#authoritarianism
Maduro’s rise to power demonstrates how difficult he will be to unseat. Illiberal and dictatorial regimes do not simply relinquish power under popular and external pressure, and Maduro has proven his ability to disregard opposition in favor of his interests. To foster democratic reforms, regime change must start from within the regime itself. #LatinAmerica #authoritarianism #Venezeula #dictatorship #trade #sanctions #FailedState https://responsiblestatecraft.org/maduro-machado-venezuela/
When we're living in a Trump dictatorship we'll only have our neighbors, friends, and families to blame.
"in a democracy, a wannabe tyrant is just a comical figure on a soapbox unless a huge wave of supporters lifts him to high office. That’s how Adolf Hitler destroyed the Weimar Republic and became the Fuhrer. So we need to understand the people out there doing the wave."
The Authoritarians, by Bob Altemeyer (book can be downloaded free online)
#authoritarianism #dictatorship #politics
Alon Pinkas served as Israel’s consul general in New York from 2000 to 2004.
“[…] He [#Netanyahu] sees himself as a historic figure, responsibility as beneath him. He is not merely defiant, but terrified that his trial for corruption and bribery would proceed if he was to resign, and paralysed by the thought that he and the state will no longer be one.”
“[…] A man who likens himself to Winston Churchill has fallen short of the example set by Neville Chamberlain, who resigned in 1940 after the German conquest of Norway.”
“[…] Netanyahu’s shortcomings notwithstanding, much of the twin pressures he is under come from a fundamental gap in how Israel and Hamas define a ‘win’. The asymmetrical power relations between Israel, a formidable military power, and #Hamas, a non-state terror organisation, are evident. For Hamas, a win can be declared if they stand on their feet and wave a single flag. For Israel, only a decisive military triumph that degrades Hamas militarily and renders it politically incapacitated will be enough. Netanyahu is well aware of that, which makes balancing the pressure from home and from the US an intractable task.”
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/nov/30/netanyahu-hamas-lose-win-israeli-public-us
"Former President Trump has spent the last 24 hours on Truth Social unleashing a torrent of grievances, vengeful promises and links to online conspiracy theories about his political rivals.
Why it matters: Trump's online rhetoric has frequently dipped into violent extremism since he left office, escalating as his legal troubles have mounted."
~ Zachary Basu
#Trump #retribution #authoritarianism #ConspiracyTheories #extremism #violence
/2
“Trump continues his deranged authoritarian outbursts, which, due to the ‘banality of crazy,’ will garner virtually no mainstream coverage. Americans deserve to know this stuff. Trump’s authoritarianism is the most important political story in America—and nothing else is close.”
~ Brian Klaas as cited by Charlie Sykes
#Trump #MentalDecline #authoritarianism #MediaFail
/1
https://plus.thebulwark.com/p/remember-when-america-loved-mussolini
Charlie Sykes reminds us of history many Americans choose to forget:
Lots of Americans once loved Mussolini — that swagger! That machismo! That decisiveness! Those movie-star looks! He's making Italy stronger!
Mussolini had large numbers of fanboys in business, labor, Hollywood, and the media. Because a solid proportion of Americans have long been fatally attracted to authoritarianism….
#Mussolini #Trump #authoritarianism #StrongMen
https://plus.thebulwark.com/p/remember-when-america-loved-mussolini
“We have also now learned that most Republicans currently in Congress will do what Donald Trump asks, no matter what it is. I am very sad to say that America can no longer count on a body of elected Republicans to protect our republic.”
#Trump #Republicans #democracy #retribution #Consitution #authoritarianism
/2
“Trump has told us that he thinks the Constitution can and should be suspended when necessary, that what happened on Jan. 6 was justified, that in a second Trump presidency he would seek retribution,. The assumption that our institutions will protect themselves is purely wishful thinking by people who prefer to look the other way.”
