Joy-Ann Reid has had the following pinned tweet up for several days now:
The “handy” document was posted by Martin Mycielski, (Committee for Defense of Democracy, Poland) and he later posted a more accessible version, YEAR 1 under an authoritarian regime. What to expect?
Here are some excerpts from an introduction to the document, in Surviving authoritarianism: Polish advice for the US.
Slightly over a year ago, Poland, the “Eastern European success story”, stood where the US is standing now.
Twenty-five years since rejoining the West, 10 years after joining the EU, no-one would have believed the sharp turn Poland would take towards nationalism and extreme-right ideology.
With each passing day, the government is moving the country further away from the liberal West and towards the authoritarian models of the East.
Hundreds of thousands have protested against every illiberal, unlawful step. Every time we believed it couldn’t get any worse. We were wrong.
This is why we want you, our American friends, to be spared the shock, the awe, the disbelief of this happening to you. Let’s hope history proves us wrong and the US wakes up in time.
The guide contains fifteen points, several specifically written for us and no doubt chillingly familiar. The ones that make me the most nervous, though, are ones that aren’t yet (fully) realized by TrumpCorp.
There is also a helpful “Authoritarian checklist” and a one-page section, “6 RULES for survival under an authoritarian regime.”
YEAR 1 under an authoritarian regime. What to expect?
[In most cases I’ve given here just the first one or two sentences from the original. Check out the original— it’s an amazing gift.]
1. They will come to power with a campaign based on fear, scaremongering and distorting the truth. Nevertheless, their victory will be achieved through a democratic electoral process. But beware, as this will be their argument every time you question the legitimacy of their actions.
As in, We litigated that in the election… We won.
2. They will divide and rule. Their strength lies in unity, in one voice and one ideology, and so should yours.
Listen up, Democrats in Congress!
3. Through convoluted laws and threats they will try to control mainstream media and limit press freedom. They will ban critical press from their briefings, calling them “liars”, “fake news”. They will brand those media as “unpatriotic”, acting against the People (see point 2).
As in, Bannon calls mainstream press the “opposition party.”
4. They will create chaos, maintain a constant sense of conflict and danger. It will be their argument to enact new authoritarian laws, each one further limiting your freedoms and civil liberties.
Week one under Trump, take your pick.
5. They will distort the truth, deny facts and blatantly lie. They will try to make you forget what facts are, sedate your need to find the truth.
Week one under Trump, take your pick.
6. They will incite and then leak fake, superficial “scandals”. They will smear opposition with trivial accusations, blowing them out of proportion and then feeding the flame.
Pizzagate, “illegal” voters…
7. They will propose shocking laws to provoke your outrage. You will focus your efforts on fighting them, so they will seemingly back off, giving you a false sense of victory. In the meantime they will push through less “flashy” legislation, slowly dismantling democracy (see points 4 and 6).
8. When invading your liberal sensibilities they will focus on what hurts the most - women and minorities. They will act as if democracy was majority rule without respect for the minority. They will paint foreigners and immigrants as potential threats. Racial, religious, sexual and other minorities will become enemies to the order and security they are supposedly providing. They will challenge
women’s social status, undermine gender equality and interfere with reproductive rights (see point 7). But it means they are aware of the threat women and minorities pose to their rule, so make it your strength. Women and minorities should fight the hardest, reminding the majority what true democracy is about.
9. They will try to take control of the judiciary. They will assault your highest court. They need to remove the checks and balances to be able to push through unconstitutional legislation.
McConnell already got started on this one by stealing Obama’s seat.
10. They will try to limit freedom of assembly, calling it a necessity for your security. They will enact laws prioritizing state events and rallies, or those of a certain type or ideology.
11. They will distort the language, coin new terms and labels, repeat shocking phrases until you accept them as normal and subconsciously associate them with whom they like.
Too many to list here...
12. They will take over your national symbols, associate them with their regime, remake them into attributes of their power. They want you to forget that your flag, your anthem and your symbols belong to you, the People, to everyone equally.
13. They will try to rewrite history to suit their needs and use the education system to support their agenda. They will smear any historical or living figure who wouldn't approve of their actions, or distort their image to make you think they would. They will place emphasis on historical education in schools, feeding young minds with the “only correct” version of history and philosophy.
14. They will alienate foreign allies and partners, convincing you [that you] don't need them.
Mexico, China, NATO, the EU,...
15. They will eventually manipulate the electoral system. They might say it’s to correct flaws, to make it more fair, more similar to the rest of the world, or just to make it better.
In this case, “eventually” has long since left the building.
The Year 1 guide closes with:
And above all, be strong, fight, endure, and remember you're on the good side of history. EVERY authoritarian, totalitarian and fascist regime in history eventually failed, thanks to the PEOPLE.
- With love, your Eastern European friends
Thank you, Martin!
With love, your American friends.