Fascism is one of those things which is notoriously difficult for define. The term is bandied about all too easily, often used as an insult, to the extent that it loses any real meaning. I think, though, that in the broadest terms, fascism is a form of ultra right wing, discriminatory culture; a form of reactionary intolerance where you are right and everyone else is wrong, and one’s culture is inherently superior to all others. Under those terms, however, that is precisely the culture we now see emanating from the United States.

Since the second election of Donald Trump, America has become ever more brash and arrogant: its attack on Iran was unprovoked and criminal. To be honest such actions give American culture in its entirety a far darker, more reactionary feel. Americans now have the aspect of those who feel they have the right to do whatever they want, no matter what suffering it causes. Of course, I know not all Americans approve of what their government is doing, but you could have said the same about Germans under the Nazis. For me at least, American culture now has a vile, repugnant undercurrent to it.

That makes what I am experiencing today far more disquieting than it would have been not long ago. I am writing this sat in the corner of the O2. The Country To Country festival is on this weekend: country music is being played through the speaker system; thousands of people are walking around in cowboy hats and jeans. I frankly doubt many of them would ever have actually been to the Midwest, and I thus can’t help feeling a deep sense of charade to what I’m watching. More to the point, the fact remains that this event is essentially a celebration of a culture which is slipping further and further to the right. Like it or not, American culture is now a fascistic, intolerant one; a culture which is becoming increasingly violent and discriminatory; a country now lead by a vainglorious megalomaniac who thinks he can do anything he pleases. A culture underpinned not by freedom and liberty, but by guns, fury and gut-wrenching arrogance. To see that culture being celebrated here in London today, however lightheartedly, feels profoundly disconcerting. At any previous point in time I would not have had any issue, but here and now, with a needless catastrophe unfolding in the Middle East, I cannot divorce this event from the culture and nation it supposedly celebrates.