AI tells me that:

the "sticks in a bundle" metaphor suggests strength in unity, with each stick representing an individual's power or influence. When these individual powers are combined, they create a formidable and unified force, much like a fascist regime.

Also wikipedia tells us that the word Fascism comes from the Latin word fascis, meaning 'bundle'; Italian: fascio littorio) is a bound bundle of wooden rods. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fasces

So I have known about that since forever. Indeed, I even speculated in a thesis that the whole Thatcher's New Public Management (Union Busting) movement with its instruments like: Public Private Partnershilps - where oligarchs get to play with Public projects, such as 'privatizing' Telecoms and Rails etc - which I ventured is Fascism lite - to destroy the communists was the theory.

So, the reason why I bring this up is that my organization decided to jump in with the Maori prayer before work meme.

The translation went something like:

Bind hem all together

Bind them tightly

Bind them so that they are strong

etc.

My first reaction was that it sounded like One ring to rule them all from Tolkien. There was also no mention of who we were praying to. Which meant crossin myself, because any entity could be invited in. Seriously.

And then I was wondering if there was any connection to the 'binding together of sticks' , à la Mussolini, and went to google it.

The whole front page was waffling about a Kenyan fable. Get off the grass! Everyone knows that sticks in a bundle was the symbol Mussolini used. I am wondering now, if the memory is being Mandela effected, and replaced.