No, I don'tIt is in common usage today to mean almost anyone or anything that is aggressively oppressive. However, it's origin is from members of the Fascista Party (the Fascisti in Italian) ruled the dictator Benito Mussolini; hence the Germans were Nazis and the Italians were Fascists.
Labeling someone a fascist is like calling them a Baathist; Just because the Ruling party in Saddam Hussein's dictatorship was particularly oppressive, it doesn't mean anyone who is similar is a Baathist.
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Sat 8 Apr 2006, 9:08,
archived)
Labeling someone a fascist is like calling them a Baathist; Just because the Ruling party in Saddam Hussein's dictatorship was particularly oppressive, it doesn't mean anyone who is similar is a Baathist.