Fascist regimes and ways of legitimizing

Today, on my way to the library, I was speaking with a friend on the phone. He asked me a question about the recent Taliban's digital authoritarianism, the wholesale internet blackout in Afghanistan. I said, this is what fascist and authoritarian regimes do to their citizens. They take away the basic needs/rights of their citizens and then return it back to them.

I gave him an example of the recent crises of the ethno-religious fascist Taliban regime created. They shut down the internet and telecommunication for two days in the entire country. When they restored it, people poured into the streets of Kabul and celebrated the return of the internet. This is what anthropologists call "manufacturing gratitude."  Fascist regimes like the Taliban first create a crisis, and then they themselves provide the solution. What happens in this kind of performance is that it leads to manufacturing consent among citizens, and this is how fascist regimes legitimize their power and control over the population.

Also, today, I saw videos on the internet showing Gazans pouring into the streets and dancing with joy that the Israeli occupying regime has finally decided not to kill innocent people. On the other side of the border, Israelis have also poured into the streets and held celebrations because their government may stop dropping bombs on the people of Gaza, and maybe there is a possibility that hostages might return home through an exchange.

These street dances and celebrations grant more legitimacy to the Israeli regime. For the regime, it means that, yes, we can carry out a genocide in Gaza in front of the eyes of the world, and with the help of the United States, we can kill as many innocent people as we can, and we don't even care. To fascist regimes, street dances and the celebration of the cessation of violence are a symbolic act of submission. This is a classic example of the legitimization method of fascist and apartheid governments that manufacture.