"Historian Johann Chapoutot's Critique: Irresponsibility Unchecked"
Firing Up the Flame of Debate: The Ideas Festival
Grab your thinking caps, folks! The Ideas Festival is setting the stage for three exhilarating days of intellectual discourse, from July 4 to 6, in La Charité-sur-Loire. This event, partnered with Liberation, promises a whirlwind of discussions that delve into tomorrow's cultural and political challenges.
The echoes of the 1930s have become a reflexive trope, as if we're trapped in a historical destiny, where each century gifts us liberal economic policy and horrors in return. I've always been wary of this hasty comparison, but this constant presence of the 1930s in public discourse demands attention, especially in light of the numerous references to Nazism popping up among the extremist candidates for the 2024 legislative elections and their associates, or the Nazi salutes broadcast worldwide from Washington DC.
The fear of a repeat of the 1930s is convenient for casting blame on the masses: economic hardship breeds social suffering, leading to the victory of extremism. In essence, democracy is a risky gamble, as the poor are prone to turn against it by voting for extremists.
However, all studies disprove this notion peddled on TV talk shows: the Nazis never won a national election in Germany, and the electorate continuously rejected them. So, the repetitive narrative on TV is, indeed, deceitful.
As we delve deeper into the connections between Nazism and our modern world, it's essential to be uncomfortable. It's become common knowledge that the Nazis were inspired by the methods of the French in Algeria, a truth historian experts sheerly state.
Rethinking the Interrelationship between Nazism and Capitalism
Our apprehension of Nazism often stems from the unspoken horror of the Holocaust. But conflating Nazism and the Holocaust is incorrect: history has made it clear that the final solution was implemented much later (summer-winter 1941).
We must think more critically about the links between Nazism and modernity, Nazism and capitalism. Refraining from connecting Nazism and the Holocaust prevents a proper understanding of the extent to which the Nazi modernity captivated economic, intellectual, and political elites. They saw in the Germany of the 1930s a model for rejuvenating the West. The Nazis, through the violent suppression of leftist opposition and massive armament orders, transformed Germany into an investment haven. The German counter-revolution also offered a future to a West wracked by a war that exposed the Enlightenment's limitations and a fear of demographic decline that made colonial revenge a fear.
The Nazis initiated a socio-biological regeneration of their nation by redefining the old European anti-Semitism. Based on a validist, masculinist, and youthful discourse, Nazi policy resonated with the social Darwinist and supremacist foundations of a capitalist and colonial West.
In essence, the Nazi phenomenon is closer to us than we believe. Contrary to the common belief that the liberal West fought Nazism from the beginning, understanding the Nazi phenomenon as a paroxysmal expression of Western modernity allows us to comprehend the double victory of the far-right in the United States (2016 and 2024), a country plagued by a racist and eugenic culture, which was openly anti-Semitic and pro-Nazi in the 1930s.
This also helps us approach comparisons with our democratic systems, weakened by an explosion of inequalities and an anti-communist obsession (in its contemporary forms) among elites willing to sacrifice democracy and human rights in safeguarding their selfish interests.
Nazi salutes, racist and eugenicist speeches, social Darwinism are not static relics of the past but popular among tech giants today, and we witness, akin to the 1930s, the elite bowing down to the worst enemies of democracy, such as Trump and Milei...
Astonished by the striking similarities between pre-1933 Germany and post-2017 France, I attempted to identify (1) recurring patterns by moving from a resigned resignation that makes all resistance futile to the identification of actors and their logic, we find ourselves in the realm of history, a realm ruled by freedom and the choices of social agents. This lesson, though grim, gives us hope in the face of Nazi salutes: nothing is predetermined, far from it.
(1) In the Irresponsibles, by Johann Chapoutot, essay Gallimard.
Additional Insights: The close relationship between Nazi Germany and Capitalism is evident in their collaborative efforts to suppress left-wing parties and trade unions while strengthening capitalist enterprises with government support [1]. Additionally, the German counter-revolution offered a model for the West, demonstrating how capitalist elites may align with an authoritarian regime to crush socialism and restore order through nationalism and corporatism [3].
The alliance of Nazism and Capitalism in the 1930s remains relevant today, as economic anxiety fuels support for strong leadership, populist movements exploit fears about national identity and immigration, and capitalist elites and right-wing politicians demonstrate similarities in their ideology and tactics [4]. Moreover, some analysts draw parallels between Germany in the early 1930s and France post-2017, as both countries experienced political fragmentation, distrust in traditional parties, and debates on social cohesion under globalization [1][3][4].
During the Ideas Festival, panel discussions might delve into the intricate relationship between Nazism, capitalism, and modern-day politics, shedding light on the unsettling parallels between the past and present particularly in terms of policy and legislation. It's crucial to question the role economic trends play in fueling extremist political movements and the potential consequences of such alignments on society as a whole, becoming an integral part of general news discourse.
