The Fascist Twist

Just as Nobel Peace Prize winner Carl von Ossietzky warned Germany and the rest of the world of the rise of fascism in his "homeland," so writers Gore Vidal and now Naomi Wolf warn us of internal dangers facing the USA.

I mentioned Naomi Wolf's The End of America: Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot (Chelsea Green, 2007) not too long ago. Since then, I've read it through once.

In this concise, easily digested 155-page paperback, Wolf lays out how nations can be taken over by an internal group bent on authoritarian control. She raises serious red flags about a "fascist shift" occurring in the USA since 9/11/2001.

Here's the outline of her analysis of the descent into fascism -- in ten easy steps:

1. Invoke a terrifying internal and external enemy.
2. Create secret prisons where torture takes place.
3. Develop a thug caste or paramilitary force not answerable to citizens.
4. Set up an internal surveillance system.
5. Harass citizens' groups.
6. Engage in arbitrary detention and release.
7. Target key individuals.
8. Control the press.
9. Declare all dissent to be treason.
10. Suspend the rule of law.

More on this soon, I suspect.

Naomi Wolf is probably better known as a Third Wave feminist; The Beauty Myth (1991) is one of my favorites. In it, she simply argues that women should be able to dress the way they want (fashionably or slovenly), on their own terms rather than because of external/internalized pressures. I find that argument absolutely convincing -- with personal freedom to choose as its core value. Freedom is her main concern in The End of America, as well.


Gwen Stafani chooses her own fashion statements. You bet your sweet bippy!

Today's Rune: Fertility.

Birthdays: Carl von Ossietzky, Gore Vidal, Alvin Toffler, Eddie Cohran, Chubby Checker, Keb Mo, Al Sharpton, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Jack Wagner, Clive Owen, Gwen Stefani, Neve Campbell, Alanna Ubach. And happy birthday to Gloria Garza!

Ready for War

I just picked up a copy of Jeremy Scahill's Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army (Nation Books, 2007). A ton of research went into this -- exactly the kind of thing we need to help stay alert. Re: What's going on behind the scenes in Iraq and elsewhere. It's a shadow army. Thanks to independent journals like The Nation and brave people like Scahill, there is still real investigative journalism being done.

Here's a link to the companion website: www.blackwaterbook.com

Meanwhile, I renewed my membership with the ACLU -- something I've done annually since the days of Ronald Reagan. A link: http://www.aclu.org/ Excellent research database, too.


Just out: Naomi Wolf's The End of America: A Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot (Chelsea Green, September 2007). Looks terrific. The short version is "Fascist America, in 10 easy steps" (The Guardian, April 24, 2007). Hopefully this link will remain live: http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,2064157,00.html

Naomi Wolf is always provocative -- and cool.


Inset from a cover of The Nation. Wake Up, America!

Today's Rune: Initiation.

Birthdays: Euripides, Augustus Caesar, Kublai Khan, Victoria Woodhull, Walter Lippmann, Friedrich Paulus, Aldo Moro, Mickey Rooney, John Coltrane, George Jackson, Julio Iglesias, Bruce Springsteen, Michelle Thomas, Ani DiFranco. And happy birthday to Joe McGeary!

Achtung: Auf Wiedersehen!

Who Makes the Catwalk Walk?

Madrid Fashion Week (September 18-22, 2006) has created a stir in the fashion world, which in turn is stirring things up in the general culture, at least a little. Using a body mass index (weight to heighth ratio), organizers banned nearly a third of previous catwalkers from strutting their stuff. This is suppossed to promote healthier body images for women (read: not anorexia).

In fashionable Milan, city officials have announced their own new code of conduct to be in place by February 2007; it, too, is supposedly aimed to protect both audiences and models. Meanwhile, in Swinging London, there is also responsive chatter, some of it more ambivalent.

So who makes the catwalk walk from now on? Who is too thin? Is Calvin Klein in trouble? No more Twiggy waifs, no more Edie Sedgwicks? Is there a reasonable line between Heidi Klum, Kate Moss, Sienna Miller, and Nicole Richie? Admittedly, Richie looks like she's about to expire, but the other three? I don't really have an opinion on this, but find the controversy interesting. Do organizers really care about women's body image, or is this a hypocritical exercise in public relations and spin control?

The appalled British reaction to Kate Moss's addictions, once they emerged into the public sphere, seem ludicrous. Isn't it widely known that many models use various drugs to keep their image and deal with the lifestyle, just like athletes use steroids to beef themselves up for sporting events? Was she supposed to be some kind of romantic hero?

(Left: Heidi Klum for Victoria's Secret).

I suppose Naomi Wolf put things in perspective as well as anyone: "If I could write The Beauty Myth again, I'd put the clear conclusion of the argument--that we need to embrace pleasure, choice in adornment, our own real beauty and sexuality, and call ourselves feminists--in the first paragraph." (Preface to the paperback edition of The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty Are Used Against Women, Anchor Books, 1992).

The catwalk is used to help sell clothes designs and mass-produced knockoffs. I do not believe it is primarily "used against women" so much as it is used in the service of selling goods and making money. Women are free to choose what they wear, constrained only by economics, aren't they? Is this any different from the way cars are sold and bought? Built-in obsolescence, hunger for new models, commodity fetishism in the service of the market?


In any case, the fashion shockwaves will arrive on this side of the Atlantic shortly.

Today's Rune: The Warrior.

Ciao!