Political Reflections between the years..0f Fromm and Chomsky

I have often thought that if a rational Fascist dictatorship were to exist, then it would choose the American system.

Noam Chomsky

“Man represses the irrational passions of destructiveness, hate, envy, revenge; he worships power, money, the sovereign state, the nation; while he pays lip service to the teachings of the great spiritual leaders of the human race, those of Buddha, the prophets, Socrates, Jesus, Mohammed—he has transformed these teachings into a jungle of superstition and idol-worship. How can mankind save itself from destroying itself by this discrepancy between intellectual-technical overmaturity and emotional backwardness?” 
― Erich Fromm, Escape from Freedom

On Malta I was talking to a young woman who worked in the bar . She was from Serbia and she told me a story about two English leave voters. They told her they voted to leave to stop immigration. When she pointed out that she was an immigrant they said “oh bot you are different” Its a story I have heard many times they always say "oh you are different” The simple truth is that those who think that way never meet these Schrodingers immigrants who can both take our jobs and claim benefits simultaneously. Its a question of reference its deep within our psychology. Its the way the problem is shown, described. The way the ,media show it, it stops true reflection. If we knew all the individual stories of the migrants it would be different. Yet we are denied the tools of analysis that give us a collective lens to join up the complex issues. We have an educational system that makes us all see Education as about getting a job, not how to critically think. Until we know a little Marx, a little Freud a little social science , a little philosophy then wa are the flotsam and jetsam on the sea of capitalism.

Of course there are many of the ruling elite who consciously and unconsciously do not wish us to think this way. There are many who are out there who wish to be critical but there is a massive fear of Freedom that holds us back, stultifies and paralyses us.

On the way in to work I run into an old friend , Clive and we chat of 2016. I give you Clive` words Trump is either a scoundrel or congenitally too stupid to last the first term as President I smile wish Clive good things for 2017 and return to the clinic.

These following thoughts come from the journey from Gatwick to Reading. They are rambling but a desperate desire to resist to rebel runs through them. On the Plane back from Malta we both find ourselves reading Chomsky and Fromm. These were the words in the stream of consciousness.......

“Somewhere between towns,between countries. between years. between time zones, between hotels and transits, between temporalities. between patterns of little sleep......we return between Brexit and the inauguration of Trump we peer anxiously between surprising events into a world of post truth and simplistic solutions..we journey towards 2017 as we slouch towards Trumpton.......I wasn't made for a time like this were you? Winter is coming.....can Spring be not far behind where we wake to a kinder gentler world ,, we catch ourselves one reading Chomsky one Fromm on the fascist within us all and within the conscience collective......it's time to fight back .... “

Capitalism is a system in which the central institutions of society are, in principle, under autocratic control. Thus, a corporation or an industry is, if we were to think of it in political terms, fascist, that is, it has tight control at the top and strict obedience has to be established at every level... Just as I'm opposed to political fascism, I am opposed to economic fascism. I think that until the major institutions of society are under the popular control of participants and communities, it's pointless to talk about democracy.

Noam Chomsky