The reason I am rooting around in my tweet archive looking for 2013 is because that is basically the year I started speaking out online, and I feel like I need ‘proof’ of sorts that I really have been shouting from the rooftops about all of this for the entirety of the decade since.
Because I did warn you. Again, again, and again.
You see, while I may have been rather green back then in terms of intersectional feminism, it was at that point already 20 years since the moment I stood next to an actual survivor, who was returning for the first time ever, on the street in the center of the town of Mauthausen that every prisoner had walked on their way from the train station to the concentration camp at the top of the hill, and heard a local man, who had lived on that street his entire life, in his nineties at that point, speak the famous words;
“Wir haben es nicht gewußt.”
To someone who had literally walked past his window.
I have stood in classrooms full of teenagers to relay my experience there, to educate them, and I wonder if those same people are now voting for the people who are advocating for fascism, eugenics, and so on.
I have worried for years what would happen if most of the survivors had passed on, when those who had lived it were no longer around to give you an open-handed slap across the face if you dared speak the words that are now commonplace again.
Everything about this has been expected, and warned about, for years and years. And for those looking to 'escape’ it, in the US or the UK; mainland Europe is no better.
We have elections coming up again here, in less than two weeks, and the results of those will determine who gets seated in the First Chamber, the Dutch senate. And the same thing that has happened for more than two decades now is happening again; a hero of the people has risen, claiming to fight for the common man, promising to address their 'economic anxiety’, which is really just a proxy for, you know, all the usual shit.
Again, and again. You were warned.
Twenty years ago, this hero of the people was assassinated [1], and every incarnation since has utterly failed to govern whenever they were elected; Geert Wilders, Thierry Baudet, etc.
This time, it's Caroline van der Plas, and her BBB party [2]; they are currently polling at around 14 seats, IIRC, a huge jump from the single seat they currently have in the Second Chamber, the Dutch House, a very similar jump experienced by Thierry Baudet's party the last time we had these elections.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pim_Fortuyn
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farmer–Citizen_Movement
They rise, and they fall, but every time, the Overton window moves, and other parties take advantage. Around 55% of people here reliably vote to the right of center, and that depends on how you count. The supposedly left-wing Socialist Party, for example, isn't really distinguishable from their right-wing brethren on a lot of issues.
And guess what? Everyone talks about Scotland and how its gender recognition law got blocked by the Tories, but ours has basically been in limbo since it was introduced in May 2021.
The opponents are citing American studies, etc., politicians suddenly have doubts again. All very familiar.
GC/TERF funded ads have been appearing in the street, ginning up controversy. Like, paid ads.
About three weeks ago, a fundamentalist christian 'for the family’ type group paid for “gender is not a choice" radio ads. They refuse to say where the money is coming from, and nobody knows who paid for the public street ads either.
Article, in Dutch;
They're all connected. We've known for years that US organisations are funding this stuff, along with local donors. I have a list of receipts a mile long.
Politicians from Thierry Baudet's party, Forum For Democracy (FVD), which won big during the previous Provinciale Staten elections, have been calling for 'tribunals’, and harrassment of elected officials is at an all-time high, especially if they are women who dare speak out.
They march with upside down flags, often the Luxembourg instead of the Dutch flag, because they're selling so well they're often sold out.
Here's are some photos of a ‘quiet march’ in Tubbergen, from August of last year; white people marching against the housing of refugees in their neighbourhood.
These upside down flags are a common sight, nowadays. They show up on farmland along the major highways, but also where I live. There's one right across the street from me, for example.
The ‘boerenzakdoek’, a red bandana with a traditional design, has suffered a similar fate, and is now another one of those markers, tied to the driver's side mirror of cars.
And then there's the ‘The Great Reset’ posters pasted to the big recycling containers at the supermarket, of course, which I've posted about before.
It's all linked together; TERFs, antivaxxers, conspiracy theorists, outspoken white supremacists, and so on. The core of the movement morphs, moves from one issue to the next, whether it's COVID, the environment, "farmer’s rights”, the so-called division between urban and rural, etc.
They form rhizomatic assemblages, temporary alliances, jump between bandwagons when one is slowing down and another one gains speed.
The end goal is always the same; remove anything that poses a threat to the white supremacist patriarchy, and the glorious national past.
Here's an article from 2019;
"US Christian fundamentalist groups have spent over $50m (£38m) in Europe over the past decade, and have dramatically ramped up campaigning in recent years, according to a report by the UK political website OpenDemocracy."
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/mar/28/us-fundamentalists-spent-38m-on-european-politics
They've been bankrolling conservative oppositions for ages. Here's another example, from 2015;
I've said it before, and I’ll say it again;
Western christianity is the original white supremacist cross-border organising network, well-funded, and backed by empire. It does not exist without white empire, and white empire does not exist without it.
These are people who will happily commit decades to a cause, and train the next generation to take over, while on the left, we're struggling to stick with it for more than a few months or years, especially when we are not directly affected.
Anyway, you were warned, time and again. If you don't remember this, it’s probably because you muted or unfollowed the people who did, because it showing up on your social media was just too darn inconvenient, and uncomfortable.
But now that it is undeniably in your face, being spoken out loud, with pride, what will you do?
Not that I am particularly hopeful, mind. People on here would rather demand that this stuff be hidden behind a content warning, complain about their ‘living room' being ‘invaded’ when more people join, or unironically refer to it as 'gentrification’.
Mastodon remains as white as fuck, and that is unlikely to change anytime soon.
But maybe, if it changes one person's mind, the hours spent surfacing everything all over again will have been worth it, and maybe save a life, in the future?
TL:DR; the reason you should be worried about fascism is because it isn't about what you are, but about what you are not, according to a very narrow set of requirements. Requirements that change.
It's an excluded by default, prove that you are worthy type of ideology that eats its own. It has zero shame.
You might think that it does not affect you, as a cisgender white person who skews hetero, has never had an abortion, and so forth. Because it will come for you, too. It will just keep finding new reasons for why you are not worthy, not pure.
Let's say you are a decidedly heterosexual, cisgender white woman who has never had an abortion.
Did you marry, and have kids? No? You are of good stock, but refusing to breed, and save the white race. Deviant.
Yes? Was it to a white man of good stock, your first, who you stuck with even though he's an asshole? No? Deviant.
Did you marry a man who isn't white? You are polluting the white race. Deviant.
Are you having less than three children? Deviant.
Did you dare not be happy with all of them? Did you choose to work instead of remaining home with the kids? Deviant.
The list goes on and on.
The whole point of fascism is that nobody is ever good enough, and will thus forever live in fear of being the next one on the list.
The only way to stop it is to do so before it gets to you, to resist it before it focuses its attention on what is wrong with you in particular.
Get off your arse, and start being uncomfortable.
Sindarina, Edge Case Detective
Anvil of Truth
Statmonkey 🙊
DanaBlankenhorn