Edward Torsney

*This article was kindly featured as a guest article on the UK news website SKWAWKBOX on 3rd September 2024. You can read this and more engaging content on this link: https://skwawkbox.org/2024/09/03/guest-article-and-as-if-by-magic-its-fascism/ *

Growing up in a society where neoliberalism has gradually transitioned into neo-feudalism has been quite a painful, if vindicating, experience for me. When I was younger, I never bought the idea sold by Thatcher that the principles of neoliberalism—free markets, deregulation, and minimal government intervention—would create endless opportunities and economic growth. It was a time when the focus was on individual success, ambition, entrepreneurship, and the belief that hard work would lead inevitably to prosperity. This was the biggest show in town. “You’ve never had it so good” she crowed. In those days a university degree (which you got for free!) guaranteed you a well paid job for life, big house, holidays abroad, a nice car and a comfortable pension. But of course all this was about to change. “Privatise it all” they said! “Things will be even better than they are now” they said!

What could possibly go wrong? Well, in hindsight: everything.

Of course some of us knew it was all a scam. We owned our utilities and enjoyed reasonable bills. We owned the rail network and enjoyed cheap travel to work. We owned the NHS, the envy of the world! How could we even consider selling it all off to a few vulture capitalists in smart suits – magicians of capitalism? My greatest fears were that prices and bills would soar, public owned industries would disappear and our NHS would be monetised and destroyed. Millions would lose their jobs. Sadly though, the British people seemed convinced it was a good idea. Bewilderingly, many millions still do! Politically and socially aware commentators and politicians, concerned with social justice, warned that this model of society would lead inexorably towards fascism. We should have listened before they were silenced.

As I grew older, I began to see all these fears realised. The economic and social landscape started to change, and it became increasingly clear that all the wealth and opportunities were becoming concentrated in the hands of a few. Large corporations and wealthy individuals started to wield more power, not just economically but also politically. It felt like the promise of equal opportunity had slipped away, replaced by a system where connections and inherited wealth played a more significant role in determining your success.

This shift had profound implications on everyday life. Poverty and debt have soared, and economic mobility has become next to impossible. Homelessness and food banks have increased exponentially. Access to essential services like healthcare, education, and housing has become more unequal. Ordinary people are becoming increasingly locked out. Our noses are held to the grindstone by the weight of increasing personal debt, and we’re quickly slapped back down or cast aside if we dare to stand and question our lot in life. We’re living in a modern version of feudalism, where a small elite controls vast resources while the majority struggle to get by, their voices are eradicated from mainstream media platforms, Parliament and public debate. Gone are the days when Jeremy Corbyn stood in Parliament and spoke of how “Joan from Bradford” feels about losing her disability allowance or how “Michelle from Southend” can’t get a job to pay off her £60k student debt, for example. Meanwhile, the rich get richer and their voices get stronger.

Yet, it’s not all bleak. There are still communities and groups fighting for fairness and equity, advocating for policies that could reverse these trends. Ordinary people.

Growing up in this environment taught me the importance of staying informed, being engaged in societal issues, and the power of collective action. It has shaped my views on economic and social policies, making me more aware of the importance of building a more inclusive and equitable society.

But no matter how hard we try, governments (directed by the rich and powerful) are becoming increasingly authoritarian. They are clamping down hard on dissent. Arresting journalists who question their military allegiances; imprisoning peaceful protesters who oppose the oil industry’s environmental impacts and demonising all who stand up and demand a fair society. They have reached the stage where they know they can wield their power with impunity.

This is the line at which Neo-feudalism crosses into fascism. I have no doubt that our governments will play along this line for some time. They will be accused of fascism for using our monetised legal system to sue, smear and threaten dissenters who can’t afford a legal defence. The fact that we still have “the right” to defence is their plausible deniability of fascism, regardless of whether we can afford it. Often they will fund organisations in whose interests it is to degrade collectives and communities who fight for a fairer society. We have seen a number of pro-genocide organisations funded by our government recently, who run smear campaigns and try to get ordinary people sacked for opposing genocide. They find out who you are, where you work and they contact your employer. They accuse you of hate crime (for hating genocide presumably) and suggest that this puts your employer into disrepute. So your employer sacks you. Of course in these examples, there have been no legal charges because no crime was committed. However, these groups threaten to publicise your employer’s complicity in your alleged crimes and thus blackmail them into sacking you. All this is funded and fully supported by the government.

Normalising and funding these extrajudicial practises, whilst allowing draconian anti-protest laws to “bed in” (like “stop and search” for example or banning anti-capitalist materials from schools), acts like a ratchet mechanism. Each incremental step is permanent and I think this is the real tell:

Successive governments introduce practices and legislation which strip away our rights and opportunities piece by piece, whilst being berated as fascistic by the opposition party in Parliament. But it’s all an act, showmanship, smoke and mirrors! Because when the opposition party takes power, the roles simply swap. The conjurer becomes the rabbit and the rabbit dons the hat and plays to the crowd. It’s a trick, the biggest trick of our times! No practices or policies are reversed, nothing is overturned. On the contrary: the new government simply continues the inexorable tip-toe to fascism. With sleight-of-hand, silver tongue and misdirection, the ratchet clicks ever onwards and the show moves on. Our voices are just those of hecklers at the back shouting “it was up your sleeve!” Or words to that effect.

So where is our democracy? Where are our opportunities? Where is our voice? They went up in a puff of smoke. Who can we blame for stripping them away? It’s not this party or that. It’s an overarching ideology which began back in the 1980s with Reagan and Thatcher. It’s a mechanism of power tied to financial wealth. It’s neoliberalism, neo-feudalism, the inevitability of capitalism, entrenching itself, like a leech on a vein.

We were warned back in the 1980s where it would lead, and here we are! Now there are stark new warnings.

Today we have neo-feudalism that pretends to be a liberal social democracy, but you’ll wake up tomorrow and…

Abracadabra! It’s fascism!

So the question is: how many hecklers does it take to close a circus?