Taiwanese politics often slaps labels on political opponents. Calling them Nazis or fascists.

1994 Taipei mayoral candidate debate. Chu Li-lun's analogy of judicial investigation to "Nazis" sparks protests.

Recent controversial remarks have drawn attention from the European Economic and Trade Office in Taiwan.

Many people say it's a disgrace to the country.

In Taiwanese society, people often imitate Hitler and the Nazis as a joke.

Guangfu High School students' Nazi parade sparks controversy, slammed as ignorant.

Song Jianliang wore a Nazi armband while being questioned, netizens rage: KMT is disgracing Taiwan.

Initiator of Green Recall Dressed as Nazi, German Representative in Taiwan Strongly Condemns 'Shameless Act' | TVBS News

Why is "fascist" such a sensitive label internationally?

And how do you identify people or political parties with fascist tendencies?

Is it possible for fascism to make a comeback in the 21st century?

In today's video, we're going to talk about What exactly is fascism?

Historically, various fascist groups have been some conservative, some radical.

It's actually not easy to find a universal definition.

However, scholars believe that fascism has several distinct characteristics.

First, it is a totalitarian state system. A single party under one person.

Second, it usually has a charismatic leader ruling dictatorially.

The dictator's words can even outweigh scientific authority.

For example, Hitler said, "Science is only useful when it benefits the nation."

Third, fascism is inherently an exclusionary nationalism and racism.

For example, the eugenics promoted by the Nazis is an extreme case.

Fourth, fascism has a crisis narrative that incites voters. And it is passionate about promoting national rejuvenation.

Fifth, fascism is essentially reactionary.

Believing that social progress brought about by liberal democracy, the left, and feminism, are all harming their interests.

The best way to understand fascism is to look at the environment in which it emerged.

Late 19th century, salt marshes on the Mediterranean coast of France. Rumor had it that three French workers were killed by Italian migrant workers.

Police began detaining Italians.

French society was filled with an atmosphere of hostility towards foreign migrant workers.

Maurice Barrès, a French writer hailed as the father of fascism at the time, pointed out that national identity originates from the history, traditions, and myths of a land.

Because French farmers have always grown up on this land, they are a naturally formed community with the land. And have more legitimacy to govern society.

Foreign immigrants can never replace true French people.

In 1889, Barrès further used local anti-Semitic sentiment to run for office.

In this case, we see the prototype of fascist thought: a form of xenophobic right-wing nationalism.

Actually, from the 19th to the early 20th century, nationalism was originally a relatively progressive left-wing ideology.

At that time, many colonized people would use the idea of national self-determination to challenge the empires of the time.

But in order to challenge foreign colonial regimes, nationalism often appealed to some kind of romanticized indigenous roots.

For example, when Italy was first unified into a nation-state in the 19th century, it was the Italian revolutionary Mazzini who promoted nationalism for national liberation, believing that the people shared a common cultural origin, and therefore the divided small states on the Italian peninsula could be merged into one country.

When a country is first created, certain national myths often emerge to maintain the community.

This in itself is not a problem.

The problem is that national myths were transformed into national superiority by the far right at that time, becoming weapons for them to fight for power.

Like after the German unification in 1870, many Germans felt that Germany wasn't truly unified, because the population within its borders wasn't a unified ethnicity.

German Romantic philosopher Julius Langbehn, in his book 'Rembrandt as Educator,' proposed a Volkish philosophy, arguing that nationalism is built on the unity of ethnic identity, a group with consistent moral values, clearly defined by bloodline and culture, a natural community, different from those who immigrate later.

He praised Rembrandt of the Netherlands and Goethe of Germany as heroes of the Germanic people, advocating for the revival of Germanic virility, while Jews were the poison of society.

This book immediately became a bestseller after its publication, and later became the ideological foundation of Nazism.

But how did this kind of exclusionary ethnocentric superiority arise?

One school of thought believes it's because 19th-century European society underwent rapid capitalist modernization, traditional order was disrupted, and the wealth gap widened.

Many local farmers and laborers became losers in modernization.

But the ruling class said this was historical progress.

At this time, the far right took the opportunity to seize power and incite the masses, providing emotionally charged explanations, saying that our country is facing a crisis and heading for decline.

The culprit is that group of foreign forces controlling the homeland.

