Today, many voices are reminding us to not
underestimate threats from antidemocratic, racist, or totalitarian voices. It
is not for sure that democracy will prevail where democracy has long existed,
and it is very uncertain that democracy soon will break through where it has not worked so far!
American historian Timothy Snyder is one of these warning
voices. In 2017 he wrote the book "On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons of the
Twentieth Century".
The book concerns history of the past century that we
seem to have forgotten.
Snyder’s starting point is that even though history
does not repeat itself, it can warn us.
Democracy can fall to totalitarianism again, but we
can learn from history about how to fight such tendencies.
Timothy Snyder formulates 20 sentences on what we have
learned from totalitarianism in the last century and about what we have to
do. Each sentence is then elaborated into
a short chapter.
Even though the book is written for an American
audience, the messages are also worth considering by everyone.
The readers of this blog are citizens in more than 40
different countries and it is up to each of us to decide which sentences out of
those 20 are already directly relevant today and which are warnings for our near
or distant future.
Timothy Snyder talks
you through the 20 lessons in his lecture at a conference of teachers in New
York: "On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century"
Here are the statements:
1. "Do not obey in advance"
"Most of the power of
authoritarianism is freely given. In times like these, individuals think ahead
about what a more repressive government will want, and then offer themselves without
being asked. A citizen who adapts in this way is teaching power what it can
do."
2. "Defend institutions"
"It is institutions that help us to
preserve decency. They need our help as well. Do not speak of “our
institutions” unless you make them yours by acting on their behalf.
Institutions do not protect themselves. They fall one after the other unless
each is defended from the beginning. So choose an institution you care about—a
court, a newspaper, a law, a labor union—and take its side."
3. "Beware the one-party state"
"The parties that remade states and
suppressed rivals were not omnipotent from the start. They exploited a historic
moment to make political life impossible for their opponents. So support the
multi-party system and defend the rules of democratic elections. Vote in local
and state elections while you can. Consider running for office."
4. "Take responsibility for the
face of the world."
"The symbols of today enable the
reality of tomorrow. Notice the swastikas and the other signs of hate. Do not
look away, and do not get used to them. Remove them yourself and set an example
for others to do so."
5. "Remember professional
ethics."
"When political leaders set a
negative example, professional commitments to just practice become more important.
It is hard to subvert a rule-of-law state without lawyers, or to hold show
trials without judges. Authoritarians need obedient civil servants, and
concentration camp directors seek businessmen interested in cheap labor."
6. "Be wary of paramilitaries."
"When the men with guns who have
always claimed to be against the system start wearing uniforms and marching
with torches and pictures of a leader, the end is nigh. When the pro-leader
paramilitary and the official police and military intermingle, the end has
come."
7. "Be reflective if you must be
armed".
"If you carry a weapon in public
service, may God bless you and keep you. But know that evils of the past
involved policemen and soldiers finding themselves, one day, doing irregular
things. Be ready to say no."
8. "Stand out."
"Someone has to. It is easy to
follow along. It can feel strange to do or say something different. But without
that unease, there is no freedom. Remember Rosa Parks. The moment you set an
example, the spell of the status quo is broken, and others will follow."
9. "Be kind to our language."
"Avoid pronouncing the phrases
everyone else does. Think up your own way of speaking, even if only to convey
that thing you think everyone is saying. Make an effort to separate yourself
from the internet. Read books."
(To convey: to communicate)
Quote from this chapter: “Staring at screens
is perhaps unavoidable, but the two-dimensional world makes little sense unless
we can draw upon a mental armory that we have developed somewhere else. When we
repeat the same words and phrases that appear in the daily media, we accept the
absence of a larger framework. To have such a framework requires more concepts,
and having more concepts requires reading. So get the screens out of your room and surround yourself with books.
The characters in Orwell’s and Bradbury’s books could not do this—but we still
can. What to read? Any good novel enlivens our ability to think about ambiguous
situations and judge the intentions of others.”
10. "Believe in truth."
"To abandon facts is to abandon
freedom. If nothing is true, then no one can criticize power, because there is
no basis upon which to do so. If nothing is true, then all is spectacle. The
biggest wallet pays for the most blinding lights."
Quote from this chapter: “We now find
ourselves very much concerned with something we call “post-truth,” and we tend
to think that its scorn of everyday facts and its construction of alternative
realities is something new or postmodern. Yet there is little here that George
Orwell did not capture seven decades ago in his notion of “doublethink.” In its
philosophy, post-truth restores precisely the fascist attitude to truth ...
... Fascists despised the small truths
of daily existence, loved slogans that resonated like a new religion, and
preferred creative myths to history or journalism. ...
... And now, as then, many people
confused faith in a hugely flawed leader with the truth about the world we all
share. Post-truth is pre-fascism.”
11. "Investigate."
"Figure things out for yourself.