~ Liz Cheney
#Trump #Republicans #democracy #retribution #Consitution #authoritarianism
/1
https://statuskuo.substack.com/p/liz-cheney-has-warned-us-will-we
*Ex-DC Chief Judge Warns Of Creeping Authoritarianism*
David Kurtz
(11/29/23)
________________________
#USPolitics #Politics #January6 #MarALago #Documents #JudgeBerylHowell #Authoritarianism #TrumpIndicted #Pence #Smartmatic #Georgia #RICO #PleaDeals #HouseGOP #MAGA #BidenImpeachment #HunterBiden #JamesComer #GeorgeSanto #Vermont #PalestinianLivesMatter #India #Assassination #PopeFrancis #COVID #USLifeExpectancy #LizCheney
The judge who spearheaded the judiciary’s response to the storming of the Capitol on #Jan6, 2021, blamed that event on “big lies” and warned that the country is in danger of turning toward #authoritarianism.
https://www.politico.com/news/2023/11/28/jan-6-authoritarian-threat-democracy-00129013
Edelman PR firm manufacturing and pushing deceitful propaganda for hostile dictatorships is akin to treason against *all* democracies.
But at least the money and the bonuses are good, right? 🤑️💰️💵️
#Edelman #RichardEdelman #hypocrisy #FARA #SaudiArabia #UAE #AbuDhabi #authoritarianism #propaganda
@AnnemarieBridy
"Howell’s comments were reported by Politico’s Josh Gerstein:
'We are having a very surprising and downright troubling moment in this country when the very importance of facts is dismissed, or ignored,' Howell told the annual gala of the Women’s White Collar Defense Association at a downtown hotel. 'That’s very risky business for all of us in our democracy. … The facts matter.'”
"Speaking last night at a lawyers event in DC, [federal judge Beryl] Howell quoted from Boston College historian Heather Cox Richardson’s new book, including:
'Big lies are springboards for authoritarians.'
The U.S. 'is at a crossroads teetering on the brink of authoritarianism.'”
~ David Kurtz
#Trump #authoritarianism #fascism #democracy
/1
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/morning-memo/beryl-howell-warns-of-creeping-authoritarianism
Draft bill seeks ‘loyalty agreement’ from foreigners entering Russia https://www.euractiv.com/section/global-europe/news/draft-bill-seeks-loyalty-agreement-from-foreigners-entering-russia/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon #Authoritarianism #LGBT #Russia
Draft bill seeks ‘loyalty agreement’ from foreigners entering Russia https://www.euractiv.com/section/global-europe/news/draft-bill-seeks-loyalty-agreement-from-foreigners-entering-russia/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon #Authoritarianism #LGBT #Russia
"Trump [won't] cancel elections, but [will] co-opt the machinery of state power in the way that Viktor Orban has done in Hungary. "
Georgetown professor @donmoyn has written a good article describing the mechanics of how the GOP will institute an autocracy, ending Democracy in the US, if we see a second term of the previous president. Moynihan includes his full NYT piece plus some additional commentary.
https://donmoynihan.substack.com/p/what-i-wrote-in-the-new-york-times
"A measure of a functional society is that bureaucracy should be boring!...
The fact that the constitution requires public employees to take an oath to the constitution itself, rather than to the President, should be an obscure piece of Founding Fathers trivia rather than a consideration in thinking about how the next President will rule."
~@donmoyn
https://donmoynihan.substack.com/p/what-i-wrote-in-the-new-york-times
#Trump #MAGA #GOP #Republican #Corruption #Authoritarianism #Fascism #Politics #USPol #USA
UK Descending into Authoritarianism as it bans demonstrations & stifles free speech.
Human Rights Watch’s UK Director Yasmine Ahmed recently said: “Not only is the government talking about ripping up domestic human rights law and ignoring its international obligations, it has launched an open attack on the right to peacefully demonstrate, is locking up climate protesters, criminalizing refugees and has given the police unprecedented powers over citizens.”
#FreeSpeech #authoritarianism #uk #britain #Demonstrations #protest #immigration #ClimateCrisis #palestine
Yikes! The Hewlett Foundation putting big money support into #authoritarianism ?
https://newrepublic.com/post/177095/shocking-donors-behind-pro-trump
"There’s a long history of major media running front-page editorials, sometimes for important reasons, such as announcing their presidential endorsements or taking a courageous stand on a local issue. For example, the Arkansas Gazette lost subscription dollars but won a Pulitzer Prize for Page 1 editorials defending Black students’ right to attend Little Rock Central High School in 1957."
