As tens of thousands return to the streets for the first national Palestine march of 2026, this movement refuses to be sidelined or silenced, says PETER LEARY
“FASCIST” and “Fascism” are frequently used words today that are both popular and slippery. The prevalence of the words in common parlance is indisputable, but regrettable for three reasons:
- There is no common, shared, ordinary meaning of “fascism”
- “Fascist” has often become merely an epithet, a term of abuse
- The use of the expressions has disengaged from their specific history and context
Today, commentators, both left and right, excoriate their targets with fascist-themed concatenations: “feminazis,” “islamofascists,” “neo-fascists,” “PC fascists,” etc.
And, of course, the dinner-table discussion of the liberal intelligentsia inevitably arrives at the burning question: “Is Trump a fascist?” If you Googled “Trump, fascism, fascist” on August 25, you would have gotten 9,150,000 results.
TONY CONWAY assesses the lessons of the 1930s and looks at what is similar, and what is different, about the rise of the far right today
The left must avoid shouting ‘racist’ and explain that the socialist alternative would benefit all



