21st Century Fascism: Reflections for Debate

by Wevergton Brito

Wevergton Brito is vice president of the Brazilian Centre for Solidarity with Peoples and the Struggle for Peace (Cebrapaz)

In Latin America, the “Big Lie” technique, amplified by social media, has also caused great damage, and I would like to begin by commenting on some cases that occurred in Brazil. 
During the 2010 presidential campaign, then-candidate Dilma Rousseff was targeted by an underground war on social media. At the time, WhatsApp had only arrived in the country a year earlier and had not yet reached the influence it would later achieve. Even so, Dilma's candidacy was the target of an avalanche of fake news that concretely influenced a significant part of the population to either annul their vote or vote for José Serra, her main opponent, who represented the traditional right. 
My former in-laws, a retired school janitor and a maintenance worker at the same Catholic school, had always voted for Lula since 1989. To my surprise, when I visited them after the first round of the 2010 election, both (devout Catholics) had annulled their votes because they were “informed” that Dilma would force churches to perform same-sex marriages. Other bizarre fabrications that gained traction included: 

• Dilma had cancer, would die soon, and Michel Temer (her running mate) would take over. His son was supposedly a Satanist. 
• Dilma had gonorrhea. 
• She had challenged Jesus Christ himself during a rally in the state of Minas Gerais. 
• She would shut down churches and imprison priests and pastors. 

The mainstream media remained silent in the face of this abject underground smear campaign because the beneficiary was their preferred candidate who, despite all of this, was still defeated in the second round. 
In 2011, a request was made to revoke the mandate of then-federal deputy Jair Bolsonaro after he made various racist and misogynistic statements against singer and TV host Preta Gil. The most influential political columnist for the major bourgeois newspaper O Globo, Ricardo Noblat, defended the fascist. Shamelessly, Noblat concealed the real accusations and claimed that Bolsonaro was at risk of losing his mandate merely for expressing controversial opinions, such as being “against racial quotas, the anti-homophobia bill, civil unions for homosexuals, and adoption by same sex couples”. Noblat accused those who denounced Bolsonaro of being “good fascists”. 
On 12th February 2014 José Gullén Araque, a captain in the Venezuelan National Guard, gave President Nicolás Maduro a book on the rise of Nazism, declaring at the time “fascism must be defeated before it is too late”. Just over a month later, Araque was assassinated with a shot to the head by Venezuelan fascist groups led by a well-known far-right extremist named Leopoldo López, whose actions resulted in the deaths of 43 people. 
However, Aécio Neves (the traditional right-wing candidate against Dilma Rousseff in 2014) visited the criminal in prison. The corporate media, both in Venezuela and Brazil, referred to Leopoldo López as a “political prisoner”. 
During the massive rallies calling for President Dilma’s “impeachment” heavily promoted by the mainstream media in 2015 and 2016, far-right sound trucks were always present, advocating for a military coup and praising torture. Protesters wore T-shirts calling Dilma a “whore” and carried signs suggesting that she “go to Cuba to cure her cancer” among 
other vile insults. None of this seemed to bother the traditional right or the corporate media at the time, which instead praised the supposedly democratic and peaceful nature of the coup-supporting marches. 
The traditional right and mainstream media's tacit encouragement of the openly criminal methods used by their far-right allies had severe consequences: first, it normalised fascism, and by normalising it, it lent credibility to its discourse. 
The fascist far-right became a relevant actor in Latin American political struggles, infiltrating the state’s police and judicial apparatus, promoting class hatred, defamation, sabotage, coups, and coup attempts. It did not always lead these efforts, but it consistently gained visibility and accumulated political and ideological power. 

In 2014 federal police officer Danilo Mascarenhas posted an image of a caricature of President Dilma riddled with bullets. He was "punished" with a four-day suspension. 
Below is a small and incomplete list of coups and coup attempts in Latin America where fascist elements played a prominent role:

 
• 2002 in Venezuela – Chávez was kidnapped, and a coup government was briefly installed. The masses mobilized, and the coup was defeated. 
• 2008 in Bolivia – Opposition groups, led by regional governors in the Media Luna region, blocked roads, occupied state buildings, sabotaged a major gas pipeline, and organised referendums to declare regional independence. Peasants were murdered. 
• 2009 in Honduras – Honduran President Manuel Zelaya, who had joined the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA) the previous year, had the presidential palace invaded by the military. Zelaya was kidnapped and flown to Costa Rica. 
• 2010 in Ecuador – President Rafael Correa went to a police barracks to negotiate with striking officers. The police attacked his entourage, and Correa, injured, was taken to the Military Hospital, which was then surrounded by officers who even opened fire. The confrontation left two presidential guards, two striking police officers, and a pro-government student dead. 
• 2012 in Paraguay – Following “spontaneous” protest demonstrations, the Senate removed elected President Fernando Lugo in a process that lasted only 24 hours. 
• 2013/2014 in Venezuela – “Guarimbas” (armed gangs funded and organised by the far right) carried out attacks on public buildings, leftist parties, and police forces, causing dozens of deaths. 
• 2016 in Brazil – A coup d'état involving the hegemonic media, sectors of the judiciary, and parliament removed President Dilma Rousseff through a fraudulent impeachment process. 
• 2017 in Ecuador – Rafael Correa was forced to flee the country to escape lawfare. His vice president, Jorge Glas, remains imprisoned at the time this article is written. While in prison, Glas attempted suicide, and Correa remains in exile. 
• 2018 in Brazil – Lula, a victim of absurd judicial arbitrariness, was unjustly imprisoned and, during that year's presidential campaign, was even prevented by the courts from speaking about the elections, paving the way for the election of the fascist Jair Bolsonaro. 
• 2019 in Venezuela – The far-right coup plotter Juan Guaidó proclaimed himself the Venezuelan president. The USA and the European Union recognized him as such. Billions of dollars, gold, and state-owned Venezuelan companies were expropriated by imperialist 
or imperialism-subservient governments. 
• 2019 in Venezuela – Under the pretext of "humanitarian aid," a new coup attempt in Venezuela was orchestrated, driven by the USA and countries from the now-defunct "Lima Group." Once again, the coup was defeated. 
• 2019 in Bolivia – A coup in Bolivia forced the newly re-elected President Evo Morales to flee the country. Far-right gangs carried out assassinations and beatings. 

