What Is “Fascism Lite”?

July 9, 2024

And are we living in it? ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

July 9, 2024

Greetings, Meteor readers,

Wow, is it hot in here—or is it just the planet’s core temperature rising to levels that are becoming unsustainable for human life? The last few days on the East Coast have been the hottest of my lifetime, and Texas is being battered by Hurricane Beryl. I and the entire Meteor team hope that wherever you are you’re staying cool and, above all, safe.

In today’s newsletter, Cindi Leive asks Nelini Stamp, the national organizing director at the Working Families Party, three questions about democracy—and finds out the difference between “fascism lite” and “fascism 5G.” And speaking of important questions, we’re also asking ourselves and the universe why there’s a Gladiator sequel coming out.

All we can do is smile back,

Shannon Melero

WHAT’S GOING ON

Last week The Lancet, one of the most respected medical journals in the world, published research estimating that the death toll in Gaza is close to 186,000, a higher count than previously reported. Researchers point out that it has been difficult to ascertain the exact number of deaths because of the destruction of infrastructure, and the fact that the violence has “degraded” the Gaza Health Ministry’s ability to put out detailed reports: “[The Ministry] now reports separately the number of unidentified bodies among the total death toll…However, the number of reported deaths is likely an underestimate.”
On Monday morning, the Russian military fired a barrage of missiles over several cities and hit the largest children’s hospital in Ukraine, which is known for treating children with cancer. Russian officials deny aiming their missiles at a civilian location.
The GOP is switching tactics in its ongoing effort to enact a nationwide abortion ban. Instead of going for a sure-to-be-unpopular outright ban at the federal level, The 19th reports, Republicans are adopting a policy platform that “supports states establishing fetal personhood through the Constitution’s 14th Amendment”—the amendment which granted citizenship to formerly enslaved people. This tactic would, yes, outlaw abortion at conception.
Professor Kimberlé Crenshaw, the noted civil rights scholar and director of the African American Policy Forum, is better positioned than most to clearly see this country’s mounting authoritarian threat; as one of the founding scholars of critical race theory, she spent the last few years watching the right demonize an academic concept that at its core is just about equity. “Wherever there’s been a move to authoritarian rule, it’s come through attacks on history, ideas, and the political power of marginalized groups,” she told Capital B in a must-read new interview. “What we’re dealing with now is the fact that we’ve existed in this mythological space of ‘it can’t happen here’ for so long that it’s almost been a race with time for us to acknowledge that it is happening here.”
Sha’Carri Richardson got a Vogue cover (it’s digital-only, but still) and administered some choice quotes about how ready she is for the Olympics: “I don’t just mean I’m a better runner [now],” she told writer Maya Singer. “It’s beyond that. I’m better at being Sha’Carri. I’m better at being myself.” Yeah, this woman is going to win.
In this week’s installment of my non-existent series “Who Asked for This,” I’m staring into the smoldering eyes of Pedro Pascal and wondering: Who asked for a sequel to the 2000 film Gladiator? In my humble opinion, the original is a near-perfect movie, and when Maximus Decimus Meridius gave his life for the Republic, it was a fine and acceptable ending. Now we’re back, 20 years later, to check in on old characters and meet some new ones. But why? Don’t we have enough present-day imperial decline to worry about?

Three Questions On… Democracy

Political organizer Nelini Stamp breaks down our election reality, and the danger of “fascism 5G”

BY CINDI LEIVE

NELINI STAMP ROCKING THE STAGE FOR DEMOCRACY (VIA GETTY IMAGES)

It’s been a tumultuous few weeks for anyone who cares about this country’s future. Extreme Supreme Court rulings! That terrifying debate! Fast-flying opinions on whether Biden should step down to avoid a Trump victory, and who’s supporting him or isn’t as he decides. (This, on the Kamala of it all, was especially good.) But one of the few people on my feeds who has seemed calmest through it all is Nelini Stamp, the national organizing director of the Working Families Party. Naturally, I had questions. (Per the rules of this column, three of them.)

