By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 17/09/2026The word "fascist" comes from the Latin *fasces*, a bundle of sticks; the symbology here is that a single twig is weak and brittle, but bundled together, many twigs are strong. It's a sound political theory, because in politics, coalitions are everything: pluralistic.net/2025/01/06/h... 89537
By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 17/09/2026If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog: pluralistic.net/2026/09/17/p...pluralistic.netPluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow – No trackers, no ads. Black type, white background. Privacy policy: we don't collect or retain any data at all ever period. 1234
Markus Eichhorn @markuseichhorn.bsky.social · 17/09/2026That is one interpretation of the fasces, but their adoption by modern-day authoritarians (and the US itself) often has more to do with their association with Caesarean methods of maintaining order and control.nybooks.comAuthoritarianism’s Emblem | James RommGreco-Roman symbols and slogans are often invested today with political meaning, especially by those on the right, to whom they connote authoritarian 200
Sheepflame @sheepflame.bsky.social · 17/09/2026Thanks, liked the article. Post reminded me that fasces as “unity” was hallucinated in the Italian Renaissance. When fasces were actually used in Ancient Rome, they were functional symbols of coercive force: break a small law and get clubbed; break a big law and get axed. 1214
Ian Mitchell, MD @drivmitch.bsky.social · 17/09/2026I’ve never thought about it before but this also gives us necrotizing #fasciitis, plantar #fasciitis, #fasciculations, etc #didnazithatcoming 010
RV @tawwaab.bsky.social · 18/09/2026Dear Cory, I chose the image to symbolise the failure of extremists to recreate the many-branched tree of Islamic knowledge by just gathering a bundle of random twigs & presenting it without the context from which each twig came. repelling-the-woes.blogspot.com/2026/07/a-bu...repelling-the-woes.blogspot.comA bundle of twigs is not a tree : blurbTo buy your copy of A bundle of twigs is not a tree , click on the image. A bundle of twigs is not a tree : contextualising soundbites fro... 000
piquedpensioner.bsky.social @piquedpensioner.bsky.social · 17/09/2026MAGA technofascism springs from fasces feces, i.e., one shitty person can’t do much damage, but many shitty people bundled together can wreak havoc by flooding the zone with their shit. As noted, they are allies until they’re not. Shitty people are prone to turning on ostensible, also-shitty allies. 000
teamrecks.bsky.social @teamrecks.bsky.social · 17/09/2026I thought there was another word for a bundle of sticks 110
Policy Vibe · by NoMAGA @policyvibe.bsky.social · 17/09/2026The bundle only holds if the sticks have a reason to stay tied. Durable coalitions need shared priorities people can see in practice, not just a common enemy. 172