Since our topic is 21st-century fascism, we cannot fail to mention the coup in Ukraine in 2014, which, with the support of the USA and the European Union, brought to power a coalition of openly fascist and neo-Nazi groups. 
The new Ukrainian state power granted the title of national hero to Nazi collaborator Stepan Bandera who, during the German occupation of Ukraine in the Second World War, served in Hitler's ranks, sending communist, Jewish, and antifascist resistance compatriots to concentration camps. 
The alliance between most of the centre, traditional right-wing, and commercial media with the far-right occurs in different ways. In some cases (such as Ukraine, Venezuela, and Bolivia), the far-right explicitly takes the lead in actions. In others, like Brazil until 2018, the centre and the traditional right remain in command but instrumentalise the far-right for all kinds of dirty work. When this happens, the traditional right, while publicly trying to distance itself from the most revealing fascist actions, in practice shields and supports its allies, hoping that, in the end, they will isolate the most dangerous elements and maintain hegemony. 
It is necessary to open a parenthesis here to emphasise that mistakes and shortcomings of the progressive camp facilitated the rise of the conservative and far-right wave. Regarding Latin America's progressive experiences, there is already a vast accumulation of discussion on this, but addressing this subject could divert focus from the main theme of the  article. Therefore, I will only mention two aspects among many: 

    • The illusion regarding the class nature of bourgeois society led to the belief that top-down arrangements could mitigate contradictions and conflicts, resulting in the secondary importance or even abandonment of grassroots work. 
    • We live in a historical era where the failure of collective transformation projects is propagated. Even within the left, space has been opened to weaken this notion, with individual projects often prevailing over collective ones. When this happens, it is no longer about the struggle for transformation but simply the defence of parliamentary careers or positions within the state apparatus. This miseducates the population  about the difference between leftist and rightist practices, contributing to disenchantment, depoliticisation, and the demobilisation of activists who wish to dream again of a "dream dreamed together" as Yoko Ono and Brasilian singer Raul Seixas once put it.  
 
The Rise of Fascism 

It was, indeed, a long gestation. The use of fascist ideas and practices as a political weapon by the bourgeoisie for over seven decades; the lack of viable political perspectives that offered profound solutions as an alternative to a politically and economically bankrupt system; the naturalisation and legitimisation of fascist discourse by the bourgeoisie; the 
worsening of capitalism's economic crisis since 2008; and the increasing aggressiveness of imperialism in response to the emergence of a multipolar world – all these factors created the perfect environment for Brecht’s "pregnant bitch", that I referred in the first part of this series, to finally give birth. 
In the USA, the leading imperialist power, speeches filled with the most primitive anti-communism, rooted in chauvinism, religious fundamentalism, and science denial, have been growing alongside the political discrediting of the American plutocracy and the rapid deterioration of the living conditions of large masses of US workers, who are similarly disillusioned and without advanced prospects. The inauguration of Donald Trump for his second term marks a high point in the rise of the global far right. 
Here, calling Trump crazy or a buffoon does not help at all. The same was said about Hitler and Mussolini. He must be taken seriously. Trump is advancing decisively and rapidly in destroying what little remains democratic in the American plutocracy, moving toward a de facto dictatorship, which, if successful, will be followed by a radicalisation of his counterparts worldwide. 
Trump’s lebensraum manifests itself with immense brazenness. On what legal basis, under international or humanitarian law, does Trump propose to simply expel the Palestinians and turn Gaza into a macabre American real estate venture built over the corpses of thousands of men, women, and children? None. He doesn’t even care. 
Just as Italian and German fascism discredited the League of Nations – which was dissolved in 1946 because it was ineffective in taking any action against Mussolini and Hitler’s invasions—Trump openly scorns the UN, abandons important multilateral organisations that the USA helped to create, breaks consensual agreements and alliances, and treats the UN Charter as a dead letter. The message is clear, the danger is real, and we must confront it without hesitation.

