https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2021/12/06/patf-d06.html
https://news.yahoo.com/hundreds-white-supremacists-march-lincoln-182827649.html
Large sections of the media chose to ignore this story regarding
an early December fascist militia marching on the National Mall, and others
reported it but downplayed it. While the police are identified in some pieces
as 'monitoring' the fascist marchers, the video evidence along with
testimonials suggest that law enforcement were providing a buffer – a kind of
safe-zone for the group to march and to avoid coming into contact or conflict
with onlookers, many of whom are clearly appalled.
Legally, the march should have been stopped as the Patriot
Front was marching in masks and with battle gear – clearly not a peacefully
oriented march, and thus was in violation of Washington DC statutes. But given
that they were protected by the police, their illegality was ignored and the aggressive
imagery was allowed to be displayed unhindered.
All across the United States and indeed in Europe there have
been many stories and investigations over the past several years that reveal
established relationships between Right-wing militias and law enforcement and
in other cases police coordination and Right-wing political protection for these
vigilante and paramilitary groups.
Therefore it wasn't too surprising to discover the American Right
was keen to downplay the march and not a few including those within the
Christian Right argued the event was faked or a kind of false flag. There's no
basis for this argument. This is serious. These groups are on the rise and
attempting to become more prominent and more mainstream.
Further there's news out of Florida. The Right-wing governor
of the state is planning to establish a paramilitary group that will operate
outside of federal control or any kind of military chain of command. States
already have militias (as per the Second Amendment) in the form of National
Guard units. Activated by governors and in service to their states they are
also part of the Pentagon chain of command and can be called up or tasked on a federal
level. DeSantis wants to create an independent force for Florida that will not
answer to the White House, Pentagon, nor be accountable to their protocols or
investigations.
In each of these cases there is a clear historical warning.
Governments wield what is considered by sociologists and political scientists
to be legitimate violence. Whatever the source of their authority or claimed
authority it operates in a way that is acknowledged by the public – this is not
the same as a social contract. The public may or may not consent and may or may
not do so by means of some kind of ritual, institution, or plebiscite. That's
not the issue here. The point is the power is acknowledged and submitted to.
States and local municipalities also have police forces which
operate within a limited non-military capacity, and on one level states have a
militia though as mentioned they are not actually autonomous. The governor has
control to a point and in limited circumstances. The power of the military has
always been reserved as the prerogative of the central state. Law enforcement
can be controlled regionally and locally but the power of the military is
categorically of a different nature and thus no rival, parallel government or
sub-government should have that kind of autonomous power. For them to wield
such military power is a direct challenge to the nation-state. It is situation
that can lead to civil war, or secession and the rise of what is tantamount to
war-lord states.
DeSantis is trying to create a state military force that is independent,
which by definition counters and challenges the claims of authority established
by Washington. It's a claim of state autonomy, an early move toward what is
ultimately either secession or civil war. The fascist movements in Europe arose
by means of state-independent paramilitary groups that eventually answered to a
party leader. The situation in Florida is not exactly the same (as the group
would answer to a state official – the governor) but analogous nevertheless as
an attempt to subvert the central state's control of the 'legitimate means of
violence' – or as the Scripture puts it, the sword.
This is all the more true in the present context given the
way paramilitary and vigilante groups are proliferating, are loosely tied to
the police, and given that states are slipping into monolithic political blocs,
completely dominated by one political party or the others. It's inevitable that
these paramilitary groups will be utilised and indeed they already are. Investigations
have demonstrated in some cases they are working in concert with law
enforcement as a means of wielding extrajudicial power.
It will be argued that Florida is not the first state to
create such a force. This is technically true but given the polarized context, and
DeSantis' already extant record of defiance vis-à-vis the federal government, the
choice to form it at this time is ominous. The Right has erected a vast
apparatus to provide legal, media, and academic cover to what they're doing.
Every step to the Right receives cover and positive spin from the media and the
armies of pundits. And within those circles the pressure is immense. A failure
to the toe the line or even to suggest that the predominant narrative is open
to question or challenge, immediately marks that person and the machine turns
all its destructive energies upon them.
The end justifies the means or so they believe. And thus even
if fascist militias are marching down the streets of the nation's capital, they
will lie, obfuscate, and spin the story to their advantage. They'll do whatever
they have to do in order to maintain control of the narrative and present the
totality of their movement in a positive light. And given that the GOP is
openly collaborating with these groups and did so (in coordinated fashion) on
January 6th, they are desperate to either cast these people in the
role of heroes or to dismiss any connection as conspiratorial delusion or
political witch-hunting.
By historical and ideological measures the rioters of January
6th,the Trump administration figures involved in trying to suppress
votes and overturn the election (effectively staging a coup), and increasingly
governors like Florida's DeSantis should be viewed as traitors. An earlier
generation of conservatives would have deemed them so. If victorious, the
country they will create will not be the USA-preserved or conserved, but the
USA transformed into something else – a new order.
As Christians the questions of treason, patriotism, the
legacy of the founders or the integrity of the Constitution don't concern us.
It's all part of the politics of Babylon but given how Christians are falling prey
to this thinking and drinking deep from the heretical wells of these movements
that have combined the Scriptures with the ideology of the Right – then we need
to be concerned. It's entering our Churches (indeed it has largely overtaken
them in many cases) and utterly transforming ethics, hermeneutics, and
theology. The chaos, turmoil and apostasy in the Church represents a serious
situation but it's one that's being exacerbated by the political and social
developments taking place.
The United States is headed for trouble and civil strife. As
Christians we had better not be involved and those that do get caught up in the
strife and pay a price are not martyrs or suffering for the faith, but heretics
and apostates reaping the harvest of their disobedience and evil deeds.
Have nothing to do with these people and if they're in your
Church, get them out or get out yourself. Don't be associated with them and
watch out – history's lessons speak to today and the American Right is playing
with fire.
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