YEAR 1 Under Authoritarianism


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What to Expect?

  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. They will claim a mandate from the People to change the system.

    Remember – gaining power through a democratic system does not give them permission to cross legal boundaries and undermine said democracy.

  2. They will divide and rule. Their strength lies in unity, in one voice and one ideology, and so should yours. They will call their supporters Patriots, the only “true Americans”. You will be labelled as traitors, enemies of the state, unpatriotic, the corrupt elite, the old regime trying to regain power. Their supporters will be the “People”, the “sovereign” who chose their leaders.

    Don’t let them divide you – remember you’re one People, one Nation, with one common good.

  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).

    Fight for every media outlet, every journalist that is being banned, censored, sacked or labelled an “enemy of the state” – there’s no hope for freedom where there is no free press.

  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. They will disguise them as being for your protection, for the good of the People.

    See through the chaos, the fake danger, expose it before you wake up in a totalitarian, fascist state.

  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. They will feed “post-truths” and “alternative facts”, replace knowledge and logic with emotions and fiction.

    Always think critically, fact-check and point out the truth, fight ignorance with facts.

  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. This is just smokescreen for the legal steps they will be taking towards totalitarianism.

    See through superficial topics in mainstream media (see point 3) and focus on what they are actually doing.

  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).

    Focus your fight on what really matters.

  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. Controlling the judiciary they can also threat anyone that defies them with prosecution, including the press (see point 3).

    Preserve the independence of your courts at all cost, they are your safety valve, the safeguard of the rule of law and the democratic system.

  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. If they can choose who can demonstrate legally, they have a legal basis to forcefully disperse or prosecute the rest.

    Oppose any legislation attempting to interfere with freedom of assembly, for whatever reason.

  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. A “thief”, “liar” or “traitor” will automatically mean the opposition, while a “patriot” or a “true American” will mean their follower (see point 2). Their slogans will have double meaning, giving strength to their supporters and instilling angst in their opponents.

    Fight changes in language in the public sphere, remind and preserve the true meaning of words.

  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. Don’t let them be hijacked. Use and expose them in your fight as much as they do.

    Show your national symbols with pride, let them give you strength, not associate you with the tyranny they brought onto your country.

  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. They will raise a new generation of voters on their ideology, backing it with a distorted interpretation of history and view of the world.

    Guard the education of your children, teach them critical thinking, ensure their open-mindedness and protect your real history and heritage.

  14. They will alienate foreign allies and partners, convincing you don’t need them. They won’t care for the rest of the world, with their focus on “making your country great again”. While ruining your economy to fulfil their populist promises, they will omit the fact that you’re part of a bigger world whose development depends on cooperation, on sharing and on trade.

    Don’t let them build walls promising you security instead of bridges giving you prosperity.

  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. Don’t believe it. They wouldn’t be messing with it at all if it wasn’t to benefit them in some way.

    Oppose any changes to electoral law that an authoritarian regime wants to enact – rest assured it’s only to help them remain in power longer.

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

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137 Comments on "YEAR 1 Under Authoritarianism"

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Lenida
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I am making $92 an hour working from home. i was greatly surprised at the same time as my neighbour advised me she changed into averaging $ninety five however I see the way it works now. I experience mass freedom now that I’m my non-public boss. That is what I… Read more »
Lenida
Guest

Sad

Lenida
Guest

Great article

pentiumpilot
Guest

Never forgive their TREASON.
Never forget their CRIMES.
Fight them to the DEATH!

asher2789
Guest
“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. Don’t believe it. They wouldn’t be messing with it at all if it wasn’t to benefit them… Read more »
Kathryn
Guest

I agree that the statement about not changing our electoral system. Our electoral college is completely undemocratic and needs to be buried!

Fighting Fascism USA
Guest
I am fighting this war on the ground. Every. Single. Day. I have become a subject expert. This piece is spot on. And, it is written in a style that can be used as a wake-up call to those who believe there is time for apathy. There is not. People… Read more »
Bastion Frost
Guest
Ok, my only critique here is “Fight lies with Facts”. If you’re really from Europe, here’s a heads up that I’m almost ashamed to give to you (sorry about this): Most ‘Muricans (not to be confused with actual Americans) don’t really care about “Facts” they care about “being RIGHT” .… Read more »
Tabby
Guest

This is so much fun to read. Thx

Tina
Guest
This artcle is mentioned in: http://billmoyers.com/story/increasingly-necessity-15-point-guide-surviving-authoritarianism/ with references to other texts on surviving autocracy. Martin Mycielski’s 15 rules are substantiated in Timothy Snyder’s excellent, must-read, pocket-sized primer: On Tyranny, 20 Lessons from the 20th Century, which provides helpful historical clarity on what we face and how to fight for the… Read more »
Metamage
Guest
This is an extraordinary document my friend, and I am passing it along as we speak. You are 100% on target . . ., unfortunately so is Trump. His recent work to deligitimize the F.B.I. is a prime example of attempting to “Deconstruct the State.” Further acts such as stealing… Read more »
Jon
Guest

This is a truly impressive and informative article thank you. Reading and internally clicking check ( yes it fits my confirmation bias ) substantiates the reality of what I perceive as occurring. To the author (s) again thank you. Information and perspective is essential your contribution is invaluable. 🗽❤🗽

czesiek
Guest

“TYPE IN YOUR E-MAIL TO RECEIVE THE COMPLETE PDF”? Are you serious? That’s how you gather data on opposition. And I’m pretty sure the platform out email addresses would be gathered on is out of your control.