Rachel Maddow gives a 1-minute summary of how and why authoritarians try to destroy the idea of knowable truth and how it threatens #democracy. (Not CWing or tagging this as USpol because it transcends borders; #authoritarianism threatens too many countries for me to list here.) https://boingboing.net/2023/11/27/in-one-minute-rachel-maddow-reveals-how-authoritarians-destroy-trust-in-democracy.html
I'm allergic to #authoritarianism 🤮
"It’s past time for major news organizations to take a bold stand against Trumpian fascism before their soft-pedaling of the threat puts the public in further danger and causes the news outlets themselves to keep losing credibility.
Here’s one clear way to take that stand: Major newspapers should run front-page editorials declaring clearly that a vote for Trump is a vote to end democracy."
~ Mark Jacob
#Trump #media #fascism #authoritarianism #democracy
/1
https://www.stopthepresses.news/p/where-are-the-page-1-editorials-against
Harvard Law Review Editors Vote to Kill Article About Genocide in Gaza https://theintercept.com/2023/11/21/harvard-law-review-gaza-israel/ #HarvardLawReview #censorship #Gaza #FreeSpeech #Authoritarianism #IsraeliWarCrimes
Trump hints at expanded role for the military within the U.S. A legacy law gives him few guardrails
Ah yes authoritarianism 101.
#Politics #Fascism #authoritarianism
“There was truth and there was untruth, and if you clung to the truth even against the whole world, you were not mad.” — George Orwell, 1984 #Quote #Prediction
From Niagara Falls to Texas to Gaza, a horrifying look into the abyss of a post-truth future
https://www.inquirer.com/opinion/commentary/free-press-right-wing-authoritarianism-20231126.html #NiagraFalls #Propaganda #GeorgeOrwell #FoxPropaganda #Lies #Authoritarianism #RainbowBridge #FakeNews
NY car crash falsely propagandized as "a terror attack" symbolized our increasingly #Orwellian post-truth world.
Quote about #democracy and #authoritarianism:
We are in a battle for our political and ideological lives.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/nov/24/edelman-pr-trust-barometer-uae-saudi-arabia | Revealed: how top PR firm uses ‘trust barometer’ to promote world’s autocrats |
[...] "Edelman’s work for one such client – the government of the UAE – will be front and center when world leaders convene in Dubai later this month for the UN’s Cop28 climate summit." | #propaganda #authoritarianism #UAE #COP28 #capitalism
The problem is that the socialists still imagine that communism could exist as something other than authoritarianism.
#politics #socialism #authoritarianism #communism #anticapitalism
Question:
Is any researcher or investigative #journalist #journalists looking into the suicide rate for #MAGA followers?
We know anecdotally that #DomesticViolence and #MAGA appears connected. (And, #research really, really ought to try to get a better handle on that.) #DV is associated with depression.
I am not trying to solve any great equation. I believe the rise of #AntiDemocratic thought is a culmination of many things. I am informally (meaning, I do not intend at this time to turn it into a research question) looking at MAGA in terms of #HumanDevelopment with a strong emphasis on #Womens development. (Meaning why do women become entangled with MAGA?)
We can read great books like *On Tyranny* and philosophers like #HannaArendt to see how #AntiDemocratic #Authoritarianism appeals to some. I'm curious why it appeals to some. One argument states it appeals because it's easy; it gives easy answers. But desiring and/or accepting easy answers strongly indicates there is a connection to human development.
Developmentally, MAGA perhaps could be viewed as an impetus for an awaking of knowledge about self... and, age does not matter here because such an awakening can happen late in life if there is some sort of break. Following the 'break" and being in a newly subjectivist area of development, the person starts to see they are knowers; that they themselves are experts. Subjectivist knowers begin to see truth as intuitive, something where they have the expertise within them and they only need to "listen to their gut." (One can see how MAGA gives people a sense of confirmation of expertise.) But development is not easy to go through, and development is neither linear nor does it follow a prescribed time table. It is known people can have problems in these stages because of the stresses caused. (Note: there are stages of human development beyond subjectivist knowing; but perhaps MAGA gets stuck or falls back within stages, as researchers show happens.)
