This is based on a talk I gave on a panel called “Fighting Fascism, Racism and Carceral Injustice: Abolition as Practice,” on June 7th, 2023, as part of the “No More Shit! Abolitionist and anti-Fascist Pride Month 2023.” The video of the panel can be accessed at: https://www.noprideinpolicing.ca/
We are now moving from talking about what abolition is to what fascism is and how as abolitionists we fight against it.
First, what is fascism? It is not just a term for the most right-wing person we don’t like! Instead, I suggest, it points to a specific form of social organization of racist, nationalist, patriarchal, heterosexist, transphobic and pro-capitalist organizing. Early on, in the emergence of fascism this takes the form of what can be seen as ‘storm troopers’ who engage in widespread violence and intimidation. I characterize this as pre-state carceral violence. They engage in crushing the left, unions, queers, Blacks, Jews, Muslims, and in ‘Canada’ Indigenous people and other groups. Their objective is to impose major defeats on oppressed people and workers. Their specific character varies in different contexts. For instance, Hindu nationalism and fascism in India is mobilized in very violent ways against Muslims. In ‘Canada’ the Jewish Defence League (JDL) was a Jewish fascist group that fortunately no longer exists. It mobilized violence against Palestinians, anti-Zionist Jews, and others.
Historically, there are several examples of fascism often pointed to.
In Italy in the 1920s/30s fascism was a response to major working-class uprisings that in the end were unsuccessful but had substantively challenged and threated capitalist power. In response Mussolini and his fascists were paid for by capitalists to crush the unions and the left. Italian fascists were against Slavic peoples, Jews and were very anti-Black/African. Later in state power they attacked Ethiopia, imposing racial segregation on that country.
Germany is often focused on. Out of the devastation brought about by WW1 the rise of fascism took the form of Naziism and went further in defending the “master” white “Aryan race.” They were financed from the beginning by businesses to defend capitalist interests and later by big capital itself. They violently attacked the left, unions, and Jews using pre-state carceral violence initially to crush these groups. The closer they got to state power they merged this pre-state carceral violence with more powerful forms of carceral state injustice. Their attack on Jews became even more genocidal with the setting up of concentration camps where millions were murdered. This was combined with attacks on Roma people and on homosexuals. ‘Homosexuals’ were seen by the Nazis as non-reproducers of the white race, and therefore as “race traitors.” Gay men were placed into work camps where they were identified by pink triangles they were forced to wear, and thousands died in these work camps. Lesbians were defined as “anti-socials” and were identified with black triangles and were also placed in work camps.
The Nazis were actively supported by mainstream capitalists and western states including in ‘Canada’ and the US. It was not until they crossed borders and invaded other nation states that problems were raised.
More specifically we can trace the Nazi assault on queer and trans people in their opposition to gay activist and researcher Magnus Hirshfeld who was active in the World League for Sexual Reform, the Scientific Humanitarian Committee, and the Institute for Sexual Science in Berlin. In 1933 the Nazis attacked the Institute, burning books and research records and using stolen lists of the names of gay men and trans people from the Institute to round people up for the work camps. Trans people were seen as both “race” and “gender” traitors.
But the Nazis early on had some support within white masculinist gay men’s networks. It is important to be aware of current possibilities for some support for fascism from some white gay men. For instance, racist opposition to the Movement for Black Lives from some white gay men provides possible resources for this. In north-west Europe there is some significant white gay support for Islamophobic right-wingers and fascists. And currently there is Gays Against Groomers in the US, and anti-trans LGB groups in the USA and UK, with links with the right-wing and fascist organizations.
In ‘Canada’ there are long histories of racist/fascist organizing. This goes back to the KKK, the Edmund Burke Society, the Western Guard, and later the Sons of Odin, the JDL, and the “Proud Boys.” The “Proud Boys” like many other racist and fascist groups emerged out of the Canadian military with an extreme form of Anti-Indigenous and anti-Black racism. But there has also been fascist defence of the oil industry, and extractive capitalism, and often support for the police.
With the COVID pandemic various right-wing and fascist groups saw an important opportunity for growth and influence. They consciously merged with anti-masker/antivaxxer groups, and this included current and former members of Canada Unity, the People’s Party, Yellow Vests-Canada, the Maverick Party, Soldiers of Odin, La Meute in Quebec, and more. The lack of good social movement, left, and union responses to COVID which led these forces to simply becoming the ‘left’ flank of the public health state allowed the right to grow. They were able to win most of their demands really hurting people and communities affected by COVID.
The “Freedom Convoy” was initially greeted and assisted by the police and allowed to occupy downtown Ottawa city areas where they engaged in the fascist strategy of intimidation to create fear among residents. Through this mobilization they established a limited mass base for white supremacist fascists across ‘Canada’ including those who now can be mobilized against trans and queer people.
Now one of the main focusses of the fascists is against drag story hours and trans and queer people. This includes groups like “Save Canada,” and currents within the “Liberty Coalition” which are Christian right and Christian fascist groups. They attack us as ‘groomers’ again appropriating a term initially used to criticize the sexual harassment and abuse of young people but deployed earlier against queer people by the right-wing.
There have been widespread responses to fascism across the country including anti-racist coalitions, Anti-Racist Action (ARA) in Toronto and other locations which blocked and undermined the growth of racist and fascist organizing, and other anti-fascist groups. The objective of anti-fascist organizations is to stop fascists from organizing, to defend the people they are attacking, and to deny them any public platform from which to organize their violence and hatred. This is also why we need to not simply focus on narrow ‘queer’ and ‘trans’ concerns when fighting the right-wing and fascists but create solidarities with all the groups under attack. In fighting fascism, we need strong anti-racist and anti-colonialist perspectives.
Some recent experiences show us how we can resist fascism and the right-wing. The “Freedom Convoy” turning point came at the Battle of Billings Bridge, in Ottawa on Feb. 13, 2022. It was initiated by a dog walking group and the Punching Up anarchist collective and grew to a thousand people blocking supplies and reinforcements for the ‘occupation’ of downtown Ottawa. This successful community mobilization and the plans to extend this resistance in the following week is why the federal government enacted the Emergency Act to try to prevent further community mobilizations against the right wing. The Emergency Act which grants more carceral power to the police and state agencies is a very real threat for Black, Indigenous, climate justice and other activists.
There has also been defence of drag story time in several centres across the country. Often there are many more drag and trans defenders than fascists and right-wingers at these events. I was at the mobilization at the Fort York Public Library to defend drag story time. ‘We’ (more than 75 of us) defended the drag queen, parents and their children and prevented the use of pre-state carceral violence and injustice against them by the 30-35 fascists who gathered there. The police were not there to defend drag, or trans and queer people. Their major concern was in keeping the sidewalk unimpeded, but they allowed fascists to accost drag/trans defenders. The police are not on our side!
From an abolitionist perspective we need to contrast their fascist and racist hate and violence with our solidarity and care. We are meeting people’s needs not through pre-state or state carceral injustice but through community-based support from the bottom up. Abolitionist social transformation is anti-fascism!
Gary Kinsman is a member of the No Pride in Policing Coalition, the co-author of The Canadian War on Queers and the author of the 3rd edition of The Regulation of Desire, Queer Histories, Queer Struggles coming out this fall.
