The Fourteen Properties of Fascism

By Weston Funcheon, White Rose Florida

Benito Mussolini making a speech in 1920.Credit: DeAgostini Library

In 1995 Umberto Eco, an Italian university professor with a long list of accolades, wrote an essay titled “Eternal Fascism” in which he lists fourteen general properties of fascist ideology. Through his essay he explains that it is not a requirement that all fourteen ideologies be present, but rather one of them is enough to allow fascism to blossom. How many can you identify in America today? Try to avoid partisanship.

They are as follows:

● The Cult of Tradition: Minority traditions and beliefs being absorbed and taken over by the majority tradition.

● The Rejection of Modernism: Rejecting modern developments and sciences while embracing superficial technological advances.

● Disagreement is Treason: Devaluing intellectual discourse.

● Fear of Difference: The exploitation of differences in nationality, race or religion.

● Appeal to Frustrated Middle Class: Exaggerating economic pressure from aspirations of lower social groups.

● Obsession with a Plot: The hyping up of an enemy threat.

● The Enemy is Too Strong & Too Weak: Playing up the power of enemies to give followers a sense of grievance, while casting them as weaker so the people feel like the populace can fight against them.

● Pacifism is Trafficking with the Enemy: Enforcing the idea that there is always an enemy to fight, and refusing to fight that enemy is treason.

● Contempt for the Weak: If you cannot support or fend for yourself, you deserve to die.

● Everybody is Educated to Become a Hero: Employing the idea that fighting, and even dying for your country is a noble pursuit.

● Machismo: Disdain for women and nonstandard sexual habits including chastity, homosexuality, and promiscuity.

● Selective Populism: Claiming that the People have a common will and that any particular individual is the interpreter of that will.

● Newspeak: Speaking down to the people to discourage critical thought and reasoning.

FIGHT FASCISM

Join your local White Rose Society Chapter and see how you can help to fight fascism in your hometown today.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/whiterosesociety

PEACEMAKER News Bits

HOHOTT, CHINA – January 18, 2019

A security robot goes on patrol in an Inner Mongolian region of China. The robots are equipped with panoramic camera, they can recognize strangers, sound alarms or communicate with people.

photo credit: VCG

LOS ANGELES, CA – January 18, 2019

Photo credit: David McNew. Striking teachers and supporters rally outside City Hall as negotiations resume for over 33,000 members of the United Teachers Union.

US-MEXICO BORDER – January 18, 2019 Photo credit: Guillermo Arias. Workers reinforce a section of the border fence, as seen from eastern Tijuana, in Baja California, Mexico, just ahead of a new caravan of Central American migrants trying to reach the United States, the first of which just crossed into Mexico.

Montecitorio Square, ROME, ITALY January 18, 2019 Photo credit: Nurphoto. Demonstrators protest inefficient climate policies in front of the Italian Parliament building.

YAMAGATA, JAPAN – January 18: Misaki Shigeno of Japan in action during day one of the FiS Ski Jumping World Cup. Photo credit: Atsushi Tomura

SUPER BLOOD WOLF MOON 1/20/19

Viewing times in America for full lunar eclipse on January 20-21, 2019:

Peace ❤️

“Badass Chicks” from artist Donna Bates

Los Angeles artist Donna Bates, most recently at Annenberg Beach House in Santa Monica, CA, has been delivering edgy art with themes of survival and independence for over twenty years. The Annenberg all-female art exhibit, “Life in this Ocean”, was planned over two years ago before the Trump resistance became a cohesive force.

War Paint & Curlers. Artist Donna Bates. Permission by the artist.

Christina Campodonico of The Argonaut newspaper writes: “American Warriors” wear the American flag majestically, like battle-tested heroines for a new era. Armed with arrows or capped by crowns, their hair strewn with curlers or wrapped by stars and stripes, Bates’ Badass Chicks radiate power and regality like Goddesses of the New World…”

Libertatis. Artist Donna Bates.

“We fix our hair. We carry our purse. We slosh through the primordial ooze with the slings and arrows to battle another day, and we’re facing a lot of disparity. It’s ok to go out there and do battle…”

Says Bates, 71, who hopes her paintings echo a sentiment of empowerment for the future.

WRS members look forward to attending future exhibitions with Ms. Bates.

See more of her artwork here.

Find the Official White Rose Society Website Here

White Rose Society of Today: Primary Purpose

“Cast off the cloak of indifference with which you have covered your heart. Choose before it is too late.”

Leaflet 5 of the White Rose Resistance – 1942

Today’s White Rose Society is committed to nonviolence and solidarity across party lines. Our main purpose is to address the abuse of power by government leaders and their policies. Human dignity is our keystone.

Our purpose is not just about what we want but it is to ensure that truth is upheld and that we are working together to form solutions that are beneficial for all. Social reform requires more than protesting or political sniping. It requires innovative ideas to improve society. We strive to be of service to our communities and the world.

Visit our website at www.WhiteRoseSociety.com for more info.

Peace and blessings,

White Rose Los Angeles

This Land is YOUR Land: The Big Gun of Pacifism

By Richard Crockett

WWII was in full thunder when George Orwell wrote “Pacifism and the War.” Orwell seeks to point out that pacifism at home is wonderful for enemies abroad. He cites the fact that Germany and Japan actively promoted pacifism in the propaganda they used to break the fighting spirit of the allies. At the same time, they actively suppressed pacifism at home. Orwell mentions “… pacifist activities are not permitted in those countries (in both the penalty is or can be, beheading).”

He may have been referring to the Hans and Sophie Scholl who were beheaded by the Nazis in 1942 for distributing anti-Nazi literature. They founded the legendary White Rose Society, which is still active today. However, Orwell does not say.

Further, he gives an insider’s devilish view that Gandhi’s pacifism was extremely useful for the British, and far from being defeated by it, they employed it to good effect. Fascist regimes do not fear pacifism; they fear violence.

The classic quote you will see from this essay is: “Pacifism is objectively pro-Fascist. This is elementary common sense. If you hamper the war effort of one side you automatically help that of the other.”