The far right promised the public to make the country great again, restoring its former glory, portraying themselves as spokespersons for national liberation, allowing the masses to emotionally identify with them.

It was like starting in the 1880s, various anti-Semitic conspiracy theories circulated in Europe.

The Jewish Rothschild family was seen as the embodiment of controlling global capitalism.

The French far-right boycotted Jewish-owned department stores in Paris.

Russia's Black Hundreds even promoted the conspiracy theory that Jews wanted to overthrow the Tsar, demonstrating in the streets and killing hundreds of Jews.

These far-right tactics later became common strategies for fascists.

The psychologist Le Bon observed that European politics in the late 19th century had already shifted from the elite politics of the past to mass politics.

Whoever controls the emotions of the masses can control the votes.

The truth doesn't matter to the masses. What matters is providing the masses with the illusion they crave.

And fascism grasped this.

The rise of Mussolini and Hitler both occurred when they emerged during social unrest and said, "Our country is declining and on the verge of collapse."

They used this to stir up patriotic sentiments and mobilize society's losers, using an external enemy to strengthen internal identity, but in reality, it was to destroy the enemy within the country, in order to achieve political power.

So the philosopher Adorno called the psychological manipulation techniques of fascists 'displaced aggression,' transferring the aggression generated by the public's dissatisfaction with society onto a group of scapegoats, saying it's all the Jews' fault, or the intervention of some foreign power.

If the people elect me to power, I will expel all these people.

That's how fascists can gain popular support. Because it satisfied the psychological need for emotional release.

During the Great Depression of 1929, fascists propagated the idea that it was a conspiracy of Jews and Freemasons.

But these claims only led to the rise of fascism in Europe and not in the United States.

Even though the Great Depression was most severe in the US, why is that?

Because the American New Deal quickly solved the problems and successfully quelled social discontent, it's not the case that extreme fascism automatically arises simply from widespread poverty and hardship.

Because throughout human history, periods of widespread poverty and hardship have been everywhere, but only at certain times did fascist regimes emerge.

So, to understand fascism more deeply, we should understand it through exemplary cases. That is, to understand the most typical fascists, post-World War I Italy and Nazi Germany.

After World War I ended in 1919, although Italy was one of the victors, it didn't get much in the way of benefits or territory.

Italians felt this was a "mutilated victory" (vittoria mutilata).

Mussolini rose to power amidst this wave of discontent, presenting himself as a representative of the working people, and more capable of controlling the country, and creating a new Italy.

He organized the "Fascist Fighting Leagues."

The word Fascis originally meant "bundle of rods," that is, a bunch of wooden rods tied together.

It was a symbol of authority in ancient Rome.

Mussolini used this word to symbolize power concentrated in the hands of the state.

He quickly won the support of small farmers.

Because these people all felt the government was incompetent.

By 1922, Mussolini's Fascist Party already had 250,000 members.

He organized the March on Rome. To pressure the ruling party with a demonstration.

Finally, he successfully launched a coup.

After Mussolini was elected Prime Minister of Italy, he attacked the left wing. Amended the election law. Restricted freedom of the press. So that members of the Fascist Party could obtain a majority of seats in Congress.

During the election, political opponent Giacomo Matteotti exposed election fraud.

As a result, Mussolini actually sent people to kidnap and murder Matteotti. Which caused a public outcry in Italy.

The fascist rule implemented by Mussolini after taking office. Wasn't actually based on any complete ideology. But simply to seize power and eliminate political enemies.

It was later systematized into a complete ideology by Giovanni Gentile, Mussolini's personal philosopher. systematized into a complete ideology.

Gentile said, When we Italians close our eyes, we can feel our Italian soul in our bones.

This Italian soul is inherited from the ancient Roman culture of thousands of years ago.

Therefore, during the Great Depression of the 1930s, in order to make Italy's economy independent of imports, Mussolini promoted "nationalism of the Roman spirit."

He encouraged the Italian people to eat more domestic rice, and support local farmers.

Don't eat imported pasta, because pasta is a modern invention.

Ancient Romans ate bread. Relying on pasta as the main food will not restore the glory of ancient Roman civilization.

This kind of nationalism is the ideology that fascists developed to consolidate power when faced with economic crises.

We can see a similar trajectory in the example of Nazi Germany.

After World War I, Germany was a defeated nation, bearing huge reparations.

