Warning on new rise of fascism
FASCISM is back in fashion. That, at least, is the message that former US secretary of state Madeleine Albright wants to convey with her new book, Fascism: A Warning. In many places, she notes, we see strongmen on the rise and this authoritarian resurgence is accompanied by a conspicuous surge of ideas from the far right. Racists and xenophobes are popping up in unexpected places – university campuses and high political office.
So are we experiencing a revival of extreme right-wing ideology of the sort that the West thought it had vanquished back in 1945? Albright believes that answering this is crucial to understanding the current political moment.
The first chapters of her book follow the careers of Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler, and her personal account of when she fled Czechoslovakia with her family after the Nazis invaded in 1939.
It’s a pity, though, that she does not say what other modern political movements qualify for the f-word treatment. – Washington Post