I agree that the direction of travel is very worrying, specifically in, though not limited to, the examples you cite.pete75 wrote: ↑6 Nov 2022, 12:32pmChanges to the law on public demonstrations may well lead to a lot more overt use of force against people demonstrating against government policy. New legislation will give the police powers to impose conditions like start and finish times on public demonstrations. This could effectively ban them. For example a senior officer could allow a demonstartion and say start at 15:00 and finish at 15:15, making it almost impossible to hold, or if it does go ahead snd the demonstrators are still there at 15:16 go in hard with shields and truncheons. Giving a right wing, authoritarian organisation like a UK police force such control over demonstrations is certainly a step closer to fascism.roubaixtuesday wrote: ↑6 Nov 2022, 11:51am
I think the overt use of force against opposition is an inherent part of fascism. The current regime (in as far as it's possible to discern one amidst the chaos) is perhaps better described as authoritarian nationalist.
We're a long way from fascism and I think it's a bit insulting to the victims of the genuine article to pretend otherwise.
As this article argues the line between authoritarian nationalist populism and fascism is getting increasingly blurred. https://www.fairobserver.com/politics/a ... ws-152611/
Nevertheless, I think we are a very, very long way from being a fascist state.