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<h1 class="title">Defeating Fascism Before It’s Too Late</h1>
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<p class="byline"> By <span class="author">James Petras</span>, <span
class="date">March 24th 2014</span> </p>
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<p><em>Author James Petras argues that the violent groups within the
hard-line opposition represent the germ of a fascist movement in
Venezuela, which is being organized and supported from abroad.</em></p>
<p align="center"><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Introduction</span></strong></p>
<p>Captain Jose Guillen Araque, of the Venezuelan National Guard,
recently gave President Maduro a book on the rise of Nazism, warning
that “<em>fascism has to be defeated before it’s too late</em>”! In
retaliation for his prophetic warning, the patriotic young captain was
shot by a US-backed assassin on the streets of Marcay in the state of
Aragua on March 16, 2014. This raised the number of Venezuelan
soldiers and police killed since the fascist uprising to 5 in 29
overall fatalities [<em>note: VA.com edited the numbers of officer
deaths from the original in line with the current information</em>].
The killing of a prominent, patriotic officer on a major street in a
provincial capital is one more indication that the Venezuelan fascists
are on the move, confident of their support from Washington and from a
broad swath of the Venezuelan upper and middle class. They constitute
a minority of the electorate and they have no illusions about taking
power via constitutional and democratic means.</p>
<p>Captain Guillen Araque had stepped forward to remind President
Maduro that the road to power for Nazi and fascist totalitarian groups
has been littered with the corpses of well-meaning democrats and social
democrats throughout contemporary history because of their failure to
use their constitutional powers to crush the enemies of democracy.</p>
<p><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">The History of the
rise of Fascism under Democracies</span></strong></p>
<p>The term “<em>fascist</em>” in Venezuela is appropriately applied to
the organized violent political groups currently engaged in mass terror
in a campaign to destabilize and overthrow the democratically-elected
Bolivarian government. Academic purist might argue that the Venezuelan
fascists lack the racist and nationalist ideology of their German,
Italian, Spanish and Portuguese predecessors. While true, it is also
irrelevant. The Venezuelan brand of fascism is highly dependent on,
and acts as a proxy for, US imperialism and their Colombian warlord
allies. In one sense however, Venezuelan fascism’s racism is directed
against its multiracial African-Amerindian Venezuelan working and
peasant classes – as demonstrated by their vitriolic racism against the
deceased President Hugo Chavez. The essential connection with earlier
fascist movements is found in its (1) profound <span
style="text-decoration: underline;">class hostility</span> to the <span
style="text-decoration: underline;">popular majority</span>; (2) its
visceral hatred of the Chavista Socialist Party, winner of 18 of the
last 19 elections; (3) its resort to the <span
style="text-decoration: underline;">armed seizure of power</span> by a
<span style="text-decoration: underline;">minority</span> acting on
behalf of the domestic and US imperial ruling classes; (4) its
intention to destroy the very democratic institutions and procedures
which it exploits in order to gain political space; (5) its targeting
of <span style="text-decoration: underline;">working class institutions</span>
– communal councils, neighborhood associations, public health and
dental clinics, public schools, transport, subsidized food stores,
political meeting places, public credit unions, trade union
organizations <span style="text-decoration: underline;">and</span>
peasant co-operatives; (6) and its support of capitalist banks, huge
commercial landed estates and manufacturing firms.</p>
<p>In Germany, Italy, Spain, France and Chile, fascist movements also
began as small terrorist groups, who gained the financial backing of
the capitalist elite because of their violence against working class
organizations and democratic institutions and recruited primarily among
middle class university students, elite professionals (especially
doctors) and active and retired higher military officers – united in
their hostility to the democratic order. </p>
<p>Tragically and all too often, democratic leaders, operating within a
constitutional government, tended to regard fascists as “<em>just
another party</em>”, refusing or unwilling to crush the armed thugs,
who combined terror in the streets with elections <span
style="text-decoration: underline;">to gain state power</span>.
Constitutionalist democrats have failed or were unwilling to see the
political, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">civilian</span>
arm of the Nazis as part and parcel of one organic totalitarian enemy;
so they negotiated and debated endlessly with elite fascists who
meanwhile destroyed the economy while terrorists pounded away at the
political and social foundations of the democratic state. The
democrats refused to send out their multi-million mass supporters to
face the fascist hordes. Worse, they even prided themselves on jailing
their own supporters, police and soldiers, who had been accused of
using ‘<em>excessive force’</em> in their confrontation with fascist
street thugs. Thus the fascists easily moved from the streets to state
power. The elected democrats were so concerned about <span
style="text-decoration: underline;">criticism</span> from the
international and capitalist media, elite critics and self-appointed ‘<em>human
rights</em>’ organizations, that they facilitated the takeover by
fascists. The people’s right to the <em><span
style="text-decoration: underline;">armed defense of their democracy</span></em>
had been subordinated to the pretext of upholding ‘<em><span
style="text-decoration: underline;">democratic norms’</span></em> -
norms that any bourgeois state under assault would have rejected!
