The Fascist Longings in Our Midst

REY CH OW

Evil is never done so thoroughly and so well as when it is done with a

good conscience. _,. , .
° BI A I S E P A SCA L , Thoughts zyxwvutsrqponm
(279)
Fascism is not the prohibition of saying things, it is the obligation to say
them. , .
R O L A N D BA R T H E S , Leçon (14)

A. A S C I S M " is A B A N A L T E R M . It is u s ed most often not s imply to

refer to the his torica l events that took place i n H id er ' s G erma n y
a n d M u s s olin i's Italy, b u t also to con d em n attitu des or b eha viou r
that we cons ider to b e excessively au tocratic or d omin eer in g. 1

S p ea kin g i n the mid -1970 s, M ich el Fou ca u lt referred to the

p op u la rized use of the term "fa s cis m" as "a genera l complicity i n
the refu sal to d ecip h er what fascism rea lly was." Th e non- analysis
of fascism, Fou ca u lt goes on , is "on e of the imp orta n t politica l
facts of the past thirty years. It enab les fascism to b e u s ed as a
floa ting signifier, whose fu n ction is essentially that of d en u n cia -
tio n " ("Power a n d Strategies" 139). In this essay, I attempt to
study th is — w h a t a mou nts to a collective— "d en u n cia tion " of
fascism by exa min in g n ot on ly what is b ein g d en ou n ced b u t also
the major con ceptu a l paths th r ou gh w h ich d en u n cia tion is pro-
d u ced . M y a rgu ment is hence n ot exacdy on e that avoids the
"floatingness" of "fascism" by g r ou n d in g it i n a pa rticu la r time or
space. Instead, I take fascism as a common p la ce, i n the ma ny
ways it is u s ed to indica te what is d eemed qu estionab le a n d
u na ccepta b le. In the process, I h igh ligh t what I th in k is fascism's
most significant b u t often neglected a s p ect— w h a t I w ill refer to
as its technologized idea lis m. In my a rgu ment, fascism is n ot

ARIEL: A Review of International English Literature, 26:1, January 1995

24 REY CH O W

simply the disgu ised or na tu ra lized "ideology" that we find i n

Lou is Althu s s er a n d Rola n d B a rthes ; rather it is a term that
2

indicates the p r od u ction a n d con s u mp tion of a glossy surface

image, a cru de style, for pu rposes o f social identifica tion even
a mon g intellectu als. In lieu of a con clu s ion , I also commen t on
the affinities b etween fascism as a "la rge" historica l force a n d the
mu n d a n e events of academic life in N or th A mer ica in thezyxwvutsrqpon
1990s
by foregrou n d in g the id ea lizin g tendencies in what is ca lled
mu lticu ltu ra lis m.

Monstrous Visions
For those of us w ho d o not have pers ona l experience of the
p er iod of the S econ d W or ld W a r in E u r op e a n d As ia , the pictu re
that comes to m i n d w h en we th in k of fascism is always a photo-
gra ph , a scene from a film, a docu mentary, or some gra phic
a ccou nt na rra ted by survivors. Th e visu al association we have
with fascism is u su ally one of h or r or a n d destru ction. Recentíy,
for instance, I h a d the cha nce to view a video ca lled "Magee's
Testament" (produ ced a n d dis trib u ted by the Allia n ce in M em -
ory of the V ictims of the N a n k in g Massacre, 1991) ab ou t J a -
pa n's invasion of the city of N a n jin g d u r in g D ecemb er 1937 to
Feb ru ary 1938. These newsreel pictu res of rape a n d massacre
constitu te the on ly kn ow n filmed d ocu men t of the atrocities
committed by Japanese soldiers d u r in g what the C hines e call
"N a n jin g d a tu s ha ," the N a n jin g Massacre or the Rape of N a nj-
in g. S hot by a n A mer ica n missionary, J o h n Ma gee, a n d recently
re- discovered after fifty-five years, the cans of amateu r film fr om
the 1930S have b een in corp ora ted into a 30 - minu te video by the
C hines e A mer ica n filmmaker Peter W a ng. A ccor d in g to Ma gee's
accou nt, ab ou t 300,000 C hines e were killed in a week. Th is
n u mb er w ou ld be a mon g the 15 to 20 m il l ion generally esti-
ma ted to have b een killed d u r in g Ja pa n's aggression against
3
C h in a fr om 1931 to 1945.
W h a t comes across most powerfu lly in "Magee's Testament" is
the aesthetics of Japanese brutality. I use the term aesthetics n ot
in its narrow sense of principles of beau ty or good taste, b u t in
the b roader, Ka n tia n sense of principles of perception a n d cog-
n ition , principles that are in tu rn manifested in ou twa rd be-
 FASCIST LO N GI N GS 25

haviou r, as b eha viou ra l style. A m o n g the C h in es e survivors in -

terviewed some forty-five years after the war, the memories of
that aesthetics u n fold i n narratives that are ju xta p os ed with
pictu res taken in 1937 a n d 1938 of hea rt- rending wou nds,
a mpu ta tions, disab ilities, a n d deaths. I was stru ck most of a ll by
the pictu res of a still- living w oma n the b ack of whose neck h a d
b een sawed at with a b ayonet. A large p or tion of the hea d, w h ich
mu st have at one time b een d a n glin g in mid- a ir withou t b ein g
completely ch op p ed off, was su rgically stitched b ack onto this
woma n's body. A t the time the newsreel was ma de, it was as if the
camera, simply because it ca ptu red so vividly the pa infu l physi-
cality of this event, was an a ccomplice to the origin a l act of
brutality. So was the doctor who ma n ip u la ted the woma n's hea d
for the camera, a n d so were those wa tching the film.
N o words w ou ld do ju stice to the monstrosity of su ch an
aesthetics. B u t what exactly is monstrou s? N o d ou b t it is the
calamitou s destru ction that des cended u p on the victims. A n d yet
a monstrou s aesthetics is also a n aesthetics ofzyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZ
making monstrou s,
of demonstrative ma gnifica tion a n d a mplifica tion . As one writer
points ou t, the Japanese soldiers w ho committed su ch acts of
atrocity were able to do so becau se, like the N a zis, their loyalty to
their ideology was so ab solu te that it freed th em from a ll other
restraints (Lestz 105). U n l ik e the N a zis, who were C hris tia ns
min d fu l of the close relations b etween "b ody" a n d "s pirit," a n d
who rega rded physical involvement with their victims ' b odies as a
form of spiritu al con ta min a tion , the Japanese showed n o su ch
comp u n ction . Th e p oin t ab ou t their fascism was not enthu siasm
in d is cip lin e b u t enthu siasm in u nha rnes s ed cruelty. It was thu s
not en ou gh s imply to extingu is h the enemy's life tout court; they
mu st tortu re a n d mu tila te in ways that p r olon g a n d aggravate
their victims ' su ffering a n d thu s ma ximize their own pleasu re.
Th er e was n o sense of b ein g conta mina ted by the enemy because
the enemy was ju s t raw ma teria l into w h ich they p oked their
swords, or dis cha rged their u rin e a n d semen alike.
L ik e a ll gra phic records of fascist destructiveness, the images
of "Magee's Testament" clarify two things a b ou t fascism. Th e
first, w h ich is the easier to grasp, is that fascism is a form of
technology. It is not simply that fascism deploys technologica l
26 REY CH O W

means for its pu rposes; facism is also a k in d of demonstrative

cu ltu re/ w riting whose ma gn itu d e— w h os e p or ten t— ca n only
be that of the technologica l. Th e Japanese soldier d id not s imply
use technologica l weapons; he was a mu r d er ma ch in e that hap-
p en ed to take the form of a ma n . Th e second th in g ab ou t
fascism, w h ich is closely related to the first b u t not as rea dily
acceptab le, is that the most imp orta n t sentiment involved in
fascism is not a negative b u t a positive one: ra ther tha n hatefu l-
ness a n d destructiveness, fascism is a b ou t love a n d idea lis m. M os t
of a ll it is a search for a n idea lized self-image th r ou gh a heart-
felt s u rrender to s omething h igh er a n d more b ea u tifu l. L ik e
the N a zi officer w ho killed to pu rify his race, the Japanese sol-
d ier ra p ed a n d slau ghtered in total devotion to his emp eror a n d
in the na me of a chieving the "G rea ter East As ia C o- Prosperity
S ph ere." L ik e the N a zi con cen tra tion ca mp official w ho was
genu inely capab le of b ein g moved to tears by a B eethoven sonata
b ein g played by Jewish prisoners, the Japanese officer, we may
su rmise, was prob a b ly also genu inely capab le of b ein g moved by
the delicate feelings in s crib ed i n cu ltu r ed practices su ch as h a iku
poetry, calligraphy, or the tea ceremony. In each case, what
sustains the aesthetics of monstrosity is s ometh in g eminently
positive a n d decent.

