'La Razón' declares itself antifascist... of the left

"When fascism returns, it won't say 'I am fascism.' It will say 'I am freedom.'" This phrase, attributed to Umberto Eco, has recently been circulating online, though there's no record of him ever having said or written it. However, a very similar statement was made by Thomas Mann in 1940 at a conference in the United States, which lends it an extra layer of foresight, given the date.

The reason The publishing house has released "Far-Left Fascism," a disjointed hodgepodge that mixes anti-establishment, anti-globalization activists with Navarrese separatists. It's all thrown into a blender. "This sectarian, violent, and supposedly revolutionary movement wages a combative opposition that has instilled fear in Spanish society," it asserts. And it cites the case of the disturbances sparked by visits from figures like Vito Quiles, Marcelo Gullo, and Carlos Martínez Gorriarán. The analysis omits, of course, that some of these personalities choose the venues for their star appearances solely for their ability to create a commotion. Only this empty froth guarantees them any media attention. If I were to go and preach about ratafia and the Virgin of Montserrat in the Francoist bar Casa Pepe, I'd expect to be met with confetti. The reason He ends up adding a few bits of Pasolini to the gazpacho, a quote that's hard to see how it fits with the rest of the argument. I would have preferred this other one, in which the poet and filmmaker comments on how it's impossible to judge history in the present tense: "This departure from history, adopting a false and mendacious perspective (...), is an act favored by reactionaries, and right-wing newspapers are full of writers who lend themselves to these petty spiritualists' satisfaction." Point seven, and that's it.