SAVI
Guest

Get real. everyone collects emails – use a spam account if you are that paranoid

Lisann
Guest

Donate Money to Minority, Environmental, Equality, Democratic, and Women’s organizations like Planned Parenthood, ACLU, Sierra Club, Green Peace, Democratic Party, Green Party, & many other ESTABLISHED Human Rights Groups

SAVI
Guest

Above all, donate DIRECTLY to the candidate that you support. We can no longer Trust the DNC to give money to help a candidate of your choice, only theirs

Mark
Guest

May I suggest that this blog also offers some specific ideas (in contrast to the general, like now) of how to resist the authoritarian rule? I believe that the most effective ways lie in the intellectual and moral powers. Examples abound. In the US, Martin Luther King comes to mind.

SAVI
Guest

Go to Indivisble.com find your local chapter as well as everything that you have asked for.

martin
Admin

I’m currently writing a book which should explore it all in much more detail 🙂 Thanks

Nevada
Guest

What do you think of Mahatma Gandhi?

Greg
Guest

Alas, all the points are true except the last one:
EVERY authoritarian, totalitarian and fascist regime in history eventually failed, thanks to the PEOPLE.
====== Nope, half the time the People are not enough & THEY need a stronger , armed push from the outside.

Eileen
Guest
To whoever runs this blog, you should put a photo of the cons in Canada on here… Trump’s new rule for stifling the EPA is a page right out of Steve Harper’s playbook. The cons have been relentless against Justin for the past year and it looks like their tactics… Read more »
Janet Palmer
Guest

So sorry Canada has been sucked into this vile vortex.

EJStrong
Guest

I want to take my family and run….but to where? USA will be doomed because Trumps followers will not see him for what he is…. a puppet to Steve Bannon. GOD save us.

Janet Palmer
Guest

Belize is looking really good to me right now!

max
Guest

Belize ALWAYS looks good.

Maria
Guest

Please provide with black text, white background. Want to print several and 1) harder to read 2) wastes ink.

martin
Admin

The PDF is black text on white. There’s a download form on the left. Hope that helps.

Eileen
Guest
@Maria — In the left margin of this page is a form where you can download this guide as an Adobe PDF. You simply have to enter an email address (doesn’t have to be your primary one) and they will send you a link. Or, you can copy the URL… Read more »
Pete
Guest

Try copy/pasting the text into a document and then printing that instead.

Muddiggermom
Guest

Thank you, my Eastern European friends, I will continue to be in touch with some of you to report what I am seeing here, in my town. Thank those of you I have been in contact with for sharing my blogs and postings.

Donor
Guest

Interesting

Momus
Guest

Very good text!
Too bad the original .pdf has disappeared, redirecting here.
It was a much better format and much more readable than this reverse white on black page 🙁

martin
Admin

There’s a PDF download on the left 🙂
I stopped updating the other one, hard to keep track of both, so now everything is centralized on the website.

Eileen
Guest
is the booklet available in french? I want to send it to some of my canadian friends who are falling prey to the siren call of divisiveness and victim-blaming in the wake of the mosque attack. they never met a “cuck” comment they didn’t like that they can use to… Read more »
martin
Admin

Unfortunately all the translations we have are done by volunteers, and my French isn’t good enough. If you wish to provide a French (or Arabic) translation I will gladly add it though. If you do so please email it to me, I might not see it here. Thanks

Sari
Guest
Thank you for this. We ARE resisting. We are in the streets… I have a Trumpie in my home here, and from what I see in him and others like him, NOTHING will matter to them until it hurts them directly and personally. They will not care until it hurts… Read more »
Dandy
Guest
Sari, when you are out there marching, make sure you where red, white, and blue, stars and stripes, carry an American Flag, etc., (Refer to #12 above). Those of us who are Marching need to embrace these symbols and not separate ourselves from them. Thanks for all you do!
Maciej
Guest
One more thing that is of great importance is that everything is done in small steps. “They” don’t pass all the authoritarian legislation at once, they do it step by step. Just as if they were slowly boiling us and increasing the temperature gradually, so we do not notice what’s… Read more »
insane
Guest
Yes, the strategy of small steps is really evil, too bad Mr. Mycielski can’t see how Germans used it to take over 90% (and counting) of regional press in his own country or how they taking over internet news portals where you can only read how good Germans are and… Read more »
Ceirstin
Guest
Beyond DEFENSE But we must go beyond the defensive. We need Trump’s taxes and we need to go after him. Conflicts of interest. This will be his achilles heel. His business interests will take him down. Focus on the offensive strategies, please. OFFENSE Call him out, expose him. Keep him… Read more »
skrzat
Guest

On pewnie chciałby trzymać flagę konfederatów./ I’m sure he’d prefer to hold the confederate flag.