Projection I: The Violence "In U s A l l "

Th e qu es tion of the rela tions hip b etween the destru ctive a n d
idea lizin g sentiments in fascism is thu s m u ch more difficu lt tha n
it first appears. Let us think, once again, of Fou ca u lt's criticis m
that we have u sed the term "fascism" on ly to d en ou n ce others.
O n a nother occa s ion, i n the Preface to G illes D eleu ze a n d Félix
G u a tta ri'szyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDC
Anti-Oedipus, Fou ca u lt writes that the strategic adver-
sary comb a tted by Anti-Oedipus is fascism, a d d in g that by this he
means "not only his torica l fascism, the fascism of H itler a n d
M u s s o l i n i . . . b u t also the fascism in us a ll, in ou r heads a n d in ou r
everyday b ehaviou r, the fascism that causes us to love power, to
desire the very th in g that domina tes a n d exploits u s " (xiii).
B y movin g fr om events in the w or ld ou tside b ack to the fascism
" in us a l l , " Fou ca u lt suggests a n a ncient piece of p h ilos op h ica l
advice: "Kn ow thyself." A t the same time, by ca llin g a ttention to
 FASCIST LO N GI N GS 27

the fascism " in u s " as oppos ed to that ou tside u s, Fou ca u lt

articu lates a specific conceptu a l mech a n is m u sed in many ac-
cou nts of fascism, the mech a n is m ofzyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZY
projection as defined by
Fr eu d . Th e fu nction of projection is des crib ed by Fr eu d as a
defence: w hen we sense s ometh in g da ngerou s a n d threa tening in
ourselves, we expel a n d objectify it ou twa rd, so as to preserve ou r
own stability. Th e best social exa mple of Freu d's u n d ers ta n d in g
of projection is anti- Semitism. Th e "Jew" is the na me a n d the
pictu re of a ll those things we ca nnot a dmit ab ou t ourselves; it is
thu s a s ymptom of ou r fears a n d a nxieties . E ven th ou gh it is not
4

always consciou sly stated as su ch, Fr eu d ia n projection is cru cia l

to some of the most sophisticated accou nts of fascism. However,
5

what emerges interestingly from Fou ca u lt's b rief comments on

fascism is that if the fascist discrimination against the "Jew" is a
projection in Freud's sense, then our denunciatory use of the term "fas-
cism, " insofar as it remains a "floating signifier, " is also such a projec-
tion. "Fa s cis m" has b ecome for us the empty term, the lack, onto
w h ich we project a ll the u npleasant realities fr om w h ich we want
to distance ourselves. Th is is why fascism is associated alternately
with colon ia lis m, a u thorita ria nis m, mysticism, p op u lis m, social-
ism, banality, a n d so for th . O rtega y Gasset su mmarizes fascism's
6

emptiness perceptively w h en he writes that it is "simu ltaneou sly

one th in g a n d the contrary, A a n d not- A" (qtd. i n La cla u , 8 zyxwvutsrqpo
1-82).
Th e extreme logica l con clu s ion to this is that those w ho most
violently d en ou n ce fa s cis m— w h o characterize others as fas-
cis ts — ma y be themselves exh ib itin g symptoms of fascism.
B u t what is it that we "ca n n ot" a dmit ab ou t "ourselves"? L ik e
ma ny of his other concepts, Freu d 's defin ition of projection
hinges on a n act of nega tion: projection is the ou twa rd ma n i-
festation of a basic d en ia l or refu sal (of knowledge) in the
in d ivid u a l orga nis m. O n ce we focu s on the indispensab le nega-
tivity involved in projection, we notice that the premise for this
projection is s ometh in g like "h u m a n n a tu re," w h ich is treated as
the sou rce of the prob lems at h a n d . A critiqu e of fascism by way
of Fr eu d ia n projection w ou ld hence always emphasize fascism as
a n expression of our own r ep r es s ion — ou r oppres s ion of ou r-
s elves — a n d most critics of fascism, it follows, see fascism first of
all as a n in n er or interna lized violence from w h ich we n eed to be
28 REY CHOW

"lib era ted." Th e b elief in repression a n d lib era tion as su ch has

the effect of tu r n in g even the perpetrators of fa s cis m— thos e
w ho rape, mu tila te, a n d s la u gh ter — in to victims w ho are u lti-
mately pa rdona b le. For instance, in his classic study,zyxwvutsrqponmlkj
The Mass
Psychology of Fascism, W ilh elm Reich argues that fascism, like
ma ny forms of orga nized r eligion a n d mysticism, is the mass
expression of orgiastic impotence or repressed sexu al energies.
C itin g H itler as his type case, Reich locates the social or igin of
fascism in the a u thorita ria n pa tria rcha l family, in w h ich feelings
of fear a n d r eb ellion toward the father are comb in ed with those
of reverence a n d su b missionzyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWV
(37-40). W h ile Reich's interpreta-
tion made u p in a significant way for the neglect of sexu ality that
cha ra cterized most Ma rxis t a n d econ omic approaches to fascism
of his day, it nevertheless reads like a vu lga rized use of Freu d's
n otion of repression: fascism b ecomes the compensatory "su b-
lim a tion " (in distorted form) of the energy that h a d nowhere
else to go. N ot su rprisingly, therefore, the s olu tion offered by
Reich is finally that of "love" a n d "w or k "— th e p rop er s u b lima -
tion of sexu al energies that s h ou ld , he writes, govern ou r lives.
Similarly, in Anti-Oedipus, D eleu ze a n d G u a tta ri exp la in the
repressive violence characteristic of W estern society by way of
N ietzsche's n otion of ressentiment. F or th em, ressentiment, w h ich is
active life force tu rn ed inw a rd, has a n a m e— O ed ip u s . Fr eu d ia n
psychoanalysis, insofar as it helps perpetu ate the ideologica l
baggage of a metaphysics of interiority, is for D eleu ze a n d G u at-
tari the place to b egin criticis m of the everyday fascism of West-
ern society.7

Th e "interna lized violen ce" mod el is so persuasive that it cap-

tures even a Ma rxis t politica l p h ilos op h er like E rnesto La cla u . In
Politics and Ideology in Marxist Theory, La cla u 's project is that of
finding ways to articu late the p op u la r forces that motivated
fascism in E u r op e. W h ile La cla u does n ot fail to see the prob lems
in Reich's interpreta tion (84-86), his own criticis m of N icos
Pou lantzas's well- known study of fascism is precisely that Pou l-
antzas red u ced every contra diction to a class con tra d iction a n d
failed to take into a ccou nt the processes of su b jectivization in -
volved. U s in g Althu sser's n otion of "in terp ella tion ," La cla u thu s
reformu lates fascism as a k in d of p op u lis m that interpella ted
 FASCIST LO N GI N GS 29

masses as "a p eop le" i n ways that went b eyon d their class distinc-
tions. It does not seem prob lema tic to La cla u that Althu sser's
n otion of interpella tion is still, argu ably, dependent u p on a n
ou tside (ideology) versus a n inside (the in d ivid u a l), a n d that the
momen t the in d ivid u a l responds to the h a ilin g "Hey, you ! " is also
the momen t w h en the force of ideology is "in tern a lized."
D espite the differences a mon g these critics of fa s cis m— D e-
leu ze a n d G u a tta ri mock a n d deterritoria lize Fr eu d ia n psycho-
analysis while Reich , Althu sser, a n d La cla u con tin u e to adapt it to
their own p u r p os es — th ey a ll imp licid y agree that fascism's ef-
fectiveness has to do with its b ein g a vio l e n c e — azyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedc
negative for ce—
that has b een "in tern a lized ," a violence that is somehow " in u s "
by na tu re or by cu ltu re. Th is leaves us with the qu es tion of how
exactly fascism is "in tern a lized ." W h a t does it mea n for fascism
to b e " in us"? D o we violate ourselves the way the Nazis a n d
the Japanese viola ted the Jews, the G ypsies, a n d the Asians?
H o w does the lack " in u s " (in Freu d's terms, fear a n d denial)
tu rn into a concrete th in g "ou ts ide" us? H ow does the name-
less " i n u s " a cqu ire the externa l na me 'Jew"? Conversely, how
does that mons trou s pictu re "ou t th ere" signify/b ecome what is
" in u s"? H ow are we to u n d ers ta n d that p rocla ma tion by G or in g
w h ich epitomizes this basic p r ob lem of fascist p r ojection — "I
have n o conscience. M y conscience is A d o l f H itler "? (qtd. in
M its ch erlich , 288).
In other words, w hen we move fr om acts of b ru tality to "inter-
na lized violence," or w h en we move fr om the lack that is sup-
posedly " in u s " to externa l atrocities, some change, pres u ppos ed
a n d yet u n exp la in ed , has taken place. Th is change, w h ich is the
u na rticu la ted part of a ll of these theories of interna lized vio-
lence, is meta ph orica l, imaginary, a n d , as I w ill argu e, technologi-
ca l. It indicates that w h ich ha ppens b u t w h ich we ca nnot actu ally
see or h e a r — a n d w h ich we mu st therefore expla in in terms other
tha n itself. Th e filmic image, becau se it is ob viou s a n d pa lpa b le,
offers a convenient way of staging these "oth er" terms.
B u t there is a more fu nda menta l reason why fascism ca n b e
exp la in ed by way of film. N ot that film "expresses" the images of
fascism effectively. Rather, like film, fascism as a n ideology has
"its fou n d a tion in p rojection ." I take this phrase fr om A lice
30 REY CH O W

