Fascism

You said the united states has the greatest fascism. What about germany?

I just said that the German chancellor is a puppet of Ronald Reagan, and the German government is following on the lines of the American government. It is fascist. But because of the second world war and Adolf Hitler, the word `fascism' or `nazism' has become so condemned that the German government has to wear masks in the same way as the American government is doing; it has to pretend to be democratic. In fact, it is very difficult for any government to be democratic, for the simple reason that power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

[NOTE: This discourse is published in the book: The Last Testament, Volume 1, as Chapter 21.] Ma Anand Rose DIE RAJNEESH TIMES COLOGNE, WEST GERMANY QUESTION: BHAGWAN, NO COUNTRY, NOT EVEN AMERICA, IS AS UPSET AS THE GERMANS AT YOUR PRESENCE IN THE WORLD TODAY, AND AT YOUR INFLUENCE ON INTELLIGENT AND CREATIVE PEOPLE. THEY ARE TRYING HARD TO SEE YOU AS ANOTHER HITLER. WHAT DOES THAT TELL ABOUT THE GERMAN MIND, FORTY YEARS AFTER HITLER'S DEATH? Answer: The ghost of Adolf Hitler, his long shadow, is still present. And Adolf Hitler is not something that you can confine to one person. It is something deep down in the German mind itself. Adolf Hitler would not have existed if the German mind had not been supportive of him.

In the beginning Adolf Hitler was also talking about socialism. There were thousands of people -- and not uneducated people, not unintelligent people: germany was one of the most sophisticated countries. Even a man like Martin Heideigger supported Adolf Hitler thinking that he was going to do good. The whole country was with him -- almost the whole country was with him! Intellectuals, poets, painters, scientists -- the major part of the country was with him: they were all thinking that he was doing good. But by and by things started changing, because whenever there is violence you cannot do good; even in the name of good, bad will result. And this same happened with Joseph Stalin and with Mao Tse Tung. Things start off well, but finally if the man is violent inside, he is bound to destroy people. The more powerful he becomes, the more destruction will come.

Osho, freedom of thought, expression, and speech is the basic foundation of democracy. One is free either to agree with what you say or to express one’s opposition. People do oppose, yet they don’t want to allow a person the freedom to do his own work. Why is that?

A single cup shattered both illusions. The drunkard went to the mosque, the sheikh to the tavern. About what we call life, and the values we pride ourselves upon—how many delusions there are in them, and how many truths! If you just open your eyes, you will not be able to avoid being startled. All over the world, in the name of democracy, such lies have been propagated—and for so long—that we have forgotten there is a need to reconsider that propaganda. It is said that democracy is of the people, for the people, by the people. But even the biggest lies, when repeated again and again, start to look like the truth. Adolf Hitler used to say: I have found only one difference between a lie and the truth—and that difference is repetition. A lie is a new truth that has not yet been repeated; and the truth is…