Some readers may remember the old ABC Wide World of Sports intro with “the thrill of victory... and the agony of defeat,” the latter featuring a downhill skier toppling over himself and painfully splatting into a snowbank; years later an Indianapolis 500 car flipping into a fence was added to the mix. Every show, the same poor guys tumbling to a sporting demise. A small yet formidable part of the human race seems programmed to revel in such an extremist yet non-sporting approach. Spanning the globe, one would need a scorecard to keep track of all the current progresses and setbacks, victories and violent crackdowns, protest movements and militant-police commanding “step back, there’s nothing to see!” The prone-to-violence extremist types fit various loosely defined categories. One sector represents a wave of those making in-roads of greater political influence. A recent article by Owen Jennings, “Ultra Right Ideology Continues to Gain Ground From Europe to the U.S.,” highlights current aspects of the disturbing ideologies which bear such labels as Extreme, Far, and Ultra Right; added to the mix is neo-Nazism. According to wikipedia, “neo-Nazism borrows elements from Nazi doctrine, including militant nationalism, racism, xenophobia, homophobia, antisemitism...” (For extensive explanations country by country, see this.) To defuse the shudderings such a label can evoke, let’s call it neo-NotSee-ism, because, in reality, those espousing the ideology fail to See fellow human beings who are different from them as having any redeeming value. The roster, according to Jennings, includes: “The Front National (France) and the Danish People’s Party, each winning “the largest share of the vote” in their respective countries. Also, Golden Dawn of Greece, Jobbik of Hungary, and the National Democratic Party of Germany. “The British National Party has clear links with the American Third Position (now the American Freedom Party).” And while “to a certain extent, the two- party system in the U.S. has prevented Ultra Right groups from gaining traction here,” on the other hand, “White Nationalist ideologies have found their way into U.S.-based organizations.”1 Plenty of Poisons to Pick from Another sector of extremists, including neo-NotSee-ism, has a variety of smaller groups and sometimes in direct reaction TO the government. In the United States Empire (USE) the stats seem a throwback to an un-evolved era: “The Southern Poverty Law Center calculates there are 939 far-right-wing hate groups across the country today, including neo-Nazis, Klansmen, white nationalists, neo-Confederates, racist skinheads, border vigilantes and others.The following specific case exhibits promotion of an extremist ideology along with a pseudo-landgrab, though again with political motives. In Leith, North Dakota in 2013, Native Peoples, activists, and others protested against an attempted takeover: “‘We do have every intention to legally assume control of the local government as our numbers increase in the area, and more of our Folk move into the town. This trip to Leith is a symbolic gesture of good will and faith, as we plant the seeds of National Socialism firmly into the North Dakota soil.’A historical case in point: Hitler was influenced, in part, by the USE's “concentration camp” aka POW camp, Indian reservation system.5 Yet, one can perhaps trace the origins back to the European conqueror mindset that landed on Turtle Island circa 1492. The above cited wikipedia page demonstrates that the bulk of current overt neo-NotSee activity is centered in Europe. Watch Your Back The modern wave of extremists thus far noted are those trying to instill their ideologies of their own accord. Currently most prominent and successfully violent on the world stage are the events in Ukraine, which are reportedly being backed by outsiders for both geo-political and resource purposes. “Svoboda is a Neo-Nazi Party, Ukraine’s fourth biggest party holding 36 seats out of 450 in parliament. They’re also part of the Alliance of European National Movements along with the BNP [British National Party] and Jobbik. Svoboda is supported directly by Washington.”6 “Confirmed by Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland, key organizations in the Ukraine including the Neo-Nazi party Svoboda were generously supported by Washington: 'We have invested more than 5 billion dollars to help Ukraine to achieve these and other goals. … We will continue to promote Ukraine to the future it deserves.'”7 Also in Ukraine is the “Right Sector, a coalition of rightist paramilitary groups which was also prominent in the Maidan protests.”8 Since part of the reason for Israel's formation had to do with providing a haven from post-WW II NotSee-ism, one would think