Yaeger Ka pla n's illu min a tin g study of F r en ch fascism,zyxwvutsrqponml

Reproduc-
tions of Banality. B a s ing h er n otion of fascism n ot o n the pro-
fou n d b u t o n the b a na l a n d ob viou s (46), Ka p la n calls for a
different k in d of attention to b e p a id to fa s cis m— n ot a convo-
lu ted search i n the depths of ou r selves for the ressentiment
imp os ed by religion or family, b u t attention to fascism as projec-
tion , surface p h en omen on , everyday practice, w h ich does away
with the dis tinction b etween the "in s id e" a n d the "ou tside": ' T h e
fascist idea l is b ein g swallowed by the subject at the same time as
it is b ein g projected onto the leader. Projection a n d introjection
are not always even that dis tingu is ha b le" (6) . Th e indis tingu is h-
8

ab ility of introjection fr om projection means that there is a

mu tu a l imp lica tion b etween fascism a n d technology, in clu d in g
the technology that is psychoanalysis. W h e n au thors like Fr eu d
u s ed terms su ch as "p rojection " a n d "screen memory," Ka p la n
writes, they were already speaking to the media tized make- u p of
ou r experience (5).
W h a t is "in ter n a lized "— if the langu age of interna liza tion still
makes s en s e— is thu s n ot so m u c h the atrociou s ideology of
cru elty as its monstrou s, propa ga ndis t form:
Th e cro wd co m es to know itself as film. Subjects kn o win g themselves
as film —that is, in te rn alizin g the aesthetic crite ria o ffe re d in film
—h ave a radically different e xpe rie n ce , than if they knew th e m -
selves th ro ugh film. In the film e xpe rie n ce the spectators d o n o t
m e re ly co n tro l a m o d e l that re m ains e xte rio r to the ir u n to u ch e d
subjectivity; rather, the ir subjectivity is alte re d an d e n large d by the
film. . . . zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFED
(155)

W h a t is "in tern a lized " i n the age of film is the very projectional
mech a n is m of projection. If individu a ls are, to use Althu sser's
term, "interpella ted," they are interpella ted n ot simply as watch-
ers of film b u t also as film itself. Th ey "kn ow " themselves not on ly
as the subject, the a u dience, b u t as the object, ,the spectacle, the
movie. In his study of the cin ema of Fassb inder, Th oma s Elsaes-
ser makes a s imila r a rgu ment ab ou t G er ma n fascism, namely,
that G er ma n fascism was b ased o n the state of b eing- looked- at,
w h ich cinema 's proclivity toward visu al relations conveniently
exemplifies. Elsaesser holds that the Fassb inder trademark of
ex h ib ition is m— th e persistent for egr ou n d in g of b eing- looked- at
 FASCIST LO N GI N GS 31

a n d its significance for the forma tion of social id en tity— s h ou ld

be u n d ers tood in this light:
What, Fassbinder seems to ask, was fascism fo r the Ge rm an m iddle
an d working-class wh ich suppo rte d Hid e r? We know what it was fo r
Jews, fo r those actively pe rse cute d by the re gim e , fo r the exiles. But
fo r the apo litical Ge rm an s who stayed be h in d? Migh t n o t the pleas-
ure o f fascism, its fascinatio n have be e n less the sadism an d brutality
o f SS officers than the pleasure o f be in g seen, o f placin g o ne se lf in
view o f the all-seeing eye o f the State? Fascism i n its Imaginary
e n co urage d a m o ral e xh ibitio n ism , as it e n co urage d de n u n ciatio n
an d m utual surve illance . H i d e r appe ale d to the zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfed
Volk but always by
pictu rin g the Ge rm an n atio n , standing the re , o bserved by "the eye o f
the wo rld ."Th e massive s p e c i a l i z a t i o n o f public an d private l i f e . . .
m igh t it n o t have h e lpe d to institutio nalize the structure o f "to be is to
9
be pe rce ive d" that Fassbinde r's cin e m a problem atizes? (545)

In Elsaesser's phrase "to b e is to b e perceived," we see that

projection, instead of b ein g p reced ed b y "b ein g," is itself the
basis from w h ich "b ein g" arises. W h a t this means is a reversal of
Freu d 's m od el of projection. W h ile F r eu d b egins with the "b e-
in g " that is the in d ivid u a l or g a n is m — th e in n er s omething that,
sensing s ometh in g u npleasant, projects it ou twa rd— E ls a es s er's
rea d in g of Fassb inder enab les us to b egin instead with the projec-
tion that is ob viou sly "ou t th er e"— th e projection that is "b ein g
perceived," the projection that is film. W h ile the Fr eu d ia n mod el
describ es projection as b ein g b ased u p o n a n origin a l lack, as a n
externa lized concretiza tion or ob jectification of that lack, we ca n
now ask instead: h ow does the projection that is film "b ecome"
us? H o w does visu al technology in h a b it the h u m a n shape?
In or d er to answer these qu estions, we n eed to reca ll the more
conventiona l mea n in g of projection as a n act of thru s ting or
th row in g forward, a n act that causes a n image to appear o n a
surface. D espite the suggestive association of fascism with film,
what rema ins u n a rticu la ted in Ka p la n 's (a n d to some extent
Elsaesser's) a ccou nt is the difference b etween this obvious sense
of projection a n d Freu d's d efin ition . W h ile the com m on concep-
tu al pa th taken by most critics of fascism is projection in Freu d's
s en s e— th a t is, projection as a subject's refu sal to recognize
s ometh in g i n ord er to defend its elf— film, as externa l image,
operates with the more ob viou s sense of p r ojection — a s objects
already ou t there, objects that may n ot necessarily b e a comp en -
32 REY CH O W

sation or su b stitu tion for a n origin a l (subjective) lack or inab ility.

O n ce the premise of projection is cha nged from "in s id e" to
"su rface"
in this manner, it b ecomes possib le to th in k of projection as
azyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
positing ra ther tha n a nega ting fu n ction . It w ou ld also, I pro-
pose, b e possib le to reth in k fascism away from the projection- as-
compensated- lack mod el p rovid ed by F r eu d .

Projection II: Angels of Light

B y tu r n in g to film a n d to the forma l mu tu a lity b etween film a n d
fascism, I a m not saying that film offers a means of illu s tra ting the
principles of fascism. W h a t I a m saying is that fascism ca nnot b e
u n ders tood withou t a certa in u n d ers ta n d in g of the prima cy of
the image, which is best exemplified by the relations of receptivity
involved in film. M y p oin t can b e stated in a different way: film,
because it is ob viou sly imagistic, stands as a good way of a na lyzing
the abstract p r ob lem of projection, w h ich is also the p r ob lem of
that ima gina ry a n d meta p h oric change b etween externa l a n d
interna l violence that rema ins u n exp la in ed in the writers I men-
tion ed ea rlier. 10

It is hence not a n a ccident that critics of fascism frequ ently

tu rn to film for their discu ssions. C ons ider, for instance, Su san
Sontag's classic "Fa s cina ting Fa s cis m," from w h ich the tide of
the present essay is ta ken . In h er essay, Sontag repu diates
11

the ju d gemen t that the work of filmma ker a n d ph otogra ph er

L en i Riefenstahl, w ho received generou s s u pport from the G er-
ma n government for h er produ ction s d u r in g the N a zi p eriod , is
nevertheless i n some significant ma n n er "a politica l." B y refu sing
to separate artistic techniqu e from ideology, S ontag persu asively
shows how the crea tion of beauty in Riefenstahl's films is inti-
mately lin k ed to fascist ideals. Tow a rd the en d of the essay,
Sontag writes:
it is generally thought that National Socialism stands only for brutish-
ness and terror. B u t this is not true. National Socialism—or, more
broadly, fascism—also stands for an ideal, and one that is also
persistent today, under other banners: the ideal of life as art, the cult
of beauty, the fetishism of courage, the dissolution of alienation in
ecstatic feelings of community; the repudiation of the intellect; the
family of man (under the parenthood of leaders). (43)
 FASCIST LO N GI N GS 33

Insofar as she identifies thezyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSR

positive messages of fascism as a n
ina liena b le part of its fu n ction in g, I a m i n total agreement with
Sontag. H e r charge that the most widely a pprecia ted qu alities of
Riefenstahl's w or k — its beauty, its technica l r efin emen t— a r e
precisely what speak most effectively to "the fascist longings i n
ou r mid s t" is so perceptive that it is u n s etd in g . Yet pecu liarly, in
12

a n essay that so clearly insists o n the inseparab ility of art a n d

ideology, Sontag nonetheless makes a dis tin ction b etween art
a n d ideology as soon as she tries to contrastfascist art with communist
art:
Th e tastes for the m o n u m e n tal an d fo r mass o beisance to the h e ro
are co m m o n to bo th fascist an d co m m un ist a rt . . . . Bu t fascist art has
characteristics wh ich show it to be , i n part, a special variant o f
to talitarian art. Th e o fficial art o f co untrie s like the Soviet U n i o n an d
Ch i n a is based o n a Uto pian m orality. Fascist art displays a Uto pian
ae sthe tics—that o f physical p e rfe c t i o n . . . . In contrast to the asexual
chasteness o f o fficial co m m un ist art, Nazi art is bo th prurie n t an d
ide alizin g. . . . Th e fascist ide al is to transfo rm sexual energy into a
"spiritual" fo rce , fo r the benefit o f the co m m unity. zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihg
(40-41)