Constitutional democrats failed to recognize how drastically politics
had changed. They were no longer dealing with a <em>parliamentary
opposition</em> preparing for the next election; they were confronted
with armed terrorists and saboteurs committed to armed struggle and the
seizure of political power by any means – including violent
coups-d’états.</p>
<p>In the lexicon of fascism, <em>democratic conciliation</em> is a <span
style="text-decoration: underline;">weakness</span>, a vulnerability
and an open invitation to escalate violence; ‘<em>peace and love</em>’
and ‘<em>human rights’ </em>slogans are to be exploited; calls for ‘<em>negotiations’</em>
are preambles for surrender; and ‘<em>agreements’</em> preludes to
capitulation.</p>
<p>To the terrorists, the democratic politicians who <span
style="text-decoration: underline;">warn</span> about a “<em>threat of
fascism</em>” while acting as if they were engaged in ‘<em>parliamentary
skirmishes’,</em> become an open target for violent attack.</p>
<p>This is how the fascists came to power, in Germany, Italy and Chile,
while the constitutionalist democrats, to the last, refused to arm the
millions of organized workers who could have throttled the fascists and
saved democracy and preserved their own lives.</p>
<p><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Fascism in
Venezuela: A Mortal Threat Today</span></strong></p>
<p>The martyred hero, Captain Guillen Araque’s warning of an <span
style="text-decoration: underline;">imminent</span> fascist danger in
Venezuela has a powerful substantive basis. While the overt terrorist
violence ebbs and flows, the underlying <span
style="text-decoration: underline;">structural basis</span> of fascism
in the economy and society remains intact. The subterranean <span
style="text-decoration: underline;">organizations</span>, financing
and organizing the flow of arms to fascists-in-waiting remain in place.</p>
<p>The political leaders of the opposition are playing a duplicitous
game, constantly moving from legal forms of protest to sub-rosa
complicity with the armed terrorists. There is no doubt that in any
fascist putsch, the political oligarchs will emerge as the real rulers
– and will share power with the leaders of the fascist organizations.
In the meantime, their ‘<em>respectability’</em> provides political
cover; their ‘<em>human rights’ </em>campaigns to free incarcerated
street thugs and arsonists earn ‘<em>international media support’</em>
while serving as ‘<em>intermediaries’</em> between the open US funding
agencies, and the clandestine terrorist underground.</p>
<p>In measuring the scope and depth of the fascist danger, it is a
mistake to simply count the number of bombers, arsonists and snipers, <span
style="text-decoration: underline;">without including the logistical,
back-up and peripheral support groups and institutional backers who
sustain the overt actors,</span></p>
<p>To ‘<em>defeat fascism before it is too late’</em>, the government
must realistically assess the resources, organization and operational
code of the fascist command and reject the <span
style="text-decoration: underline;">overly</span> sanguine and ‘<em>upbeat’</em>
pronouncements emanating from some ministers, advisers and legislators.</p>
<p>First, the fascists are <span style="text-decoration: underline;">not</span>
simply a small band confined to pounding on pots and attacking
municipal workers in the upper-middle class neighborhoods of Caracas
for the benefit of the international and corporate media. The fascists
are organized on a <span style="text-decoration: underline;">national</span>
basis; their members are active <span
style="text-decoration: underline;">throughout the country</span>.</p>
<p>They target vital institutions and infrastructure in <span
style="text-decoration: underline;">numerous</span> strategic
locations.</p>
<p>Their strategy is <span style="text-decoration: underline;">centrally-controlled</span>,
their operations are decentralized.</p>
<p>The fascists are an <span style="text-decoration: underline;">organized</span>
force; their financing, arming and actions are <span
style="text-decoration: underline;">planned. </span>Their
demonstrations are <span style="text-decoration: underline;">not</span>
‘<em>spontaneous’</em>, locally-organized actions, responding to
government ‘<em>repression’</em> as depicted in the bourgeois and
imperial media.</p>
<p>The fascists bring together different cross currents of violent
groups, frequently combining ideologically-driven right-wing
professionals, large-scale smuggling gangs and drug traffickers
(especially in border regions), paramilitary groups, mercenaries and
known felons. These are the ‘<em>frontline fascists</em>’, financed by
major currency speculators, protected by elected local officials,
offered ‘<em>sanctuary’</em> by real estate investors and high-level
university bureaucrats.</p>
<p>The fascists are both ‘<em>nationals</em>’ and <em><span
style="text-decoration: underline;">internationals</span></em>: They
include locally paid thugs and students from upper-middle class
families; paramilitary Colombian soldiers, professional mercenaries of
all sorts, ‘<em>contract killers’</em> from US ‘security’ outfits and
clandestine US Special Forces Operatives; and fascist ‘<em>internationalists’</em>
recruited from Miami, Central America, Latin America and Europe.</p>
<p>The organized terrorists have two strategic sanctuaries for
launching their violent operations - Bogota and Miami, where prominent
political leaders, like ex-President Alvaro Uribe and US Congressional
leaders provide political support.</p>
<p>The convergence of highly lucrative criminal economic activity and
political terrorism presents a formidable <span
style="text-decoration: underline;">double threat</span> to the
stability of the Venezuelan economy and the security of the state . .
