By Madeline Albright with Bill Woodward
Former Secretary of State, US Ambassador to the UN, and current professor of Foreign Relations at Georgetown University, Madeline Albright defines a fascist as "someone who identifies strongly with and claims to speak for a whole nation or group, is unconcerned with the rights of others, and is willing to use whatever means are necessary - including violence - to achieve his or her goals" (p 11). As a native of Czechoslovakia, Prof Albright saw her own country fall to Hitler, then fall to communism. She is well-equipped to speak out on Fascism. Some practical advice, interesting facts and warnings from her new book follow:
Nations would do best by promoting shared security, prosperity, and freedom. For example the 1947 Marshall Plan recognized that the US economy would stagnate without the European markets to buy their wheat and factory products; thus the US helped their European and Asian partners rebuild dynamic economies of their own following WW2.
She describes Mussolini and Hitler as examples of Fascists. As of 3/23/33 Hitler was the new German chancellor and addressed the people at a rally; his goal was approval of a law authorizing him to ignore the constitution, bypass the Reichstag, and govern by decree. His party, the Nazis, was elected, and all other political parties abolished, with the competing socialists being arrested. Once his power was consolidated, the army was required not to swear allegiance to country or constitution but to Hitler. Unlike Mussolini, Hiter did not acknowledge mistakes, regret decisions, or care that he was hated. When FDR died, Hitler called him "the greatest war criminal of all times".
After WW2, the Marshall Plan put forward a generous loan program for the economic restoration of Europe, as cited above. On 7/4/47, Czechoslovakia's govt voted unanimously to sign up. But a week later, they were told by Moscow that the American offer was a trap to isolate Moscow, who alone could offer Czech protection. Eventually "the whole constellation of Soviet satellites - Poland, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Albania, and Yugoslavakia - had to reject the Marshall Plan because the Red Army was close and Western allies had put down their guns." and thus the cold war began.
Meanwhile in the US, Sen McCarthy would not have become such a sensation nor ruined so many innocent people had he not received support from so many leading newspapers and financing from wealthy right wingers He'd have been exposed much sooner had his wild accusations not been met with silence by so many mainstream leaders. "Falsehood flies, and the truth comes limping after it", declared Jonathan Swift.
Hugo Chavez was a popular Venezuelan president because he was able, with outs wealth, to help the poor get education and good housing. But he controlled his government, squelched opposition, and he became president for life (until his death by cancer in 2013). His ill-prepared successor, Niclas Maduro, was more authoritarian and his country now suffers from poverty, but he blames everyone else. If the US president threatens Venezuela with military intervention, it is a gift to Maduro and reinforces his position throughout Latin America.
Prof Albright suggest we evaluate the US president on the world stage (p 220): Is his plan working? Are key foreign leaders seeking to mollify him by becoming more supportive of US goals, or are they tuning him out and negotiating their own agreements? Is the president persuading others to follow him, or is he being manipulated into echoing the agendas of others, as for example, Saudi Arabia in the Middle East? In a craft requiring experience, sound judgment, and the vision to understand the impact of today's decision on tomorrow's world, how well is he measuring up when compared to his peers?"
She notes that the US president pulled the US from the TPP just as Xi Jinping emerged as the powerful president for life of his country. While his America First fixation is isolating our country, China "has been systematically expanding hits economic clout" not only in Asia, but also Europe, the middle East, North Africa, and Latin America." She predicts a world "more inclined to follow Beijing's lead not only on economic matters but also on lowering norms...on labor standards, media freedom, religious liberty, and human rights".
Holocaust survivor Primo Levi argued that the critical point of Fascism can be reached through "denying and distorting information, by undermining systems of justice and...by spreading in a myriad subtle ways nostalgia for a world where order reigned" (p 223). In her chapter "Bad Dreams", Albright pictures 3 chilling scenarios that are not likely to happen to the US, but are certainly possible.
In summary, "what makes a movement fascist is not ideology but the willingness to do whatever is necessary - including the use of force and trampling on the right of others - to achieve victory and command obedience" and it may start very slowly, as a well-educated German who experienced the rises of the Third Reich recalled that "each step is so small, so inconsequential...one no more saw it develop from day to day than a farmer in his field sees the corn growing...
And one day, too late, your principles, if you were ever sensible of them, all rush in upon you. The burden of self-deception has grown too heavy, and some minor incident, in my case my little boy, hardly more than a baby, saying [racist word], collapses it all at once, and you see that everything, everything has changed and changed completely under your nose." (p 230)
After a brief discussion of Lincoln and Mandela, Albright invites us to ask questions of our leaders, for example:
- Do they cater to our prejudices by suggesting that we treat people outside our ethnicity, race, creed or party as unworthy of dignity and respect?
- Do they encourage us to have contempt for our governing institutions and the electoral process?
- Or do they invite us to join with them in building and maintaining ah healthy center for our societies, a place wiehre rights and duties are apportioned fairly, the social contract is honored, and all have room to dream and grow?
No comments:
Post a Comment