It’s no secret at this point that we’re living through a wave of neo-fascism. We’ve seen waves of (hyper)conservatism since the end of World War II, but none have seen the far right gain such a substantial foothold. Maybe the time was right. It’s been more than eighty years since WWII ended after all. In the last twenty years or so, I’d say we’ve seen people questioning if the Nazis were really “that bad.”
This seems to be the inevitable cycle of history. Those who lived it try to impart particular beliefs. Those who are raised in the aftermath of an atrocity only hear tales. As time goes on, those who were active participants in the event die off. Younger generations hear tales second- or even third- or fourth-hand. The further removed you are from the event, the more difficult it is to grasp the dimensions of it, and the easier it is to question the truth. It becomes hearsay to younger generations, something that only exists in their minds.
Why Fascism Is Ascendant Again
My grandfather fought in WWII. He died before I was born. My mother grew up in his household, obviously, and she heard his stories second-hand. The stories she remembered came to me third-hand, via her retelling. My own child will receive these tales about Great-Grandpa fourth-hand from me. Needless to say, it’s going to be very difficult for the great-grandchild to imagine exactly what was going on.
I think that’s part of the reason fascism was able to put down its roots, even among my own generation. We hadn’t seen it first-hand. The cautions we were given came from grandparents and parents—authority figures we wanted to defy. It became “knowledge” we wanted to question, advice we wanted to ignore, because our elders are old and outmoded. The world has changed, and we were young; we knew everything.
I think that’s also why, although fascism never fully went away, it couldn’t get as much traction in earlier eras. In the 1980s and 1990s, for example, there was growing interest in neo-Nazism, but there were still so many, many veterans and their children, civilians who had lived under the Nazis or the Fascists. These people knew the scourge, and they were quick to root it out. Those who didn’t renounce it found themselves isolated.
New Technologies Have Been Co-opted by the Far Right
New technological forms have also contributed to the rise of fascism in our current era. We must remember that far-right ideologies are generally aligned with money, because monied interests are always conservative. The status quo has benefited them and they wish to preserve their power. Banks, then, are notoriously conservative—and it’s little wonder we often find them in bed with (hyper)conservative and far-right interests. The internet became “big money” in the late 1990s. Silicon Valley has only continued to boom since, spitting out “unicorns” and social media empires. As the government tries to regulate some of the shadier parts of the internet, it’s little wonder that tech bros have moved further right, arguing for smaller government and less “red tape.” Now, Silicon Valley has emergent spy-tech and a vested interest in colluding with the very government they say they want to tame.
What does all this have to do with books? Authoritarian regimes, whether on the left or the right, clamp down on citizens’ freedoms. This is anathema to the arts—which includes books. In leftist regimes, we usually see bans relating to self-expression around religious belief (see China destroying cultural artifacts during the Cultural Revolution) or dissent around the government. Tradition becomes political anathema, and dissent could get you disappeared, jailed, or killed.
Right-wing regimes tend not to be much better, often focusing on repressing ideas that might seem more progressive. They usually tout religious ideals, even if their actions are at odds with what the religion purports. In addition, they emphasize tradition. They may censor everything from science to art in an effort to limit knowledge that could undermine the regime.
Books Are Knowledge and Knowledge Is Power
This desire to limit access to information—and by extension, knowledge—is precisely why we’ve seen a marked rise in book bans. Increasingly in the United States, people have been challenging the inclusion of certain books, particularly in school libraries. Statistics show that many of the challenges are brought forth by just a handful of people. The sheer volume of challenges has led to the closure of some libraries. Other libraries have simply had to remove any book that has been challenged until it can be reviewed. Due to the sheer number of complaints, it would take a good deal of time and resources to get most of these books back on the shelves.
Challenges arise for a number of reasons. Some are clearly rooted in queerphobia of all flavours, as any book that includes LGBTQIA+ subject matter is suddenly objected to as “adult.” Other books, such as educational or scientific books about anatomy or sexual reproduction, might also be labeled as “pornographic.”
