Trump's re-election and the Nazi salute of Musk, his right-hand man,
leave little room for doubt about the political ideology at the helm ofthe United States. While fascism's climax is the American presidential
election, it is building internationally with the support of the main
far-right parties in France, Italy, Hungary, England, and its support
for the Israeli regime. The Fascist International is organized between
major business leaders and political figures such as Elon Musk through
regular meetings. The latter has increased his meetings with the leaders
of various right-wing parties in Europe, first demonstrating his support
for the AfD, using his social network X to organize a public debate.
Musk doesn't limit his support to the legal side, but also to its more
directly violent branches: he recently demanded the release of Tommy
Robinson, a fascist activist who instigated the race riots in England in
the summer of 2024.
This wave of support doesn't stop with Trump and Musk. French companies,
such as Sanofi, Airbus, and EDF, also funded the American campaign.
Moreover, on February 8, a congress in Madrid brought together the
European far right under the slogan "Make Europe Great Again."
Musk's interference in the politics of other countries finds its logic
in the project of founding an international far-right movement, faithful
to the hegemonic vocation of fascism. The desire to create a convergence
of the far right was already present during the interwar period. The
transmission and reappropriation of symbols was indeed already underway.
While this fascist international was never politically structured, there
were influences and borrowings between its different currents, creating
a common imaginary. This imaginary now dominates social media and
mainstream media. It is taken up and amplified on the political scene,
both right and left.
Mussolini inspecting the honor guard at Munich train station during his
visit to Germany in September 1937.
L'ILLUSTRATION, OCTOBER 9, 1937, WIKIPEDIA, CC BY-SA 4.0
The Oligarchy of Old White Men
The imaginary constructed by fascism is inspired by libertarianism. Musk
is perhaps the best-known figure, but other startup entrepreneurs are
part of this trend. The idea is to govern the state like a business and
put an end to democracy. Libertarianism is a far-right ideology that is
perfectly compatible with white supremacy. This movement, founded by
Murray Rothbard, places private property at its center and already has
many similarities with authoritarian regimes. Its author has largely
contributed to a rapprochement with the conservative right. For him, a
free society is based on the right to discriminate.
This logic is found at work around freedom of expression, regularly
invoked on the right to express racist opinions. In addition to
libertarianism, white supremacy is the hard core of reactionary
movements, particularly through the thesis of the "Great
Replacement"[1]. This idea regularly recurs during far-right terrorist
attacks across the globe. It allows them to exploit immigration by
reviving an idea already present in interwar fascism: the purification
of the social body.
While propagating this idea, today's far right camouflages its racism.
This strategy is not new but simply adapted to the current context. Its
aim is not only to camouflage the ideological underpinnings of the
discourse, but also to spread it throughout society. Moreover, it is
common for fascist movements to co-opt elements that are not strictly
speaking right-wing and even to draw freely from the repertoire of the
reformist or revolutionary left. This normalization of ideas works to
the point where the discourses, symbols, and historical acts of fascism
are staged without encountering condemnation.
Elon Musk on stage at Donald Trump's inauguration ceremony
Reuters
The failure of liberal anti-fascism
Social media is an accelerator that allows for the rapid globalization
of ideas. However, too often, the analysis of the rise of fascism
focuses on criticizing social media or conspiracy theories through fake
news. Such an analysis does little harm; it does not call into question
the political responsibility of organizations, and it can be easily
adopted for liberal initiatives.
If Musk's propaganda strategy can rely on shock, it is because he knows
that bourgeois institutions are already more or less won over to
fascism. Long before becoming a fascist promoter, Musk was a perfect
hero of liberalism, which has long presented him as a whimsical genius.
This image serves as a defense for all his actions, fueled by an
underlying psychophobia, to the point of finding every excuse for a Nazi
salute, even though it's obvious.
Bourgeois institutions are incapable of recognizing fascism, or only by
offering it a moral denunciation. To go further would already be to
acknowledge its close association with fascism. The anti-fascism
promoted by liberal democracy has no real substance and is based on
class collaboration. It cannot propose actions other than symbolic ones
to curb its emergence: the famous Republican roadblock or the appeal to
moral values while dismissing anti-fascism as a violent movement.
What has made the anti-fascist movement so strong is its ability to
create connections within a community, in addition to its strong
self-defense dimension, whether physical through the fight against
militias or material through solidarity and mutual aid actions. At the
European level, the actions of Trump and Musk are seen as unfair
economic competition quickly camouflaged behind a fight for justice. The
resurgence of fascist regimes on an international scale cannot be fought
with posturing anti-fascism.
Victor (UCL Montpellier)
Confirm
[1]https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Argumenter-contre-le-fantasme-du-grand-remplacement
https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Union-des-droites-Vers-l-Internationale-fasciste
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