Fascist Pleasures: What Makes Fascism Sexy, and What Can We Do About It?

What makes fascism sexy? Why is authoritarianism so appealing? How can we counter its emotional pull? How do we envision antifascist politics of desire today?

There is a side of contemporary fascism that often gets overlooked: fascism is not just brutal, it is also highly seductive. The authoritarian shift is frequently explained through “sad passions” such as resentment, fear, and rage. But today’s fascism presents itself as playful, welcoming, joyful and transgressive. This is mirrored in our digital lives: gig-economy apps gamify exploitation, the financialization of life —where everyone becomes a player, be it at the stock market, by selling stuff on the internet, or by pretending to become an influencer— is branded and experienced as ‘empowerment’ and ‘freedom’. The system does not just discipline, it entertains.

This isn’t just manipulation and disinhibition. In the midst of a world in crisis, far-right promises of security, identity and freedom seem to actually have something to offer that the left is lacking —addressing needs and desires to which, often, we do not have compelling responses.

Together, we will ask how fascist fun and fascist pleasure operate today; how authoritarian neoliberal solutions respond to actual needs and desires; and how the left can develop practices and strategies that take affects and desires into account, articulating them toward antifascist ways of living.

Our guests are

• feminist philosopher and activist Ewa Majewska, who will talk about The perversions of fascism and the tautologies of authoritarian love;

• writer, game designer and educator Max Haiven, who will discuss The rise of the playgrom: Fascistic violence in gamed capitalism;

• and researcher and activist Gustavo Robles, who will give an input on The dark pleasures of libertarian freedom.

The discussion will be moderated by feminist scholar and activist Firoozeh Farvardin and Börries Nehe, who is the coordinator of IRGAC.

After the discussion, VEX (AL.Berlin Crew) will play records with music from across the South.

Ewa Majewska is a feminist theorist of culture, associate professor at the SWPS University in Warsaw, Poland, working on the queer archive theory project “Public against their will. The production of subjects in the archives of "Hiacynt" operations"; author of seven books, incl. Feminist Antifascism (Verso, 2021) and articles in: e-flux, Signs, Third Text, Journal of Utopian Studies and others. She lives and works between Berlin and Warsaw. More: https://ewa-majewska.com.

Max Haiven is a writer, game designer, and educator and the Canada Research Chair in the Radical Imagination at Lakehead University. He is author of many books, including the forthcoming The Player and the Played: From Gamed Capitalism to 21st Century Fascism (MIT 2026). More: https://maxhaiven.com.

Gustavo Robles is a philosopher and activist from Argentina. Currently a Gerda-Henkel Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Passau and a Research Fellow at IRGAC. His work intersects critical theory and the political economy of digital capitalism, while he also coordinates the "Piquetero University" project of popular education in Tucumán, Northern Argentina.

Firoozeh Farvardin is a feminist activist and scholar. As a University Assistant at the University of Vienna's Department of Political Science and an Associate Fellow with IRGAC, her research and teaching focus on transnational feminist movements, feminist futurities, and gender counter-strategies against fascism and authoritarianism, with a special focus on Iran.

Börries Nehe coordinates the International Research Group on Authoritarianism & Counter-Strategies at the University of Potsdam. His work focuses on authoritarianism, far-right ideologies and movements, and violence. More: www.irgac.org.

VEX (aka Eyal Vexler) is co-founder of AL.Berlin. As a DJ, VEX explores old and contemporary music from across the Global South, drawing inspiration from his family, his activism, and his commitment to fostering inclusive and politically engaged cultural spaces.