Expert on contemporary far-right movements, Alberto Toscano, discusses late fascism, distinguishing it from past fascism. Exploring how Black and anti-colonial perspectives can help understand contemporary fascism. Critiquing liberal discourse's failure to grasp the specificity of fascism and highlighting the importance of anti-fascist thought.
Late Fascism challenges oversimplified historical analogies, urging a nuanced approach to understanding contemporary fascist movements.
Colonial fascism and racist ideologies are explored, drawing insights from anti-colonial and anti-racist activists like Angela Davis and George Jackson.
Fascism's association with capitalist crises is examined, highlighting concepts like perverted utopianism and libidinally charged fraternity within reactionary movements.
Deep dives
Understanding Late Fascism's Discourse
Late Fascism presents a critical intervention in the current discourse on fascism, challenging the tendency to oversimplify fascism by drawing parallels to interwar Germany and Italy. The podcast emphasizes Alberto Tescano's skepticism towards common checklist approaches to fascism, highlighting the need to move beyond superficial analogies. Tescano suggests that the socio-historical context of contemporary fascism differs significantly from the past, urging a reexamination of our understanding of European fascism.
Colonial Fascism and Racist Dynamics
Late Fascism delves into the exploration of colonial fascism and racist ideologies, shedding light on how anti-colonial and anti-racist activists adapted concepts of fascism to their specific historical contexts. The podcast discusses fascinating analyses by Angela Davis and George Jackson, revealing insights into American fascism through the lens of carceral terror originating from liberal democracy.
Fascism Within Capitalist Crises
The podcast elaborates on late fascism's association with capitalist crises, viewing fascism as a potentiality inherent in capitalism's destabilizing moments. Alberto Tescano's analysis disrupts the traditional narrative by examining productive concepts like perverted utopianism and libidinally charged fraternity within the fascist framework, providing a nuanced understanding of reactionary movements and their engagement with freedom.
Roles and Attractiveness of Fascism
Exploring the functions and allure of fascism, the podcast reflects on fascism's potential appeal to various social groups. It considers how fascist movements seek to bolster capitalist power without fundamentally altering capitalist regimes, attracting support from different sectors of society. The discussion includes insights on the pluralistic and opportunistic nature of fascist ideologies and their ability to mobilize disparate forms of discontent and resentment.
Psychological Dimensions of Fascism
Delving into the psychoanalytic dimensions of fascism, the podcast examines the libidinal economies and psychosocial mobilization inherent in fascist movements. Drawing from historical perspectives on mass psychology and psychoanalytic theories, the discussion highlights elements like group psychology, fantasy fulfillment, and psychic distortions that contribute to fascism's appeal and attraction to segments of society.
In this episode, we are joined by Alberto Toscano to talk about his analysis of contemporary far-right movement and ideology. We discuss his new book Late Fascism and consider the strategic and rhetorical downsides of analogizing the present moment to past instantiations of fascist politics in Nazi Germany and Mussolini’s Italy. We try to get a grip on what distinguishes contemporary fascism, why liberal discourse’s fixation on ‘totalitarianism’ fails to grasp the specificity of fascism, and ask what Black and third-world scholars can teach us on this score.
leftofphilosophy.com | @leftofphil
References:
Alberto Toscano, Late Fascism: Race, Capitalism and the Politics of Crisis (New York: Verso, 2023).
Music:
“Vintage Memories” by Schematist | schematist.bandcamp.com
“My Space” by Overu | https://get.slip.stream/KqmvAN
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