that the Jewish State would be speaking out against such atrocities. According to various reports, however, the opposite is true. “Neither the Tel Aviv government nor the Israeli media have expressed concern regarding the fact that the EuroMaidan protests were led by Neo-Nazis.”9 “Both the government and media in Israel have responded by refraining from commenting on the growth of neo-Nazi and anti-Semitic forces in Ukraine and the critical role they played in the Western-backed coup. They have downplayed or ignored entirely the fact that the US and the European powers had for months been financing and working with fascist organisations, such as the Svoboda party and the Right Sector, to bring down the Yanukovych regime. This is despite the fact that Svoboda leaders have made anti-Semitic public statements and the Right Sector’s paramilitary forces dress in uniforms modelled on Hitler’s Waffen SS and sport swastika-like emblems. … these neo-fascist and anti-Semitic forces ... have launched attacks on Ukraine’s Jewish community, which numbers around 200,000, mainly in Kiev, targeting synagogues.” “Israel’s response to the crisis in Ukraine testifies to the fact that the Israeli ruling elite speaks not for world Jewry, as it likes to claim, but for Israel’s capitalist class, a corrupt and venal social layer that carries out criminal attacks on Palestinians and others in alliance with Washington.”10 Adding to that is the following vitriolic rhetoric: “Ayelet Shaked of the ultra-nationalist Jewish Home party called for the slaughter of Palestinian mothers who give birth to 'little snakes.'Another article offers this general summary: “But a certain pattern is clear: from France's National Front, to the Norwegian terrorist Anders Breivik, and now to Ukraine's neo-Nazis, a sort of marriage of convenience between European fascists and Zionists is in the air.”12 Transfascionalism (hint, it's not about clothing) Another example, let's call this one trans-national-fascism (or transfascionalism, for short), is where a country's government allows trans-national corporations to legally plunder the resources, typically for export and at the expense of the Indigenous Peoples and those who call the country home. As example: “In their desperation to attract foreign investment, and 'to make way for agricultural land investments,' the Ethiopian government has 'committed egregious human rights abuses, in direct violation of international law.'”13 And yet another threat looms from the insatiable ones: “The Obama administration gave the green light for fossil fuel companies to begin exploring for oil in the waters off the east coast of the U.S., a move said to have dire consequences for marine life in the short term and on our global climate for years to come.”14Considering skin color, a statement by Tecumseh (a leader of the Shawnee) to Governor Harrison, in 1810, would need to be updated: “... once a happy race, since made miserable by the white people, who are never contented but always encroaching.”15 One more label to add to the already toxic, extremist cocktail is crypto-fascist, a phrase that came to the fore in 1968 when, in a heated debate, Gore Vidal called William F. Buckley, Jr. that. Crypto-fascism allows for “secret support for, or admiration of, fascism. The term is used to imply that an individual or group keeps this support or admiration hidden to avoid political persecution or political suicide.”16 Those instigating proxy wars and attempting to forcefully instill so-called democracy in foreign countries seem to fit the bill. Rebels with a cause As noted previously by the Southern Poverty Law Center, the global economic system is a major power player. According to journalist Claudio Gallo: “My apparently weird thesis is: the neoliberal system ruling directly or indirectly the greater part of the world is producing a disastrous anthropological mutation that is leading to a kind of planetary totalitarianism.”17 The Zapatistas reflect the struggle of Indigenous Peoples worldwide who have been struggling against a foreign economic system for over 500 years. The inception of the Zapatista Army for National Liberation on January 1, 1994, affirms the above point: “They [Zapatistas] understood from the beginning that their enemy was not only the Mexican government, but also the 'New World Economy,' so they timed their rebellion to coincide with the first day of NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement.”18 Writing about the US, Tom Engelhardt recently highlighted two factors19 that highlight what he calls “an era of triumphalism”: the national security state and the militarized corporate state. The first, while sometimes justified, sometimes thrives on extreme actions for which a reason is not given to the people (because it's a matter of national security!), while the latter is a main cause of economic disparity and agonies of defeat both at home and worldwide. “Vision is the true creative rhythm.” - Robert Delaunay
