I was exploring this small historic town in a Spanish language LatAm country recently. It's frequented primarily by local tourists from the closest large metropolis, mostly on the weekends. There's plentiful vegan/vegetarian eateries, an old cathedral square, and lots of natural beauty in the vicinity, etc. It's got that old-urbanism charm with nothing over ~3-4 stories tall. So while I was exploring the place walking around, I stumbled into this cafe / book shop place. They had a coffee bar area, some books, reusable water bottles with local art, various notepads and sketchpads, some jewelry based on pre-Columbian art in a display case, etc.
As I'm looking around, I catch a glimpse of the book for sale. "Mi Lucha" in that chunky red Wolfenstein font and Adolf's face on the cover. I was a bit shocked. Noped the fuck out of there as casually as possible. Just a very WTF moment.
If the bookstore is big enough I might not think much of it. But a smaller sized one... that's unsettling.
one time in France I went into a souvenir shop and had picked out a few items until I noticed they were selling confederate flags. put down the stuff and left
Pretty sure France backed the Confederacy in the Civil War
At least they sold them guns if I recall correctly
it was a join support of the UK and France because they were buyers of southern cotton and saw the war as a way to cripple a potencial rival in the USA, France also use the chaos to invade Mexico and install a puppet ruler but failed, when the confederates lost i think it was the battle of Gettysburg both just drop them as a cotton supplier and supported the Union
they probably sold weapons to both sides, like most European powers
oh yea, i sometimes see them when i explore bookshops here in mex
It was really shocking because I had been so taken by the culture of the place. The social fabric of people there seemed so wholesome, I didn't witness anything like the public displays of capitalist
I'm used to seeing in the US: road rage, gratuitous flaunting, patriarchal / machismo behaviors, etc. A modest garden house on the outskirts had a DIY sign with the phrase "para que mas". Just made it seem like such a contrast to the vibes of the place.I mean it's not like fascists and neoliberals are all bloodthirsty incels or anything. A lot of them, if not most are "normal" people who are very nice and pleasant to the groups of people that they don't hate
Years ago I was wandering a large used bookstore with a new friend who vaguely knew I was communist; she saw a copy of "Mein Kampf" and said "you like stuff like this".