Public libraries are now under attack as well, as the federal government attempts to deny funding to these institutions. Public libraries do more than provide access to books, although use has been declining as people mistakenly believe that loaning out books is “all” they do. Shuttering public libraries limits access to not just books but to community spaces and even the internet.
Make no mistake: this is deliberate. Cutting impoverished citizens off makes them even more vulnerable. Limiting youth’s access to information about queer people and sex education ensures they can’t learn about these things in a safe way.
Censorship Moves into the Private Sphere
These attacks have extended into the private sphere as well. There have been lawsuits attempting to limit the sale of books dubbed “obscene.” While these suits haven’t yet been successful, they are attempting to limit what consumers can buy. That’s a limitation on freedom if I ever heard one. If I, as a consenting adult, know what kind of book I’m buying, then why can’t I buy it?
Similarly, we can see payment providers restricting sales of certain types of media on various platforms. And we can see a more overarching version of this in attempts to ban porn sites like PornHub across certain states or KOSA, which “attempts” to protect kids online—by effectually scrubbing the internet of all queer content and sex education materials. That’s not going to stop creepy predators. It sure as hell will hurt a lot of people who generally don’t align with “traditional values.”
How We Can Fight Back
Supporting your local library is a great step in combating these measures. Libraries generally receive funding in accordance with their user base. The more users a library has, the more likely it is that it won’t face a closure.
You can also protest. Write to your local politicians about bills like KOSA or whatever might be the equivalent in your area. Try to keep tabs on what certain politicians are proposing. Vote, especially in your local elections. If your area allows, make sure you research your school board trustees or other members of the public who may be elected into roles adjacent to public education.
Other ideas can include buying and making banned books available—whether it’s to your own family or to others as well. Make your home a safe space, start a book club, offer books through a Little Free Library-style endeavor or just trade books with friends and family. Beyond that, push back against book bans, whether in a public library or a school library. If you’re a parent, volunteer to look at books that have received complaints to help get them back into circulation sooner. Go to school meetings to inquire about challenges and how they’re being handled.
On a bigger scale, lobbying and organized protests can also help us fight back against this crackdown on freedoms.
Book bans benefit practically no one. History is not kind to those who implement book bans or engage in book burning.
Of course, we don’t really have time to sit around and wait for history to write condemnation of the people leading the charge for book banning right now. Instead, we need to actively participate in bringing fascism to its knees again.
Getting Involved Can Be Simple
And it can start with something as simple as reading a banned book or speaking out about book bans. Yet merely reading banned books is no longer enough. We need to actively speak up and speak out about what’s going on. That can feel intimidating, especially since it can put a target on our backs. But that’s the only way we’re going to get out of this—by pushing back. The more of us that do, the more we put ourselves in a position to break the current power structures.
Until we do, books will continue being banned, as the definition of what is “obscene” and “pornographic,” “appropriate” or not, expands. Sex workers have been telling us for quite some time that even “clean” romance is going to be on the chopping block. We’re finally seeing that prediction come to fruition.
Nothing is safe, nothing is sacred, and that means it’s time for us to step up and defend what matters to us. If you’ve been standing idly by, it’s not too late to get involved and make a difference. What matters is that you’re here and willing to push back now.
Let’s Make Book Bans History
There are very few books that I think would deserve to be banned. Most of the ones that have been banned in history have eventually been lifted. People have read these supposedly “scandalous” works without negative repercussions. While we can certainly factor in things like the safety of children and ensuring appropriateness in materials they’re accessing, most of today’s current book challenges are overreaching. Most of them declare books or other material “obscene” without even having engaged with the media. Educational information is not obscene, and queer people aren’t inherently sexual—or obscene. With that in mind, most of these book bans are decidedly out of line. It’s our job to ensure that we both put them down and prevent them from happening in the future.
