Sir, – The short answer to Kathy Sheridan’s excellent article “Has the world forgotten what it means to elect a fascist?” (Opinion & Analysis, January 25th) is a resounding “definitively maybe”. The “definitively” speaks to the recent disturbing political trends in Italy, the Netherlands, Germany, and Hungary, and of course the daunting prospect of a second term in the White House for Donald Trump. The “maybe” is a reminder that the game is not over yet; it is not too late to disentangle ourselves from the current rising fascist quagmire.
In the article, Kathy Sheridan reminds us of Liz Cheney’s warnings about “sleepwalking into dictatorship”. Cheney’s admonition is a recurring theme in democratic theory. Writing in his notebooks from inside a fascist prison in 1926 Antonio Gramsci reminisced that “what comes to pass does so not so much because a few people want it to happen, as because the mass of citizens abdicate their responsibility and let things be”. The problem for Gramsci was not just the authoritarian aspirations of a few individuals, but the political apathy of the many.
A similar concept was formulated two millennia before Gramsci by the Roman philosopher and statesman Cicero in 44BC. Cicero witnessed the collapse of the Roman Republic, which had endured for almost 500 years, and the advent of the dictatorship of Julius Caesar. For Cicero dictatorships thrive on the people’s inexcusable indifference to injustice.
Kathy Sheridan is right – our democracy is not bulletproof. But as more fascist storms approach, let’s not lose hope. Not yet. We can make our democracy more resilient by reminding ourselves of our moral duty to maintain the institutions of justice that our ancestors died for, and we still benefit from. Future generations will never forgive us if we give up without a fight. – Yours, etc,
Dr VITTORIO BUFACCHI,
Department of Philosophy,
University College Cork.
Sir, – In her excellent article, Kathy Sheridan highlights the risk of sleepwalking into dictatorships, and how ambivalence towards democracy could lead its erosion, and a rise in the far right.
However, she fails to point out the clear and present danger from the left, particularly in Ireland. If one is to look for a political party with documented and long-standing links to crime, kidnapping, terror, intimidation, and a willingness to use extreme violence over democratic means to achieve its dogmatic political doctrine, then it is to the left, not the right, that we should cast a cautionary glance. – Is mise,
SEAN MOONEY,
Raheny,
Dublin 5.