Editor's note: Nina-Bytes is a weekday blogging series that features short analysis and commentary on articles from around the web.
After the fascist coup attempt on January 6th, 2021, I wrote that the removing Donald Trump from the White House would by no means end the rise of American fascism, or the powder keg of violence that goes along with it. I further warned that a policy of ignoring, legitimating, and appeasing fascists would likely fuel that rise, and bring with it violence acts of reactionary stochastic terrorism. Needless to say, this turned out to be a very unpopular opinion in some (then) rather surprising portions of the online "left" community.
Unfortunately for us all, as of last Friday those warnings are now distinctly less abstract; a fascist conspiracy theorist broke into the Pelosi home and attacked the Speaker of the House's husband with a hammer. The assailant, a 42 year old fascist Gryoper into just about every right wing conspiracy you could imagine, reportedly attempted to tie Paul Pelosi up with the intention of waiting until his wife Nancy came home. You can read more about this clear act of political violence in this Oct 29th, 2022 summary over on the Guardian:
Paul Pelosi, husband of Nancy Pelosi, in hospital with skull fracture after attack
While I certainly don't want to minimize the severity of an 82 year old man's violent assault with a hammer, what's important to our larger discussion about fascism is the fact that the current Democrat Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi was the target of the attack. And despite the protestations of conspiratorial fascist propagandists, it sure does seem political:
"It was reported by CNN that the suspect intended to tie the victim up “until Nancy got home” and that he had posted rightwing and conspiracy theories online, including content promoting the lie that Donald Trump was deprived of victory in the 2020 election because of voter fraud."
There will of course be those, even in the mainstream "centrist" media who insist that this is a crime story, or that the primary issue here is the attacker's mental health. These arguments however ring hollow once you understand that triggering violence from unstable individuals among a faceless reactionary mass is precisely how stochastic terrorism is designed to work. It certainly doesn't take a genius to connect calls for Pelosi's public execution by a fascist GOP Congresswoman, to a disturbed ultra-reactionary conspiracy theorist's attempts to do just that. Even liberal media minions too cowardly to describe this as fascism in writing, fully concede that the result was utterly predictable. And as this October 29th Guardian article by Joan E. Greve ominously predicts, the fascist political violence has only just begun:
Attack on Pelosi’s husband heightens fears of increasing US political violence
Although it remains utterly inexplicable to me that "liberal" media outlets still refuse to use the word "fascist" to describe right wing political violence in the Pig Empire, even after Joe Biden's "semi-fascist" speech, the overall sentiment here is correct. The mainstreaming of conspiracy theories, eliminationist propaganda, and reactionary ideas in the Pig Empire has lead to a drastic rise in political violence; and that violence is by no means from "both sides" as our author makes clear:
"The US Capitol police has reported an overall rise in the number of threats against members of Congress since the deadly January 6 insurrection last year.
According to USCP data, officers tracked 9,625 threats and directions of interest (meaning concerning actions or statements) against members of Congress in 2021, compared with 3,939 such instances in 2017. The House sergeant at arms has responded to this worrisome trend by giving lawmakers up to $10,000 to upgrade security at their homes.
Although both Democratic and Republican lawmakers have faced a number of threats in recent months, the increase is not evenly distributed along the political spectrum. According to a study conducted by the Anti-Defamation League, rightwing extremists have committed about 75% of the 450 political murders that occurred in the US over the past decade, compared with 4% attributed to leftwing extremists."
Look folks, I'm certainly not trying to be an alarmist. But when everyday people find ourselves watching a trans pogrom in progress, organized voter intimidation parties, and actual "lone wolf" assassination attempts on high profile liberal politicians, it's fair to say we're now talking about a fascist sprint, and not a fascist creep. Furthermore it's increasingly difficult to place much faith in a liberal establishment too disinterested, or too afraid, to materially challenge fascist violence; even when it targets one or more of their own kind. Instead they hide behind weasel words, punch left, and continue to arm up a police state that increasingly looks like it will soon belong to the fascists the police themselves already support.
nina illingworth
Anarcho-syndicalist writer, critic, and analyst.
You can find my work at NIDC, Can’t You Read, Media Madness and my Patreon Blog
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