Added to that was the Great Depression of 1929, with severe inflation.

Six million people were unemployed in Germany.

Hitler claimed to be inspired by Mussolini, packaging himself as a representative of the masses, claiming that if the Nazi Party came to power, it could restore discipline and order to Germany.

In the short term, he gained a lot of support from farmers.

In 1932, a quarter of German workers voted for the Nazis.

Finally, in 1933, Germany signed the Enabling Act, stating that bills announced by the Chancellor, even if unconstitutional, did not need parliamentary confirmation.

This was equivalent to ending the rule of law in Germany, and turning the country into one commanded by the will of the leader.

After gaining dictatorial rule, the Nazis quickly froze freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, and banned trade unions.

Even the selection of civil servants depended on loyalty to the party.

But the Nazis had a key difference from other fascist groups. It wasn't just xenophobic patriotism. It developed into a unique form of racism.

Emphasizing the need to sacrifice other races to achieve the prosperity of the German Aryans. This was the Nazis' guiding principle.

A set of eugenics listed which races were inferior and detrimental to the prosperity of the German nation. Such as Jews, homosexuals, and people with physical and mental disabilities.

These weak individuals had to be sterilized. In order to improve the quality of the German population.

At the same time, women were encouraged to marry and have children to increase the nation's population. Because to the state, this was equivalent to raising future soldiers.

A key concept in Nazi eugenics was "Lebensraum" (living space). Believing that Aryans were the master race.

The master race reproduces and multiplies endlessly. Naturally, it would cause overpopulation.

Therefore, it was "inevitable" to expand their territory outwards. Even if it meant sacrificing inferior races in other regions.

This concept of Lebensraum was used by the Nazis to justify the colonization of various places.

But to expand outwards, you need various arms and strategic materials.

And the country with the richest mines at that time was the Republic of China.

So Nazi Germany actually had a little-known diplomatic partnership with the Chinese Nationalist Party.

In the 1930s, during the Sino-German cooperation period, the Nazis sent General Hans von Seeckt to China as a military advisor to assist the Nationalist Party in military modernization and control military power.

Chiang Kai-shek sent his adopted son Chiang Wei-kuo to Nazi Germany to study and join the Wehrmacht.

Chiang Kai-shek and Hitler often exchanged congratulatory telegrams.

Because it was during the Chinese Civil War and the Japanese invasion of China, the Chinese people had a strong sense of national crisis.

After seeing Mussolini and the Nazis come to power, and their dictatorial rule quickly address national crises, a view became popular among the Chinese people that democratic politics are inefficient and dictatorial rule is truly powerful.

In 1932, Chiang Kai-shek imitated Mussolini's Blackshirts. He created a secret organization called the "Blue Shirts Society." Also known as the "Three People's Principles Vigorously Practiced Society."

Most of its members were graduates of the Whampoa Military Academy.

They hoped to learn from the Fascist model. To make the Kuomintang's rule stronger. And to support Chiang Kai-shek as the supreme authority and core belief in the hearts of the people.

This organization, within six years, rapidly grew to a scale of 500,000 people.

Chiang Kai-shek sent people to Germany and Italy many times to study the Fascist operating model.

One of the inspectors, Hu Gui, saw that the Germans under Nazi rule lived in an orderly manner.

After returning to China, he suggested to Chiang Kai-shek that to save China from its impending doom, it was necessary to launch a national revival movement. Like Germany and Italy. To restore the glory of ancient Rome.

China should also revive the traditional Confucian virtues of propriety, righteousness, integrity, and honor.

Changing the street names of the Republic of China to those of ancient sages and worthies. Advocating militarized life education.

This is the New Life Movement promoted by Chiang Kai-shek.

Interesting historical moments of the Republic of China: Chiang Kai-shek promoted the New Life Movement, preparing China for a total war of resistance.

That's why Harvard historian William Kirby said, China's modernization process, starting in the 1930s, was a hybrid combination of fascism and traditional Confucian culture.

The golden decade of China's modernization, was actually rooted in the KMT's history of fascisizing China.

And after the KMT fled to Taiwan in 1949, it essentially brought fascist dictatorship to Taiwan, establishing a highly militarized police state.

Therefore, Taiwan's democratization movement, is not just about fighting against dictatorship. Behind it is also a struggle against a certain Chinese-style fascism.

