"Say No to Fascism" demonstration. (Wikimedia Commons)
FāVS News | Nov. 4, 2025
What time is it on the “clock of fascism”?
If you ask Joan Braune, Ph.D., Gonzaga University lecturer of philosophy, author and speaker, the hour is late, and those trying to stop the spread of the anti-democracy movement in the United States are fast running out of time.
Braune, who works in social and political philosophy, ethics and philosophy of religion, will be speaking about these movements and what people interested in preserving democracy can do to counter them at an “Understanding and Challenging Anit-Democracy Movements” event Nov. 8. The event runs from 3 – 5 p.m. at the Unitarian Universalist Church in Spokane and will be available on Zoom.
Joan Braune
Braune says it’s critical people wishing to preserve democracy organize and act as the speed with which the fascism movement has seized or neutralized important elements of American democracy is alarming and accelerating.
The reference to the “clock of fascism” stems from the title of a two-part podcast interview on The Fascism Barometer website with Tarso Ramos, a fascism, authoritarian and supremacist movement researcher for over 30 years. Ramos’ family fled Brazil’s military dictatorship, and he draws disturbing parallels between past fascist regimes and today’s U.S. political landscape.
In the podcast, Ramos says fascism opponents have a 12- to 18-month window of opportunity to organize to combat U.S. fascism and move the country back toward its foundation of representative, shared government control.
“And if we don’t organize within that 12- to 18-months window, we never will,” Braune said. “And I believe that.”
Braune and fascism research
Braune received her doctorate from the University of Kentucky in 2013. Her website bio states she has been involved in research and activism focusing “heavily on countering the rise of fascist movements and hate groups in the Pacific Northwest and more broadly” since 2017.
She has published two single-author books on the subject and has served as co-author on several others, with a new book “On Christian Nationalism: Critical and Theological Perspectives” scheduled for release in January 2026.
Braune has served on the International Council of Experts for the Gonzaga Center for the Study of Hate and is a frequent lecturer and coordinator on these issues with community organizations, educators, faith communities and “others to form responses to threats, targeted recruitment and manipulative messaging by far-right agitators and insurgents.”
An activist and Braune become friends
It was through these engagements that Spokane-area community organizer and activist Petra Hoy first became friends with Braune around 2017-2018. Hoy founded the group “Be The Change 509 – Eastside Gladiators” in 2016 to “support local and national causes through volunteer work and community engagement,” building community “with gratitude.”
Hoy credited Braune with helping her learn about far-right movements, their supporters such as the Koch brothers and political action committees and major proponents like Steve Bannon. Through Braune, she has also learned what can be done to counter these influences.
Growing up in Portland in the 1980s and 1990s, Hoy said her perception of far-right movements came from the “skinheads,” a youth subculture originating in London, England, in the late 1960s. This movement first focused on working-class solidarity but has since become more involved in racist and anti-democracy efforts.
Hoy said over time, this and other groups originally considered to be on the right-wing fringe have become more mainstream, with members removing tattoos and donning business suits.
“Some of these groups that were on the outside are on the inside, which feels really different to me,” she said, adding recent events led her to feel the need for a refresher on the subject.
Braune agreed.. With some universities feeling “squeamish” about hosting such events due to the possibility of violent reaction from far-right groups, Hoy said she approached the Unitarian Universalist Church’s Social Justice Coordinating Council who were happy to co-host the event on Nov. 8.
“We thought it would be good to have an update on what’s been going on with the U.S. anti-democracy movements,” Hoy said. “A lot has changed since 2016.”
Violence and control key to fascism success
The Merriam-Webster Dictionary describes fascism as “a populist political philosophy, movement, or regime that exalts nation and often race above the individual, that is associated with a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, and that is characterized by severe economic and social regimentation and by forcible suppression of opposition.”
Braune said the actual workings of fascism are much more complex. The movement grows and thrives on grievances, both real and imagined, and uses violence and the dehumanizing of opponents and those it sees as responsible for past and current problems as its source of power.
Fascism originated in post-World War I Italy with Benito Mussolini and was adopted by Adolf Hitler in the 1930s. In “Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present,” Ruth Ben-Ghiat traces how this power system has been employed by leaders from Idi Amin and Augusto Pinochet to contemporary figures including Vladimir Putin, Viktor Orbán, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Donald Trump.
Fascists use many methods to seize and solidify power, including neutering institutions — such as the U.S. Congress and government oversight functions — as well as intimidation by declaring national emergencies to put troops in the streets, stop elections or silence a free press, Braune said.
They also seek to remove impediments to the will of the executive — something Braune says is described in the Heritage Foundation’s “Project 2025” and its call for plenary (or absolute) power for the president, something Trump and his advisors like Steven Miller actively promote.
Fascists demonize groups of people they blame for their problems, such as immigrants, minorities, the LGBTQ+ community and political opponents. They have silenced or removed these individuals through violence in the past, often using paramilitary forces such as Mussolini’s Black Shirts and Hitler’s Brown Shirts. Today, she said we can see this through Trump’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
“They look for people that can be dehumanized, that’s where fascists get their power,” Braune said.
How to combat authoritarianism
How this all came about in the U.S. is also complex, Braune said. She points to a number of issues and events that have helped spawn the American far-right’s anger, and she will discuss these in her presentation.
But while the picture may appear gloomy, Braune believes there is hope. The answers to combating authoritarianism may not necessarily be easily forthcoming, but she said there are things people can do to counter fascism’s influence and growth.
One way she thinks can be successful is through engagement, not with those heavily influenced by the movement — that can be dangerous — but people who are neutral, unsure or have misgivings about what is happening but don’t know what to do.
“People need to think about who they can reach and who they can bring in,” she said.
Braune said she will present strategies and training on Nov. 8 on how to talk to these individuals and move them along what she refers to as the “Spectrum of Allies.” The Spectrum was developed by sociologists George Lakey and Martin Oppenheimer during the 1960s Civil Rights Movement as a tool to identify and strategize around supporters and opponents.
Image Courtesy of FaVS News
The spectrum is a half-circle divided into five categories ranging from active opposition to active allies. Braune said the intent is to develop ways to move people slowly along that spectrum.
“You don’t think about moving everyone along all at once,” she said. “You think about moving everyone one notch at a time on the spectrum.”
To aid this, Braune said she plans to provide ways individuals can map out the different subcultures they belong to in their lives, and how people in those subcultures can be informed about the dangers to democracy from authoritarianism, along with ways to counter those effects.
One aspect to this is to understand how fascism has become normalized in our society, but still needs people who are silent and unsure to help it succeed.
“I’m hoping we can implement some of her (Braune’s) ideas and suggestions to better be able to protect our democracy and the country that we love so much,” Hoy said.
For those attending in person, light refreshments will be served after the discussion.
“You need a little sugar when you have such dark topics,” she added.
The event is free and open to the public. More information can be found online.
John McCallum (Photo Courtesy of FaVS News)
John McCallum is a freelance writer living in Liberty Lake, Wash. A graduate of Eastern Washington University with degrees in Journalism and Radio-Television, John spent 21 years at the Cheney Free Press as an award-winning staff reporter, editor, managing editor and photojournalist covering everything from government to education, sports, religion and current affairs. He is a member of Spokane’s Knox Presbyterian Church.