A protest in Los Angeles last week about Mahmoud Khalil, a permanent resident, and Ivy League scholar | Photo by Elaine J. E. Degale
The Road to Fascism: A Divide and Conquer Strategy
Globalization has long been a powerful force driving economic growth and cultural exchange. While it has opened up trade, travel, and communication across borders, it has also intensified wealth inequality. In today’s technological world, we are witnessing a dangerous narrative that vilifies the very immigrants crucial to building global prosperity.
This rhetoric, often cloaked in calls for “purity” or “practicality,” is not only absurd but also echoes the fascist tactics outlined by Yale University Professor Jason Stanley in How Fascism Works: The Politics of “Us” and “Them.” Stanley argues that the road to fascism is built by first establishing a hierarchy of human worth to divide people, or what we see today as divisions by race, class, and caste. Once people are organized into “us” vs. “them” mentalities, the fascist politician uses their administration to promote anti-intellectualism by attacking universities. To tie up loose ends, propaganda is then deployed to shape false narratives that the dominant group is “in danger” and must rely on ruthless “law and order” policies for “protection.”
The current divisions between “us” and “them” are tied to anxieties about an increasingly interconnected digital future. In medieval times, it was this same fear that kings and lords exploited to maintain feudal control. If robots and immigrants take my job, what about me? America first! Me first! In this techno-feudalism reality, your content on Facebook and X enriches the few while amplifying your fear of irrelevance through disseminating misinformation. We are currently living in a world where fear is commodified to divide and conquer any human attempts at solidarity.
The Cost of Progress
Last week, Chief Judge James E. Boasberg temporarily blocked the mass deportations of non-citizens on U.S. soil after the Trump administration invoked an 18th-century law called the Alien Enemies Act. This law, dating back to 1798, grants the president the power to detain non-citizens during times of war. According to NPR, the last time the Alien Enemies Act was invoked was during World War II, resulting in the abhorrent internment of thousands of Japanese, German, and Italian non-citizens.
Many fear that these ongoing mass deportations will actively promote exclusionary practices targeting communities with long-standing ties to the United States. At the same time, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs are being defunded through Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) operation. On March 7, 2025, the Trump administration canceled $400 million in federal funding for Columbia University, citing the institution’s alleged failure to protect Jewish students during anti-war protests. A day later, Mahmoud Khalil, a permanent resident and Ivy League scholar, was detained. Despite his role as an interlocutor between Jewish and Palestinian students, the Department of Homeland Security deemed his actions as “activities aligned to Hamas.”
As a society, we are treading dangerous ground. While students of modest means are detained for exercising their First Amendment rights, a president sells U.S. citizenships as “gold cards” worth five million dollars. If democracy is for sale, and your rights are commodities to be bought and sold to the highest bidder, what does this mean for the soul of our nation?
“If we stay silent as moneyed nations violate sovereignty and human rights without consequence, the implications on the global stage could become even more dire. We must embrace forward-looking policies that invest in education, promote multiculturalism, and address the root causes of social and economic instability.”
Let us remember that immigrants built the backbone of the current American economy. The current influx of immigration in Western nations directly results from the colonial empires established in developing economies. The recent deportation of Venezuelans through the Alien Enemies Act is an admission of guilt for the economic havoc globalization has orchestrated in these regions in pursuit of natural resources to fuel our digital future. Lithium, the sustainable successor to oil reserves, is predominantly found in Latin America. According to Luis Felipe López-Calva, lithium is a soft and silvery mineral at the center of the energy transition—some call it the “white gold” of the future. Elon Musk’s infamous response to political backlash on lithium mining in Bolivia rings chillingly relevant: “We will coup whoever we want!”
The irony deepens when examining U.S. economic policies that contributed to Venezuela’s economic collapse, forcing millions of Venezuelans to flee their homeland. Over the past ten years, Venezuela experienced a catastrophic decline in living standards, marking one of modern history’s most severe economic collapses. This crisis drove nearly 7.8 million Venezuelans to seek refuge abroad; some of them may have even been deported under the Alien Enemies Act this week. Some 250 Venezuelan migrants were rerouted to El Salvador, another country where the United States has previously tested cryptocurrency policies that disproportionately harmed the nation’s poor. The Salvadoran government’s investment in Bitcoin resulted in a loss of approximately 35%, equating to around $40 million in public funds. Additionally, extreme poverty in El Salvador increased, affecting nearly 9% of the population, with half the country experiencing food insecurity. These outcomes highlight the adverse effects of economic experiments on vulnerable populations.
Toward a Better Digital Future
The current surge in authoritarian narratives reflects a broader attempt by the West to maintain global dominance amid shifting international power dynamics. Attacking education, vilifying immigrants, and promoting economic nostalgia—while tech billionaires profit from the chaos—will only deepen inequality and weaken democratic values.
If we stay silent as moneyed nations violate sovereignty and human rights without consequence, the implications on the global stage could become even more dire. We must embrace forward-looking policies that invest in education, promote multiculturalism, and address the root causes of social and economic instability. The story of scarcity and fear of our neighbors is an old tactic rooted in war and dominance. Isn’t it time for a better story?
Globalization’s success has always depended on cooperation and inclusivity—values that America must reclaim if it hopes to remain a global leader in the digital age. Otherwise, shouldn’t we begin to organize an “Occupy Tech” movement to fight for the freedoms we deserve that are slowly being erased?
I urge you to care about this—unless, of course, you can guarantee yourself a home in the space society Musk aims to build by 2050, even though homeownership still seems to escape you on planet Earth.
Editor’s Note: The Philippine Daily Mirror welcomes Elaine J.E.. Degale as a columnist. Ms. Degale’s column, The Dreamweaver, will appear every Thursday. Her articles will be in the guest column as her handle is being prepared. Her initial column, We Are Sub-Saharan, was published on March 23, 2025.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Elaine Joy Edaya Degale is a Black-Filipina writer and lecturer at community colleges within the City University of New York (CUNY) and has an Ed.M. and M.A. from Teachers College, Columbia University.
She graduated cum laude from Mount Holyoke College, where she studied International Relations and Development, and continues to support literacy and food programming efforts in Indigenous communities through her Community-Based organization, OperationMerienda.org.