Now that we've introduced the classic examples of fascism... So how do we identify whether contemporary society or political parties have fascist tendencies?

Because fascism has now become a term of abuse. No political party would call itself fascist.

But we can examine whether an individual or group has fascist tendencies from three perspectives: race, gender, and class.

To examine a person or group for fascist leanings, we can look at race, gender and class.

First, on the issue of class. Many fascists, like Mussolini and Hitler, would call themselves "National Socialists."

This title was in opposition to the then "International Socialism," which is what Marx believed, that workers have no country. Workers all over the world should unite to fight against capitalism.

But National Socialism believes, no. Of course, workers have a country. The labor movement should prioritize native-born locals.

Domestic workers and capitalists should tolerate each other for the sake of national interests.

If capitalists can treat local workers well, then they will not unite with foreign workers to rebel.

Everyone will become more patriotic, building a harmonious nation, instead of engaging in class struggle as Marx said.

Hitler told the German masses, "Workers must return to the bosom of the fatherland, and fight against those who destroy the nation," which meant uniting with German capitalists to fight against Jewish capitalists.

So, fascism doesn't essentially challenge the capitalist system. It just makes capital also obey the interests of the state.

Because the fascist regime would help capitalists destroy the left-wing labor movement, so big businesses supported the Nazis after they came to power.

This way, the state could say to the workers, "See, now everyone, regardless of class, is striving for the country. We've become more patriotic."

Next is the fascist attitude towards race.

Starting in the late 19th century, the far right viewed Jews as a race, rather than a religion, thereby regarding them as an unassimilable foreign element.

Because the view of European progressives at the time was that as long as a person lives in a country for a long time, they will be assimilated as a member, possessing similar language, culture, and values.

Therefore, this person should be given equal civil rights. What race you are is not the question.

But the controversy lies in: How much time does it take to assimilate into a member of society?

The fascist writer Barrès believed that it takes centuries of living on French soil to cultivate a French national character.

Hitler, on the other hand, believed that survival of the fittest is the struggle for existence between races, and every race wants to control and dominate.

They all pursue racial purity and prevent infiltration by foreign races.

It was because too many Jews were equal citizens that the racial interests of the Aryans were violated.

For example, Hitler said that the sex industry was invented by Jews to spread venereal diseases and exterminate white people.

In order to maintain racial purity, the Nazis issued a series of policies prohibiting marriage between Jews and Aryans, and implementing sterilization policies for people with hereditary diseases, and ultimately systematically exterminating Jews.

These are all due to fascist racism.

After World War II, racial equality was universally recognized as a universal human right.

So in contemporary political debates, even far-right anti-immigration groups will deny being racist.

Instead, they argue that opening up to immigration is actually racial discrimination against native people, because it infringes on the rights of local white people.

Like the recent right-wing rhetoric popular in Europe, saying if we open up to Muslim immigrants, and they have more and more children in Europe, eventually white people will become a minority population in Europe.

That is racial oppression against white people.

They use this to advocate for restricting immigration or repatriating illegal immigrants.

So, on racial issues, To identify whether someone has fascist tendencies, you can look at their arguments to see if they incite hatred against certain races.

For example, saying that all Muslims are terrorists, or that all Indians are rapists, and that if we allow these people to immigrate, our country will be doomed.

These xenophobic remarks with racial discrimination carry a fascist tone.

Lastly, Fascism also had its own view on gender issues.

Fascists abhorred feminists and gender equality, and advocated for 'separate but equal' roles for men and women.

They believed a woman's natural duty was to take care of the family and have children.

They thought true equality meant women doing what they were suited for.

However, during the two World Wars, men were all at the front lines fighting. Women in the rear actually dominated city life, taking on positions that were originally held by men.

Many women's groups sprung up like mushrooms after rain.

This development made Fascists at the time feel that women could compete with men for the same positions, and becoming like men meant they were no longer women.

For example, French Fascist novelist Pierre Drieu La Rochelle lamented: "This civilization will henceforth be without gender."

Women being able to do men's jobs was a symbol of civilizational decline.

And the Romanian Fascist organization Iron Guard declared that educated women would leave society barren.

They wanted to restrict women's access to education and keep women at home, because a woman's mission was to reproduce for the white race.