Hence, my question: if there is a high prevalence of #DV , that prevalence indicates there may also be a high prevalence of depression. Given #MAGA preference for violence, I am wondering how high is suicide amongst MAGA followers? (And, I am counting a willingness to break the law or die for the cause a form of self-harm.)
#Argentina #Milei #Authoritarianism #AnarchoCapitalism #PressFreedom #Media #News #Journalism: "In this context, some Milei supporters have taken to threatening those they disagree with by sending them photos of green Ford Falcons with no licence plates – the vehicle the dictatorship’s security forces used to abduct their victims.
“The green Ford Falcon means endorsing the disappearance, torture and extremely violent death of all those who opposed the dictatorship,” said Beatriz Busaniche, president of the human rights and technology foundation, Vía Libre. She described Milei and Villarruel’s denialism as “re-legitimising” discourse that was widely discredited in Argentine society.
“There’s been a retreat of public discourse,” she said. “The sphere of public debate has become so aggressive that many people have started to lock their accounts and leave social media.”
Despite his promises, it is not clear whether Milei would be able to privatise Argentina’s public media, because doing so would require changing the law that governs them, explained Agus Lecchi, secretary general of the SiPreBA journalists’ union, who works for Argentina’s Televisión Pública. That means it would have to pass through Argentina’s congress. Milei’s Freedom Advances coalition will not have a majority in either the deputies or the senate.
Nonetheless, Argentina’s public media have come under fire from hostile governments before: in 2018, right-wing President Mauricio Macri’s administration attempted to lay off 68 journalists at the state news agency, Télam, although all were reincorporated after a labour court found their dismissals to be illegal."
As #Argentina and the #Netherlands elect leaders set on trashing the place, #Trump & his ilk plan more of the same for the US while Canada is headed towards a #PierrePoison government. In these lectures #AstraTaylor describes how #insecurity is driving us. "From rising inequality and declining mental health to climate change disasters and the threat of authoritarianism, insecurity has become a defining feature of our time"
https://www.cbc.ca/radiointeractives/ideas/2023-cbc-massey-lectures-astra-taylor #CBC #cdnpoli #democracy #authoritarianism
You might disagree with me, but #HateSpeech should be completely forbidden in politics. Constitutions of democratic countries should all state that politicians who resort to hate speech should be immediately disqualified and sacked from public service roles such as being a member of parliament.
The fact that many democratic countries still have extremist parties whose manifesto is built on hate speech propaganda is completely unacceptable.
"Have You Listened Lately to What Trump Is Saying?"
"He is becoming frighteningly clear about what he wants."
Mein Trumpf
“With Trump’s recent crazy rightwing bluster and political threats, he has been doing a fine job of supplying his enemies with evidence of his inner authoritarian
Political cartoonists made up their minds years ago that #Trump is a cartoon Hitler – a cartoon fascist. When editorial cartoonists think evil #dictator or nasty #fascist, they immediately think of #Hitler and that signature dumb moustache. Hitler is the easiest fascist to draw”
#nazi #cagle #authoritarianism
https://darylcagle.com/2023/11/22/trump-as-a-cartoon-hitler
*Ukraine's Maiden Revolution*
Timothy Snyder
Thinking About ...
(11/21/23)
________________________
#Ukraine #MaidenRevolution #PaulManafort #EuropeanUnion #Democracy #Authoritarianism #ViktorYanukovych #PeoplesProtest
“This is one of the most openly authoritarian campaigns I’ve ever seen. You have to go back to the far-right authoritarians in the 1930s in Europe or in 1970s Latin America to find the kind of dehumanizing and violent language that Trump is starting to consistently use," states Harvard profession Steven Levitsky, co-author of How Democracies Die.
#Trump #Republicans #fascism #authoritarianism #retribution #revenge #intimidation #bullying #violence
/2
"Donald Trump’s talk of punishing his critics and seeking to 'weaponize' the US justice department against his political opponents has experts and former DoJ officials warning he poses a direct threat to the rule of law and democracy in the US."
