A101 Team In fact, she’s careful to note that the only country she’d accuse of fascism today is North Korea. But Albright is concerned about the precarious political moment we find ourselves in.
Here’s what the former secretary of state told The Economist about her new book, Fascism: A Warning:
We must push back harder against the cynicism of both right and left. Fascism thrives when there are no social anchors, when the perception takes hold that the media always lies, the courts are corrupt, democracy is a sham, corporations are in thrall to the devil, and only a strong hand can protect against the evil “other”—whether Jew, Muslim, black, so-called redneck or so-called elite. Flawed though our institutions may be, they are the best that 4,000 years of civilization have produced and cannot be cast aside without opening the door to something far worse.
The right response to thuggish politics is not more thuggery; it is a coming together across the ideological spectrum of people who want to make democracies more effective. We should remember that the heroes we cherish—Lincoln, King, Gandhi, Mandela—spoke to the best within us….
Today, we will be lost if we abandon faith in the institutions and values that separate democracies, however imperfect, from tyranny. History is replete with bullies who seemed formidable for a time only to crash by attempting too much or by underestimating the quiet courage of honourable women and men. Scanning the globe at this moment, I see abundant cause for worry, none for despair.
Read the her full interview here.
