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----- Original Message -----
Sent: Wednesday, July 23, 2003 9:49 PM
Subject: Fwd: Chilling similarities
Here's another one to pass on.
Natalia
Date:
Mon, 21 Jul 2003 00:17:46 EDT
Subject: Chilling
similarities
>A history
lesson:
>
>When Democracy Failed: The Warnings of History
>URL:
><http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0316-08.htm>http://www.commondrea
>ms.org/views03/0316-08.htm
>
>Published on Sunday, March
16, 2003 by CommonDreams.org
>When Democracy Failed: The Warnings of
History
>by Thom Hartmann
>
>The 70th anniversary wasn't
noticed in the United States, and was
>barely reported in the corporate
media. But the Germans remembered
>well that fateful day seventy years
ago - February 27, 1933. They
>commemorated the anniversary by joining
in demonstrations for peace
>that mobilized citizens all across the
world.
>
>It started when the government, in the midst of a
worldwide economic
>crisis, received reports of an imminent terrorist
attack. A foreign
>ideologue had launched feeble attacks on a few
famous buildings, but
>the media largely ignored his relatively small
efforts. The
>intelligence services knew, however, that the odds were
he would
>eventually succeed. (Historians are still arguing whether or
not
>rogue elements in the intelligence service helped the terrorist;
the
>most recent research implies they did not.)
>
>But
the warnings of investigators were ignored at the highest
>levels, in
part because the government was distracted; the man who
>claimed to be
the nation's leader had not been elected by a majority
>vote and the
majority of citizens claimed he had no right to the
>powers he coveted.
He was a simpleton, some said, a cartoon
>character of a man who saw
things in black-and-white terms and
>didn't have the intellect to
understand the subtleties of running a
>nation in a complex and
internationalist world. His coarse use of
>language - reflecting his
political roots in a southernmost state -
>and his simplistic and
>often-inflammatory nationalistic rhetoric offended the aristocrats,
>foreign leaders, and the well-educated elite in the government and
>media. And, as a young man, he'd joined a secret society with an
>occult-sounding name and bizarre initiation rituals that involved
>skulls and human bones.
>
>Nonetheless, he knew the
terrorist was going to strike (although he
>didn't know where or when),
and he had already considered his
>response. When an aide brought him
word that the nation's most
>prestigious building was ablaze, he
verified it was the terrorist
>who had struck and then rushed to the
scene and called a press
>conference.
>
>"You are now
witnessing the beginning of a great epoch in history,"
>he proclaimed,
standing in front of the burned-out building,
>surrounded by national
media. "This fire," he said, his voice
>trembling with emotion, "is the
beginning." He used the occasion -
>"a sign from God," he called it -
to declare an all-out war on
>terrorism and its ideological sponsors, a
people, he said, who
>traced their origins to the Middle East and found
motivation for
>their evil deeds in their religion.
>
>Two weeks later, the first detention center for terrorists was built
>in Oranianberg to hold the first suspected allies of the infamous
>terrorist. In a national outburst of patriotism, the leader's flag
>was everywhere, even printed large in newspapers suitable for window
>display.
>
>Within four weeks of the terrorist attack,
the nation's now-popular
>leader had pushed through legislation - in
the name of combating
>terrorism and fighting the philosophy he said
spawned it - that
>suspended constitutional guarantees of free speech,
privacy, and
>habeas corpus. Police could now intercept mail and
wiretap phones;
>suspected terrorists could be imprisoned without
specific charges
>and without access to their lawyers; police could
sneak into people's
>homes without warrants if the cases involved
terrorism.
>
>To get his patriotic "Decree on the Protection of
People and State"
>passed over the objections of concerned legislators
and civil
>libertarians, he agreed to put a 4-year sunset provision on
it: if
>the national emergency provoked by the terrorist attack was
over by
>then, the freedoms and rights would be returned to the people,
and
>the police agencies would be re-restrained. Legislators would
later
>say they hadn't had time to read the bill before voting on it.
>
>Immediately after passage of the anti-terrorism act, his
federal
>police agencies stepped up their program of arresting
suspicious
>persons and holding them without access to lawyers or
courts. In the
>first year only a few hundred were interred, and those
who objected
>were largely ignored by the mainstream press, which was
afraid to
>offend and thus lose access to a leader with such high
popularity
>ratings. Citizens who protested the leader in public - and
there
>were many - quickly found themselves confronting the newly
empowered
>police's batons, gas, and jail cells, or fenced off in
protest zones
>safely out of earshot of the leader's public speeches.
(In the
>meantime, he was taking almost daily lessons in public
speaking,
>learning to control his tonality, gestures, and facial
expressions.
>He became a very competent orator.)
