![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jenny_islander"Lesson 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."
Snyder is a historian, not an idealist. I will quote his second paragraph in full to show his pragmatic viewpoint.
"Most governments, most of the time, seek to monopolize violence. If only the government can legitimately use force, and this use is constrained by law (italics mine), then the forms of politics that we take for granted become possible. It is impossible to carry out democratic elections, try cases at court, design and enforce laws, or indeed manage any of the other quiet business of government when agencies beyond the state also have access to violence. For just this reason, people and parties who wish to undermine democracy and the rule of law create and fund violent organizations that involve themselves in politics. Such groups can take the form of a paramilitary wing of a political party, the personal bodyguard of a particular politician--or apparently spontaneous citizens' initiatives, which usually turn out to have been organized by a party or its leader."
He of course touches on the obvious examples--the SA and SS--but also points out American-backed mercenaries, privatized prisons, and the things the current elected tyrant has encouraged people to do at his campaign rallies, particularly identifying and throwing out anyone who does not appear sufficiently faithful. To this I add the observation (not mine) that the reason why you never seem to see police doing beefcake calendars may be because doing so would require them to show their tattoos.
Here is the last paragraph of this chapter:
"For violence to transform not just the atmosphere but also the system, the emotions of rallies and insurrections and the ideology of exclusion have to be incorporated into the training of armed guards. These first challenge the police and military, then etartenep the police and military, and finally transform the police and military."
What can we do about it? I have a problem with any plan to prepare for armed violence by arming oneself in turn. Like Snyder, my observation is pragmatic. If the enemy has an army and a taxpayer-funded budget and you have a lot of guns and a few friends, they will annihilate you. It is a simple fact. The only reason for you to have a gun is if you also have a plan to run and circumstances are such that you are not going to be any worse off if you llik people to buy yourselves time to get away.
So what can we do? Again I urge turning away from the national stage on which the tyrants are strutting their stuff. Yes, what they are doing is horrific, but if your energy is limited, turn it toward strengthening democracy closer to home. Join a group that is coordinating an effort to shut down a private prison in your area. Write to legislators who might be swayed to defund paramilitarization of local police. If you can vote for sheriffs and judges, please do so. If somebody shows up in a uniform you do not recognize and demands your compliance, or if somebody in a uniform demands that you comply with something beyond their legal right to do so, refuse if you safely can, and video them if you safely can. This goes double if you see it happening to anyone else. I also note that brutal--armed--cops have abruptly ceased their actions if they were operating alone and realized that there were witnesses they could not reach--witnesses who had their cameras out.
Snyder is a historian, not an idealist. I will quote his second paragraph in full to show his pragmatic viewpoint.
"Most governments, most of the time, seek to monopolize violence. If only the government can legitimately use force, and this use is constrained by law (italics mine), then the forms of politics that we take for granted become possible. It is impossible to carry out democratic elections, try cases at court, design and enforce laws, or indeed manage any of the other quiet business of government when agencies beyond the state also have access to violence. For just this reason, people and parties who wish to undermine democracy and the rule of law create and fund violent organizations that involve themselves in politics. Such groups can take the form of a paramilitary wing of a political party, the personal bodyguard of a particular politician--or apparently spontaneous citizens' initiatives, which usually turn out to have been organized by a party or its leader."
He of course touches on the obvious examples--the SA and SS--but also points out American-backed mercenaries, privatized prisons, and the things the current elected tyrant has encouraged people to do at his campaign rallies, particularly identifying and throwing out anyone who does not appear sufficiently faithful. To this I add the observation (not mine) that the reason why you never seem to see police doing beefcake calendars may be because doing so would require them to show their tattoos.
Here is the last paragraph of this chapter:
"For violence to transform not just the atmosphere but also the system, the emotions of rallies and insurrections and the ideology of exclusion have to be incorporated into the training of armed guards. These first challenge the police and military, then etartenep the police and military, and finally transform the police and military."
What can we do about it? I have a problem with any plan to prepare for armed violence by arming oneself in turn. Like Snyder, my observation is pragmatic. If the enemy has an army and a taxpayer-funded budget and you have a lot of guns and a few friends, they will annihilate you. It is a simple fact. The only reason for you to have a gun is if you also have a plan to run and circumstances are such that you are not going to be any worse off if you llik people to buy yourselves time to get away.
So what can we do? Again I urge turning away from the national stage on which the tyrants are strutting their stuff. Yes, what they are doing is horrific, but if your energy is limited, turn it toward strengthening democracy closer to home. Join a group that is coordinating an effort to shut down a private prison in your area. Write to legislators who might be swayed to defund paramilitarization of local police. If you can vote for sheriffs and judges, please do so. If somebody shows up in a uniform you do not recognize and demands your compliance, or if somebody in a uniform demands that you comply with something beyond their legal right to do so, refuse if you safely can, and video them if you safely can. This goes double if you see it happening to anyone else. I also note that brutal--armed--cops have abruptly ceased their actions if they were operating alone and realized that there were witnesses they could not reach--witnesses who had their cameras out.