 
Calling Things by Their Name

 
Even though some of Trump’s most zealous supporters, such as Elon Musk, make the Nazi salute, Trump will not appear with a small mustache and a swastika on his arm. If someone is waiting for this to happen in order to be convinced of what we are facing, they will continue fighting windmills. One common feature in most 21st century fascist movements is precisely their denial of being fascists. Milei calls himself a "libertarian," and in a 2022 interview with Veja magazine, Bolsonaro assured us that he is a "liberal". 
However, any reader who has patiently followed this series and compared the fundamental characteristics of fascism in the past century with what we experience today has surely drawn their own conclusions. All the essential traits of fascism, according to various authors, are present in the most relevant elements of today’s far-right. To recall:

    • the contemporary far right operates in a world where socialist China threatens the hegemony of  the leading capitalist country (the Soviet threat has been replaced by the Chinese threat); where parasitic financial capital dominates the economic and political landscape of capitalist nations
    • its mobilising myths revolve around “fighting the corrupt system” and “restoring the nation’s greatness”
    • it has a socially mobilised and politically organised base; where it has the strength to do so, it is aggressively imperialist
    • it is fiercely anti-communist 
    • it depends on charismatic leadership
    •  it is chauvinistic; it is irrationalist

 ...It is fascism. 

21st Century Fascism 

A fascism shaped by globalisation, the scientific-technological revolution, and social media, which manifests one of the defining characteristics of the fascist movement: massive propaganda. In other words, it is a fascism that has been influenced by and has absorbed the marks of its time. One of the fundamental tasks of anti-fascists is to unmask, with even greater emphasis, in front of the masses, the true nature of the phenomenon unfolding. 
Like its 20th century predecessor, 21st century fascism is not uniform. It retains regional and cultural peculiarities, among others. As I have pointed out, there are differences in emphasis and even characteristics that are absent in some variants and present in others. For instance, the mobilising myth of “restoring the nation’s greatness” in the USA and Europe is closely 
linked to “defending the purity” of the nation and, therefore, to fighting against immigrants. The fight against immigrants is a largely absent element in Latin American fascism, though the racist undertones inherent in the hatred toward immigrants are a common feature of all fascisms, including Brazilian, Argentine, Chilean, and Uruguayan fascism, among others. 
The epicentre of 21st century fascism is US imperialism, which is becoming increasingly violent and corrupt. As we have seen, it was imperialism that carefully nurtured the current monster and will never cease to rely on fascists to sustain its global domination project. 
Imperialism and imperialists of all shades fully understand that, in the current stage of capitalism, the total defeat of fascism would also mean the defeat of imperialism, and the downfall of imperialism would inevitably trigger a new wave of anti-capitalist demands. 
Thus, it will be impossible to wage an effective battle against 21st century fascism without a broad, united struggle guided by a clear anti-imperialist vision. 
While it is necessary to take advantage of rifts within imperialist countries and among imperialist factions to weaken them, any idea of an alliance with “moderate” sectors of the imperialist centre is a mistake that will only create vulnerabilities for future attacks. 
The primary struggle will be against the imperialist policies emanating from 
the United States –a country governed by 21st century fascism and still the most powerful in the world, holding hegemony in economic, cultural, diplomatic, and military spheres. 
On the international scene, the Trump administration follows an inverted version of Nixon and Kissinger’s logic. While in the 1970s, Nixon and Kissinger sought to separate China from Russia (the USSR) to focus on attacking the USSR, Trump intends to weaken or undermine the strategic alliance between China and Russia in order to concentrate fire on China. 
However, it is important to highlight that much of Trump’s programme is directly tied to the evident decline of the United States. The desperate attempt to find ways to “restore lost greatness” may, on the other hand, further accelerate this decline by intensifying: 

• Internal contradictions – Even within the USA,Trump will face strong resistance. This resistance may take shape because the American bourgeoisie itself is divided on how to confront its decline. Added to this division among the ruling class is the almost inevitable sense of disillusionment that will spread among workers who placed their hopes in Trump’s promises. However, the US proletariat is equally distrustful of the Democratic Party, and all indications suggest that this distrust runs deep. This could present an opportunity for left-wing and revolutionary alternatives to gain political relevance in the USA and challenge American plutocracy from within. 
• External contradictions – External contradictions may intensify conflicts between the imperialist center and its European partners, as well as with the peoples fighting for sovereignty and development. The ongoing clash with China stands out, given that China wields significant political influence and strong global representation.
 
A Necessary Struggle

 
There will be no effective fight against fascism without popular mobilisation and without the active participation of workers and the progressive camp. However, this will not happen automatically or inevitably. It requires courage and clarity. 
And it is precisely this turbulent and uncertain global scenario, marked by crises on multiple fronts, that has the potential to spark large-scale mobilisations that once again bring to the forefront the very ideals that 21st century fascism most denies and attacks: national sovereignty, equal rights for all human beings, environmental protection, socialism, and world peace, with solidarity and fraternity among peoples. 
These ideals are like sunlight to the fascist vampire. And with unity, we must work to ensure that, better late than never, we witness the break of dawn.