Now I know this is controversial. Scotty tells an alien in trying to get them to join Starfleet that the Federation is strong because it is like a bundle of sticks. Fascist derives from the Latin "Fasces" meaning ' bundle of sticks" This was the metaphor Hitler used for the Third Reich as well. Is the Federation becoming the Fourth Reich?
So because one guy uses a metaphor for the benefits of working together, now the whole Federation is fascist?
Just because fascism derived its name from an ancient Etruscan/Roman symbol of a bundle of rods representing the power of the magistrate doesn't mean the principle behind it isn't true, that one stick can be easily broken while a bundle of them together is strong. Does teamwork and forming mutual alliances to help each other automatically mean fascism?
In Voyager we see the Federation with the ability to read memory engrams of the brain in detail and erase or change them. They also show the willingness to use this technology.
Except they don't. We've seen past this time and there's no rampant memory wipes or brainwashing going on (well, besides Rutherford in
Lower Decks, but we don't know the full story behind that yet, or who is responsible, and it's about his cybernetic tech rather than the thing from
Voyager).
Fascism involves centralized government control of media, transportation, commerce and education to name just a few things. All travel in space is governed by the Federation. There is the FNN Federation News Network and FSN Federation Space News and they own all they subspace relays giving them the ability to read and filter all content.
Well, the first thing to bear in mind is that we are seeing the Federation from the perspective of Starfleet crews in every show and film, so obviously everything is going to look like it is run by Starfleet and the Federation when coming at it from that angle. It would be like serving in Vietnam and seeing a reporter from Stars & Stripes and concluding that that's the only newspaper in existence, or having the MPs show up and assuming that that's the only law enforcement, or having an Army helicopter take you to a base and thinking that that's the only mode of transportation that exists. No, we're just seeing things from a very narrow perspective of Starfleet personnel.
Secondly, just because the government runs something doesn't mean civilians can't have free access to it and be legally protected from being tracked on it without a warrant. The Global Positioning System (GPS) is owned by the US government, was started by the Department of Defense, is currently operated by the US Space Force (formerly the USAF), and since the 80s has been freely accessible to anyone with a GPS receiver. It can even be interfaced with the positioning satellites of other countries to provides greater coverage, speed, and accuracy.
Thirdly, there are civilian transport services and privately owned vessels (Kassidy Yates' freighter, Earth Cargo Service, etc.) as well as non-Federation ones that are allowed access within the Federation (the Nyberite Alliance that Worf was going to join).
There are more than just the Federation and Starfleet news services, though those do tend to dominate the films and show because they're set on Starfleet ships and facilities.
https://www.ex-astris-scientia.org/inconsistencies/reporters.htm
The Federation is much darker than we ever imagined.
If they're fascists, they're the most mellow fascists I've ever seen. The Terran Empire from the MU are fascists, certainly, but not the Federation.
