On people marching with raised fists shouting slogans

“Fists raised high, the young Frenchmen shouted out slogans condemning Soviet imperialism … She found herself unable to shout along with them. When she told her French friends about it, they were amazed … She would have liked to tell them that behind Communism, Fascism, behind all occupations and invasions lurks a more basic, pervasive evil and that the image of that evil was a parade of people marching by with raised fists and shouting identical syllables in unison. But she knew she would never be able to make them understand,” - Sabina in Milan Kundera’s The Unbearable Lightness of Being.
Sabina is an escapee from a Communist regime. Like her, I understand that evil but also find it difficult to explain to my American friends. There’s no great distinction between Fascism and Communism, it’s the same animal with different stripes which in the name of social justice imposes uniformity for all but a select caste. Not all social justice movements are Fascist, but all Fascist regimes began as social justice movements for the betterment of society – and in the name of such betterment old principles were discarded. When do lines get crossed and a quest for social justice turns into an outright Fascist oppression? It’s a hard question that can only be answered in a hindsight, changes are gradual and there’re no big flashing signs. But I do think we have entered a danger zone.