~ Peter Stone
#Trump #Republicans #fascism #authoritarianism #retribution #revenge #intimidation #bullying #violence
/1
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/nov/22/trump-revenge-game-plan-alarm
"Such frightening announcements aim to inject extremist ideas into the mainstream and create a climate of trepidation and powerlessness that discourages mobilization by the opposition."
#Trump #authoritarianism #fascism #dictatorship #StrongMan
/2
Ruth Ben-Ghiat notes that some people ask why the Trump campaign is being so open about their fascist game plan for the US. Her response:
"This 'transparency' is in line with authoritarian history: Autocrats often tell you who they are and what they intend to do to you before they take office. They do this as a challenge to norms, and they do this as a threat."
#Trump #authoritarianism #fascism #dictatorship #StrongMan
/1
https://lucid.substack.com/p/lock-them-up-in-camps-jails-and-psychiatric
A Latinobarómetro poll this past summer surveyed thousands across Latin America, finding that only 48 percent of respondents said democracy is preferable to any other form of government, the lowest share since the poll began in 1995. Some 54 percent said they would accept nondemocratic government if it could solve the nation’s problems. #Argentina #democracy #liberalism #populism #corruption #authoritarianism #Peru #Mexico #ElSalvador #Brazil #LatinAmerica #fascism https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/11/21/argentina-milei-election-latin-america/
"Conservative religiosity demands the same sublimation to authority as authoritarianism, while also emphasizing the same sense of superiority and righteousness that justifies minority and authoritarian rule."
"All over the world, rising anti-democrats have been fueled by religious conservatives. This is the case in Russia, Hungary, Poland, and the US; it has been true for the rise of most (although certainly not all) of the fascist and hyper-authoritarian regimes of the last century. And it’s easy enough to understand why religiosity and authoritarianism go hand in hand:"
"Despite Trump being about as un-Christian as a person can get — a liar, a cheat, a philanderer — he won more than three-quarters of white Evangelical voters in 2020, and closer to 80% in 2016. This has sometimes been treated by the press as some sort of mystery, but it’s really not: With fundamentalist religious beliefs also comes a skepticism of democracy and democratic norms."
~ Jill Filipovic
"The main difference of opinion between the two religious radicals is what flavor of far-right religious oppression they prefer: Christian or Muslim?"
So true!
As a palette cleanser here is a piece from #TheOnion from 2005...
https://www.theonion.com/latest-bin-laden-videotape-wishes-america-a-crappy-vale-1819567716
"The teddy bear that holds the 'I love you' heart does not love you at all," Bin Laden said. "It is an unliving, unholy thing filled only with stuffing. Just as the Western infidel is not bestowed with the blessings of Allah, so shall he go unloved by the false bear."
@marcelias Stunning!! This is what #authoritarianism looks like! They believe they have won the battle of courts and ate shutting the door on being challenged. We desperately need to reform the courts. I don't know if democrats are even looking at court reform if they get trifecta.
LGBTQ+ people have long had a saying: 'Scratch a 'phobe [homophobe], find a queer.' It looks like 'Scratch a self-described protector of children, find a sex offender' is just as true, if not quite as elegantly stated. Like this Moms for Liberty guy in Philadelphia, people who want to police other people's reading habits and sexualities are usually trying to hide their own issues and insecurities.
#MomsForLiberty #censorship #hemophobia #SexOffenders #authoritarianism
"Whatever the reason for the long delay in focusing on the MAGA cult leader’s frightful, unabashed vow to create an authoritarian state, responsible media outlets now have an obligation to blanket the airwaves with coverage of Trump’s designs. There is no excuse to treat the two parties as equivalent or to not explain that Trump is a uniquely dangerous figure."
~ Jennifer Rubin
#Trump #democracy #authoritarianism #fascism #media
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/11/17/trump-2024-newsletter/
Scientists *must* understand that fanatical zealots among industrial and political powers actually want to *hasten* the "end times" — apocalyptic accelerationist doctrine, as @Wolven puts it (https://ourislandgeorgia.net/@Wolven/111307805336499187). Christian Zionism is another such example of apocalyptic accelerationism.
