Venezuela: understand the “anti-fascist” law proposed by the Maduro government

The “Law against fascism, neo-fascism and similar expressions” project promoted by the government of Nicolás Maduro will have another chapter this Tuesday (13) in a debate announced by the National Assembly of Venezuela, amid post-electoral uncertainty and international complaints about arbitrary arrests and human rights violations.

The bill – consisting of 30 articles – includes a number of sanctions for those who commit acts that the authorities consider fascist, neo-fascist or similar. These sanctions may be criminal (years in prison), administrative (fines) or involve the dissolution of organizations.

What does the government argue?

In its explanatory statement, the government emphasizes that this law is necessary because of social sectors that frequently “resort to violence as a form of political action, openly contradicting constitutional postulates which, among other things, include protecting the democratic exercise of the popular will”.

“This bill seeks to establish the means and mechanisms to preserve peaceful coexistence, public tranquility, the democratic exercise of the popular will, the recognition of diversity, tolerance and mutual respect, in the face of expressions of fascist, neo-fascist or similar order that may arise in the territory of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela,” says the document.

How does the law define fascism?

The bill defines fascism (article 4) as the ideological position that, based on an alleged moral, ethnic, social or national superiority, “assumes violence as a method of political action”, attacks democracy and its institutions and promotes the suppression of the rights of citizens and some sectors in favor of others.

“Racism, chauvinism, classism, moral conservatism, neoliberalism, misogyny and all types of prejudice against human beings and their right to non-discrimination and diversity are common characteristics of this position,” he points out.

The project appears to redefine what fascism is, at least in Venezuela. In academic and political circles in many countries, fascism is recognized as the “political ideology and mass movement that dominated much of Central, Southern and Eastern Europe between 1919 and 1945 and that also had followers in Western Europe, the United States, South Africa, Japan, Latin America and the Middle East,” according to the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Although fascist parties and movements have differed significantly from one another throughout history, they have “many features in common, including extreme militaristic nationalism, disdain for electoral democracy and political and cultural liberalism, belief in natural social hierarchy and the rule of elites, and the desire to create a Volksgemeinschaft (German: ‘people’s community’) in which individual interests would be subordinated to the good of the nation,” the Encyclopedia adds.

Historically, Benito Mussolini, Europe’s first fascist leader, and Adolf Hitler, leader of Nazi Germany, are used as references for this ideology.

But the Venezuelan project seems to refer to something else.

What kind of sanctions does the project include?

The bill proposes to prohibit meetings or demonstrations that defend what the government considers fascism, neo-fascism or similar expressions (article 12), as well as to establish that civil courts of first instance have the power to dissolve social organizations that spread these ideologies (article 14).

The bill indicates that it will be up to the Public Prosecutor’s Office to order and direct the criminal investigation of these crimes.

In the political sphere, it provides that the National Electoral Council (CNE) may cancel the registration of parties that promote “fascist acts” (article 15), and that the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice may order the dissolution of these parties upon proposal by the Public Prosecutor’s Office (article 16).

The instrument under discussion considers “fascist acts” to be those in which a person “requests, invokes, promotes or executes violent actions as a means or means for the exercise of political rights”.

Anyone who resorts to violence for political ends will be punished with a sentence of 8 to 12 years in prison and political disqualification (Article 22). For those who defend “fascism”, a sentence of 6 to 10 years in prison and political disqualification is proposed (Article 23).

For those who finance “fascist” activities, fines in bolivars are expected, equivalent to between 50,000 and 100,000 times the highest exchange rate against the dollar published by the Central Bank of Venezuela (article 27).

Likewise, the document includes sanctions for the media. In this case, it provides for the revocation of the license for television channels or radio stations that broadcast “fascist” messages, in the opinion of the authorities (Article 28).

What is the context of the bill?

The government-sponsored law was discussed in the National Assembly – with a pro-government majority – in May, just months before the July 28 presidential election and as tensions between the government and the opposition were rising. Now, it is back on the table for post-election debate, with both the ruling party and the opposition claiming victory.

A questioned idea

The bill “has open conceptual definitions and arbitrary interpretation” and could be used as an “instrument of censorship and extreme limitation on freedom of expression and information,” warned the Organization Laboratory for Peace in Venezuela, which is dedicated to researching issues of democracy, human rights and nonviolence.

The approval of the measure “would mean progress in the construction of a totalitarian government model in the country, further worsening the guarantees of enjoyment of human rights by the population and distancing us from the possibility of paving the way for a transition to democracy,” the organization warns in its analysis.

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