🗨️ "Why Not?": How to Reply to Fascists
The fundamental human truths that the liberal establishment has long since abandoned, and without which it sinks ever deeper into it own irrelevance in the face of resurgent fascism.
The night before the German election, a leader of the fascist party was interviewed on Newsnight, the BBC public affairs programme. She said her party would expel refugees from Afghanistan back to the country, even though they would be beaten, raped, and killed on their return. At the end of this proposition, she said confidently, "Why not?"
Predictably, the liberal commentators in the Newsnight studio did not answer her question. They analysed, rationalised, and procrastinated—anything to avoid declaring what it means to be truly human.
To deal with fascism, you have to have an alternative way of being and acting, other than technocracy. So how to reply? You say:
"Why not? Easy—because we are all sisters and brothers. We exist to love each other. We are the other, and the other is us. If we abandon those in need, we abandon ourselves. We become diminished. You can choose to hate, or you can choose to love—this is the fundamental political choice. The German people do not want to choose fascism because they, more than most, understand it will destroy the country—spiritually and materially. We need to grow up and take responsibility for being alive in this world—for its burdens and joys. This is our true destiny. This is what we stand for."
Bang. Something like that. Nice and confident. And then repeat it over and over again. Like the Great Lie, the Great Truth becomes accepted to the extent that it is declared publicly.
Old liberals cannot save us—they don't know how to speak. Young people need to speak this truth and thereby create a world for themselves and for others—a world for all of us. Together.