Strangely enough, Germany has had hate speech laws and struggled - to put it mildly - and continues to struggle with National Socialism attracting supporters.
Also strangely, the United States has such strong free speech and association protections that Nazis were protected enough to march through Skokie, and yet there has been no such struggle with Naziism - except to join the other Allies in smashing the Reich.
Yes, Popper didn't stutter, those who do not reject debate in favour of violence should be tolerated.
> Germany (..) continues to struggle with National Socialism attracting supporters.
Correct. But that's because fascism is the logical conclusion of capitalism. The State maintains a "social-liberal" republic which is nothing like a democracy but instead a hypocrisy reproducing systems of privileges.
We are stuck in a cognitive dissonance where we are told it's all about freedom & equality but all institutions around us do the exact opposite, and in parallel we're conditioned for being docile in the face of authority and extreme injustice. Both these conditions create a perfect ground for fascism to take root.
We have to remember fascism was born from "liberal" (= economic injustice) republics of the early 20th century and was based on myths distilled by public school systems and the media. Hitler did not invent racial hierarchies (they were common across all "democracies" of the time) and Mussolini did not invent state planning.
> United States has such strong free speech (...) there has been no such struggle with Naziism
Because in the US white supremacy is not called nazism, and may be more concerned with black/indigenous/latinx people rather than jews. In both cases, so-called "sexual deviancy" is also of concern to these people. Just because you don't see swastikas everywhere and Hitler is not the most popular figure in the USA doesn't erase the dozens of millions of people enslaved or killed due to their ethnicity, and the existence of white-supremacist discourse and militia across the country.
National-socialism is not the only variant of fascism. Mussolini famously said:
> Fascism should more appropriately be called Corporatism because it is a merger of state and corporate power
Both US and UK have (or at least have had) a strong central government abusing power against its local population, laws based on racial hierarchies, a strong military-industrial complex, very close relations between industry leaders and politicians, pillaged/exploited/mass-murdered local and remote communities, maintained gender-based segregation and hierarchies, supported dictatorial/genocidal regimes across the planet in the name of fighting for "freedom" against communism and independent 3rd world countries... all of which are typical characteristics of fascist regimes.
But to be clear, i didn't mean that capitalism equates fascism (although the premises of both systems are uncomfortably-close), but rather that the atomization of capitalist society (in the form of private property, and everyone having to struggle against everyone else to survive) is a prerequisite to legitimize the absolute central power of fascism, under which hope and solidarity don't have a place.
I also mean that historically, in all countries - to my knowledge - where fascism has taken roots, the local bourgeoisie and industry were directly responsible for that. Hitler for example, had wide industry support (financial and logistical) for his campaign, as he was promising to do away with "judeo-bolshevism" and outlaw unions. There's an entire documentary about that called "Fascism Inc" that can be found on the Internet if learning about history is your thing (and of course, countless books on the topic).
> the atomization of capitalist society (in the form of private property, and everyone having to struggle against everyone else to survive) is a prerequisite to legitimize the absolute central power of fascism, under which hope and solidarity don't have a place.
Competition is a fact of life, and private property is a pre-requisite to freedom. Fascism is just one more form of collectivism that crushes individuality, and thus freedom and hope. I'm not interested in that kind of solidarity and the link you've provided is tenuous.
Regardless, freedom of speech is more effective than hate speech laws in staving off fascism, history, if not good sense, shows us that.
Also strangely, the United States has such strong free speech and association protections that Nazis were protected enough to march through Skokie, and yet there has been no such struggle with Naziism - except to join the other Allies in smashing the Reich.
Yes, Popper didn't stutter, those who do not reject debate in favour of violence should be tolerated.