On June 14, President Donald Trump will hold a military parade to mark the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army. The Parade is also marking Flag Day, and his 79th birthday. The symbolism is undeniable. Critics have noted that the parade’s unmistakably authoritarian flavor evokes Soviet theatrics more than democratic celebration, and accuse Trump of acting more like a monarch than a president.
Trump’s parade will also occur on the 100th anniversary of the 1925 Letter of the Anti-Fascist Intellectuals, published in Italy after Benito Mussolini seized power. The letter posed great personal risk for the signatories, which included scientists, philosophers, writers, and artists.
[time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]Today, scholars from more than 30 countries, including 28 Nobel Laureates, are taking on the similar risks by signing a modern version of this letter which offers a similar warning: The signs of authoritarianism, and its more militaristic sibling fascism, are here.
This is not hyperbole. We are once again witnessing the coordinated rise of authoritarian forces in global democracies. According to the V-Dem Institute’s 2025 Democracy Report, 72% of the world’s population now live under autocratic rule—nearly 3 out of 4 people.
The world is lurching toward autocracy, with alarming speed. And this trend is not just occurring in the United States. Israel—long described as the only democracy in the Middle East—has recently seized humanitarian flotillas in international waters. Palestinians in Gaza are being bombed, displaced, and starved. In Hungary, freedom of the press and civil rights have been fundamentally denied for years. In India, religious minorities are experiencing rising violence and a sustained clampdown on dissent under Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In El Salvador, President Nayib Bukele is defying constitutional, political, and legal constraints. And in Turkey, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is “purging the judiciary, cracking down on the media, and jailing political opponents.”
Across the U.S., masked officers are conducting immigration raids, detaining people of color in churches and workplaces. Protesters for migrants’ rights in Los Angeles were met with Marines and National Guard troops. These scenes bear disturbing similarities to those from a century ago, and they should alarm us all.
History offers a powerful warning
In 1925, when Mussolini was solidifying his power grip on Italy, the philosopher Benedetto Croce authored the Letter of the Anti-Fascist Intellectuals, signed by cultural figures such as Luigi Einaudi, and Eugenio Montale. By then, it was already dangerous to dissent publicly. Yet Croce and his peers knew that silence in the face of tyranny is not prudence. It is surrender.
As Italian citizens, we feel the responsibility of that legacy. Italy, which has yet to fully reckon with its fascist past, has served and continues to serve as a laboratory for the far right. That history compels us to speak up. So we wrote A Renewed Open Letter Against the Return of Fascism. In one month, it has been signed by more than 400 scholars who understand that being silent is to be complicit.
The letter emerged as a response to the events of early 2025, when multiple authoritarian tactics were brutally deployed in the U.S. and beyond in a “flood the zone” approach, designed to overwhelm resistance. Prestigious universities, law firms, trade unions, and even elements of the political opposition capitulated or sought accommodation with power. Many clung to the illusion that silence might spare them.
But we must reject the false promise of compromise. The pulsion of authoritarianism is to accumulate power, not to come to terms with the opposition. Ultimately, complying leads to complicity.
Instead, we must name political aggression clearly: this new authoritarian wave bears clear fascist traits. These movements share essential elements: disdain for pluralism and diversity, fetishization of leadership, order and aggression, dismissal of the rule of law, and aversion to accountability. They thrive on our fear of calling them out.
We must not sleepwalk towards the collapse of democracy
The over 400 scholars who signed the letter do not agree on everything. In fact, they often debate theories, methods, and ideologies. But they are united in their commitment to democracy: the rule of law, the independence of the judiciary and the press, the autonomy of scientific and cultural institutions, and the dignity of every human being. They also agree on this: we are sleepwalking towards the collapse of democracy.
We must convince people of conscience that masked agents abducting civilians without due process, the neutering of legislatures, the dismissal of international human rights law, and the erosion of judicial independence cannot be accepted. History teaches us that tyrants typically consolidate their power by mocking intellectuals. Then, they escalate through violence.
However, we are optimistic that once we acknowledge the signs of fascism, we can defeat it again.
Silence does not always stem from ignorance. Often, it grows from fear: of repression, of losing status, of standing alone. And beneath that fear lies a corrosive belief that resistance is futile. That we are outnumbered. That we cannot win.
This is the lie that allows authoritarianism to spread, one silenced voice at a time. But history tells a different story. Authoritarianism can be defeated. Not by waiting it out, but through bold and united mobilization that speaks truth to power.
When hundreds of scholars—many who have dedicated their lives to studying the fall of democracies—warn that fascism is returning, they are not being dramatic. They are being precise.
We know what fascism looks like.
We have seen it before.
And we know we must all act now to stop it.
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