Condoning everyday fascism for those less fortunate is how you eventually get fascism for all. And this isn’t just about the US. This is a warning for Europe and beyond. Here in Europe, most of our governments have been merrily supporting the US and Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza (and the ethnic cleansing, settler colonialism, and apartheid) as well as previous imperialist invasions of far off lands for oil, happily sharing in the spoils of the suffering. (Not a surprise, really. After all, who were the settler colonialists that created the US?) Frontex is our ICE-in-making. We’re handing Palantir government contacts and data on our citizens. We’re lusting to construct our own panopticons. Successive neoliberal and conservative governments have been steadily pushing the ratchet to the right while demonising those who want to protect the environment and the most vulnerable and who have the audacity to imagine a future where the basic necessities of life – food, water, shelter, healthcare – are human rights, not commodities. In other words, we’ve been playing by the same colonial/neoliberal/conservative playbook as the US (heck, maybe we even invented it)… why should we expect any other outcome if we continue to behave in exactly the same way?
All this to say, if you’re fine with the boot being on someone else’s neck today, don’t be surprised when it’s on yours tomorrow.
There might still be time to change things for the better. But it will not happen unless the justice we seek is justice for all.
