THE ATLAS OF PLANETARY VIOLENCE. INAUGURATION
INAUGURATION
Reflections on the Fascism of Today.
Fascism is back. What emerged as a response to the political and economic crisis of the interwar period has now returned, in a new form that nevertheless draws on that of its progenitor. I approach the question of fascism through the lens of repetition: is this a reprisal or mere pretense, and to what extent? Is the threat of emergent fascism the same, similar, or completely different today?
Finally, should the response from contemporary anti-fascists resemble that of their counterparts in the thirties and forties? These questions can be examined from a number of perspectives. I will discuss three aspects besides the obvious political and economic ones: the manner in which fascism functions in today’s supersaturated symbolic space, the peculiar affective features of contemporary militarism, and the negative consequences of identity politics. Among the ideas forming the backdrop of this discussion will be Walter Benjamin’s notion of fascism as the “aestheticization of politics,” a method of action that changes everything in order to change nothing.
Andrzej Leder