>
>Within the first months after that terrorist attack, at the
>suggestion of a political advisor, he brought a formerly obscure
>word into common usage. He wanted to stir a "racial pride" among his
>countrymen, so, instead of referring to the nation by its name, he
>began to refer to it as "The Homeland," a phrase publicly promoted
>in the introduction to a 1934 speech recorded in Leni Riefenstahl's
>famous propaganda movie "Triumph Of The Will." As hoped, people's
>hearts swelled with pride, and the beginning of an us-versus-them
>mentality was sewn. Our land was "the" homeland, citizens thought:
>all others were simply foreign lands. We are the "true people," he
>suggested, the only ones worthy of our nation's concern; if bombs
>fall on others, or human rights are violated in other nations and it
>makes our lives better, it's of little concern to us.
>
>Playing on this new nationalism, and exploiting a disagreement with
>the French over his increasing militarism, he argued that any
>international body that didn't act first and foremost in the best
>interest of his own nation was neither relevant nor useful. He thus
>withdrew his country from the League Of Nations in October, 1933,
>and then negotiated a separate naval armaments agreement with
>Anthony Eden of The United Kingdom to create a worldwide military
>ruling elite.
>
>His propaganda minister orchestrated a
campaign to ensure the people
>that he was a deeply religious man and
that his motivations were
>rooted in Christianity. He even proclaimed
the need for a revival of
>the Christian faith across his nation, what
he called a "New
>Christianity." Every man in his rapidly growing army
wore a belt
>buckle that declared "Gott Mit Uns" - God Is With Us - and
most of
>them fervently believed it was true.
>
>Within a
year of the terrorist attack, the nation's leader
>determined that the
various local police and federal agencies around
>the nation were
lacking the clear communication and overall
>coordinated administration
necessary to deal with the terrorist
>threat facing the nation,
particularly those citizens who were of
>Middle Eastern ancestry and
thus probably terrorist and communist
>sympathizers, and various
troublesome "intellectuals" and
>"liberals." He proposed a single new
national agency to protect the
>security of the homeland,
>consolidating the actions of dozens of previously independent
>police, border, and investigative agencies under a single leader.
>
>He appointed one of his most trusted associates to be leader
of this
>new agency, the Central Security Office for the homeland, and
gave
>it a role in the government equal to the other major departments.
>
>His assistant who dealt with the press noted that, since the
>terrorist attack, "Radio and press are at out disposal." Those
>voices questioning the legitimacy of their nation's leader, or
>raising questions about his checkered past, had by now faded from
>the public's recollection as his central security office began
>advertising a program encouraging people to phone in tips about
>suspicious
>neighbors. This program was so successful that the
names of some of
>the people "denounced" were soon being broadcast on
radio stations.
>Those denounced often included opposition politicians
and
>celebrities who dared speak out - a favorite target of his regime
>and the media he now controlled through intimidation and ownership
>by corporate allies.
>
>To consolidate his power, he
concluded that government alone wasn't
>enough. He reached out to
industry and forged an alliance, bringing
>former executives of the
nation's largest corporations into high
>government positions. A flood
of government money poured into
>corporate coffers to fight the war
against the Middle Eastern
>ancestry terrorists lurking within the
homeland, and to prepare for
>wars overseas. He encouraged large
corporations friendly to him to
>acquire
>media outlets and
other industrial concerns across the nation,
>particularly those
previously owned by suspicious people of Middle
>Eastern ancestry. He
built powerful alliances with industry; one
>corporate ally got the
lucrative contract worth millions to build
>the first large-scale
detention center for enemies of the state.
>Soon more would follow.
Industry flourished.
>
>But after an interval of peace following
the terrorist attack,
>voices of dissent again arose within and without
the government.
>Students had started an active program opposing him
(later known as
>the White Rose Society), and leaders of nearby nations
were speaking
>out against his bellicose rhetoric. He needed a
diversion, something
>to direct people away from the corporate cronyism
being exposed in
>his own government, questions of his possibly
illegitimate rise to
>power, and the oft-voiced concerns of civil
libertarians about the
>people being held in detention without due
process or access to
>attorneys or family.
>
>With his
number two man - a master at manipulating the media - he
>began a
campaign to convince the people of the nation that a small,
>limited
war was necessary. Another nation was harboring many of the
>suspicious
Middle Eastern people, and even though its connection
>with the
terrorist who had set afire the nation's most important
>building was
tenuous at best, it held resources their nation badly
>needed if they
were to have room to live and maintain their
>prosperity. He called a
press conference and publicly delivered an
>ultimatum to the leader of
the other nation, provoking an
>international uproar. He claimed the
right to strike preemptively in
>self-defense, and nations across
Europe - at first - denounced him
>for it, pointing out that it was a
doctrine only claimed in the past
>by nations seeking worldwide empire,
like Caesar's Rome or
>Alexander's Greece.
>
>It took a
few months, and intense international debate and lobbying
>with
European nations, but, after he personally met with the leader
>of the
United Kingdom, finally a deal was struck. After the military
>action
began, Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain told the nervous
>British
people that giving in to this leader's new first-strike
>doctrine would
bring "peace for our time." Thus Hitler annexed
>Austria in a lightning
move, riding a wave of popular support as
>leaders so often do in times
of war. The Austrian government was
>unseated and replaced by a new
leadership friendly to Germany, and
>German corporations began to take
over Austrian resources.
