‘The fascist threat’ and the South’s mounting travails
Predictably, sections of Sri Lankan opinion are seeing some similarities between the recent acts of lawlessness in Brazil, coming close on the heels of the re-election of Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to that country’s presidency, and the anti-government protests that swept Sri Lanka some months ago, or the ‘Aragalaya’, which resulted in former President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa stepping down from power, among other things. The tendency is strong to brand the unrest in Sri Lanka too as evidence of ‘fascism’ but this is at best a knee-jerk reaction.
To be sure, some sections in Sri Lanka did engage in acts of wanton destruction at the height of the ‘Aragalaya’ and these actions deserve the condemnation of all right-thinking people. It needs to be unreservedly stated that the persons and groups responsible for the lawlessness in question should be brought to justice. However, while the violence in Brazil does reflect the features of Far Right extremism, and could to a great extent be described as ‘fascistic’, the same could not be said of the ‘Aragalaya’ phenomenon in its entirety.
This is because in its essential aims the ‘Aragalaya’ was well meaning. For example, it called for the thorough democratization of the state, or ‘system change’, and proclaimed that there be equity in all its respects in Sri Lanka. It was basically prompted by the vision of a united and equal Sri Lanka. Accordingly, the ‘Aragalaya’s’ fundamental compulsions are democratic in nature and to the extent that this is so, the phenomenon in its essentials could not be condemned as having its origins in any destructive human impulses, although the criminal acts that manifested in some sections that claimed to be associated with the ‘Aragalaya’ deserve condemnation.
But without a shadow of doubt, the lawlessness in Brazil does smack of Far Right extremism. For instance, it is targeted at ousting from power a Left wing President who came to power on the basis of the popular vote. That is, the President is fiercely opposed by anti-democratic, Right wing forces for whom economic and social equity are usually anathema.
We find in the Brazilian unrest strong echoes of not only the savage onslaught on the institutions of democracy in the US two years ago by political agitators who cried foul at the just concluded US presidential poll and sought to bring back Rightist President Donald Trump to power, but even harks back to Nazi Germany where dictator Adolf Hitler murderously persecuted communists and minority groups who were seen as threats by Germany’s white supremacists.
In these political upheavals of the past, we see fascism in some of its basic essentials. There is the blind adulation of political leaders who follow Rightist agendas, such as the perpetration of inequalities, by sections of the countries’ majority communities and the brazen use by these leaders of state coercion to silence their opponents, whatever the cost. That is, state repression is let loose.
Given these fundamentals, it is difficult to perceive how the current situation in Brazil could be equated with that of Sri Lanka at the time of the ‘Aragalaya’, which had entirely different aims, although some fringe elements in the latter development did engage in acts of violence. Those who seek to equate such disparate phenomena seem to be aiming at damning their political opponents.
However, governmental heads of particularly South Asia would do better to focus on the economic crises that are upon them, rather than mindlessly engage in diversionary rhetoric. Time is fast running out and many countries of this region would be experiencing the worst rigours of the fast-spreading economic recession. No less a person than the Indian central bank Governor Shaktikantha Das has given the region much to reflect and act upon, going forward.
In an interview given to India’s ‘Financial Times’, which was reproduced in this newspaper, Das has, among other things, drawn attention to the ‘debt distress’ that would be experienced by most South Asian economies in the current times. As could be gathered from the Governor’s observations, such distress has grave implications for regional economic stability besides potentially affecting the material fortunes of India itself, although India is remaining economically vibrant at present. “We are quite concerned about debt distress in all these countries because we have a lot of trade relations with these countries”, Das is quoted as saying.
A factor that needs to be taken cognizance of most in this connection is the economic interdependence among the countries of South Asia. India’s economic strength is such that it could be expected to tide over these troubled times with relative ease but this is not the case with most of her neighbours. Sri Lanka is bankrupt and would be seen as a ‘write-off’ by most of the world’s economic powers, but many of India’s other neighbours too are economically enfeebled to a lesser or greater degree.
For countries such as India, conducting normal trade relations with these neighbours could prove difficult and even loss-incurring. Besides, economic disempowerment would get in the way of these neghbours reaping the best benefits from India’s continued growth vibrancy. For instance, they would be in no position to tap into India’s phenomenal middle class consumer markets with their exports, given their economic disabilities. A cumulative result could be regional economic disempowerment and worsening widespread poverty.
However, unresolved and aggravating economic issues have implications for the political stability of countries and regions. This is on account of the fact that political extremism usually feeds off economic pressures at the country level and regionally. For example, communalistic forces could quicken the nation-breaking tendencies within their countries by impressing on their target groups that the latter’s economic distress is caused by other communities with whom they share the same physical space.
That is, identity politics could enjoy a resurgence in times of economic crisis. Needless to say, such situations should be defused as expeditiously as possible by governments and other actors that are committed to intra and inter-state stability. Thus, governments need to be proactively involved in defusing economic recessionary trends. Any lassitude by states on this score could be tantamount to inviting the spectre of fascism into their midst, since communal demagogues very often degenerate into tyrannical fascists.
