Antifascist Resistance in the 21st Century – Women’s Revolution or Collapse

By Hilde Kramer

„The issue of power and state is visibly in one of its worst phases. The dilemma of “democratic revolution or fascism“ is on the agenda and still vitally important.“ (Abdullah Öcalan)

This shows in many ways that this century, in which we are in, in which we were born and raised, is and will be a special one. It is tangible and visible.

Nature is literally screaming for change, for another life. But not only nature, society too is in a state of crises, that have escalated so much that the last two options that remain are “decay or revolution”. 

The crises in which we are in, are systemic. They are the result of five thousand years of domination and four hundred years of capitalist modernity. Because the system of the state on which power is based, rests on the endless exploitation of nature and society, it comes to an end. For nature is not infinite and the societies, especially the women, feel that the time has come to put an end to the system of power and build a free and ecological life. The crisis of the system, that tries to stay alive with the very last strength like an angry beast, becomes visible in the third world war and the accompanying rising fascism.

This war that is taking place on so many levels, is besides the physical war in Palestine, Sudan, Kurdistan or Ukraine, above all a war over our hearts and minds. It is a war of the nation states with the goal of self-preservation. It is a war that they cannot win. The means the ruling now resort to, is the growing identification of society with the nation state. For a state cannot exist without the society. The gladly chosen path of the rulers, as did the monopoly capitalists in the 20th century, is that of fascism.

The state, fascism and the middle class

Therefore, they get the society in their deepest pores to worship the nation state as something holy. Especially through the media they deprive society of their morals and sell them the opinion of the state as their own. Fascism is therefore the form of government in times of crises. Especially the lower middle class as a class “between the classes“ plays an important role for fascism. The lower middle class is the class that is most saturated with the ideology of capitalist modernity, liberalism.

Abdullah Öcalan calls fascism the so called “honored guest“ of bourgeois liberalism.

The bourgeoisie unites a fear of loss, paired with the clinging to the existing and a fear of new, of change. This is how it comes about that in times of great crises, especially this class is very receptive for ideas that contain a return to well-known classic gender and family roles. Another aspect that appears in times of crises, is militarization. It is another means to get society to defend the nation state. We can see that especially the youth is being militarized. On the basis of adventurous advertising posters that romanticize life in the army or with the slogans “defend freedom,  preserve peace, protect democracy“ and dynamic images of young people in special units of the army, it is attempted to make the youth give their lives in the interest of the nation states.

The sexist character of fascism in the 21st century

It is therefore not surprising that fascism is again on the rise in large chaos-intervals in times of crises, although with a different face. We can understand the new face of fascism in the 21st century as a powerful attack on the identity of the free woman and as a reaction on the achievements of the women’s revolution. Generally, it is observable that violence in society is on the rise. The image of the patriarchal man is increasingly propagated. This becomes visible in the rising numbers of feminicides and generally in the rise of violence against women and children.

The fact that the family as the “state of the small man” plays a big role in this, becomes particularly clear in that a big part of the murders of women happens within these family structures.

Therefore, it is not surprising that all of a sudden Turkish, German, and French fascists fraternise. Because they are united by the image of the patriarchal man and the oppression of the woman.

In the media of the fascist parties, organisations, and youth organisations, it is particularly young women who are the new faces of fascism. They strengthen fascist narratives through the contradiction to how modernity sees and defines the woman, which role liberalism gives her. They stage themselves as strong women, who nevertheless clearly subordinate themselves to the man.

A free identity?

The contradictions to the liberal design of a women’s identity are very important contradictions, but still the identity of woman is, in the end, always a victim of this game Because neither the one nor the other women’s identity is expressing a free woman, they are both unfree identities. Both the full dissolution of gender identities and therewith the giving up of the search for a free identity of woman and man, as well as the return to the classic role of the woman as mother and housewife represent profound attacks on the women’s revolution.

The new right is characterized by criticism of capitalism and liberalism, but instead of these contradictions being the starting point for a revolutionary search, reference is made to the old gender roles. 

This is accompanied by the search for the supposedly guilty. Political goals are often formulated vaguely and lurid enemy images are constructed. Besides the left-liberal to conservative parties in the governments, it is primarily young men from the middle east and leftists who are held accountable by the right for the increasing violence against women or the liberal dissolution of supposedly traditional values. The fascist counter design is the design of a woman that preserves her homeland through being tied to the household. However, this is out of love and attachment to her homeland. This too is a big attack on the principals of the ideology of women’s liberation that states that love for home means a connection to the whole society, to the history, to the country and to democratic values.

How has fascism evolved?

In the hardest economic shock of the capitalist system since its existence, the lower middle classes in the shape of national socialism entered the political stage and stopped the revolutionary downfall of capitalist hegemony. The political reaction knows very well how to assess the significance of the lower middle classes. 

“The middle classes are of decisive importance for the existence of a state”, it said in a leaflet of the German nationalist party from the 8th of April 1932.

Franco also made it clear in his statement that there was no need to fear that communism would prevail in Spain because he had built up such a large lower middle class that the middle class or lower middle class, as a class and mentality, would be major obstacle to the success of a revolution.

New Nationalism

The narratives, that are set by the new right, have changed in contrast to those of fascism in the 20th century. Instead of openly talking about a superior “race”, now there is talk of  a superior culture, but the same is meant. Fascism of the 21st century also expresses itself in the attempt to not just build an identification to the nation state identity, but beyond that, to identify with Europe. They try to spread the idea of an ethnic supremacy. Their narratives reach many, as they tie in well with the general dissatisfaction and fear of the crises and the worsening third world war.

The fascism hiding behind many of the narratives is devious and not very obvious.

For example, the focus is on local craftsmanship and the strengthening of rural areas. But other statements are also widely disseminated in the digital public sphere. For example, the demand for remigration, which calls for the immediate deportation of all men from the Middle East and Africa. The fascists of the 21st century are strongly connected, for example, there is a strong relationship between German and French fascist youth organizations and joint educational camps.

Fascism of the 21st century manifests itself in many ways. Particularly bad is probably the appearance of fascism in women like Georgia Meloni or Annalena Baerbock. As cadres of capitalist modernity on the one hand, they strengthen classic family structures and on the other hand, especially Annalena Baerbock, try to bend and twist the values and aesthetics of the women’s revolution, to conversely strengthen the nation states.

As women, they line up for capitalist modernity and with that, are a big threat to the women’s revolution. Especially liberalism, true to the slogan “Everyone is the architect of their own fortune”, and individualism make sure that everyone becomes their own ruler.

New Resistance Rises

Just as there were thousands of women in the fascist era of the last century who stood up against the annihilation by the fascist and patriarchal mentality, today we stand side by side as revolutionary women and men in the fight against fascism and for the construction of a free life. We stand in the tradition of the many partisan women such as Irma Bandiera or llepa Svetozara Radic and want to live up to their legacy and continue their struggle. Because, as Șehîd Sara Dorșin writes:

“This war that we call the third world war is above all an ideological one. If we win, this is a great  victory over a great depression. But if we fail, an even greater sense of hopelessness will settle over those who may be watching with interest but are unable to fight actively on the militant side. But fighting means not being able to lose at all, that we have already won when we really start to fight. This war is our war, our responsibility, our decision, and our determination.”