So we MUST stop thinking climate alarms and emergencies actually deter them or would encourage them into action.
It's the opposite: bad news actually *emboldens* them and tells them their strategies are working. They probably think it's easier to go to heaven by ending the world than it is to actually save it from their own capitalist bullshit.
Instead, we *must* stop "negotiating" with them or "informing" them of facts and figures, and instead start mobilising. Climate revolution (cc: @breadandcircuses — https://climatejustice.social/@breadandcircuses/111404149753146020) is the way forward:
Stockpiling, prep, and mobilisation for months of worldwide strikes, refusal to pay bills, and not buying anything. As a radical pacifist who is also an eco-socialist, this highly appeals to me.
Scientists must revolt instead when big journalism, big oil, and other such industries are stacked against us.
#Climate #ClimateCrisis #ClimateChange #Degrowth #Politics #Pacifism #Fascism #Colonialism #FarRight #Authoritarianism #Capitalism #AntiCapitalism
"The people who vote for Trump clearly don’t share the vision of egalitarian multiracial pluralism. What they worry about is losing *their* democracy: A restricted version of democracy that leaves entrenched hierarchies of race, gender, and religion largely intact. They are committed to defending their white Christian patriarchal democracy – and determined to prevent multiracial pluralism."
#PRRI #democracy #WhiteChristianNationalism #authoritarianism #strongmen #Trump
/5
"Actually, those on the Right, very much including people who vote for Trump, are at least as concerned about what may happen to democracy in the next election as those in the anti-MAGA camp are. In fact, about as many Americans believe Biden winning reelection would 'threaten American democracy and way of life' as there are people thinking Trump coming back to power would endanger democratic self-government."
#PRRI #democracy #WhiteChristianNationalism #authoritarianism #strongmen
/4
"The piece suggesting that all of the above represents an objective, verifiable, and historically predictive set of preconditions for #authoritarianism, or #fascism... has been said or written, succinctly and brilliantly, in recent days by...
all of them echoing the call of New York University professor @jayrosen_nyu , who continues to demand that the #media cover the 2024 campaign by emphasizing “not the odds but the stakes.”
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2023/11/trump-vermin-speech-democracy-fascism-2024.html
"All of this is to be achieved by installing armies of lawyers, judges, & functionaries who... don’t believe in the rule of law as we understand it.
As #Trump openly described his rationale for his plans last week in the most spine-chilling language yet, undocumented immigrants are “poisoning the blood of our country.” And yes, the week is only half done."
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2023/11/trump-vermin-speech-democracy-fascism-2024.html
#GOP #MAGA #Fascism #Authoritarianism #Hitler #NaziRhetoric #Politics #USPol #USA #News
"Trump & his allies made clear that if he wins reelection, he plans to gut the existing #US government & “install a pre-vetted, pro-Trump army of up to 54,000 loyalists”...
It’s been under a week since he announced in an interview... that he’d cheerfully “weaponize” the power of the Justice Department to indict his rivals for no other reason than that they were “beating me very badly.”
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2023/11/trump-vermin-speech-democracy-fascism-2024.html
#Trump #Fascism #Authoritarianism #GOP #Politics #USPolitics #USA #News #NoPaywall
"Do you think that things in the US have gone so far off track that we need a leader who would break rules in order to fix the country's direction?
According to Washington Post columnist Philip Bump, about 2 in 5 respondents said they did, including nearly half of Republicans. Two in five!!!"
"Folks, the fact that Republicans have such a comfortable relationship with fascism should scare the hell out of you. But what's even more troubling is that a lot of Americans are right there with them.
Last month, the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) released the results of its annual American Values Survey, including the responses to this question:"
~ Teresa Hanafin
And #IBM kept selling the nazis data processing equipment required for #holocaust...
