Internet Squadristi
So who were the original Squadristi? Back in the 1920s when Mussolini was a bit huffed with the then socialist Italian Government (who admittedly were a bit dodgy), he decided to set up the Squadristi to knock a few heads together and try to and get people to think a little more right wing. Made up largely of disgruntled WWI veterans (and angry young men), the Squadristi did Mussolini’s dirty work while keeping his hands clean. In addition to harassment and vandalism, another common tactic used is described thusly;
Political dissidents were force-fed large quantities of castor oil by Fascist paramilitary groups. This technique was said to have been originated by Gabriele D’Annunzio. Victims of this treatment would experience severe diarrhea and dehydration, often resulting in death. Sometimes when the blackshirts wished to make sure that the victim would die rather than simply be badly disabled, they would mix gasoline with the castor oil. It is said that Mussolini’s power was backed by “the bludgeon and castor oil.”
Initially a group initiated by Mussolini, the Squadristi became self-sustaining and were able to operate independent of explicit direction by Mussolini, following his Fascist tenets in a cult like manner and swelling their ranks through aggressive recruitment. Perhaps even if Mussolini had wanted to the Squadristi to disband, he couldn’t have achieved it, such was their fanaticism.
The more energetic and sizable the Squadristi became, the more extreme their measures. Perhaps it was because of mob mentality, or perhaps because they thought they could get away with it. In any case, Mussolini rode to power on their wave of violence and thuggery, installing them as a genuine military force upon his succession.
Hi, we are the Squadristi. Would you like to join us or perhaps drink some castor Oil?
So what was the agenda of these thugs? Well, firstly they were slavishly enthralled to Mussolini, so the proper question is probably what agenda did Mussolini have in mind for them. For starters, they were rabidly anti-communist. More accurately, they were anti-Marxist, so anyone of a socialist flavour was a potential target, even if they weren’t a Bolshi bastard. Heck, the Squadristi were rabidly anti-Union as well, which was a bit stupid considering that the ranks of the Squadristi were largely working class.
The Squadristi were rabidly anti-intellectual, lambasting those who they saw as living in an Ivory Tower. Academics were subjected to threats, harassment, violence and were even killed.
The Squadristi were rabidly xenophobic, in particular, they were anti-Semitic (amongst other racist persuasions). This xenophobia manifested in a form of Italian nationalism, with the nation/race becoming more important that the individual citizen. Indeed, this is being mirrored in current times by ethnic groups being expected to supplant aspects of their identity with that of the approved national identity; the “Austrayun” as per the state (esp. The Prime Minister) and the right-wing Punditocracy.
Indeed, things have changed since the 1920s a great deal. In particular, Mussolini’s militia didn’t have access to a little thing called the internet, nor did the unionists, academics, socialists, communists or other dissenters they targeted. The same discourse, dissention and downright sinister, fascist thuggery occurs today but in different arenas. Enter the Internet Squadristi.
The Internet Squadristi (both singular and plural) congregate around the web-presences of right-wing politicians, journalists and talk-back radio hosts. The can of course adhere to an ideology independent of a charismatic leader, which can be seen in the case of the Stormfront community; who more explicitly (and perhaps honestly) espouse their values of racial/cultural purity, hatred for the political left and anti-intellectualism.
Indeed, you can see the Internet Squadristi in action, attempting to threaten “Broken Leg” for his blog where he gives coverage of a “Stormfront BBQ.” Have a look at the blog entry in question here and keep an eye out in the comments section for the threat from “Aussie Patriot.” Specifically, the threat is to find out the identity of “Broken Leg”, with the obvious consequences inferred.
Depending on who you work for, having your identity associated with your blogging can be (unfairly) detrimental to your career. A right or left leaning boss can choose to sack or not employ a worker they know to be of opposite political alignment (made easier by the new Federal IR laws I’ll mention.) Oh yes, it may be illegal to sack on the basis of political (or religious etc.) persuasion, but a boss doesn’t need to disclose the real reason for sacking someone.
