The Spectre Returns, fascism in Italy

The Spectre Returns

“A spectre is haunting Europe”. It’s strange to use the same words that Marx and Engels used 168 years after the first publication of Marx’s “Communist Manefisto”. The spectre referred to by Marx and Engels was that of communism, an idea whose presence then haunted Europe until it managed to take control of the state in one of the biggest countries in the world after the 1917 October revolution. With the fall of the Berlin Wall 72 years later, however, that spectre was declared to have largely faded away – at least in theory. The spectre that I’m referring to here is Fascism.

Once again in Berlin an extreme-right-wing movement called PEGIDA, is organizing a weekly anti-Islamic protests; as almost everybody here in Germany is aware, these demonstrations are xenophobic and anti-immigrant in nature, and we can say up to a certain level that they offer an attractive forum for neo-Nazis.

Fortunately, particularly given Berlin’s and Germany’s history during the twentieth century, PEGIDA has not managed to attract more than tens of people at most to attend its demonstrations to date. In Dresden, however, after the terrorist attack against France’s Charlie Hebdo magazine, the situation became more serious with more than 17,000 demonstrators waving German flags and crosses, stressing the national/religious identity of Germany and Europe.

Not far from there a few days ago, I received an unsolicited message from an Italian member of the radical right wing group Fratelli d’Italia (‘Brothers of Italy’), Pino Bronzi. He began our exchange by describing me as a “Terrorist Muslim piece of Shit” and insulting Allah, assuming that I’m Muslim; when I pointed out that I’m not Muslim, he responded that he didn’t care and I’m an “Arab Shit”, not to mention a “Syrian pig.”

My short discussion with Pino Bronzi before he blocked me offered me further proof that the new wave of bigotry is not really about Islamophobia; the Italian fascist continued with his insults, even after acknowledging that I’m not even Muslim. The reality is that there is growing hatred against any “non-pure blood” European. In other words, this is about old-fashioned racism.

It seems that the fascist spectre is growing in power in Europe and is really reaching a level where it can haunt the future of not only Europe but the rest of the world. In Europe especially, the effects of World War II are still present, including a primary cause of the war, nationalism. This was one of the main reasons for Europe seeking to leave behind that corrosive legacy and find more stability through increased integration. This in turn led to what we now know as the European Union, an entity that had been, relatively speaking, an attractive economic platform for many external investors.

With increased economic stability relative to its neighbors, however, Europe also became an attractive destination for immigrants, with more desperate skilled and unskilled workers in neighbouring regions trying every day to reach Europe, pushing the subject of immigration into the forefront of European peoples’ daily lives.

The last European Parliament elections showed a relatively strong revival of far-right movements in the region, especially in countries like Sweden, the United Kingdom and France, not heartening news by any measure.

All the indicators suggest that levels of nationalism are set to keep growing, with these developments shaped by collaboration between fascist and neo-Nazi groups from across Europe reaching Europe’s borders and beyond, from Swedish neo-Nazis in the Ukraine to Italian fascists in Syria.

So what is the ultimate objective of these systematic campaigns against immigrants and the phenomenon of immigration? I have already seen far-right groups in Italy working hard to persuade locals that all the financial/economic and “moral” problems in the country are caused by the waves of immigrants there; it seems likely that when the far-right attains some real power, they will demand a sort of ‘political Power of Attorney’ by which the people surrender some of their rights and freedoms in order to allow the government to introduce harsh policies to deal with immigration issues ‘for the good of national identity’. When the masses are sufficiently inflamed and mobilized to give the state this kind of power, the structure of the state will change to adopt more dictatorial traits, and this process will not end before Europe is returned to the clutches of dictatorship which will ultimately be used equally against immigrants and locals.

Coming from a nation where a totalitarian regime is systematically destroying every single point of hope for the future, I can state categorically that I know dictatorship all too well from being on the receiving end, and know its power to effectively anesthetize the people for decades by using the aforementioned technique. This experience enables me to spot the same technique being used by the European far-right groups and emphasises the strong relationship between them and most of the world’s (other) tyrants and dictators.

Nothing can prevent this process apart from more fraternity between the peoples, more ability to debate and start a real dialogue so that humanity can find a way to coexist and survive. Any major war now, given the dizzying rate of technological and military progress, is likely to be the last, bringing to fruition Albert Einstein’s infamous chilling prophecy: “I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.”

Profilo dell'autore

Mohammad Abu Hajar: Mohammad Abu Hajar è un attivista, giornalista e musicista siriano. Ha fatto il master in Economia politica alla Sapienza - Università di Roma. Scrive dal 2007.
Mohammad Abu Hajar is a Syrian activist, journalist and musician.
He had his master's in political economics from Sapienza university of Rome; he writes since 2007.
محمد ابو حجر، ناشط، صحفي و موسيقي سوري حصل على درجة الماستر في الاقتصاد السياسي من جامعة سابينزا في روما، يكتب المقالات منذ عام 2007