On Outlawing Fascism
By Matilda Wallace
In February of 2021, the ever "brave and Honourable" Senator Pauline Hanson made an impassioned call for the ALP, and LNP to work together with One Nation to bring about legislation to ban Nazi iconography, (even making a reference to regulating the ever imposing boogy man of video games). [1] Sen. Hanson’s bright idea was soon overshadowed by a report from Victorian Parliament recommending Nazi symbols be banned from public display. [2] While this may seem to be a fine idea at first glance, a walk in the park even, with Sen. Hanson stating that “Australian’s don’t like racism” in an interview following their press release. [3]
Hanson and their ilk have continually painted themselves as champions of freedom of expression [4], in so quickly jumping to the defence of the innocent against these symbols of hate and fascism, they not only contradict their own stance, they also miss the point. Fascism is not restricted to these overt displays of National Socialist iconography, it is not restricted to jackbooted brutes marching through the streets of a homogeneously drab neighbourhood ala 1984.
Scratch just below the surface of our liberal democratic society, and you’ll find monuments to oppressors everywhere you look. The western world is littered with monuments erected decades after the fact, commemorating the European Explorers who actively massacred Australia’s Indigenous population [5], or long dead colonial monarchs [6], which serve as a reminder to the oppressed classes of the ‘achievements’ of our exploiters, and are more worthy of commemorating than the sacrifices working people make every day.
Subtler still than these overt monuments to our oppression, is the covert references to the same pillars of power in the everyday lives of the poor. Be it the unelected head of state on the inverse side of small change, to the seat of bourgeois power in Australia, Parliament House in Canberra displayed on the lowest denomination of Australia’s polymer banknotes. Perched atop Parliament is the Australian Flag, a stark reminder of our brutal colonial history.
These symbols exist throughout our society, and cannot be combated with weak platitudes by those who seek power, only through a complete overhaul of our society will we be liberated by the creeping, insipid aspects of fascism.
As Marxists we should not rely on the bourgeois state to enact policies and reforms in our favour. Any policies enacted to protect the community can quickly be turned towards communists, as we openly oppose their regime. Marx himself wrote relating to the freedom of the press, that censorship is ultimately a measure to be enforced by police, and cannot be equal to justice. [13]
Even with the realisation about censorship, there are countless places where outright fascist symbology is banned. Famously vague laws in the Federal Republic of Germany ban the use of symbols of unconstitutional organisations. While initially utilised to criminalise outright Nazi iconography, within a decade they saw the Communist Party of Germany outlawed in a similar fashion. [14] These rules were retroactively placed upon those living in the East after the reunification of Germany. Similar laws exist in many post soviet societies. [15]
The lumping together of communist symbology with that of those who most vehemently oppose us serves not only to suppress our movement, but to also attack the history of our movement, and deny the role of communists in history. At the closure of World War 2 it was undeniable the role of the Red Army in beating fascism, yet after decades of anti-communist propaganda, and the repression of our movements, you could almost believe the Soviets played no part in liberating Europe.
Closer to home, The Commonwealth of Australia has banned local communist parties on several occasions under the pretense of national security.[17] Conveniently while this article awaited publishing, members of the NSW Police Force stepped up to give us a perfect example of how empty these proposed restrictions and platitudes are. At an ANZAC Day dawn service in 2021 a supporter of the Australian Communist Party was frogmarched and ejected from the event, without justification. Other event attendees were left unscathed carrying their own political iconography. As it happens the militarised arm of the state has seen fit to take it upon themselves to punish political opponents, where they had previously claimed they would have to “await legal advice as to what, if any, offences have been committed”. [18]
When opportunists attempt to seize upon a moment of moral panic, after seeing a misguided member of the working class dressed in fascist garb, and call for the banning of fascist symbols in Australian society, remind yourself they do so for their own selfish reasons, and be grateful your frustrations aren’t met with bullets. [19]
References
1 https://www.senatorhanson.com.au/2021/02/09/hanson-says-ban-nazi-and-isis-symbols/, posted 2021.02.09, accessed 2021.03.20
2 https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-03-03/victorian-committee-calls-for-nazi-symbol-ban/13209934, posted 2021.03.03, accessed 2021.03.20
3 https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/watch/pauline-hanson-calls-for-swastika-ban/vp-BB1dwf2J, posted 2021.02.09, accessed 2021.03.20
4 https://www.onenation.org.au/one-nation-makes-a-stand-for-free-speech/ posted 2019.04.02, accessed 2021.04.14
5 https://monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/people/exploration, https://monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/people/exploration/display/30131-angus-mcmillan, both accessed 2021.03.20
6 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_statues_of_Queen_Victoria, accessed 2021.03.20
7 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Capitol_dome, accessed 2021.03.20
8 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyramid_of_Capitalist_System, accessed 2021.03.20
9 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Anti-capitalism_color%E2%80%94_Restored.png, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:US_Capitol_west_side.JPG, both accessed 2021.03.20
10 Own work, taken 2021.01.26
11 https://www.therightnote.com.au/articles/australian-decimal-banknotes-an-opening-of-a-new-era-of-australian-currency/, accessed 2021.03.20
12 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_one-hundred-dollar_note accessed 2021.03.20
13 http://web.archive.org/web/20131016183952/http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1842/free-press/ch05.htm published 15.05.1842, accessed 2021.04.14
14 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strafgesetzbuch_section_86a, accessed 2021.04.28
15 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bans_on_communist_symbols, accessed 2021.04.28
16 https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc230/m1/1/high_res/, https://atomic-annhilation.blogspot.com/2014/07/1947-no-to-red-cananda.html, both accessed 2021.04.28
17 https://www.auscp.org.au/about-us-our-history, accessed 2021.04.28
18 https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/couple-flies-nazi-flag-over-victorian-home-20200113-p53r15.html, published 2020.01.13, accessed 2021.04.28
19 https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-03-16/bullets-women-march-4-justice-scott-morrison/13251804 published 2021.0316, accessed 2021.03.20