"The strategic adversary is fascism... the fascism in us all, in our heads and in our everyday behavior, the fascism that causes us to love power, to desire the very thing that dominates and exploits us"

Michel Foucault’s statement that “the strategic adversary is fascism... the fascism in us all, in our heads and in our everyday behavior, the fascism that causes us to love power, to desire the very thing that dominates and exploits us” directs attention away from fascism as merely an external political threat toward its presence as an internalized, psychological force. Rather than seeing fascism only in historical regimes or in specific political ideologies, Foucault highlights its everyday manifestations—the subtle and often unnoticed ways people enact authoritarian structures and desires in their daily lives.

Fascism, for Foucault, is not limited to overt acts of domination or oppression; it is ingrained in the ways individuals think, desire, and relate to power. This “internal fascism” manifests when individuals adopt hierarchical or authoritarian thinking, submit to authority without question, or perpetuate systems of control even in personal relationships or social institutions. It reveals itself in the ways people can become invested in the very structures that limit their freedom, displaying a paradoxical attachment to power and rule. The desire to be dominated, or the unconscious acceptance of power’s sway, fuels complicity in oppressive arrangements—leading people to uphold or even rationalize systems that exploit them.

Foucault’s insight disrupts the reassurance that fascism is always elsewhere—something only “other people” or distant governments enact. He challenges self-righteousness by suggesting that everyone is susceptible to these inner drives toward power and domination. The struggle, therefore, is not just against external fascism but also the imperceptible, pervasive forms of micro-fascism that permeate ordinary life: submission to rigid norms, intolerance, or desire for control, even in mundane settings. Resistance, then, involves constant vigilance—not just opposing authoritarian regimes, but critically interrogating our own attractions to power, our complicity in its workings, and our daily actions that might reinforce oppressive dynamics, however subtly they appear.