If Sontag's ju d gemen t ab ou t fascist art does away with the distinc-

tion b etween p rop a ga n d a a n d aesthetics, h er rea d in g of the
difference b etween commu n is t a n d fascist art reintrodu ces it. W e
can on ly specu late that, as a Jewish intellectu a l w ritin g in the
U n ited States of the 1970s, Sontag was ab solu tely clear- eyed
a b ou t the fascism of the ea rlier decades, b u t like a ll left- leaning
E u rocen tric intellectu als of that p eriod , she reta ined a sense of
illu s ion ab ou t commu n is m. H en ce even th ou gh she writes that
fascist art shares with totalitarian art the same tastes for the
mon u men ta l a n d for mass ob eisance to the h ero, she seems to
imply, u ltimately, that becau se fascism b eau tifies a n d thu s hides
its totalitarian motives i n aesthetically impecca b le images, it is
the more perniciou s a n d da ngerou s of the two. O n ce ideology
a n d art are dis tingu is hed as content a n d facade i n this way,
however, "aesthetics" retu rns to the more na rrow a n d conven-
tional sense of the b ea u tifu l a lone.
B y des crib ing fascism as fascinating "aesthetics" in the na rrow
sense, Sontag, in spite of h er own insights, rejoins the tendency
of most discu ssions of fascism, in w h ich a ttention is almost always
focu sed, negatively, o n the "deceptiveness" of fascist au thorities:
34 REY CH O W

these fascists, it is thou ght, pa int b ea u tifu l (that is, delu sive)
pictu res ab ou t their u gly (that is, real) b ehaviou r. S u ch pictu res,
in other words, have the status of delib era tezyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedc
lies. Fascist atrocities
thus b ecome the "r ea l" that sets the records straight, that exposes
the "deceit" a n d "er r or " of fascist rhetoric.
B u t it is precisely i n this k in d of interpretive cross-over from
rhetoric to deed, from "lies " to "tr u th , " fr om "b ea u tifu l pictu res "
to "u gly reality" that critics have downpla yed the most vital p oin t
ab ou t fa s cis m— its significance as image a n d surface, its projec-
tiona l idea lis m. Th e "false- true" d ich otomiza tion leads us to
b elieve that good intentions ca nnot resu lt i n cru el b ehaviou r,
a n d conversely, that the fact of cru elty ca n on ly b e the resu lt of
h id d en evil motives "dressed u p " as b ea u tifu l pictu res. W e see
how the substitutive or compensa tory logic of Freu d's n otion of
projection is fu lly at work here: the fascists, a ccord in g to this
logic, project what they (secretly) deny ab ou t themselves "ou t-
side"; we the critics thu s have to negate their nega tion a n d
rew ind their projection from that false "ou ts ide" b ack into their
h id d en "ins ide." A ccor d in g to this logic, not on ly are intentions
a n d b eha viou r transparently lin k ed ; they are also lin k ed th rou gh
op p os ition a n d nega tion: hence, the "good " image is a n in d ex
to " b a d " motives. B u t what if the decla red ideals were n ot
lies (projection in Freu d's sense) b u t projections (projection
in the com m on sense of th row in g forward)? H ow then do we
u nders ta nd the rela tion b etween nob le intentions a n d atrociou s
deeds?
W ith ou t the illu s ion ab ou t c o m m u n is m — th a t its propa ga nda ,
u n like the b ea u tifu l facade of fascism, has after a ll some rea l
con n ection to a "u top ia n mor a lity"— S on ta g w ou ld i n fact have
come close to saying that the aesthetics of fascism (aesthetics i n
the b r oa d sense of cogn ition a n d perception) resides precisely in
ima g es — n ot so m u ch images-as-the-beautiful b u t images-as-the-
positivistic- and- self- evident. Th e "b ea u tifu l" images are not im -
ages that "h id e" (the content of h or r or ) ; ra ther they are the
cognitive form of the technologica l age, the surface or su perficial
p h en omen a that present themselves as evidence of themselves
instead of some other, " in n er " mea n in g. W h a t is fascist ab ou t
fascism's idea lized images is not on ly that they are positive, b u t
 FASCIST LO N GI N GS 35

also that they pose a n d posit, a n d are positivistic. Th is positivity is

the "p rojection " that the followers of fascism "interna lize."
W h a t Sontag correcdy identifies as the "id ea lizin g" tendencies
of fascism ca n thu s b e exp la in ed by the projectiona l natu re of
film. To present s ometh in g in "id ea lized " terms is literally to
enlarge a n d emb old en i t — i n short, to b low it u p as a pictu re.
W h ile it takes its materials fr om everyday life, this pictu re, by its
very positivity, also b ecomes mythic. It holds a promis e a n d tu rns
the everyday into the primitive a n d archetypal. In the process of
con s u min g it, we b ecome infa ntilized. As Ka p la n writes, "the
ma chinery of the med ia gave b irth to a new k in d of ideologica l
vu lnerab ility. It was moth er b o u n d " (23) . In what amou nts to the
same argu ment, Ka p la n also writes: "W h en fascism took power, it
13
took charge of the ima gin a ry" ( 34) .
André B a zin provides a n astute analysis of these relations
b etween film a n d idea lis m, relations that are b ased on projec-
tion , i n a n essay ca lled ' Th e S ta lin M yth in Soviet C in em a . "
U n l ik e Sontag, w ho still attrib u tes to commu n is t art a u top ia n is m
that w ou ld set it off from fascist art, B a zin calls a ttention precisely
to the id ea lizin g— th a t is, fa s cis tic— logic i n the Soviet films
ab ou t S ta lin. W r itin g a r ou n d 1950, B a zin was amazed by the
fact that these mythica lly positive images of S ta lin — a s a hyper-
N a p oleon ic milita ry geniu s, as a n omn is cien t a n d infa llib le
leader, b u t also as a friendly, a vu ncu la r h elper to the com m on
p eop le— w er e ma de while the ma n was still alive. B a zin's p oin t is
that on ly the dea d are larger tha n life: "If S ta lin, even while
livin g, cou ld b e the ma in character of a film, it is becau se he is n o
lon ger ' h u m a n , ' enga ging in the transcendence w h ich charac-
terizes livin g gods a n d d ea d heroes " (36). Th e glorifying films
have the effect of mu mmifyin g a n d mon u men ta lizin g S ta lin, so
that it is the Stalin- image w h ich b ecomes the u ltima te au thority,
w h ich even S ta lin h ims elf h a d to follow in or d er to "b e" (40).
A ccor d in g to B a zin , thu s, the id ea lizin g power of cin ema is not
on ly positivistic b u t alsozyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPO
retroactive, ca llin g for a su b mission to that
w h ich has always, i n the process of b ein g idea lized, already
b ecome past or dea d. Th e S ta lin myth in Soviet cin ema com-
ma nds a n ab solu te s u r r en d er — a n identifica tion that is possible
only with the cessation of history. B a zin illu strates the retroactive
36 REY CH O W

logic of fascist idea liza tion with another, non- filmic exa mple, the
Stalinist trials. F or B a zin , the major a ccomp lis h men t of the trials
is their success in rema kin g, that is, falsifying, history with the
pre- emptiveness of retroa ction:
According to the Soviet "Stalinist" communist perspective, no one
can "become" a traitor. That would imply that he wasn't always a
traitor, that there was a biographical beginning to this treason, and
that, conversely, a person who became a menace to the Party would
have been considered useful to the Party before becoming evil. The
Party could not simply bust Radek to the lowest rank, or condemn
him to death. It was necessary to proceed with a retroactive purge of
History, proving that the accused was, since birth, a willful traitor
whose every act was satanically camouflaged sabotage. O f course, this
operation is highly improbable and far too serious to be used in every
case. That is why the publiczyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPO
mea culpa can be substituted concerning
minor figures whose historical action is indirect— su ch as artists,
philosophers, or scientists. These solemn hyperbolic mea culpas can
seem psychologically improbable or intellectually superfluous to us if
we fail to recognize their value as exorcism. As confession is indispen-
sable to divine absolution, so solemn retraction is indispensable to
the reconquering of historical virginity. (37)

