Salon.com > Fascism

Aleksandar Hemon: “I cannot stand that whole game of confession. I have nothing to confess and I do not ask for redemption”

Sat, 23 Mar 2013 23:00:00 +0000

Though I've known Aleksandar Hemon over the years — we first met at the book party for his second work of fiction, "Nowhere Man," at his publisher's house in New York — I've only had a chance to really sit and talk with him in Chicago, my native city and his adopted hometown. I interviewed him in 2009 for Bookforum, about "Love and Obstacles," his last collection of stories, when he told me he hated memoir — which made me laugh, especially since his editor published James Frey, whose loose interpretation of the form landed the "memoirist" in hot water with the formidable Oprah Winfrey. But I remember thinking, as we parted ways, if anyone should be writing memoir, it should be Hemon, a man who has led at least two distinct lives: one in Sarajevo just before the siege, and then his life as an accidental, now naturalized citizen of Chicago, after a junket to the States left him stranded here, unable to return to his war-torn home. And while he has expertly mined this bisected existence for his fiction, I was eager as a reader and as an acquaintance, to learn the "true stories," as they call them in Bosnia (Hemon explains there are no words in Bosnian for "fiction" or "nonfiction," per se).

Amazon used “neo-Nazi” guards to control foreign workers

Fri, 15 Feb 2013 15:45:00 +0000

A documentary aired in Germany and flagged by British newspaper the Independent claims that Amazon employed security guards with neo-Nazi ties to oversee immigrant workers in its German packing and distribution centers.

Via the Independent:

The film showed omnipresent guards from a company named HESS Security wearing black uniforms, boots and with military haircuts. They were employed to keep order at hostels and budget hotels where foreign workers stayed. “Many of the workers are afraid,” the program-makers said.

Aspects of the guards' attire and the company's name carried neo-Nazi allusions, the Independent noted, and the firm's director is believed to associate with far-right groups:

Whole Foods CEO: Obamacare “more like fascism” than socialism

Wed, 16 Jan 2013 18:34:00 +0000

In an interview with NPR's Steve Inskeep, Whole Foods CEO John Mackey revised his previous description of Obamacare as socialist. "Technically speaking, it's more like fascism," said the self-identifying libertarian, offering a loose-at-best Marxian analysis:

Socialism is where the government owns the means of production. In fascism, the government doesn’t own the means of production, but they do control it, and that’s what’s happening with our healthcare programs and these reforms.

Far-right Hungarian politician calls for a “list of Jews”

Tue, 27 Nov 2012 15:17:00 +0000

A member of Hungary's far-right party recently incited outrage in calling for the government to create a "list of Jews" in the country who could pose a "national security risk." "Márton Gyöngyösi, leader of Hungary's third-strongest political party Jobbik, said the list was necessary because of heightened tensions following the brief conflict in Gaza and should include members of parliament," reported Reuters.

Public outcry led Gyöngyösi to issue a tepid apology in which he claimed he never asked for a list of Jews, but “citizens with dual Israeli-Hungarian citizenship.”

Reuters noted that between 500,000 and 600,000 Hungarian Jews died in the Holocaust, according to the Holocaust Memorial Centre in Budapest. According to some accounts, one in three Jews killed in Auschwitz were Hungarian nationals.

Like other far-right parties gaining ground in economically flailing Europe, Jobbik registered as a political party in 2003 and has gained increasing influence while vilifying Jews and Hungary's 700,000-strong Roma population.

A neo-Nazi spotted among Keystone XL pipeline workers

Thu, 08 Nov 2012 21:22:00 +0000

It is not uncommon for environmental activists to refer to their big business opponents as "fascists." It is, however, less common for an environmentalist's bête noire to actively own the term.

Yet according to photo and video evidence captured during a protest against Keystone XL pipeline construction in Texas last week, there appears to be an actual neo-Nazi among the ranks of construction workers (see image above).

"[A] Keystone XL construction supervisor was on scene directing workers and police while wearing a helmet covered questionable symbols: a Swastika and confederate flag," noted the Tar Sands Blockade group, which is spearheading resistance to the TransCanada-owned pipeline -- a project that threatens water supplies and ecosystems, expands U.S. reliance on oil and promises to further line Koch brother pockets.

Ron Seifert, an activist and spokesperson for the Tar Sands Blockade, confirmed the veracity of the racist symbol image. "It's very real, not tampered with at all. I was there," he told Salon. Footage from the protest (see below) -- during which Green Party nominee for president Jill Stein was arrested -- also captures the Nazi-helmeted man.

Anonymous attacks Golden Dawn NY’s website

Tue, 25 Sep 2012 21:40:00 +0000

After news broke Monday that Greek neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn had opened up an office in New York to garner expat support, it did not take long for Anonymous hackers to get to work bringing down its communications systems.

The Twitter account, @YourAnonNews, often used to make announcements for the hacker collective, first publicly posted the phone number connected to the fascist group's Queens-based office and invited followers to "give them a warm welcome to the neighborhood."

A follow up tweet asserted, in characteristically playful parlance, that the hackers had disabled Golden Dawn's New York chapter website:

[embedtweet id="250360345842032640"]

Indeed, emails from Salon readers following up on our Monday story about the office's opening confirm that Golden Dawn's website was temporarily down. As of this writing, the site is once again running, but is missing much of the content available before the reported hack.

Greek neo-Nazi party sets up New York office

Mon, 24 Sep 2012 19:42:00 +0000

Greek neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn has opened up an office in New York, the Greek Reporter reported this week.

According to Golden Dawn New York's website (which prominently features the group's Swastika-like symbol):

The Golden Dawn New York Chapter stands in support of the ideas and goals of the Golden Dawn Party in Greece, who received over 400,000 popular votes in the 2012 elections and currently has 18 representatives in the Greek parliament.

The Golden Dawn is the only political party in Greece that unapologetically stands for the sovereignty, security, and dignity of the Greek people.

The party intends to reverse decades of unlimited third world immigration which has brought crime, unemployment, disease and possibly terrorism to the once peaceful Greek cities.