Violence
has reached an almost unthinkable level in the United States.
Acts of violence erupt in even the most protected spaces,
engulfing almost every facet of American life. Political violence
once on the fringe of American society is now at the centre
of power and everyday life. Death threats are not only lodged
against election officials, public health workers, teachers,
librarians, but also Republicans who supported President Joe
Biden’s infrastructure package. Death threats to the
Capitol Police and lawmakers are the highest they have been
in decades.
Laura Italiano, writing on Insider, noted that immediately
following the FBI raid on Trump’s Florida residence,
references to violence and “civil war” on online
spaces increased by 106 per cent. She also quoted Alex Friedfeld,
a researcher with the Anti-Defamation League’s Centre
on Extremism, who stated: “Extremist anger has not been
that high since the lead-up to January 6.” In light
of this accelerated surge in right-wing violent rhetoric,
numerous menacing threats against federal agents and their
families appeared on multiple online and social media platforms.
In addition, the federal judge who issued the Mar-a-Lago search
warrant was also threatened. Unsurprisingly, U.S. Attorney
General Merrick Garland, who stated that he “personally
approved the decision to seek a search warrant in this matter,”
has been the subject of numerous death threats online, with
some writing that he “needs to be assassinated”
along with the call to “kill all feds.”
In Canada, we have seen examples of such violence and threats
coming from extremists such as Romana Didula, the alleged
“Queen of Canada,” the leader of a fringe Q-Anon
connected movement. Leyland Cecco, reporting in The Guardian,
claimed that she has “called on her disciples to execute
health care workers and politicians who support mass vaccination
campaigns.”
The lesson for Canada is that in this age of growing authoritarianism,
language has become a central part of the microphysics of
power. Drained of any democratic substance, bellicose rhetoric
has become a force in the acceleration of violence and white
supremacy. This is a language that celebrates white nationalism
along with a cult of aggression as a legitimate tool of political
power. In this new era of violence, it is crucial to comprehend
not only the political, institutional, and cultural conditions
at work in turning politics into a form of civil war, but
also to identify the sites, policies, and regimes that exploit
the fears, anxieties, loneliness and rage of the vulnerable.
If we want a real debate about violence in Canada and globally,
it is crucial to understand it as part of a larger social
order that attacks critical thinking and the institutions
that support it. The threat of violence is now used by right-wing
politicians and extremist groups to threaten dissent and those
who advocate for public health, basic social provisions, democratic
values and democracy itself.
In many societies, violence is being elevated to an organizing
principle of power, increasingly valued as a form of political
currency. The conditions for democracy are being obliterated
by extremists globally who embrace repressive forms of power,
lies, and white supremacy as tools of political opportunism.
In the U.S., President Biden is only partly right stating
that the GOP has become a “semi fascist” party
that “embraces political violence.” I fear he
is being too diplomatic in his rhetoric. America has a full-fledged
fascist problem that must be addressed if it is to think its
way to a different future. But America is not alone. In Canada
and across the globe, the struggle over politics is becoming
less a rivalry between political parties and more a struggle
between a rebranded fascism and democracy itself.