By ins erting this discu ssion of the logic of totalitarian interroga-

tion in a n essay a b ou t cinema tic representa tion, B a zin enab les us
to see retroa ction as the cru cia l com m on g r ou n d for b oth the
Stalinist trials a n d the filmic cons tru ction of S ta lin. Moreover, he
enab les us to see that retroa ction works h a n d in h a n d with
positivism: like the interrogative erasu re of the history of com-
mu nis t "tr a itor s "— a n erasu re (of cou nter- evidence) that, in ef-
fect, b ecomes the self- validating "evidence" of their g u il t— th e
very (retroactive) idea liza tion of S talin's goodness in the form of
(positivistic) images are part of a ma n ip u la tion of history that
uses images as their own alibi by ma k in g th em appear self-evident.
Th e effect is mass s a crifice— th e sacrifice of the masses' own
knowledge of history in su b mission to the mythic image.
B a zin's analysis offers us a way ou t of Freu d 's defin ition of
projection. Instead of op era tin g negatively as refu sal, comp en -
sated lack, a n d defense mech a n is m, projection here is the posi-
tive ins tru ment of transparency, of good intentions s h in in g forth
in d a zzlin g light. S ta lin as the a ngel of l i g h t— n o t on ly in the
sense that he was b r in gin g en ligh ten men t to the p eop le b u t also
 FASCIST LO N GI N GS 37

in the sense that he was h ims elf transparent, thu s a llowing for a n
identifica tion that dissolves the b ou n da ry b etween the inside a n d
the ou tside — this was the magic of his image. It is therefore not
by focu s ing on the a trociou s deeds, the "evil" of fascists, b u t on
their moments of idea lis m p r od u ction , their good conscience,
that we ca n u n d ers ta n d the effectiveness of fascist aesthetics. Th e
voice of E m p er or H ir oh ito, h ea r d for the first time by his people
over the ra dio after the b om b in g of H ir os h im a a n d N agasaki,
s pea king s olemnly of the sadness of n a tion a l defeat, was one
exa mple of this aesthetics. Th e voice a n d image of M a o Z ed on g
tellin g the Red G u a rds that "Revolu tion is n ot cr imin a l, revolt is
rea s ona b le" in the form of massive street slogans a n d pa mphlets
was another. Th e sincere altru istic rhetoric we hea r i n U S presi-
dentia l campaigns, complete with the ca ndida tes' demonstra-
tions of their ordina rines s (their love of family, for instance), is a
th ir d . In a ll of these cases, it is the force of light, transparency,
a n d idea lized image that works i n the service of "in terp ella tin g"
the masses, w ho receive the leaders as a mes merizin g film. To say
that the leaders are "lyin g" to the masses w ou ld b e to miss the
p oin t of ou r th orou gh ly media tized feelings a n d perceptions,
w h ich accept this aesthetics withou t coer cion , a n d w h ich accept
it as positive a n d g ood .
14

Th a t fascism is p r ima r ily a p r od u ction of ligh t a n d lu minos ity

is a n a rgu ment Pa u l V ir ilio makes, a mon g other works, inzyxwvutsrqpon
War
and Cinema: The Logistics of Perception. V ir ilio' s p oin t over a n d over
again is the fatal interdependence of the technologies of warfare
a n d vis ion, "the con ju n ction b etween the power of the mod er n
war ma ch in e . . . a n d the new technica l performa nce of the
observation m a ch in e" (71; emphases i n the origin a l). H id e r a n d
M u s s olin i clearly u n d ers tood the coterminou s na tu re of percep-
tion a n d des tru ction, of cinema tic vis ion a n d war. W h ile the
former commen ted in 1938, "Th e masses n eed il l u s io n — b u t
not on ly in theatres or cinema s ," the latter decla red, "Propa -
ga n da is my best w ea p on " (qtd. i n V ir ilio, 53).
Thes e remarks show us the technica l na tu re of fascism, not
on ly i n the sense that fascism deploys technologica l weapons, b u t
also i n the sense that the scale of illu s ion/ tra ns pa rency p romis ed
by fascism is possib le on ly i n the age of film, the gra mop h on e,
38 REY CH O W

a n d the lou dspeaker. Th e media tized image a n d voice— m a -

chines i n h u m a n form ra ther tha n h u ma n s u s in g m a ch in es —
are, i n H eidegger's terms, fascism'szyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYX
tedine. V ir il io writes:
If photography, according to its inventor Nicéphore Niepce, was
simply a method of engraving with light, where bodies inscribed
their traces by virtue of their own luminosity, nuclear weapons inher-
ited both the dark room of Niepce and Daguerre and the military
searchlight.zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
(81)
To paraphrase V ir ilio, we migh t a dd that fascism is a n engrav-
in g with light on people's "min d s ": fascist leaders in s crib ed their
traces by virtu e of their own lu minosity; fascist propa ga nda inher-
ited b oth the da rk r oom of N iep ce a n d D a gu erre a n d the military
searchlight. . . .

The Story of O , or, the New Fascism

In the foregoin g pages, I have tried to argu e that fascism needs to
be u n ders tood n ot on ly i n its negative b u t more imp orta n d y in its
positive aspects, a n d that fascism's p r od u ction of idea lis m is a
projectiona l p r od u ction of luminosity- as- self- evidence. In a n es-
say entitled "Th e E vidence of E xp er ien ce," w h ich does not at first
seem to have a nything to do with the topic of fascism, J oa n Scott
has ma de compa ra b le ob servations ab ou t the use of "experi-
en ce" in the N or th A mer ica n academy today. In the genera l
atmosphere of a felt n eed to deconstru ct u niversalist claims
ab ou t h u m a n history, Scott writes, scholars of variou s dis ciplines
have increasingly tu rn ed to pers ona l experience as a means of
su ch decons tru ction. However, she argues, by p rivilegin g experi-
ence as the critical wea pon against u niversalisms, we are lea ving
op en the qu es tion as to what au thorizes experience itself. Scott
charges that the a ppea l to experience "as u ncontestab le evi-
dence a n d as a n origina ry p oin t of exp la n a tion " for historica l
difference has increa singly repla ced the necessary task of explor-
in g "how difference is estab lished, how it operates, how a n d in
what ways it constitu tes subjects w ho see a n d act i n the w or l d . "15

For me, what is especially interesting is the ma n n er i n w h ich

Scott emphasizes the role of vis ion a n d visib ility th rou gh ou t h er
essay. B eg in n in g h er discu ssion with S a mu el R. D elany's au to-
b iogra p h ica l medita tion, The Motion of Light in Water, Scott notes
 FASCIST LO N GI N GS 39

that "a meta p h or of visib ility as litera l transparency is cru cia l to

his project. " She conclu des that for D elany, "Knowledge is ga ined
th r ou gh vis ion; vis ion is a direct a p p reh en s ion of a w orld of
transparent ob jects" (775). W h a t Scott articu lates here is the
other side of V ir ilio's a rgu ment a b ou t the coterminou s natu re of
visu al p ercep tion a n d d es tr u ction — th a t is, the coterminou s na -
tu re of visu al p ercep tion a n d knowledge: "S eeing is the origin of
k n ow in g " (776). W h ile the technology of seeing, or seeing-as-
technology, has b ecome a n in a lien a b le part of the op era tion of
milita ris m a n d fascist propa ga nda , Scott shows how it has also
come to d omin a te ou r th in k in g a b ou t identity, so m u ch so that
visib ility a n d lu minos ity are the con d ition s toward w h ich ac-
cou nts of difference a n d alternative histories derived from "per-
sonal exp erien ce" now aspire.
Th is k in d of a s pira tion, Scott implies , is a n a s pira tion toward
the self- evidence of the s elf s (personal) experience.zyxwvutsrqponmlkjih
The self as
evidence: this means that the self, like the S ta lin myth i n Soviet
cin ema , is so transparent, so shone th r ou gh w ith light, that it
s imply is, w ithou t n eed for fu rther a rgu ment a b ou t its history or
what Scott calls its "discu rsive cha ra cter" (787).
B y a lerting us to the technology (what she calls meta phor) of
visibility, w h ich is now engraved in the attitu des toward knowl-
edge, history, a n d identity, Scott's a rgu ment provides a way of
lin k in g the "la rge" his torica l issues of fascism a n d totalitarianism
we have b een exa min in g with the "s ma ll" sphere of N or th A m er i-
ca n a ca demic life in the 1990s. In the r ema in d er of this essay, I
w ill elab orate this linka ge fu rther with the h elp of a fictional
scenario. As ma ny readers w ill recognize, the features of this
scenario are a compos ite dra wn fr om the recent genera l trends
of "mu lticu ltu r a lis m" in the academy. B y portra ying these fea-
tures in a delib era tely exaggerated form, my p oin t is n ot to slight
the significance of the w ork that is b ein g d on e by non- W estern
intellectu als o n the non- W estern w orld , b u t ra ther to deconstru ct
ou r increa singly fascistic intellectu a l en viron men t, i n w h ich fac-
ile attitu des, pretentiou s credentials, a n d irresponsib le work hab -
its ca n b e fostered i n the na me of "cu ltu ra l p lu r a lis m." Th e
h eroin e i n my fictional scenario is u ltima tely a mock h eroin e, the
victim of a da ngerou s collective cu ltu re w h ich a ll of us w or kin g in
the W est perpetrate in different ways.
40 REY CH O W

