The Tribune

LAST week, a disturbing event dominated the media and public discourse for days. A group of people, who claimed they were not protesting, went to Parliament Squares where they said they wanted to deliver letters to Members of Parliament. When it was blocking access to Parliament, the group was told to move to Rawson Square and it refused. As a result, a number of its members were arrested.

It was reported that the group wants the government to pass a law to prevent children born in The Bahamas with undocumented migrant parents from accessing Bahamian citizenship. The same group has been targeting Haitian migrants with its hateful, violent rhetoric for months, at the very least.

Over the past few years, an image listing 14 early signs of fascism has made the rounds in viral spurts, underscoring the state of the world as we see seemingly dramatic swings to the political right. While we know the current state of affairs is not good and the trajectory is one that causes great concern, there is something about seeing the list which comes from a piece hanging in the US Holocaust Memorial Museum. It, more than our experience, suggests a knowing and threatens to be a foretelling.

If these conditions are our reality, we are in trouble. That is what the list, and all of the captions when it is shared, says to us.

The early warning signs of fascism are:

1 Powerful and continuing nationalism

2 Disdain for human rights

3 Identification of enemies as a unifying cause

4 Supremacy of the military

5 Rampant sexism

6 Controlled mass media

7 Obsession with national security

8 Religion and government intertwined

9 Corporate power protected

10 Labour power surpassed

11 Disdain for intellectuals and the arts

12 Obsession with crime and punishment

13 Rampant cronyism and corruption

14 Fraudulent elections

How many of the above do you recognise as descriptors of our current circumstance? How many of them, while not true to today, seem quite probable, given what is true?

How many people do you know who are not only okay with the ones you immediately recognise as our current circumstance, but speak and act in support of them? How many of them have you bought into? How many of them have your active participation?

All 14 of the signs are reprehensible and dangerous. I can point to specific examples for too many of them. Let’s take a closer look at a few of them.

“Powerful and continuing nationalism” is no stranger to us. Nationalism is the idea that this country is superior to all others. This, of course, means all countries are inferior to this one, and this is often the basis for fascist sentiments and actions. In many conversations, The Bahamas is presented as superior within a particular group of countries, usually in the Caribbean region and always including Haiti.

Fascists claim we are inherently better than everyone else, and they use the superior-inferior dichotomy to create a them-versus-us imperative. Their message is that we must oppose all others.

They try to convince the masses that, because of the perceived gap in value, assets, and ethnicity, we are under the constant threat of being robbed and overthrown. “They” must want what “we” have. “We” must take action, however unscrupulous, to stop “them”.

Fascism calls on people to direct their energy — all of their negative emotions and harmful action — toward the target, even though it has been deemed inferior. It is irrational, and it is, as we all know, popular. This is demonstrated in the way many Bahamians talk about Haitian migrants, especially when population is discussed, and the prevailing fear that they will “take over”.

“Disdain for human rights” is not unusual in The Bahamas. People think they can pick and choose when human rights apply and that they can make assessments about who “deserves” to access their human rights. Human rights, however, are not earned. They are not subject to the whims, beliefs, or frustrations of other people.

Under fascism, it is promulgated that human rights must not get in the way of “sovereignty” which is conflated with the protection of a perceived superiority coupled with the inferiority — which fascists are willing to manufacture — of the other. This is how we get to the place where a “leader” pulls a stunt in Parliament Square and says that denying a particular group of children the right to citizenship should be law.

This comes at a time where we are discussing the gender unequal citizenship laws and the ways it violates human rights that The Bahamas has internationally acknowledged through its ratification of various international mechanisms including the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

The suggestion that we legally lock children out of citizenship directly opposes the obligation The Bahamas has to ensure that no one is stateless.

Fascism does not care about people. Even the language used by its operatives focuses on the inanimate State and its dominance. To whose benefit? Be clear. Fascism only serves the dictator. The other is a group that only gets larger, expanding to include anyone who challenges dictatorial power.

“Identification of enemies as a unifying cause” is obviously present and accounted for here. The supposed enemy was recognised a long time ago.

The idea that it is us against Haitians has been nurtured for a long time. Jobs and land have long been hot button issues, but they generally are not invoked by foreign investors, expatriates, or second-home owners. They do not come up when we talk about the white or the wealthy.

Jobs and land come up just about any time we talk about the people we choose to call “migrants” (as well as much worse terms I will not use here).

The black people, the people looking for economic opportunities, the people fleeing crisis beyond our imagination, the people who survived the Transatlantic slave trade along with us, the people who fought to retain African culture, the people whose ancestors are the reason for our freedom. Those are the people who are pointed out and labeled enemies. Is it because of their history of survival? Is it because they are, today, because of their circumstances, perceived to be weak? Is it because we expect that we must someday suffer the consequences of our refusal to embrace them as our people, and prefer it not be at their hands? Why have they been made the enemy?

We must be careful in the way we create and support narratives. We need to think and use discernment. There is nothing funny about what happened last week. It is a sign that danger is ahead. It gave us a glimpse at people’s true beliefs and the lengths they will go to for media attention and narrative weaving.

We are responsible for what we allow to go unchallenged. Likewise, the government is responsible for its own silence. That it has not made a statement in support of human rights, has not discouraged attempts to dehumanise people, has not reaffirmed its commitments to protect and uphold human rights is not a good sign.

At the very least, the government ought to have acknowledged its human rights obligations and, given the history of the group referenced, cautioned against any violations of human rights.

The duty of the government extends beyond the Bahamian people to include all people in the country. We need to know to hear it, know it, understand it, and expect to see it in action. Fascism must not win.

RECOMMENDATIONS

1 Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson. Both memoir and poetry, this book is as compelling for adults as it is for its intended middle grade audience. This is an excellent book for parents to read with their children. It is sure to spark conversation about life in the 1960s and 1970s, particularly for Black people in the US, and the stark difference between South Carolina and New York. There is family, friendship, religion, and the writer’s own desire to write and the comfort she finds in stories. If you have never read a book written in verse, let this be the first.

2 And That’s Why We Drink. Halloween is coming up, and many are on the search for all things spooky. This comedy podcast, hosted by friends Em Schulz (they/them) and Christine Schiefer (she/ her) is fun to listen to as they fill each other in on true-crime stories and paranormal elements. Popular stories they covered in the first hundred episodes include the Jonestown massacre, the Elizabeth Smart kidnapping, and the Zodiac killer. There are hundreds of episodes to choose from — more than enough for constant listening over the weekend. It is quite strange to listen to very real stories, sometimes with new information, and you may want to skip that part. It is still worth the click if you are interested in paranormal stories and concepts such as the tooth fairy, numerology, and ouija boards.

3 NE10: Mercy at the National Art Gallery of The Bahamas. The tenth national exhibition opened on October 6 and will remain up until January 6, 2023. Curated by John Cox, it includes Melissa Alcena, Chantal Bethel, Carla Campbell, Cydne Coleby, June Collie, Jodi Minnis, Gia Swaby, and Angelika Wallace-Whitfield. Admission is always free for residents on Sundays, and the gallery is closed on Mondays.