Francos, Mussolinis and Hitlers who wear democratic garbs to hide their fascist tendencies.

Eliciting approval from the domestic audience, building an atmosphere that creates an aura of self-belief, and promoting oneself as the next Napoleon Bonaparte, Augustus Caesar, Hannibal or Alexander the Great in today’s world could actually be a very poor strategy and the least self-defeating one as well. In the information age and in Thomas Friedman’s ‘flattened world’, leaders can win many battles but it will be a huge struggle for such leaders to ensure that they don’t lose the actual war. Social and political upheavals are hitting politics like a storm and as a government ends up stitching one cut, ten others are laid open. So, with multiple political, social and economic pressures getting to bear on politics, there is a greater likelihood of a politician eventually being admired and respected for their political principles and ideals. But chances are that despite being resilient and acting as a determinist, such a leader might still end his career on the losing side — much like Erich Von Manstein and Napoleon Bonaparte. So, you could be a great political leader but despite that greatness you may also end up being a loser.

Historically, fascism takes birth when political conditions worsen and the middle ground collapses. Unnoticed and least debated, the middle ground has literally ceased to exist in the Pakistani political landscape. Pakistan today has become like President Bush’s ‘with us or against us’ world or like Joe Biden’s ‘pro-China and anti-China coalitions’ world. Anyone who doubts that should have seen the parliamentary session on Thursday to pass the mini-budget. My problem with our leadership is that even after seven decades of independence we are still looking for alternatives. This is dangerous as all fascists of the 20th century were offering alternatives, much like Hitler who empowered himself with enabling laws, launched his political blitzkrieg and bulldozed whatever remained of German democracy.

But we can’t really say for sure that all those that offer an alternative are fascist. All politics does is offer alternatives, so by that stretch of imagination all politicians should be termed fascists. But magnetic and charismatic leaders are always well poised to easily exploit widespread dissatisfaction that prevails in the country. Unlike military dictatorship or monarchy that is imposed on the people from the top, fascism is a bottom-up phenomenon as people love a fascist’s promises. The more plentiful the grounds of resentment in a society, the easier for a fascist leader or an institution to impose its agenda on the people. Old-school fascism promoted nationalism and racism, but a modern fascist is different. A modern fascist would love to continue to live in a democratic environment and support democracy but would simultaneously like to undermine the people’s confidence in almost everything about the state — be it national interests, parliament, military, media, bureaucracy, rule of law, or even the country’s sovereignty which he may split to accommodate different levels and methods of governance in different parts of the country. The 21st century fascist doesn’t rule forcefully. In fact, the modern fascist changes the rules to ensure the basis for permanent rule of the elites. The modern fascist utilises the western-imposed universal and final form of government to subjugate and subdue the people’s power. Naming and appointing even the municipal committee’s officials themselves, these 21st century fascists manage to create a police state within which the promotion of liberal education is never set as an achievable goal. Modern fascists promote social division and strike deals with religious leaders and fatten their stipends and funding to make them even more powerful day by day. What the 21st century fascist wants is for the middle-class and the upper-class in countries like Pakistan to continue to live in the eternal fear of an alternative religious leadership.

In the modern democratic world, fascism is no more seen as a political ideology, rather as a means of creating favourable circumstances for seizing and holding power. The worst form of this 21st century fascism in kleptocracies like Pakistan is the inter-institutional dialogue now being conducted through court judgements and appeals against them. It is not an unfair assumption to make that the 21st century fascist being constitutionally empowered could even influence institutional judgements.

In Pakistan, fascism is used as a slippery term and anyone or anything that is found annoying is termed fascist. All politicians in Pakistan like to be called socialists but almost all in practice are dictatorial. Politician after politician have come to power in Pakistan calling their rivals fascists and later driving those rival politicians or military dictators out of power. But what did they offer the country as an alternative? Winston Churchill who never trusted Hitler and rejected his offer of a peace deal also had an alternative view about him. In 1935 he wrote, “One may dislike Hitler’s system and yet admire his patriotic achievement. If our country is defeated, I hope we should find a champion as indomitable to restore our courage and lead us back to our place among nations.”

Who is our indomitable champion? Many have come to power claiming that they are the champion but none has been able to lead us back to our place among the comity of nations. The whole political system rots and one wishes that instead of having all these miniature fascists one could have a real one who means business.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 16th, 2022.

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