Time to reflect on the ever present battle against fascism
- By Sumantra Maitra
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E-mail China.org.cn, September 2, 2015
In a Reuters report, Jack Midgley, a defense expert at Deloitte, said that this is a valid demonstration of China's first world status with its military, and a proud display of its economic and military products to foreign buyers, and not a signal to the West. He said he came to the conclusion as much of the weaponry in the parade is already familiar to foreign military analysts and intelligence services anyway, even if it has not been paraded publicly before.
It is however important to not forget the true significance of this parade, behind all these superficial debates about motives. This parade marks the end of the World War, and a victory over fascism and territorial imperialism. Territorial imperialism and fascism have been collectively responsible for some of the worst atrocities on the face of the planet. Now with a changed global order, and time, imperialism, as we know of the past, is a dead phenomenon. But fascism lives on.
To understand fascism, we need to understand the teachings of Thomas Hobbes, who said that the world, as we know it, is and always will be "nasty, brutish and short." There is a valid and base human desire which will always remain, and that is to rise above others and rule. As states and nations are organic, and they rise and fall based on geo-political realities and economic fundamentals, some rulers always try to justify their rule on the rhetorical basis of race or religion. Fascism then comes out.
We are watching reactionary forces like ISIS raising havoc in Middle East, raping thousands of women as sex slaves, and killing people of different ethnicity and nationality, just because they are from a different religion. There are obviously academic debates about how Islamic ISIS is, and how much they are motivated by something much simpler like territory and resources, but one thing is for certain, they are masterfully using religion as an ideological tool, manipulating people into joining their causes and fuelling a bigger fire.
There are neo-Nazis in Germany and other parts of Europe trying to come to power by exploiting legitimate grievances about incompetent economic and immigrations policies of their respective government, but luring people into their causes by exploiting race. In short, fascism is well and thriving, as moderates from every side of the political spectrum are increasingly being sidelined.
This parade and celebration, therefore, gives us a chance to ponder how fascism was defeated by force, and how a grand coalition, irrespective of political spectrum, was needed to defeat and destroy fascism. Perhaps that is the biggest lesson of the time.
The writer is a columnist with China.org.cn. For more information please visit:http://china.org.cn/opinion/SumantraMaitra.htm
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