Showing posts with label fascism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fascism. Show all posts

July 28 - Anniversary of the Fall of Fascism in San Marino

Posted on July 28, 2018

The world seems to be dabbling in the ideas of fascism again - and that's scary. What's appealing about these authoritarian ideas? Why doesn't everybody, all the time, yearn for individual rights rather than turning to a leader who promises simple "solutions" and "strong" "leaders"?

"I'm the one who can solve your problems; elect me - and then sit back and let me rule!"

Of course, being a citizen in a democracy in which people are free to debate issues, criticize the government, challenge officials, and vote people and political parties out of office - well, being an active and knowledgeable citizen can be a lot of work. So many people! So many opinions! There can be a lot of arguments, disagreements, even protests. Democracy can be noisy and messy...and I suppose that having a dictator could be seen as simpler and quieter!

But...squelchingly un-free!

Way back in 1922, a man from the tiny European nation of San Marino founded the Sammarinese Fascist Party. The man, who was named Giuliano Gozi, modeled the party on the fascist party in Italy - you know, the one that took fascist dictator and Hitler-wanna-be Benito Mussolini to the top! (It's not surprising that Gozi was influenced by Italy, since San Marino is entirely surrounded by the much larger nation!





Soon after he founded the fascist party, Gozi was elected Captain Regent of San Marino.

Gozi was rich. His family was noble. He had loads of ties to both military and police - and so he was able to take way more control than San Marino's constitution allows. For example, he worked to ban all other political parties, and it wasn't a surprise that he ended up winning re-election.

His position of Captain Regent is up for election every six months - and yet Gozi won bunches and bunches of re-elections (against zero competitors) and ended up ruling for 20 years!

Of course, the people of Europe and the world fought against fascism in World War II, and the Sammarinese people - even though the nation was officially neutral in the war - began to protest against Gozi and his government. 

When Mussolini was finally removed from power in 1945 - and Hitler and the Nazis were facing defeat - and Mussolini was arrested, executed by firing squad, and displayed to the public to confirm that the monster was truly dead - well, when all of that happened, Gozi's power ended, and he retired from politics. 

Now San Marino celebrates the anniversary of the end of fascism with an actual holiday!

San Marino is the nation with the oldest surviving-and-still-used constitution; it's a multi-party democracy with a parliament. Hopefully, fascism isn't stirring its ugly head there again - but it is in Italy, I've read.

Let's all educate ourselves about fascism, learn to recognize fascist tactics and ideas, and stand firmly against it. We must learn from the past and avoid our grandparents' and great grandparents' and great-great grandparents' mistakes!!



















Even though fascism is starting to rumble again, even
in Europe, the good news is that there seem to be more
people standing against it that for it.

Let's keep it that way!!!!





Also on this date:













(Fourth Saturday in July)


(Last Saturday in July)







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October 11 – Anti-fascist Uprising Day in Macedonia

Posted October 11, 2017


On this date in 1941, Macedonians began an uprising against - well, as you can see in the holiday's name - against fascists.

The Axis powers that occupied the region - Macedonia at that time was a part of Yugoslavia - were Italian and German troops - basically World War II Nazis. 


The National Liberation War that finally drove out the Nazis in 1944 resulted in the Socialist Republic of Macedonia, which was a part of the the People's Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. When Yugoslavia broke up in 1991, the Republic of Macedonia became fully independent.

Fascism is a horrible thing.

It's radical - which means extreme.

It's authoritarian - which means that a "strong" ruler acts as a dictator, ruling every aspect of peoples' lives instead of allowing for personal freedom.

It's nationalistic - which means that the country is glorified and considered better than - and more important than - other countries...and also more important than individuals or "the world."

It suppresses opposition - which means that it stops people from expressing their opinions, if they disagree with the government, it doesn't allow fair voting, and it silences debate by arresting or even killing those who disagree.

It's generally bigoted - a fascist government often tries to silence or even eliminate anyone who is different - anyone who looks different, who speaks another language, who has another religion, etc.

Nowadays, forces of fascism are rising up in many countries again, even though almost every nation in the world was involved in a horrific, bloody battle to defeat fascism in the mid-1900s. (Why-oh-why can't we learn from history?)

Actually, we can and do learn from history, and many people are fighting back against modern fascism. Join the battle!

To encourage us as we fight for the good, here are some lovely photos of Macedonia:





Also on this date:

































(Wednesday of the second full week of October)




(Second Wednesday in October)



aka Unity Day
(Second Wednesday in October)





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August 23 – Black Ribbon Day

Posted on August 23, 2017



Today is Black Ribbon Day, which is also called European Day of Remembrance for Victims of Stalinism and Nazism. The latter explains the observance well!

Today is anti-communism, anti-totalitarianism, anti-fascism, and anti-autocracy. Let's define those words.

Communism - this is an idea that sounds good - the public, as a whole, owns everything, and people work according to their abilities and get products, food, and other resources according to their needs. BUT - communism doesn't seem to work well! Where it's been tried, it has become totalitarian.  

Totalitarianism - a system of government that is very centralized; the government exerts total control over the people. Political opposition is suppressed by force. Another word for this sort of government is "dictatorship."

Fascism - a movement or philosophy that states that a race or a nation is much more important than individuals; it is totalitarian and repressive. 

Autocracy - when one person has total, absolute power.

And anti- means "against." So today is AGAINST all of these undemocratic ideas.

The European Parliament, which makes decisions for the E.U. (European Union), set up this holiday in 2008. It's supposed to be observed Europe-wide.

Which made me think - hey! Europe-wide means what, exactly?

Europe is defined as the western portion of the giant landmass that is Eurasia, plus a few islands in the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. It is made up of 50 different countries. Russia, of course, is so huge that it is in Europe and Asia. 
The European Union is a political and economic union of 28 member countries. A majority of the E.U. nations (19 of them) use the same monetary system, based on the euro. 

Nations of the E.U., above.
Nations in the "Eurozone," below.






The United Kingdom, one of the members of the E.U., voted to leave the union. Because we call the U.K. "Britain," we call this exit from the union "Brexit." 

Here's a bit more about Europe:

Fifty flags of fifty European nations!
Some of my favorite traditional costumes from Europe
are Armenian clothes for me, above,
and Hungarian clothes for women, below.


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Some of the most famous landmarks in the world are in Europe!




Also on this date:

































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