Thread by @docrussjackson

Read this, & then try to deny the terrifying parallels between many of the techniques, policies & especially the rhetoric deployed by Boris Johnson's @Conservatives, Trump's Republicans & the Bolsanaro, Oban & other right wing regimes, & Hitler's Govt.

thenation.com/article/archiv…

I'll list a few of the more obvious parallels.

Hitler:

Won mass support on the back of a major economic crisis

Offered voters a vision of a better future, one he contrasted with the policies of the parties that had plunged the country into crisis in the first place.

Hitler:

Initially attracted the poorest people to vote for him by demonising opponents.

Emphasised a nationalistic moral restoration of the nation.

Projected purpose and dynamism in contrast to dithering or acting as mere administrators.

Hitler:

Was a master at denouncing existing political & democratic conventions & manipulating the media.

Issued an endless stream of slogans to win potential supporters over: he would 'make Germany great again', 'give Germans work once more' & put 'Germany first'.

Hitler:

Would revive the nation’s rusting industries, laid to waste by the economic depression.

Would crush the alien ideologies—­socialism, liberalism, communism—­that were undermining the nation’s will to survive and destroying its core values.

Hitler:

Would "use vulgar comparisons" & “not shy away from the cheapest allusions.” Hitler’s language was

Never use measured or careful language.

Mobilise base allegations & vile stereotypes, designed to gain maximum attention from the media & maximum reaction from voters.

Hitler:

Would use sophisticated (& blunt) propaganda techniques taken from the new practice of 'public relations'.

Flaunt his vulgarity & exploited tribal hatreds;

Lied and lied and lied his way to success.

Hitler:

Insisted politicians of the other parties, were hopelessly venal and corrupt and should be put in jail.

Insist Nazi thugs were good people who were victims of a “monstrous blood-verdict”.

Insisted that liberal newspapers that criticized Hitler were the "lying press.”

Hitler:

Imprisoned vagrants.

Deported illegal Polish immigrants.

Demonized & shut down Feminist associations.

Pulled out of international organizations, tore up treaties with cynical abandon, dismantled or emasculated structures of international cooperation erected post WWI.

Hitler:

Triumphantly declared “our departure from the community of nations".

Assured voters he would “rather die” than stay within a community of nations

Gleefully challenged then shut down the country’s democratic institutions.

Destroyed the freedom of its press and media.

Hitler:

Got Goebbels to say: “If the Jewish press still thinks it can intimidate the National Socialist movement with veiled threats, if they think they can evade our emergency decrees, they should watch out! One day our patience will run out".

Hitler:

Made sure that with the disappearance of a free, critical media, & the subordination of law-enforcement agencies, the path was open for a massive expansion of political corruption at every level of the regime.

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

#NeverAgain
#NeverForget

I'm aware of the dangers of overstating the parallels between contemporary leaders & Hitler, so been cautious to only point out obvious similarities.

I was prompted to write it by the release of this footage showing Britain First harassing migrants:

Nearly forgot: "Leading Brexiters who accuse civil servants of sabotaging Britain’s exit from the EU are adopting dangerous tactics similar to those of rightwing German nationalists between the two world wars, former head of the civil service has warned."

theguardian.com/politics/2018/…

And here's a succinct summary of the political techniques taken directly from Fascism, which dominate politics in the UK & USA.

#NeverForget
#NeverAgain

@threadreaderapp please unroll.