Spend more time with long articles. Subsidize investigative journalism by
subscribing to print media. Realize that some of what is on the internet is
there to harm you. Learn about sites that investigate propaganda campaigns
(some of which come from abroad). Take responsibility for what you communicate
with others."
12. "Make eye contact and small
talk."
"This is not just polite. It is
part of being a citizen and a responsible member of society. It is also a way
to stay in touch with your surroundings, break down social barriers, and
understand whom you should and should not trust. If we enter a culture of
denunciation, you will want to know the psychological landscape of your daily
life."
(Denounciation: public censure or
reprimands where you are told you’ve done wrong)
13. "Practice corporeal
politics."
"Power wants your body softening in
your chair and your emotions dissipating on the screen. Get outside. Put your
body in unfamiliar places with unfamiliar people. Make new friends and march
with them."
(Corporeal: something that has a
physical form)
14. "Establish a private
life."
"Nastier rulers will use what they
know about you to push you around. Scrub your computer of malware on a regular
basis. Remember that email is skywriting. Consider using alternative forms of
the internet, or simply using it less. Have personal exchanges in person. For
the same reason, resolve any legal trouble. Tyrants seek the hook on which to
hang you. Try not to have hooks."
15. "Contribute to good
causes."
"Be active in organizations,
political or not, that express your own view of life. Pick a charity or two and
set up autopay. Then you will have made a free choice that supports civil
society and helps others to do good."
16. "Learn from peers in other
countries."
"Keep up your friendships abroad,
or make new friends in other countries. The present difficulties in the United
States are an element of a larger trend. And no country is going to find a
solution by itself. Make sure you and your family have passports."
17. "Listen for dangerous
words."
"Be alert to the use of the words
extremism and terrorism. Be alive to the fatal notions of emergency and
exception. Be angry about the treacherous use of patriotic vocabulary."
18. "Be calm when the unthinkable
arrives."
"Modern tyranny is terror
management. When the terrorist attack comes, remember that authoritarians
exploit such events in order to consolidate power. The sudden disaster that
requires the end of checks and balances, the dissolution of opposition parties,
the suspension of freedom of expression, the right to a fair trial, and so on,
is the oldest trick in the Hitlerian book. Do not fall for it."
19. "Be a patriot."
"Set a good example of what America
means for the generations to come. They will need it."
20. "Be as courageous as you
can."
"If none of us is prepared to die
for freedom, then all of us will die under tyranny."
Presented first time
as a Facebook update December 1, 2016
Now published in Timothy Snyder (2017): ”On Tyranny:
Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century”.
All chapters deserve to be read (each 2-3
pages) as they amplify Snyder's knowledge and understanding of the history of
Europe from the last century.
Democracy, human rights, and rule of law are fragile
institutions that will not survive unless they are defended!
Deepening:
Marcus Linden (2017): Trump’s America
and the rise of the authoritarian personality
(Link to 9 minutes
video on Milgram’s obedience studies included)
Carlos Lozada: ”20 ways to recognize tyranny — and fight it. Review of "On
Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century", The Washington Post February 24, 2017
Quote from
the review: ”Perhaps the greatest contribution in Snyder’s clarifying and
unnerving work is buried in its epilogue, and it shows the slippery
intellectual path from freedom to tyranny. After the Cold War, he writes, we
were enthralled by the politics of inevitability, the notion that history moved
inexorably toward liberal democracy. So we lowered our defenses. Now, instead,
we are careening toward the politics of eternity, in which a leader rewrites
our past as “a vast misty courtyard of illegible monuments to national
victimhood.” Inevitability was like a coma; eternity is like hypnosis.
“The danger
we now face is of a passage from the politics of inevitability to the politics
of eternity, from a naive and flawed sort of democratic republic to a confused
and cynical sort of fascist oligarchy,” Snyder concludes. “The path of least
resistance leads directly from inevitability to eternity.”
A possible
detour from that path may be found in “On Tyranny,” a memorable work that is
grounded in history yet imbued with the fierce urgency of what now.”
On Tyranny: Yale Historian Timothy Snyder on
How the U.S. Can Avoid Sliding into Authoritarianism, video interview of Timothy Snyder by
Amy Goodman, ”Democracy Now” (20 minutes)
Quote from the transcript of the
interview”… history instructs us that there’s nothing new or nothing automatic
about globalization, but it also instructs us that there are people who lived
through the end of that first globalization, the kind of people I cite in the
book—Hannah Arendt, Victor Klemperer—who observed these effects and then gave
us very practical advice about how we can react. So, part of our own
misunderstanding of globalization, that it’s all new, is that history doesn’t
matter, precisely because it’s all new. What I’m trying to say in the book is,
no, the opposite. We’ve seen globalization fail before. We’ve seen fascism
rise. We’ve seen other threats to liberalism, democracy, republics. What we
should be doing is learning from the 20th century, rather than forgetting it.