W e w ill ca ll this ima gina ry h eroin e O . A "person of colou r "

from a "th ir d w or ld " cou ntry, O is en rolled i n a gradu ate pro-
gra m i n a N or th A mer ica n university. D espite h er upper-class
b a ckgrou n d , O tells people that she is from p oor peasant stock i n
ord er
to enha nce h er credib ility as a "th ird - w orld " intellectu a l. After
m u d d lin g a n d b lu ffing th r ou gh her cou rsework, O la u nches a
"mu ltid is cip lin a ry" dissertation that deals with variou s types of
social protest by u nderdogs i n h er cu ltu re of or igin . For two or
three years O does virtu a lly n oth in g by way of seriou s rea ding
a n d research, th ou gh she makes h er presence kn ow n regu larly
by spea king extempora neou s ly at different conferences. M u c h
as she holds "W estern ca p ita lis m" in contempt a n d tirelessly
b randishes slogans of solidarity with dow n trodden classes in the
"th ir d w or ld , " O seems even more d etermin ed to get her share of
fame, privilege, a n d ma teria l well- b eing in the "first w or l d " by
h ook or by crook. B u t even while O has n o qu a lms ab ou t fa king
h er way th rou gh gradu ate s chool, a n d even while n o one ca n,
w h en asked, say what h er project really is apart fr om repea ting
the vague generalities that O ha b itu a lly recites, the s u pport O
receives from well- estab lished academics across the U .S . is tre-
mendou s . M a n y of these su pporters are white. S ome of them
assert that O is the most talented you n g intellectu a l fr om a "th ir d
w or l d " cou ntry they have ever encou ntered. W ith their glowing
recommenda tions , O eventu ally finds herself a j o b tea ching at a
U S university.
W h a t is b eh in d su ch sincere s u pport of a great impos tor from
what are u n d ou b ted ly intelligent a n d a ccomp lis h ed people? A
mass process s imila r to that des crib ed in the classic story of the
E mp er or 's new clothes is mob ilized here, as s omeone w illin g to
occu py the pos ition of the E m p er or accidentally appears. O b vi-
ously, we ca nnot say to O 's su pporters: "B u t ca n't you see . . . ? ! " —
becau se a nother k in d of seeing is ta king place. B y seeing a
stu dent of colou r, n o matter how pretentiou s a n d fra u du lent, as
self-evidently correct a n d deserving of su pport, these su pporters
receive a n image ofzyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONM
themselves that is at once enlightenedly h u m -
b le ("I su b mit to you , since you are a victim of ou r imperia lis m")
a n d b ea u tifu l ("Look how decent I a m by s u b mitting to you "),
a n d thu s eminently gratifying.
 FASCIST LO N GI N GS 41

E ven th ou gh O may be chea ting h er way th rou gh the system,

therefore,zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCB
she alone is not to blame for this ridiculous situation. As I
already empha s ized, it is ou r flagrantly irresponsib le environ-
men t o f "cu ltu ra l p lu r a lis m " that nu rtu res h er b eha viou r a n d
allows h er to th r ive. In the white lib era l enthu siasm for "peo-
16

ples of colou r " that is cu rrently sweeping th rou gh N or th A m er i-

can academic circles, s ometh in g of the fascism we witnessed in
ea rlier decades has made its retu rn in a new gu ise. Th e basis for
this fascism is, once again, the identifica tion with a n idea lized
other pla ced in the pos ition of u nqu es tiona b le au thority. Like
the fascism of the 1920s a n d 1930s, a feeling of reb ellion is
definitely present; like the old fascism also, there is a massive
su b mission to a k in d of figure of "experience" that is assu med to
be, to use the terms of Scott's analysis, lu min ou s ly self-evident.
Th is time, what is "reb elled " against is, fashionab ly, the ca n on of
the West or "W estern imp er ia lis m, " a n d the figure onto w h om
su ch feelings are projected is the "pers on of colou r," regardless
of that person's actu al pers ona l or professional p olitics .
17

O n ce fascism starts ta king effect, it is useless to p oin t ou t that

the pers on b ein g p u t i n the pos ition of the E m p er or wea ring new
clothes is a fra u d. D eb u n k in g O as a n impos tor by p oin tin g ou t
h er fr a u d u len ce— th a t she is actu ally ignora nt, lazy, a n d deceit-
fu l, for in s ta n ce— w ou ld be to miss the p oin t that fascism hap-
pens w h en people willingly su spend dis b elief in fra u du lence a n d
that, i n fact, it is precisely with su ch fra u du lence that they id en -
tify. Th e trait- of- identification b etween O a n d h er su pporters is
the glossy surface image of a righteou s "pers on of colou r " who,
simply by being (herself), simply by making loud proclamations against
the West at all times, b rings ju stice to everyone w ho has suffered
u n d er W estern imp eria lis m. S ince the identifica tion is precisely
with this tru th / illu s ion ab ou t O — t h a t she s imply is, withou t
work or effor t— d eb u n k in g it w ou ld reinforce ra ther tha n de-
stroy O 's a p p ea l. Fascism here is the force of a n " in spite o f
18

tu r n in g into a "precisely b ecau se": i n spite of the fact that the

E m p er or has n o clothes on , people see h im as the opposite:
precisely because he has n o clothes on , people themselves provide
the vis ion that makes u p for this lack. In this vis ion, a n impos tor
like O looms with irresistib le ch a r m, as a n a ngel of light. For
42 REY CH O W

those w ho love her with b enevolence, O is a cipher, a n a u tom-

a ton p erformin g the predicta b le notions of the "th ir d w or l d "
intellectu a lzyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJ
they desire.
Th is "story of O " is b u t one a mon g ma ny that characterize the
"politica lly correct" atmosphere of the N o r th A mer ica n academy
of thezyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIH
1990s. In u s in g the term "politica lly correct, " what I in ten d
is not the k in d of conservative, rightw ing b a s hing of how the
academy has gon e to h ell with femin is m, cu ltu ra l p lu ra lis m,
mu ltidis ciplina rity, a n d their like, b u t ra ther the phrase's origi-
n a l sense of a criticis m of ou r own m or a l self-righteousness gone
haywire. In this origin a l sense, "p olitica l correctness" is a ma ch in -
ery of su rveillance that encou rages certa in kin d s of exh ib ition -
is m. To b orrow from Elsaesser's study of Fassb inder, we may say
that "In the face of a b u rea u cra tic su rveillance system ever more
u b iqu itou s ," the O 's of the academy, like the G er m a n middle-
class citizens in Fassb inder's films, take o n "a n act of terrorist
exh ib ition is m w h ich tu rns the ma chinery of su rveillance . . . into
a n occasion for self- display" (545).
As a "pers on of colou r " from the "th ir d w or ld , " as a stu dent
d oin g a project a b ou t lower classes i n the "th ir d w or ld , " O
occu pies a n u mb er of positions that are cu rrently cons idered,
i n a n a priori ma nner, as "oth er" a n d "ma rgin a lized ." B u t are
su ch positions a lone, especially w h en they are self- consciou sly
a dopted a n d p r omoted simply in or d er to draw attention a n d in
place of h a r d work, a gen u in e con tr ib u tion to change? D oes
"othernes s " itself a u toma tica lly suffice as critica l intervention? B y
s u b s crib ing to the "evidence of exp erien ce" as emb od ied by the
likes of O , those w ho s u pport "peoples of colou r " ins u lt the latter
a s econd time: this time peoples of colou r are n ot b ein g colo-
n ized territoria lly a n d ideologica lly; ra ther they are u n ifor mly
b r a n d ed as the "virtu ou s oth er " regardless of their own class,
gender, race, a n d other differences, a n d are thu s, to cite E d w a rd
S a id, O r ien ta lized a ll over again. To p u t a ll this in b lu n ter terms,
we ca n draw a n analogy b etween what is h a p p en in g to O a n d the
mu ch- criticized white fantasy a b ou t the "sexu ality" of, say, b la ck
p eop le. A ccor d in g to this fantasy, the b la ck m a n or w oma n
s imply ¿5 sex, primitive rh yth m, u nrepres s ed na tu re, a n d so forth.
To this wish list we may now a dd "the oppres s ed," "revolu tion ,"
a n d "p olitica l correctness" as w el l . 19
 FASCI ST L ONGI NGS 43