Cindi Leive: I’ve been following you the last few weeks [since the debate] and noticed you are not freaking out. Why?

Nelini Stamp: I guess I sort of feel like: We have what we have. I think that we all knew from 2020 that these would be the two [candidates] that would probably match up. And so as a person who does electoral politics, I’ve been holding the complexities of this moment for quite some time.

To me, the strategy is, we block this awful, awful, awful authoritarianism that is coming down the pathway—Project 2025—and we build infrastructure so that it doesn’t happen to us again. Political and electoral infrastructure that allows us to put what I see as the actual future of our society in office: young people in office, more diverse voices in office. More progressive voices in office! We need to build the infrastructure of folks who will fight for working people, LGBTQ people, for reproductive justice, and for the world we want to see.

To me, this election is about blocking terrible stuff and finally saying that we have to create alternative [structures]. The Working Families Party is a third party. But we are also pragmatic: It takes a lot of resources and infrastructure to get [a third-party candidate] on the ballot. And we would have to fight secretaries of state in places that are not too kind. Given the terrain that we’re on—the Supreme Court and all that—is that something that I feel uneasy with? Of course. Do I feel uneasy with Biden and Trump both running? Of course. But that is the reality that we’re living in right now.

You’re talking about the “block and build” theory. Can you explain that?

To be quite frank, pre-Israel/Gaza I was ready to be the most red-white-and-blue I’ve ever been. Because Biden has been the most worker-oriented president in my entire lifetime….and there has not been one president since FDR that was able to move such a [worker] agenda, with climate at its focus too. And so I was right here, bells and whistles, give it up for Biden, give me that Dark Brandon shirt! And then October 7 happened. It was a tragedy among tragedies, and what we’ve seen unfold as the response to it has been a tragedy among tragedies. At the Working Families Party, we were like—what is our strategic orientation? A lot of us don’t want to be bells and whistles for Biden, but we need to block right-wing authoritarianism so we can build the future we do want to see.

Look, I know how many cycles we have been saying, “You have to vote for this person to stop this person.” But now we know, in writing, with Project 2025. We know the agenda. Before it was like, Abortion is at risk. But now it is a full frontal attack on all of our lives. It is an attack on workers. It is an attack on people who can get pregnant, it is an attack on women. It is an attack on LGBTQ rights—everything we’ve gained in my lifetime will be gone in a moment. And in those conditions, on that terrain, what are we going to be able to build? We’re going to be on defense mode. We want to be able to block that—and build infrastructure that is not just controlled by the Democrats or Republicans.

A lot of people say, “I don’t want to vote for any of these candidates.” But we must use all the tools in our toolbox. A [vote] doesn’t mean that you are endorsing the system.

We also need to think about the world that fascism actually brings. I was on a panel with my friend Nadya, who was one of the founders of Pussy Riot….[and it made me think], in the United States, we have “fascism lite.” Like, the NYPD acts like fascists a lot. People who can get pregnant are under fascism. Trans people are under fascism. We all deal with it in certain parts of our lives, but we do not understand what full-blown fascism is like: There is not one single artist in Russia that is not locked up right now! We really don’t understand what fascism over every single part of everyone’s life is like. I think the people in this country who understand fascism most are incarcerated and formerly incarcerated folks. The government literally has a different set of laws for them. But for most people, right now, we have…fascism lite. We don’t have fascism 5G. We have a beta version. And I do not want to see the fully cooked version.

Fascism 5G is a terrifying concept. So last question: What is making you feel hopeful right now, if anything?

I’m hopeful about all the gains that workers have made—the UAW workers, auto workers, are continuing to organize new members because they had momentum, and they had a good NLRB [National Labor Relations Board] on their side. I know that that’s very wonky, but they had the terrain on their side to win the most gainful things that auto workers have won in [a long time]. These are things that make me hopeful.