>
>In a speech responding to critics of
the invasion, Hitler said,
>"Certain foreign newspapers have said that
we fell on Austria with
>brutal methods. I can only say; even in death
they cannot stop
>lying. I have in the course of my political struggle
won much love
>from my people, but when I crossed the former frontier
[into
>Austria] there met me such a stream of love as I have never
>experienced. Not as tyrants have we come, but as liberators."
>
>To deal with those who dissented from his policies, at the advice of
>his politically savvy advisors, he and his handmaidens in the press
>began a campaign to equate him and his policies with patriotism and
>the nation itself. National unity was essential, they said, to
>ensure that the terrorists or their sponsors didn't think they'd
>succeeded in splitting the nation or weakening its will. In times of
>war, they said, there could be only "one people, one nation, and one
>commander-in-chief" ("Ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Fuhrer"), and so his
>advocates in the media began a nationwide campaign charging that
>critics of his policies were attacking the nation itself. Those
>questioning him were labeled "anti-German" or "not good Germans,"
>and it was suggested they were aiding the enemies of the state by
>failing in the patriotic necessity of supporting the nation's
>valiant men in uniform. It was one of his most effective ways to
>stifle dissent and pit wage-earning people (from whom most of the
>army came) against the "intellectuals and liberals" who were
>critical of his policies.
>
>Nonetheless, once the
"small war" annexation of Austria was
>successfully and quickly
completed, and peace returned, voices of
>opposition were again raised
in the Homeland. The almost-daily
>release of news bulletins about the
dangers of terrorist communist
>cells wasn't enough to rouse the
populace and totally suppress
>dissent. A full-out war was necessary to
divert public attention
>from the growing rumbles within the country
about disappearing
>dissidents; violence against liberals, Jews, and
union leaders; and
>the epidemic of crony capitalism that was producing
empires of
>wealth in the corporate sector but threatening the middle
class's
>way of life.
>
>A year later, to the week,
Hitler invaded Czechoslovakia; the nation
>was now fully at war, and
all internal dissent was suppressed in the
>name of national security.
It was the end of Germany's first
>experiment with democracy.
>
>As we conclude this review of history, there are a few milestones
>worth remembering.
>
>February 27, 2003, was the 70th
anniversary of Dutch terrorist
>Marinus van der Lubbe's successful
firebombing of the German
>Parliament (Reichstag) building, the
terrorist act that catapulted
>Hitler to legitimacy and reshaped the
German constitution. By the
>time of his successful and brief action to
seize Austria, in which
>almost no German blood was shed, Hitler was
the most beloved and
>popular leader in the history of his nation.
Hailed around the
>world, he was later
>Time magazine's "Man Of
The Year."
>
>Most Americans remember his office for the
security of the homeland,
>known as the Reichssicherheitshauptamt and
its SchutzStaffel, simply
>by its most famous agency's initials: the
SS.
>
>We also remember that the Germans developed a new form of
highly
>violent warfare they named "lightning war" or blitzkrieg,
which,
>while generating devastating civilian losses, also produced a
highly
>desirable "shock and awe" among the nation's leadership
according to
>the authors of the 1996 book "Shock And Awe" published by
the
>National Defense University Press.
>
>Reflecting on
that time, The American Heritage Dictionary (Houghton
>Mifflin Company,
1983) left us this definition of the form of
>government the German
democracy had become through Hitler's close
>alliance with the largest
German corporations and his policy of
>using war as a tool to keep
power: "fas-cism (fbsh'iz'em) n. A
>system of government that exercises
a dictatorship of the extreme
>right, typically through the merging of
state and business
>leadership, together with belligerent nationalism."
>
>Today, as we face financial and political crises, it's useful
to
>remember that the ravages of the Great Depression hit Germany and
>the United States alike. Through the 1930s, however, Hitler and
>Roosevelt chose very different courses to bring their nations back
>to power and prosperity.
>
>Germany's response was to
use government to empower corporations and
>reward the society's
richest individuals, privatize much of the
>commons, stifle dissent,
strip people of constitutional rights, and
>create an illusion of
prosperity through continual and
>ever-expanding war. America passed
minimum wage laws to raise the
>middle class, enforced anti-trust laws
to diminish the power of
>corporations, increased taxes on corporations
and the wealthiest
>individuals,
>created Social Security, and
became the employer of last resort
>through programs to build national
infrastructure, promote the arts,
>and replant forests.
>
>To the extent that our Constitution is still intact, the choice is
again ours.
>
>Thom Hartmann lived and worked in Germany during
the 1980s, and is
>the author of over a dozen books, including "Unequal
Protection" and
>"The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight." This article is
copyright by
>Thom Hartmann, but permission is granted for reprint in
print,
>email, blog, or web media so long as this credit is attached.
>
>###
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