Knowing what fascism is, because it's here

Letter to the Editor by Barbara Jatkola, Jaffrey NH

About a year ago, before the presidential election, an older friend of mine asked, “Can you please tell me, what is a fascist?” I was a little surprised, because she was 95, had lived through WWII, and was up on current political news. I read her this definition of fascism from Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary: 

“A political philosophy, movement, or regime . . . that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition.” 

The word “fascist” comes from Benito Mussolini’s followers, the Fascisti, active from 1922 to 1943. 

If you haven’t already, you may soon see pop-up demonstrations highlighting signs of fascism. These signs vary depending on the group sponsoring the demonstration. Here are the signs that the members of Monadnock Women for Action, a local democracy advocacy group, have determined to be the most relevant, based on several lists compiled by experts on fascism: 

Rewriting history

Glorifying war

Demanding absolute loyalty

Threatening political opponents

Suppressing the vote

Ignoring the courts

Prosecuting personal enemies

Inciting violence

Undermining elections

Banning books Ignoring science

Threatening other countries

Sowing hate & fear

All these things are happening under the Trump administration. Watch for this group’s pop-up events throughout the Monadnock Region. They invite you to join them in actively opposing these fascist actions. Let’s all fight fascism.