The Two Front War Against Fascism
The fight against fascism is always a two front war. On one side lies the creeping authoritarianism of foreign states; on the other side lies our own.
It is good for Republicans to occupy themselves with saving Ukrainian democracy instead of destroying their own—as they did for four years under Trump, who backed Putin in his effort to destroy Ukraine, after Putin backed Trump in his bid to destroy America. And perhaps for many Republicans it will be transformational to finally defend the freedom they talk so much about. But we should not deceive ourselves into thinking Russia is a greater threat to democracy than Trumpist Republicans.
Nor should we harbor any illusions that British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is being transformed into a democrat by protecting Ukraine from an authoritarian state, as he busies himself with building his own. In just the past few weeks, Britain’s Conservative government has agreed to send refugees who make it into the country to Rwanda. It has virtually criminalized protesting by allowing officers to arrest demonstrators for noise violations, and it has disenfranchised about a million citizens by forcing them to provide a photo identification before voting. And this is to say nothing of their white nationalism, which can be sensed at all times in public places, where immigrants and minorities have been increasingly marginalized.
Seldom have such fascist tendencies been unleashed amid such stirring rhetoric about defending democracy abroad.
Ukrainians understandably appreciate the additional arms, but British Conservatives are no friends of democracy, and they will almost certainly desert Ukraine as soon as it is politically convenient. It should be more than a little suspicious when the same government that left the EU through a racist campaign of lies funded by Russian oligarchs seeks to rebrand itself as an anti-fascist beacon of democracy. It is a fundamental axiom of politics that you should not trust the intentions of a politician who takes up a righteous cause in the middle of a scandal just before an election.
Poland’s Law and Justice Party has likewise rallied to the defense of Ukrainian democracy while destroying their own.
Just a few years ago, the authoritarianism of Poland and Hungary arguably posed as great a threat to the European Union as Russia, after all. Remember when 60,000 white nationalists from across Europe were cheered by Polish officials when they marched through Warsaw chanting death to Muslims? Poland’s ruling party has hollowed out their state’s democratic institutions while helping lead a global campaign against Muslims and Jews. That doesn’t mean they don’t see their own possible future in Ukraine and feel empathy for the millions of Ukrainian refugees taking shelter in their country. But while Poland may be a friend to Ukraine, due to its shared history and culture and threats, it is no friend to democracy—and its fascist tendencies should continue to be treated as a global threat.
Perhaps it is in the nature of war that old rivals band together against common foes.
Stalinist Russia played a major role in defeating Hitler, after all. But Stalin was also Hitler’s closest ally, who helped him start the Second World War by dividing up Poland in 1939. And all told, he killed more civilians than Hitler, including millions of his own troops, who were thrown into battle with neither weapons nor provisions. Russia’s occupation of the Crimea should remind us that while Stalin was busy defeating Hitler, he was also ethnically cleansing Tatar and Greek Crimeans—in addition to the Kalmyks, Balkars, Chechens, Ingush, Latvians, Lithuanians, Estonians, Circassians, and Finns he also deported to Central Asia.
So, while the vast bulk of states supporting Ukraine are stable democracies, and while the Ukrainian far right won only 2.3 percent of the vote in the last election, we should not act as if the enemy of our enemy is our friend. It is possible that Poland’s Law and Justice Party, along with British Conservatives and American Republicans, will be transformed by their participation in the fight against Russian fascism. But it is also possible that their participation will help transform the war from a battle for democracy and human rights into an excuse to unleash their own pent up aggressions.
It is in the nature of war that as it spreads its original aims are forgotten. So, we would do well to provide Ukraine what they need to reclaim their country now, lest years of fighting corrupts their cause. The force of arms is an exercise in power politics that can corrupt us all if we are not careful. Yet, fighting for freedom can also make us better, and standing against evil can cleanse us of our own. It is all a matter of whether or not we remember what we are fighting for and keep our worst impulses in check. That’s why it is so important to link Ukrainian freedom to that of other peoples.
If we oppose Russia’s human rights abuses in Ukraine, we need to oppose them in Syria. If we are going to fight against Russia’s obliteration of Mariupol, we need to be willing to do the same next time Israel assaults Gaza. And if we are going to exhaust our treasure in supporting Ukraine’s fledgling democracy, we need to be willing to do the same with Tunisia’s, which may require little more than financial incentives in the form of withheld aid and loans to get back on track.
There are few perfect analogies in international politics, for states are complex and there are far too few to match them up evenly. Most people just don’t know enough about states other than their own to understand what is going on in all but a few big ones, and not even the biggest and most powerful states are able to get everything they want. So, we should be willing to tolerate some contradictions in foreign policy. Still, at some point, the contradictions reach a tipping point and a legitimation crisis ensues, and already we have seen how the double standards being applied to Ukraine have brought about a backlash among people in the Middle East and Africa.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine instantly transformed the international order of states by bringing the association of democracies more closely together than it has been in generations. And it has brought out the best impulses in some of the world’s worst actors, who have banded together in the fight for freedom. But as American Republicans and British Conservatives continue their assault on freedoms at home, and as some of Ukraine’s strongest supporters back Israel in carrying out all the same crimes against humanity suffered by Ukrainians, we should remember that the fight against authoritarianism is always a two front war.
On one side lies the creeping authoritarianism of foreign states; on the other side lies our own.
~ Theo Horesh, author of The Holocausts We All Deny: The Crisis Before the Fascist Inferno
Wise words, Theo. We should keep an eye out on those authoritarian governments which are currently supporting Democracy, but who have no deep democratic values. Democracy is the key to a prosperous future for humanity! Or possibly just even the survival of humanity through climate change.