Th e ma chines of su rveillance here are not war airplanes b u t

the m ed ia — th e networks of commu n ica tion , w h ich , in the aca-
d emic w orld , in clu d e the classroom, conferences, pu b lica tions ,
fu n d in g agencies, a n d even letters of r ecommen d a tion . W ith the
large n u mb er of stu dents (rightíy) eager for alternative histories,
of academic conferences (rightly) devoted to the constru ctions
of differences, a n d of pu b lis hers (rightly) seeking to pu b lis h
new, u n exp lor ed materials, fascism has reasserted itself in ou r
era. A n d , as even my b rief discu ssion shows, fascism's new mode
is very m u ch comp lica ted by postcoloniality. Th e qu es tion facing
intellectu als i n the contempora ry W est is how to dea l with peo-
ples w ho were once colon ized a n d who are now livin g a n d
w orkin g in the "first w or l d " as "oth er s . " In the early days of
20

colon ia lis m, w h en actu al territoria l conqu ests were ma de a n d

reloca tion from the "moth er cou n try" to the colonies was a fact of
life for those from what eventu ally came to be ca lled the "first
w or ld , " the qu estions for white people finding themselves re-
moved from h ome were qu estions of what N a n cy Ar ms tr on g a n d
L eon a r d Ten n en h ou s e ca ll "the ima gina ry p u rita n ": how to pre-
serve whiteness while i n the b row n a n d b la ck colonies? H ow to
stay E n glis h in America ? H ow to fab ricate a respectab le na tiona l
or igin against the onsla u ght of b a rb a ric n a tives — th a t is, how to
postu re as the inva ded a n d colon ized while in va din g a n d coloniz-
in g others? A l l in a ll, these qu estions a mou n t to: H owzyxwvutsrqponmlkjih
not to "go
n a tive"? As Ar ms tr on g a n d Ten n en h ou s e argu e, the E n glis h
21

novel, w h ich was conceptu a lly b ased not so m u ch o n previou s

cu ltu ra l developments in E u r op e b u t ra ther o n the captivity
narratives that fou n d their way b a ck to E u r op e fr om the "N ew
W or ld , " bears symptoms of this white anxiety a b ou t cu ltu ra l
pu rity. In this sense, the E n glis h novel is perhaps the earliest
ex a m p le— to use Fred ric Ja mes on's classic p r on ou n cemen t o n
"th ir d w or l d " liter a tu r e— of a "n a tion a l allegory."
Tow a rd the en d of the twentieth century, as the aftermath of
the gr a n d imperia lis t eras b rings a b ou t major physical migra -
tions of popu la tion s a r ou n d the glob e, it is n o longer a qu estion
of white people goin g to the colonies, b u t ra ther of formerly
colon ized peoples s etding p erma n en d y in their former colo-
nizers' territories. Th e visib le presence of these formerly colo-
44 REV CH O W

n ized peoples in the "first w or ld " leads to violent u pheavals in

"W estern thou ght." Th e overriding p reoccu p a tion a mon g first
w or ld intellectu als has now b ecome: how to b ecome "other"?
H ow to cla im to b e a m in or ity— to cla im to b e b lack, N ative
A mer ica n , H is p a n ic, or As ia n , even if one has on ly i / 6 4 t h share
of these "oth er" origins? In other words,zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcba
how to "go native"}
Instead of ima gin in g themselves to b e a Pa mela or Clarissa h eld
captive, resisting rape, a n d w ritin g volu mes in or d er to preserve
the pu rity of their souls (a nd thu s their "origins ," to qu ote again
fr om Ar ms tr on g a n d Ten n en h ou s e), first w or ld intellectu als are
now overtaken by a new k in d of desire: "M a ke me other! " A n d so,
with expediency, we witness the p u b lica tion of essays w h ich are
stu dded with names of nations a n d territories in ord er to convey
a profile of "cos mopolita nis m"; jou r n a ls w h ich amass the most
su perficial materials a b ou t lesser kn ow n cu ltu res a n d ethnicities
in the na me of b ein g "p u b lic, " "glob a l," or "tra ns na tiona l"; a n d
b ook series w h ich (en)list "in d igen ou s " histories a n d narratives
in the ma n n er of a w or ld f a i r — a l l this, while so- called "post-
colon ia l" criticisms of former E u r op ea n imperia lis t strategies of
representing, ob jectifying, a n d exh ib itin g "the oth er " are goin g
on .
If there is one th in g that u nites the early territoria l colon ia lis m
a n d the contempora ry white lib era lis t intellectu a l trends that I
a m des crib ing, it is the n otion of a clear dema rca tion b etween
"self' a n d "other," b etween "u s " a n d " th e m " — a dema rca tion that
is media ted th rou gh the relations b etween consciou sness a n d
captivity. Th e myth, i n the days of territoria l colon ia lis m, was that
(white) consciou sness h a d to b e estab lished in resistance to
ca ptivity— even while whites were h old in g other peoples a n d
lands ca p tive— s o that (white) cu ltu ra l origins cou ld b e kept
pu re. In the pos tcolonia l era, by contrast, the myth is that (white)
consciou sness mu st itself "s u rrender to" or b e "h eld captive b y"
the oth er — th a t (white) consciou sness is n oth in g withou t this
captivity ca lled "otherness." In b oth cases, however, what remains
constant is the belief that "we" are not "them, " and that "white" is not
"other. " Th is b elief, w h ich ca n b e fu rther encapsu lated as "we are
not other," is fascism par excellence.
E mer gin g in postcoloniality, the new "desire for ou r others "
displays the same positive, projectiona l symptoms of fascism that
 FASCIST LO N GI N GS 45

I discu ssed i n the p reced in g p a g es — a reb elliou sness a n d a

monstrou s aesthetics, b u t most of all a lon gin g for a transparent,
idea lized image a n d a n identifying su b mission to su ch a n image.
Like the masses' emb race of a H id e r or a M u s s olin i, this fascism
seeks empowerment th r ou gh a s u rrender to the other as film—
as the film that overcomes me i n the spell of a n u n med ia ted
"experience." Th ezyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJI
indiscriminate emb ra ce of the peoples of col-
ou r as "correct" regardless o f their differences a n d histories is
u ltima tely the desire for a pu re- otherness- in- pristine- lu minosity
that is as dangerou s as the fascism of hatefu l discrimination from
w h ich we a ll su ppose we are safely dista nced. Th e genealogical
affinity of these two fascisms is perhaps best exemp lified by the
art of a L e n i Riefenstahl, w ho progressed from emb ra cin g N a zi
ra cis m to emb ra cin g the b ea u tifu l N u b a men of the sou thern
S u da n.
If the controversial la b el "fa s cis m" is in d eed u sefu l, as I th in k it
is, for a ra dica l critiqu e of the contempora ry intellectu a l cu ltu re
in the West, it is because it helps us identify a n d prob lema tize the
good conscience a n d nob le ob liga tions of the new lib era l fascism
with its mu lticu ltu ra lis t modes a n d its sophisticated enterprises
of visibility. S ome w ill n o d ou b t want to disavow su ch on goin g
fascist longings i n ou r midst; others, hopefu lly, w ill n ot. 22

NOT ES
1
Fo r an informative analysis o f some o f the well-known an d / o r widely adopted
interpretations o f fascism in Germany, see Schulte-Sasse. Fo r some o f the more
recent discussions o f fascism in Euro pe and Euro pe an writers, see the essays in
Go lsan. Th is volume also contains a useful "Selective Biblio graphy" o f recent
works in En glish o n fascism.
2
Th e argument that ideology is the history that has been "n aturalize d" o r "dis-
guise d" is a pre do m inant way o f understanding fascism; accordingly, fascism is
co nstrued as a matter o fzyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONML
lies. As will becom e clear in the course o f this essay, my
argument differs fro m this major view o f ideology in that I do not see fascism
simply as lying.
3
It is well-known that even today members o f the Japanese Parliam ent attempt to
deny their country's war atrocities. "Mage e 's Testament" shows o ne such MP,
Shintaro Ishihara, de claring in an interview with Playboy that the atrocities did not
happe n an d then changing his m in d in a subsequent interview with Tim e. In the
seco nd interview, Ishihara pro claim e d that merely 20,000, rather than 300,000,
Chine se were kille d in the Nanjing Massacre—as if a smaller num be r would make
the massacre o f less co n ce rn . Th is de nial is so de te rm ine d that the Japanese
government ensured that Em pe ro r Akih ito 's visit to Ch in a in 1992 would not be
used as the occasion fo r an apology. Th e re was an unfortunate pe rio d in which
my country inflicte d great sufferings o n the peo ple o f Ch i n a," Akih ito said,
46 REY CH O W