「On April 12, 1933, the German government announced plans to conduct a long-delayed national census. The project was particularly important to the Nazis as a mechanism for the identification of Jews, Roma, and other ethnic groups deemed undesirable by the regime. Dehomag offered to assist the German government in its task of ethnic identification, focusing upon the 41 million residents of Prussia. This activity was not only countenanced by Thomas Watson and IBM in America, Black argues, but was actively encouraged and financially supported, with Watson himself traveling to Germany in October 1933 and the company ramping up its investment in its German subsidiary from 400,000 to 7,000,000 Reichsmark—about $1 million (equivalent to $22.6 million in 2022). This injection of American capital allowed Dehomag to purchase land in Berlin and to construct IBM's first factory in Germany, Black charges, thereby "tooling up for what it correctly saw as a massive financial relationship with the Hitler regime".」
「As the Nazi war machine occupied successive nations of Europe, capitulation was followed by a census of the population of each subjugated nation, with an eye to the identification and isolation of Jews and Romani. These census operations were intimately intertwined with technology and cards supplied by IBM's German and new Polish subsidiaries, which were awarded specific sales territories in Poland by decision of the New York office following Germany's successful Blitzkrieg invasion.」
Yet corporations from democracies have continued empowering dictatorships after WWII, even hostile regimes engaged in #genocide... 🤯
"Did you ever wonder why the 21st century feels like we're living in a bad #cyberpunk novel from the 1980s?” http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2023/11/dont-create-the-torment-nexus.html by @cstross
“#SiliconValley ideology quietly admits (its) #freedom is not compatible with (our) #democracy”
"#Longtermism grabs attention back from people being harmed, who were beginning to make too much noise” https://crookedtimber.org/2023/11/15/silicon-valleys-worldview-is-not-just-an-ideology-its-a-personality-disorder/ by @mariafarrell
#sciencefiction #billionaires #effectivealtruism #tescreal #authoritarianism
This is disturbing, but not surprising. Global #oligarchs are moving moving together towards #autocracy.
“a moneyed #oligarchy more #despotic and more dangerous to industrial #freedom than anything civilization has ever known”
“Brandeis and many of his contemporaries feared that concentration of economic #power aids the concentration of political #power, and that such private power can itself undermine and overwhelm public government”
“Being concerned about #democracy and #authoritarianism” was “in the background of some of our efforts to make #antitrust big and visible” https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2023/11/how-gilded-age-lawmakers-saved-america-from-plutocracy/
This article barely scratches the surface of the threat from #SiliconValley’s #radical #anarchocapitalist #billionaires
#Rightwing titans of #tech helped create Donald Trump. Now they’re alienated from politics and searching for allies https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/11/12/silicon-valley-billionaire-donors-presidential-candidates/
Read these by @anildash for more
The #tech tycoon #martyrdom charade https://www.anildash.com/2023/02/27/tycoon-martyrdom-charade/
"#VC qanon" and the #radicalization of the #tech tycoons https://www.anildash.com/2023/07/07/vc-qanon/
Various political compasses have built in biases, and the one that you seem to be citing, the one with the libertarian-authoritarian axis, often has loaded questions associated with it.
#RationalWiki #politicalcompass #bias #libertarianism #authoritarianism
https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Political_Compass
Today in Labor History November 11, 1918: World War I ended, with 10 million dead, 21 million wounded, 7.5 million prisoners and missing in action, and another 22 million killed by the influenza pandemic that was exacerbated by the war. (The pandemic would ultimately kill 50-100 million). Originally celebrated as Armistice Day, November 11 is now known as Veterans Day. And once again, we’re on the verge of an imperialistic World War, but this time with weapons that can obliterate the planet, during another pandemic that has already killed 7 million by the most conservative estimates, over 1 million in the U.S., alone.
Don’t let there be another World War. Peace now in Gaza! Peace now in Ukraine! Down with all imperialism, colonialism, authoritarianism and state violence! Down with capitalism! Down with fascism and supremacy. Freedom, justice, peace, autonomy, and prosperity for all people, regardless of race, religion, gender, ability, age, or sexual orientation.
Happy VD, everyone!