. Criminals and terrorists find a common home under the US political
tent, designed to overthrow Venezuela’s democratic government and crush
the Bolivarian revolution of the Venezuelan people.</p>
<p>The backward and forward inter-linkages between criminals and
terrorists inside and outside the country, between Washington senior
policymakers, street drug pushers and contraband ‘camels’, provides the
international elite mouthpieces and the muscle for street fighters and
snipers.</p>
<p>Terrorist targets are not chosen at ‘<em>random’</em>; they are not
products of an enraged citizenry protesting social and economic
inequities. The carefully chosen targets of terrorism are the
strategic programs which sustain the democratic administration; first
and foremost the mass social institutions forming the base of the
government. This explains why terrorists bomb health clinics for the
poor, public schools and centers for adult education in the barrios,
the state subsidized food stores and the public transport system.
These are part of the vast, popular welfare system set up by the
Bolivarian government. They are key building blocks in securing massive
voter support in 18 out of the last 19 elections and popular power in
the streets and communities. By destroying the social welfare
infrastructure, the terrorists hope to break the social bonds between
people and government.</p>
<p>Terrorists target the legitimate national security system: Namely,
the police, National Guard, judges, public prosecutors and other
authorities in charge of safeguarding citizens. The assassinations,
violent attacks and threats against public officials, the fire-bombing
of public buildings and public transport are designed to create a
climate of fear and to demonstrate that the state is weak and incapable
of protecting the everyday life of its citizens. The terrorists want
to project an image of ‘<em>dual power’</em> by seizing public spaces
and blocking normal commerce… and by ‘<em>governing the streets through
the gun’</em>. Above all the terrorists want to demobilize and curtail
popular counter-demonstrations by blocking streets and sniping at
activists engaged in political activity in contested neighborhoods.
The terrorists know they can count on their ‘legal’ political
opposition allies to provide them with a mass base via public
demonstrations, which can serve as a shield for violent assaults and a
pretext for greater sabotage.</p>
<p><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Conclusion</span></strong></p>
<p>Fascism, namely armed terrorism directed at violently overthrowing a
democratic government, is a <span style="text-decoration: underline;">real</span>
and <span style="text-decoration: underline;">immediate</span> threat
in Venezuela. The day-to-day, ups and downs of street fighting and
arson are not an adequate measure of the threat. As we have noted, the
in-depth structural and organizational supports underlying the rise and
growth of fascism are far more important. The challenge in Venezuela
is to cut-off the <span style="text-decoration: underline;">economic</span>
and <span style="text-decoration: underline;">political basis</span>
of fascism. Unfortunately, up until recently the government has been
overly sensitive to hostile criticism from overseas and domestic elites
who rush to defend fascists – in the name of “<em>democratic freedom</em>”.
The government of Venezuela has enormous resources at its disposal to
root out the fascist threat. Even if firm action causes an outcry from
<span style="text-decoration: underline;">overseas</span> liberal <em>friends</em>,
most pro-democracy advocates believe it is incumbent upon the
government to act against those opposition officials who continue to
incite armed rebellion.</p>
<p>Most recently, there have been clear signs that the Venezuelan
government, with its powerful democratic and constitutional mandate, is
moving with awareness of the fascist danger and will act with
determination to stamp it out <span style="text-decoration: underline;">in
the streets</span> and <span style="text-decoration: underline;">in
the suites</span>.</p>
<p>The National Assembly has voted to strip Congresswoman Corina
Machado of her immunity as a deputy in the National Assembly so she can
be prosecuted for inciting violence. The President of the National
Assembly Diosdado Cabello has presented detailed documentary evidence
of her role in organizing and promoting armed rebellion. Several
opposition mayors, actively involved in promoting and protecting
snipers, street thugs and arsonists, have been charged and arrested.</p>
<p>The majority of Venezuelans confronted by the rising tide of fascist
violence support the punishment of these high officials engaged in or
supporting sabotage. Without firm action, Venezuelan intelligence
agencies as well as the average citizen agree that these ‘opposition’
politicos will continue to promote violence and provide sanctuary for
paramilitary assassins.</p>
<p>The government has realized that they are engaged in a real war,
planned by a centralized leadership and executed by decentralized
operatives. Legislative leaders are coming to grips with the <span
style="text-decoration: underline;">political psychology</span> of
fascism, which interprets Presidential offers of political conciliation
and judicial leniency as weakness to be exploited by further violence.</p>
<p>The most significant advance toward stopping the fascist threat lies
in the government’s recognition of the links between the parliamentary
and business elite and the fascist terrorists: financial speculators,
smugglers and big-time hoarders of food and other essential commodities
are all part and parcel of the same fascist drive for power together
with the terrorists who bomb public food markets and attack the trucks
transporting food to the poor neighborhoods. One revolutionary worker
said to me after a street skirmish: “<em>Por la razon y la fuerza no
pasaran</em>!” (Through reason and force they will be defeated)…</p>
<div class="moz-signature">-- <br>
Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
415 863.9977
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="http://www.freedomarchives.org">www.freedomarchives.org</a>
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