When people think of fascism, they might picture European dictators and Nazi salutes — and while that may be true, it has extended far beyond Europe’s borders. Across the globe, Black people have endured regimes and systems built on fascist ideals of domination, racial purity, and control. From Mussolini’s invasion of Ethiopia to Jim Crow’s reign in the U.S., the same machinery of oppression kept reinventing itself under new names. And when it comes to certain dictators, a few looked a little too familiar for comfort.
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Let’s unpack the reoccurring characteristics of fascism and authoritarianism that have impacted Black folks across the diaspora. That way, in the case that it shows up today, we’ll know exactly what it looks like, how it operates, and how to recognize it before it’s too late.
Italian Fascism in Ethiopia (1935–1941)
Benito Mussolini’s invasion of Ethiopia — one of the only independent African nations at the time — was rooted in racial imperialism. The occupation led to massacres — including the Yekatit 12 Massacre — and chemical warfare against Ethiopians. It was explicitly framed as Italy’s right to dominate inferior races.
Nazi Germany’s Treatment of Afro-Germans
There were thousands of Black folks who lived in Germany during the Nazi era, per Holocaust Encyclopedia. Under Hitler, Afro-Germans were sterilized, imprisoned, and killed in concentration camps. And children of African descent, especially those from French colonies fathered by soldiers after WWI (derogatorily called “Rhineland bastards”), while others were targeted for forced sterilization, per Black Perspectives.
Apartheid South Africa (1948–1994)
While South African Apartheid isn’t typically branded “fascist,” apartheid’s ideological foundation mirrored fascism — strict racial hierarchy, censorship, militarized policing, and propaganda enforcing white supremacy. The National Party admired Nazi Germany’s racial theories and implemented them domestically, particularly from members of the Afrikaner nationalist movement of the 1930s, per Facing History.
António Salazar’s Fascist Regime
Under António Salazar’s fascist regime, Portugal violently suppressed political dissent and liberation movements in Angola, Mozambique, and Guinea-Bissau. Black resistance and guerilla fighters faced forced labor, mass killings, and imprisonment, per Doing History in Public.
Francisco Franco, Spain’s Role in African Colonies
Francisco Franco’s Spain brutally ruled Equatorial Guinea and parts of Morocco. Indigenous Africans were denied rights, forced into labor, per Oxford Academic. Francoist Spain’s role in African colonies was integral to the development of Spanish fascism, per Open Library of Humanities.
Belgian Fascism in Congo (Leopold II to WWII Era)
Though predating fascism as we know it today, Belgium’s rule over the Congo set the ideological groundwork — forced labor, mutilation, and mass killings, per Atrocities Watch Africa, that would later align with fascist logic.
Jim Crow America and the Rise of White Christian Nationalism
In the U.S., the Ku Klux Klan and pro-segregation movements shared fascist features — racial purity, nationalism, violent suppression of dissent, and authoritarian control through terror. Black people were lynched to enforce a racial order eerily similar to the fascist doctrine we’ve seen before.
Haiti Under François “Papa Doc” Duvalier (1957–1971)
François “Papa Doc” Duvalier was not considered a fascist, though similar to fascist leaders, he centralized complete power, suppressed opposition, and created a cult of personality that wreaked havoc on Black Haitians, per EBSCO.
Idi Amin’s Dictatorship in Uganda
Several regimes, such as Idi Amin’s Uganda, used brutal tactics that parallel fascist regimes while weaponizing nationalism, including paramilitary forces, one-party rule, propaganda, and violent silencing of critics. Amin was also notorious for violence, as an estimated 10,000 were murdered during the first year of his regime alone, per PBS.
British Union of Fascist Movements
In the 1930s–50s, British fascist groups like Oswald Mosley’s British Union of Fascists targeted Black immigrants and colonized peoples. Later, anti-Black violence in Notting Hill (1958) led to property owners refusing to rent to Black folks, kept them out of the workplace, and dished out regular terror, per BBC.
Brazil’s Estado Novo (1937–1945)
Under Getúlio Vargas, Brazil saw a fascist-style dictatorship that promoted a myth of “racial democracy” while suppressing Black political movements, such as Candomblé, and promoting European whiteness as the national ideal.
U.S. COINTELPRO and the Black Power Movement
The FBI’s Counterintelligence Program used fascist and authoritarian methods — secret surveillance, infiltration, psychological warfare, and assassinations (like Fred Hampton’s) — to destroy Black liberation movements that challenged state power.
Modern-Day Neofascism and Anti-Black Racism Worldwide
From the rise of far-right parties in Europe, to U.S. white nationalist movements, to Brazil’s Bolsonaro-era police killings, the global resurgence of authoritarianism and characteristics of fascism continues to disproportionately endanger Black lives. But as we previously mentioned, Black folks are building, strategizing, and staying aware.
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