But back to the Squadristi. The outing of bloggers is a favoured tactic of many of the Internet Squadristi. Last December, the Squadristi that have chosen to gravitate around both Andrew Bolt and Tim Blair, descended on the blogs “Boltwatch” and “Anonymous Lefty“, run by Mr Lefty. Mr Lefty was prompted to move his commenting to Haloscan to deal with the trolls and stalkers.
One of the said Squadristi, who I have referred to in the past as El Stalko, went as far as setting up a blog to publish the alleged identity of Mr Lefty, publishing a photo, full name and even a work email address (with calls for fellow Squadristi to use it)! El Stalko then went about promoting his blog by “blamming*” the URL at the blogs of people who commented at either “Boltwatch” or “Anonymous Lefty“.
My own (extended) episode with El Stalko, arose from his attempts to publish information about the alleged identity of Mr Lefty on my comments, as well as the URL of his blog. Indeed, this is why I’ve had comments moderation active for so long (that and the adverts for penis pills that were appearing in my comments section last year).
Suffice to say, that while trying to include this guy in debate (not knowing quite how sinister his campaign against Mr Lefty was) I spent a lot of time filtering out his crap. Again, the outing of bloggers tactic was used, this time against me; I was wrongly outed as a genetically-engineered-AIDS infected super villain. Hilarious stuff really.
In any case, the El Stalko affair has gained too much coverage from me already. Lets rattle off some other examples.
The Free Republic “Freepers” are another classic example of Internet Squadristi. They are for Government control of women’s reproductive rights, Government control of the sexuality of marriage, xenophobic (especially towards Muslims), anti-Union, anti-Left and anti-intellectual.
These are again somewhat of a decentralised group of Squadristi, in that they don’t revolve around a charismatic leader. What qualifies them as Squadristi is how they descend upon those who dare to contradict them. They even went as far as to get a journalist fired (on the nationalist grounds of being un-American) for daring to disagree (not on the grounds of journalistic conduct). Many an online poll, forum or website the Freepers have descended upon, giving rise to the term “freeped.”
Shades of the Squadristi can be found in those who congregated around talkback radio host Alan Jones in the lead-up to the Cronulla Race Riots last year. Alan Jones, by his own admission, has been leading the charge, although perhaps he was surprised when his Squadristi listeners actually went and took up the charge in a rather more literal sense than Jones had intended. Such is the nature of mob mentality.
That a modern communications technology (SMS) was used by the Cronulla Squadristi (sending Jones himself an SMS which he read out on air), this is a minor distinction. The real distinction between the Cronulla example and the actions of the typical Internet Squadristi is that the Cronulla rioters actually fronted up to their targets. While potentially as despicable, the Internet Squadristi is usually more of a coward.
On the up side, it should be noted that not every conservative who in any way gravitates around a right-wing pundit, is a Squadristi. You can find conservatives in political proximity to the Squadristi, who find the practices of the Squadristi appalling. An example are the conservatives at the Tim Blair blog who have chastised people for targeting Mr Lefty in the way that he was targeted. Surely, not every member of the Alan Jones audience is a Squadristi.
There is hope. However…
While they will never admit it, the function of the actions of the Squadristi is to stifle public debate, specifically the aspects that contradict their right-wing world view. The Internet Squadristi are different only in the methodology they employ to stifle debate; modern communications technology is used instead of castor oil and batons in order to spread their terror. Collectively, they are an impediment to democracy that should be taken seriously.
~ Bruce
* “Blamming” is basically, blog spam; where people use the comments sections of their blogs for the purpose of advertising their blog where the advertised blog has little or nothing to do with the topic discussed. I’d link to the Wikipedia entry for “Blamming”, but it has been vandalised (probably by a blammer.)
Note: Again, no attempts to identify El Stalko thanks.