Will
Guest

Hey would you mind letting me know which webhost you’re
utilizing? I’ve loaded your blog in 3 different internet browsers
and I must say this blog loads a lot faster then most.
Can you suggest a good internet hosting provider at a
fair price? Cheers, I appreciate it!

martin
Admin
Hey, sorry for the late reply but I’ve stopped checking the comments at one point, just couldn’t handle the amount. Answering your question, I’m using home.pl, the most popular hosting service in Poland, but I believe they have an English version too. I pay around 80eur/year, I’ve had it for… Read more »
W
Guest
Omg. TOTAL BULLSHIT. I dont even want to comment this shit. AUTHORITARIANISM REGIME??? Haha. No shit. What else can u say about people who value normal family, history and own country. CRY MORE I DONT GIVE A FUCK. Liberals had thier time and people told them to go to hell.… Read more »
Tammy
Guest
Why do so many Trump supporters insist on cussing and putting people down in their posts? For “religious” people who claim to possess “morals”, it appears that so many of you are illiterate and childish. Teenagers and uneducated people resort to name-calling and bullying. Educated people resort to critical thinking… Read more »
Buzz
Guest
WOW it is easy to see why you are so upset. THIS describes you Messiah Trump to a “T”. Funny how you realized it was about Comrade Trump without his name being mentioned. And the rest of your bullshit comment shows you could not care less about your fellow citizens,… Read more »
insane
Guest

There’s too much money involved in this business to just stand and watch how your political opponents win elections.

Marek
Guest
Yeah, they don’t bother. Under the hood of loving others, they want to sneak their unrealistic ideas of an equal world where those who don’t care about others and don’t want to work have the same rights as the hardworking people who sacrifice they live to protect their families from… Read more »
Michael Robinson
Guest

Thank you so much. I was waiting for there to be something on list they hadn’t got to yet, but It has done ALL OF THEM, including getting rid of key positions over military: joint chief, dir. Nat. Intelligence. Bannon is Goebel.

Chris
Guest
Please do not believe in the nonsense. The right-wing government observes the principles of democracy, but the beneficiaries of communist Poland, activists of the Communist Party, Special services and leftist and liberal Europe can not accept the patriotic government and president that are taking care of Poles and Polish raison… Read more »
Trag
Guest
Ha! Chris, you’ve fallen for the Hitler-esque propaganda just like many Germans did after Hitler became Chancellor of Germany in 1933. Did you ever hear of the Brown Shirts of the Nazi party? Ever hear the Holocaust? You need to read the history of how Hitler came to power and… Read more »
Bee
Guest

Yes Chris, Trag is right, and it was overblown anti-Communist feeling and greed, instead of legitimate anti-dictatorship that allowed Hitler to get as far as he did, and even supported bloody tyranny in Spain and Italy.

Jordan
Guest
Chris, I am a Conservative. I believe in the basis of small government, states rights, and in the Constitution of this country. That being said I am also a realist, I am someone who looks at what is happening and objectively decides the views to follow. The circumventing of Checks… Read more »
Pam
Guest
Well said Jordan. If more conservatives like you continue to speak out, we will have a chance to overcome the horror in the White House and truly be a united country, with different parties that find a way to work together for the good of all. The divisiveness and alienation… Read more »
BeaM
Guest
Thank you Jordan! Realists need to band together no matter who we voted for. People will say we hate the president but it’s not true. We love our nation and want it preserved in its Constitutionality. Too many moves are being made to take away our basic rights, as this… Read more »
Jan
Guest

propagandysta

Morris Webster
Guest

The United States is a Democratic Republic. It is not a a Democracy. There are checks and balances in place for a reason. Donald Trump is not the anti-christ and is not Hitler.

Patricia
Guest
Do you really think, after this election, that the American people have the discipline or desire to resist? I mean, despite losing the popular vote by a signifant margin (one the order of 50%?) the current administration does as it wants and believes that it is won by the will… Read more »
BeaM
Guest

Not for lack of trying.
We are vigilant, we are doing the work, we will Rise Up and KEEP this nation the Constitutional Democracy it is and fight tyranny in every form.

Tim Aronson
Guest
There no longer are checks and balances, the GOP made sure of that! House, Senate and if they have their way, the Supreme Court all controlled by one party. It was the plan from the beginning and the only thing they cared about. The only check and balance that exists… Read more »
BeaM
Guest
Only 25.5% of eligible voters cast a ballot for him. 40% stayed home. Now maybe they’re getting energized by seeing what he’s doing. Young people especially see him, his cohorts, and the GOP for the authoritarian hypocrites they are and more of them are coming of age every year, too.… Read more »
Sandra Goodwin
Guest

Thank you for taking the time to inform We the People. I can see where this might be going. This is a good read for all.

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