The American-born Christopher Bollas, who became a British citizen in 2010, draws an analogy between the psyche and a political parliament in differentiating between a fascist and a democratic state of mind. By means of a quotation from Mussolini and a clinical vignette this article shows how the mind is (dis)functioning in case a « fascist party » is in power. Next, however, settings are described in which paradoxically « fascist » voices have been an indispensable element in developing more understanding of the Other ánd the Self. Finally, against the political tide, it is argued that in the treatment of a black person by a white psychoanalyst there should be space for e.g. « fascist » hatred, possibly emerging from deep evolutionary layers, in their inner and shared « parliaments ».

Keywords: Bollas, fear of the stranger, politics