speaking in Japanese. "I feel de e p sorrow about this." Meanwhile, the Japanese
Educatio n Ministry exercised its constitutional right to dictate the contents o f
schoolbooks by censo ring descriptions o f the Japanese army's germ warfare
experiments o n prisoners and o f episodes such as the Rape o f Nanjing. Acco rdin g
to a Reuters report in March 1993, Japan 's Supreme Co urt uphe ld this censor-
ship and rejected the lawsuit by Saburo Ienaga, a retired history professor, who
had waged a 30-year batde against the whitewashing o f wartime history ("Japa-
nese Co urt OKs Ce n so rin g o f Scho o lbo o ks"). Ienaga finally won his batde in May
igg4 ("Scholar Wins Rulin g o n Nanjing Massacre"). As Claude Lanzm an writes in zyxwvutsr
Shoah: An Oral History of the Holocaust, for the inventio n o f genocide no one wants
"co pyright." Lanzm an is quo te d by Mich ae l Lestz in a review essay o n holocaust
literature, "Lish i de m in gji." Fo r discussions o f Japanese war atrocities in Ch in a
publishe d in Chine se , see for instance Xu Zhige ng an d Gao Xin gzu. Fo r a recent
overview o f Sino-Japanese po litical an d cultural relations since the Se co nd Wo rld
War, see Dirlik.
4
'Th e subject attributes tendencies, desires, etc., to others that he refuses to
recognize in himself: the racist, for instance, projects his own faults and u n -
acknowledged inclinatio ns o n to the gro up he reviles. Th is type o f projection . . .
seems to come closest to the Fre udian sense o f the te rm " (Laplanche an d
Pontalis, 351. See also the entire entry unde r "Pro je ctio n," 349-56).
5
Fo r instance, in an essay o n the 1932 Exh ibitio n o f the Fascist Revolution in
Ro m e , Schnapp describes "the structural unde rgirding o f fascist ideo lo gy" as a
"taut but hollow frame over which a canvas must be stretched in o rder for the
illusion o f fullness to spring fo rth ." Fascism "re quire d an aesthetic overproduction
— a surfeit o f fascist signs, images, slogans, books, and buildin gs—to compensate
for, fill in , and cover up its forever unstable ideo lo gical co re " (3; emphasis in the
o rigin al). As I go o n to argue in this essay, the twin com ponents o f lack and
com pensation are crucial to Fre ud's concept o f pro jectio n.
6
Me m m i associates fascism with co lo nialism : "every co lo nial natio n carries the
seeds o f fascist temptation in its bo so m . . . . What is fascism, if not a regime o f
oppression for the benefit o f a few? . . .co lo n ialism is one variety o f fascism" (62).
Re ich associates fascism with authoritarianism and mysticism; Laclau analyzes
fascism as a kin d o f po pulism o r failed socialism; Kaplan studies fascism from the
po int o f view o f the banal an d the everyday.
7
Quo tin g from Nietzsche's On the Genealogy of Morals, Deleuze an d Guattari write:
"In the latency system o f terror, what is n o longer active, en-acted, o r reacted to,
'this instinct for freedom forcibly made latent . . . pushed back and repressed,
incarcerated within and finally able to discharge an d vent itself only o n itself,' —
that very thing is now ressenti. . ." (214; emphases in the o rigin al).
8
By reading novels, autobiographies, and letters o f the Freikorps officers, as well as
illustrating his readings iro nically with cartoons, posters, advertisements, and
other graphic materials, Theweleit's work o n fascism shares with Kaplan's a
m etho do lo gical focus o n the obvious and everyday as the place to lo o k for fascist
aesthetics.
9
Elsaesser emhasizes thro ugho ut his essay the historicity o f fascism and the histori-
city o f film theory's privileged ability to explain processes o f specularization.
1 0
Havin g said this, I sho uld add, however, that the imagistic o r projectional im plica-
tions o f fascism go well beyond the m e dium o f film itself.
1 1
In the passage fro m which my tide is taken, Sontag writes:
Riefenstahl's current de-Nazification and vindicatio n as indom itable priestess
o f the beautiful—as a film maker and now, as a ph o to graph e r—do not augur
well for the keenness o f current abilities to detect the fascist longings in o ur
midst. Th e force o f her work is precisely in the continuity o f its po litical and
 FASCIST LO N GI N GS 47

aesthetic ideas. What is interesting is that this was once seen so m uch m o re
clearly than it seems to be now. (43)
Sontag's argument here is com parable to that o f Bataille, who describes fascist
authority in terms o f a "do uble character" in which "cruel tendencies" co-exist
with "the need, characteristic o f all do m in atio n , to realize an d idealize o rde r"
(146).
Un like o rtho do x Marxism , which reduces spiritual an d artistic phe no m e na to
econom ics, the fascism o f the 1920s and 1930s had a great appeal to artists and
intellectuals because it gave the potentially creative ro le o f be lie fs—o f myth-
m akin g—a central place in social life. Th is was especially so in the case o f Italian
fascism, which was, unlike Ge rm an fascism, aesthetically compatible with the
avant garde tenets o f m o de rnism . Fo r an informative argument, see Dasenbrock.
See Kaplan's very interesting discussion o f the "slogan text" i n chapter 3 o f
he r bo o k. Fo r Kaplan, the slogan is a fo rm o f encapsulation with the performa-
tive aura o f the "self-evident," lum ino us, transparent speech act, which appeals
thro ugh the clarity o f refrain rather than thro ugh thought an d discourse. Bo th
visual an d audial in effect, slogans are brie f strings o f words that tell an d make
history at the same time, an d "a kin d o f self-fulfilling pro phe cy" (68).
Fo r a similar critique o f the positivistic m anne r in which some non-white feminists
tu m to "lived e xpe rie nce " as "an alternative m o de o f radical subjectivity," see
Sule ri, "Wom an Skin D e e p."
Th is enviro nm ent can in part be described in terms o f what Bo vé calls "the facile
professionalization o f the U.S. academy" (xv). However, the ramifications in -
volved go far beyond the U.S. academy.
I want to emphasize once again that my po int is not to defend Western im perial-
ism o r Euro centrism pe r se, but rather to m o bilize criticism o f the trends o f
un in fo rm e d an d unanalytical claims about "cultural pluralism " that are being
made in the name o f anti-imperialism and anti-Euro centrism . By im plicatio n, it is
also to criticize those who are kin d and lenient whenever it comes to dealing with
non-Westem scho lars—tho se , in o ther words, who base their judgem ents o n the
sole basis o f skin colour.
Th e situation here is co m parable, though not identical, to Zizek's analysis o f the
po pular support for Kurt Waldhe im in the 1986 Austrian presidential cam paign.
Th e Austrian pe o ple , to put the matter in the fo rm o f ajo ke o f the time, wanted to
have "Waldheim er's Disease," the disease o f no t be ing able to rem em ber that one
has been a Nazi, but this is precisely what Waldhe im 's o ppo nents missed. As Zizek
writes:
Starting from the assumption that Waldheim was attracting voters because o f
his great-statesman image, leftists put the emphasis o f their campaign o n
pro ving to the public that not o nly is Waldheim a m an with a dubious past
(probably involved i n war crimes) but also a m an who is no t prepared to
co nfro nt his past, a m an who evades crucial questions co nce rning i t —i n short,
a m an whose basic feature is a refusal to "work th ro ugh " the traumatic past.
What they o verlo o ked was that it was precisely this feature with which the
majority o f centrist voters identified. Post-war Austria is a country whose very
existence is based o n a refusal to "work th ro u gh " its Nazi past—pro vin g that
Waldhe im was evading co nfro ntatio n with his past em phasized the exact trait-
of-identification o f the majority o f voters.
Th e theoretical lesson to be learned from the cam paign, Zizek continues, "is that
the trait-of-identification can also be a certain failure, weakness, guilt o f the other,
so that by po inting out the failure we can unwittingly reinforce the ide ntificatio n"
( 105-06). Zizek's book is entirely relevant to the critique o f idealism in fascist and
totalitarian operations. See my discussion in "Ethics after Idealism ."
48 REY CH O W

1 9
Spivak refers to the current constructions o f the "th ird wo rld"and "m arginality"
in the academy as a "new o rie ntalism " (56). See also Suleri's critique o f what she
calls "alte ritism ," which is characterized by an indiscrim inate reliance o n the
centrality o f otherness an d tends to replicate the fam iliar category o f the exotic in
im perialist discourse: "alteritism enters the interpretive scene to insist o n the
co nceptual centrality o f an unto uchable intransigence. Mu ch like the category o f
the exotic in the co lo nial narratives o f the prio r century, contem porary critical
theory names the o ther in o rde r that it ne e d not be further kno wn" ( zyxwvutsrqponmlk
The Rhetoric of
English India 13).
Fo r a discussion o f this e po chal change fro m the viewpoint o f die "o the rs," see
Chow, "Against the Lure s o f Diaspo ra."
Am o n g o ther things, Arm stro ng's and Te nne nho use 's The Im aginary Puritan is a
significant co ntributio n to the vast project o f deconstructing and thus pro vin-
cializing Western Euro pe an culture , in particular that o f En glan d.
2 2
Many peo ple must be acknowledged for having co ntribute d to the final shape o f
this essay. Nancy Arm stro ng, Ch ris Culle n s, Prabhakara Jh a, Kwai-cheung Lo ,
Austin Me re dith , and Do ro th e a vo n Mücke were readers who re spo nde d with
constructive comments to the first draft when it was co m ple te d i n Decem ber
190,2. Mem bers o f the Critical Th e o ry Institute at the University o f Califo rn ia,
Irvine devoted a session to a subsequent version o f the essay in Fall 1993, and I
thank in particular Lin d o n Barrett, Ale xan de r Gelley, an d Jo h n Rowe for their
extended remarks. I am also grateful to Iain Cham be rs, Ch ris Co nne ry, H al
Foster, and Kathleen Woodward for their assistance at various stages. To Livia
Mo n n e t, who gave m e he r indefatigable enthusiasm and support, I owe a special
debt o f frie ndship.

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