#WorkingClass #LaborHistory #wwi #antiwar #peace #VeteransDay #ArmisticeDay #influenza #covid #pandemic #union #imperialism #colonialism #capitalism #fascism #authoritarianism #FreePalestine #StandWithGaza #EndTheSiege #EndTheOccupation
It's obvious to me that a second #Trump presidency would destroy American #democracy - which is, at the moment, on shaky ground. We are in the throes of a global battle against #authoritarianism and #fascism, and each of us must actively choose the path we want for ourselves and future generations.
📌📌 I'll be posting relevant links in this ongoing Democracy Thread. >>
"The Washington Post and the New York Times both have done important reporting in recent days about what Donald Trump would be likely to do if he’s elected president again.
Because I think it’s so important for every American citizen to be fully aware of these revelations, I’m providing gift versions of three articles. This means you can read them without running into the Times or Post paywalls."
~ Margaret Sullivan
#Republicans #democracy #Trump #authoritarianism
https://margaretsullivan.substack.com/p/taking-my-own-advice-about-covering
"Democrats need to take on an issue many would rather avoid: Donald Trump and the future of democracy if he’s re-elected. …
Donald Trump plainly wants to end democracy. That’s not being alarmist, it’s just the truth."
~ Joyce Vance
#Republicans #democracy #Trump #authoritarianism
/6
https://joycevance.substack.com/p/frogs-boiled-what-trump-is-planning
“Thank goodness that most of the states in this country don’t allow you to put everything on the ballot, because pure democracies are not the way to run a country,” said Rick Santorum following this week's elections.
As Tori Otten notes,
"Santorum is upset that democracy is working."
"North Dakota state representative Brandon Prichard was much more explicit. Opposed to the measure, he wrote, 'Direct democracy should not exist…. It would be an act of courage to ignore the results of the election….' According to James Bickerton of Newsweek, Prichard has previously called for Republican-dominated states to 'put into code that Jesus Christ is King and dedicate their state to Him.'”
#Republicans #democracy #NorthDakota #authoritarianism #theocracy
/4
"The decision of Ohio’s voters to protect abortion rights on Tuesday has prompted a similar disdain for democracy there. The vote for that state constitutional amendment was not close—56.6% to 43.4%—but Republican legislators immediately said they would work to find ways to stop the amendment from taking effect."
~ Heather Cox Richardson
#Republicans #democracy #Ohio #authoritarianism
/3
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/november-9-2023-thursday
"Hypermasculinity might be seen as the connective tissue of the authoritarian playbook. In strongman states, the idealization of the man who takes what he wants and gets away with everything is central to personality cults and and also justifies the use of violence, corruption and other tools of illiberal rule."
#strongmen #authoritarianism #hypermasculinity #misogyny #homophobia #women #LGBTQ
/2
"Women and LGBTQ individuals have always been as much the strongman's enemies as the political opposition, prosecutors, and the press. For a century, the gender politics of authoritarianism has relied on the toxic triad of hypermasculinity, misogyny, and homophobia, which have worked together to devastating effect."
~ Ruth Ben-Ghiat
#strongmen #authoritarianism #hypermasculinity #misogyny #homophobia #women #LGBTQ
/1
https://lucid.substack.com/p/hypermasculinity-misogyny-homophobia
Tories are planning to officially redefine "extremism" as anything that "aims to overturn or undermine the UK’s system of parliamentary democracy, its institutions and values" — a hideously (and probably deliberately) overbroad and vague "definition" that could be used against nearly anyone the government doesn't like.
US conservatives would love to do this, too.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/nov/04/plans-to-redefine-extremism-would-include-undermining-uk-values #UKPol #extremism #authoritarianism
This week's comic: The things Mike Johnson has said are so over the top that I thought I might place him in the role of my flaming conservative character (hence the flames, in case anyone was wondering about that). It’s almost impossible to exaggerate this man’s theocratic worldview, so I tried to use actual quotes where I could.
#uspol #politics #cartoon #democracy #authoritarianism #republicans #theocracy #lgbtq
There's some hope to slow down the trend towards #authoritarianism. Good summary of the recent elections in #Poland. Thanks, @TheConversationUS.
"For the first time in Poland’s history, more women than men voted."
Women, we count on you!