Do We Still Know the Meaning of “Fascist”?

Last week, someone called a candidate for Los Angeles City Council a fascist. That someone was a former Los Angeles mayoral candidate who has a committed following on the extreme left of the political spectrum. Her target was Sam Yebri, a Democrat who’s running for a seat on the LA City Council against fellow Democrat Katy Young Yaroslavsky, representing the Fifth District. The accusation was hurled against Yebri (and Eleventh District candidate Democrat Traci Park) on Twitter — where else?

Her exact tweet, which was posted from her campaign account, read: “Sam Yebri in CD5 and Traci Park in CD11 are full blown fascists. Please tell your friends and family not to vote for them. They want to continue the practice of giving LAPD 50% of our city’s budget.” 

The author of the tweet, Gina Viola, was referencing Yebri’s recent endorsement by the Los Angeles Police Protective League (LAPPL), the police officers’ union. In a statement, the LAPPL President said, “Sam Yebri will fight to ensure our Police Officers have the resources they need.”

For receiving this endorsement, Yebri was called a fascist. And not just a run-of-the-mill fascist, but a “full blown” one by Viola and hundreds of her followers who piled on.

Viola herself has acknowledged that her politics aren’t for everyone. In a mayoral candidates’ debate sponsored by UCLA, she said, “I’m the infamous defund-the-police candidate.” Her self-description on her personal Twitter account makes her position clear: “DEFUND ALL POLICE EVERYWHERE.” Viola is a self-described “abolitionist”; she’s vocal about her ultimate desire to abolish the LAPD and to replace police with social services.

I decided to contact Viola via Twitter for further comment. She told me, “I have not met Mr. Yebri. I equate 41.18 and those who support it with fascism. I equate growing an over bloated, over militarized LAPD, and those who support that, with fascism.” Section 41.18 of the Los Angeles Municipal Code (LAMC) is related to homelessness and makes it illegal to “sit, lie or sleep in or upon any street, sidewalk or other public way,” after certain conditions are met, including an offer of shelter.

Incidentally, Yebri came to the United States as a refugee whose family was fleeing actual tyranny from the post-revolutionary Iranian regime in the early 1980s. You know, the same regime that holds the dubious distinction of serving as the world’s number one state sponsor of terror; the one that hangs gay men from cranes in town squares, stones women and, yes, denies its citizens access to Twitter. That regime. 

I’ve worked closely with Yebri for years (through our work with 30 Years After) and the man is anything but a fascist; he volunteers his time for organizations ranging from ETTA (helping those with developmental disabilities, Bet Tzedek (helping low income tenants) and the Anti-Defamation League (fighting all forms of hate).  It should be noted that I don’t know Park, the other City Council candidate who was called a fascist, but after reviewing her platform, I don’t believe that she’s a fascist either.

That’s the crux of social media: You can engage in a virtual hit-and-run by publicly calling someone a terrible name — and then close your app and meet your friend for coffee as if nothing happened.

But that’s the crux of social media: You can engage in a virtual hit-and-run by publicly calling someone a terrible name — and then close your app and meet your friend for coffee as if nothing happened. You rip into someone and almost never see them in person; you’re never there to see their face once they’ve read your vicious words. But in Judaism, slandering someone’s name and shaming them publicly is akin to spiritual murder. That’s why on social media, I liken it to a virtual hit-and-run.

Given that many on social media seldom care about the effect their public words will have on others, I decided to ask Yebri himself: How does it feel to be called a fascist?

“As a proud Jew, being called a fascist is a stab to the heart,” he told me. “It stops you cold and makes you shudder viscerally. Fascism is the mob dehumanizing minorities. In Europe, it meant gas chambers. In Iran, it meant expelling my family. That we can no longer have civil discourse about the safety of our kids in Los Angeles is despicable and frankly heartbreaking.” Not surprisingly, Yebri told me that the far Left has also targeted him for his pro-Israel views.

Has our political discourse really been reduced to reckless name-calling? Can we not make space for a balanced conversation before blasting others on the basis of another group’s endorsement? We’re completely depriving voters from hearing the positions of each candidate and deciding what makes sense to them.

Why haven’t those who’ve hurled falsehood against candidates in the upcoming elections been publicly denounced? That’s simple. Everyone’s scared of them and of their followers because they’re not afraid to go after others on social media. 

But now, more than ever, our leaders need to stand up to the mob, not cower in fear. 

Ironically, one of the trademark characteristics of a fascist regime is that it oppresses criticism and any form of opposition. It’s fair to ask whether those who quickly resort to calling others fascists realize they’re cheapening the word and employing the very same tactics. I’m certain they believe that those who disagree with them are actual fascists. But they’ve rendered the word wholly impotent. That reminds me that I need to give my fascist dry cleaner a negative Yelp review for not removing a turmeric stain from my favorite shirt. 

And for anyone whose wrath I’ve incurred in this column, I have one request: I don’t want to be called a fascist; it’s lost all meaning. I want to be called something else, and I have my own preferred term for anyone who wants to accuse me of being hateful, racist, oppressive and vile: Just call me the Ayatollah.

Tabby Refael is an award-winning weekly columnist and an LA-based writer, speaker and civic action activist. Follow her on Twitter @TabbyRefael