Neo-NotSee-ism and related extremist/terrorist organizations are trying to keep the gestalt psyche in cruise-control fear-mode. They are trying to convince the People that they are living with terror firma instead of terra firma aka Mother Earth. Yet there are many, many People standing up for Mother Earth and against the extremist/fascist/neo-NotSee ideologies which sometimes manifest subtly in the actions of those who seek to further destroy the environment, poison the food supply, and harm the people who stand in the way of their supremacist agendas. Despite the disturbing developments it is certainly not the whole picture. A large wave of uprisings, protests, movements, day-to-day activist coalitions, Native Peoples' spiritual camps, etc. are working 24-7 for fair treatment of all human beings and the protection of Mother Earth and All Our Relations. The following is a small, encouraging, global sampling of recent progress and victories; bear in mind that each opponent's degree of extremism may vary widely. “Individuals from Six Nations and their allies have interrupted work on a section of Enbridge’s Line 9 pipeline. … Individuals involved asked workers to leave, asserting that the land is Haudenosaunee territory guaranteed under the Haldimand deed, and that Enbridge’s workers were present without consent or consultation.”20 “Plans by the Greek government to sell companies that handle the key resources of energy and water face serious obstacles and its policy to offer investors exceptional privileges in an effort to boost interest in privatisation is coming under strong pressure.”21 “California officials have ordered an emergency shut-down of 11 oil and gas waste injection sites and a review [of] more than 100 others in the state's drought-wracked Central Valley out of fear that companies may have been pumping fracking fluids and other toxic waste into drinking water aquifers there.”22 “Activists Blockade Chevron Fracking Site in Eastern Romania”23 “Salvadoran Farmers Successfully Oppose the Use of Monsanto Seeds”24 “Mexican Farmers Oppose Expansion of Transgenic Crops”25 As with fervor for sports teams and their sometimes violent victory celebrations, some people are desperate for allegiance and violent about the racial purity of their 'team' mentality. How to prevent such extremism is perhaps as much caught up with those backing the neo-NotSees as it is with the twisted psyche of individuals. Anders Behring Breivik, perpetrator of the 2011 Norway attacks, killed 77 people. “In August 2012 he was convicted of mass murder, causing a fatal explosion, and terrorism. On the day of the attacks, Breivik electronically distributed a compendium of texts entitled 2083: A European Declaration of Independence, describing his far-right militant ideology. In them, he lays out a worldview encompassing Islamophobia, support for 'far-right Zionism and opposition to feminism.'”26 One thing is clear about the roots of the extremist psychologies: some Other is always inferior. To avoid playing dumb and to help the cause of global-getting-along, we could all learn a thing or two from the words of Lao-Tzu, who noted in the Tao Te Ching some 2500 years ago: “Sages avoid extremism.” Also important to note is that highly evolved cultures look for guidance from and hold in high esteem those who are called Seers or Shamans. These wise visionaries are consulted for general guidance or when important decisions are being made. Each of us has the capacity to both see the facts for his/herself as well as to have a vision that connects with the timeless whole while also allowing for solutions to the currently splintered situations. The importance of such Seeing is emphasized by Native Peoples with their vision quest, though the full meaning of that phrase as well as the ceremony itself is beyond the scope of the English language. On paper the Seers have the ability to outwit the neo-NotSees and extremists. On the field of everyday reality, it will, at the least, require a lot of cooperation from People of all walks of life. Mankh (Walter E. Harris III) is an essayist and resident poet on Axis of Logic. In addition to his work as a writer, he is a small press publisher and Turtle Islander. His newest haiku chapbook is “so many people go hungry.” He also hosts an audio show "Between the Lines: listening to literature online." You can contact him via his literary website. READ MORE POETRY AND ESSAYS BY MANKH ON AXIS OF LOGIC NOTES:
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