On 15 Jun 97 , at 8:52, DDeBar quoted Bill Bartlett / Graeme Imray:

> > Here in Australia at the moment we are going through what is known
> > as the "Pauline Hanson phenomenon", an upsurge in reactionary
> > xenophobia
> focussed
> > on a new independant member of parliament who blames everything on
> > Aborigines, migrants, multiculturalism, blah, blah. She promptly
> > won election to a safe-as-houses Labour federal seat and,
> > reminiscent of Chance the
> Gardener,
> > has taken the country by storm. It seems clear that, although even
> > her
> most
> > loyal supporters acknowledge her complete lack of any idea as to
> > what to
> do
> > about the country's problems, that is EXACTLY what they like about
> > her.
>
>
> > Maybe there's a lesson for us all there - in fact I'm sure there
> > is - I just wish I knew what it was.
>
> As you look for this lesson, I recommend (re-?)examining 1.) the
> phenomena that Lenin described in "Imperialism - the Highest Stage
> of Capitalism" and 2.) the history of the German experience with
> Fascism.

And I add:  was it Gore Vidal who, by the same time the novel of
"Chauncey Gardiner" was being published, said that if Americans were
ever to have a local version of Fascism, its leaders would look more
like a TV ad-man than a full blooded, blond, all-muscle Aryan?  It
seems to me that all the observations in these messages are very pertinent,
and that increasing xenophobia in the First World countries is a very
serious red light for progressive or radical people the world over.

The military version of these TV-set Fascists seems to be the
parallel phenomenon of militiamen.  Is there something the like
outside the United States?  We Argentines have been a testing ground
for this kind of groups, albeit under State protection, during the
late 70s and early 80s, and we have long been subject to very subtle
and brutal media pressure in order to dismantle our criticism of the
"World Order, old and new" so aptly denounced by NC recently.

Maybe the peculiarities of this country have provided a good testing
area for tactics to be applied on First World populations under
critical conditions. I say so because up to the mid-seventies my
country was a very particular kind of Third World society, resembling
in many non trivial aspects those of the First World.

Hope my alert helps.

Regards to all.
Nestor Miguel Gorojovsky
[log in to unmask]