Because the two World Wars caused Europeans to die on the battlefield. The population plummeted.

Society expected women to help have more children to replenish the population.

So, on the one hand, Fascists hated women. On the other hand, they wanted women to become perfect mothers.

You might think, how could women possibly support this view?

But after the Nazis took power, there were 2 million female members.

Because the Fascists knew very well, that to mobilize women for the nation, they had to give them some benefits.

For example, allowing women to work as medical staff, teachers, and social workers. Giving them the feeling of contributing to the country.

At the same time, the Fascists would also implement some social welfare policies. Making women feel that the demands of the women's movement were being realized.

In this way, women would voluntarily take on the role of being a good mother.

For example, Gertrud Scholtz-Klink, the Nazi women's leader, had 11 children herself. Leading the way as a good mother.

Fascism doesn't just make demands of women. It also makes demands of men.

For example, the Nazis emulated the samurai code of Bushido and the Teutonic Knights' military ethos. Considering this a model for demonstrating masculinity.

And homosexuals, lacking masculinity, violated the distinction between men and women.

So the Nazi regime also cracked down on homosexuality. Forcing them to undergo treatment.

Tens of thousands of homosexuals were sent to concentration camps and executed.

Some scholars believe this is actually because strong same-sex friendships easily develop within highly masculine fascist groups, so homosexual desires must be deliberately suppressed.

Some homophobic fascists are actually deeply closeted.

For example, Ernst Rohm, a pioneer of the Nazi Sturmabteilung, was a typical masculine soldier, but he was secretly gay.

So, on gender issues, to identify whether someone has fascist tendencies, you can look at how they discuss gender equality.

People with fascist tendencies will say that feminism, homosexuality, and transgenderism will cause human civilization to collapse.

Fascist parties will order that schools cannot teach feminism or gender equality, because these gender "progressive" and "equal" ideas will lead the country to ruin.

It is necessary to return to a certain past gender order to restore society to normal.

We might think fascism is a thing of the past. Like it's something far removed from us.

But many scholars studying fascism today point out that the United States after Trump's inauguration has gradually become fascist.

Fascism is what the current Trump administration is doing.

For the past decade, we've been debating whether this is fascism.

People argue about whether it's authoritarianism or fascism.

My view now is that we shouldn't waste time continuing to argue about it.

Let's review the characteristics of fascism.

Fascism skillfully uses a crisis narrative to incite voters.

It tells you, our country is being invaded by some external force. Like immigrants, feminism, the left, the elite class, those out-of-touch media elites, political elites.

But those elites, these forces, under the guise of equality and progress, have infiltrated the national media, campuses, and government agencies.

There may be a crisis of national extinction.

After spreading this crisis narrative, fascist leaders will claim that their own people's race is superior.

We will make the country great again.

We Americans are stronger, tougher, crazier, and smarter.

Just elect me, and I can handle this crisis.

I am your voice.

I alone can fix today's crisis.

This allows fascists to transform the country into a totalitarian government through democratic elections.

Recently, Elon Musk directly gave a Nazi salute at Trump's inauguration, causing an uproar among netizens.

I just want to say thank you for making this happen.

Thank you.

My heart is with you.

After Trump took office, he carried out a massive deportation of Venezuelan immigrants, even though a federal judge had ruled the deportation illegal.

Trump did not comply with the judicial ruling and committed contempt of court.

The president alone is above the law.

Next is restricting people's freedom of speech. Freezing Harvard University's $2.2 billion budget. Forbidding Americans from protesting Israel's slaughter of Palestinians.

This led Harvard University to sue the Trump administration.

More than 150 American university presidents jointly signed a statement. Stating that the Trump administration is interfering with American universities' academic freedom and freedom of speech.

The president's will overrides the scientific community.

Many American scholars feel censored. Unable to conduct academic research.

Therefore, recently three American Yale University authorities on fascism studies, Jason Stanley, Marci Shore, Timothy Snyder, decided to leave the United States.

Because the United States is gradually becoming fascist.

This is the warning they gave to the world after leaving the United States.

The lesson we learned from 1933 is: You better get out early, or it will be too late.

I've spent a lot of time in the past decade trying to get people to prepare if Trump got elected, let alone twice.

You know you're living in a fascist society when you constantly think: Am I safe right now?

The country we want is one where nobody has to worry about their safety.