Away From Fascism And Toward Norway(ish)

Among all the opinion pieces about how to steer the West away from fascism, this essay by George Lakey prompts one to think in the other direction: given historical precedent, what might we run toward rather than away from?

Lakey writes that he sees “in polarization both crisis and opportunity”, and offers Norway’s (relative) evasion of authoritarian takeover in the 1930s as a counter-example to Germany’s. The two countries, which had demographic and economic similarities, took tellingly divergent paths. Lakey writes that Norway’s social democracy rose above other movements due to a combination of organized protests with economic bases (boycotts, strikes) and a grassroots co-op infrastructure that proved sustainable in the moments when top-down power faltered.

Lakey’s prescription for what to do sounds relatively self-evident: 

“The key to avoiding fascism? An organized left with a strong vision and broad support.” 

But the means of organization as the left continues to splinter is the question. Lakey references the Standing Rock protesters’ solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement as an example of cross-collaboration between groups with much to gain from mutual support and everything to lose from fractioning. He also points to Bernie Sanders’ connecting of the working class across boundaries like race. The word the author looking for at the end to describe the means to unite, I believe, is “intersectionality”.