Thread by @docrussjackson

In 1971, along with Sandy Lieberson, David Puttnam had the audacity to bid for the rights to the book ‘Inside the Third Reich’ by Albert Speer.

Rank outsiders in pursuit of the rights, the publisher agreed that we might at least travel to Heidelberg to make their case in person.

"Albert Speer, Hitler’s former Architect & Armaments Minister had walked out of Spandau prison five years earlier, having served twenty years for war crimes – he patiently listened for several hours as we took him through our reasons for wanting to make the film".

"To our amazement, he agreed that if a movie was to be made, it should be produced by & for a younger generation. That was the start of an adventure which took us and our screenwriter Andrew Birkin on numerous occasions back & forth to Heidelberg."

During those conversations Puttnam came understand ‘the #fascist play book’ - "the way democracy can be corrupted & overturned by a few malevolent but persuasive politicians who are prepared to exploit divisions in society with simple populist messages."

davidputtnam.com/viewNews/n/lor…

Speers "explained the extent to which we were all vulnerable, & the importance of developing the form of ‘moral vigilance’ required to recognise nascent evil for what it is."

Speers joined the National Socialist Party in 1931 with a view to furthering his career as an Architect.

What should have been his "moment of truth" came seven years later.

Puttnam: "Driving to his office on November 1938 he passed the smouldering ruins of Berlin’s synagogues, the result of the orchestrated riots of the previous night – ‘Kristallnacht’."

Speers wrote: “most of all I was offended by the smashed panes of shop windows which offended my sense of middle-class order. What I didn’t see was that more was being smashed than glass, that on that night Hitler had taken a step that irrevocably sealed the fate of his country.”

Puttnam: "A more politically astute man would have realised that Rubicon had been crossed five years earlier, in the aftermath of the Reichstag Fire & the subsequent Enabling Decree, which effectively disbanded Parliament & handed absolute power to Hitler."

Puttnam: "The full title of the Act was ‘The Decree for the Protection of the People & the State’. It’s an interesting word ‘enabling’, it sounds fairly harmless – as in ‘enabling’ a child or an elderly person to safely cross a road."

Puttnam: "How often do powers accrue to Parliament through a piece of legislation whose intent is the precise opposite of its title?"

"Take for example the present Govt’s plans to revise the Data Protection regime, their consultation allows for the impression that they’re simply ‘freeing us up from bureaucracy’, when by far the most likely outcome is the privatisation, exploitation & sale of our personal data."

"It might be a good idea to take a long hard look at what else is coming down the track: an ‘Elections Bill’ that, contrary to the advice of the Committee for Standards in Public Life, is set on undermining our long established independent ‘Electoral Commission’;"

"a Bill to reform Judicial Review whose principal aim is to reduce the role of the Judiciary; a Police Bill that weakens the right to legal protest; a plan to ‘widen the scope of the Official Secrets Act’ with no commitment to add a public interest defence for journalists."

"even an Education Bill that seeks to reduce traditional academic freedoms in the area of Teacher Training! All of this accompanied by continued mutterings about ‘unelected judges’ in Strasbourg, & ‘reforming’ the UK’s implementation of the European Human Rights Act..."

"each of them setting out to chip away at & undermine much of what defines an active liberal democracy: institutions that might act as checks & balances on a populist Govt trampling on long held rights & conventions, with the sole purpose of tightening its own grip on power."

"A free & fearless media is essential to democracy. When the PM actively & repeatedly intervenes to manipulate an ideological ally into the Chair of Ofcom, every alarm bell should start to ring signalling the absolute nonsense that’s being made of the regulator’s independence."

For me, the historical parallels between strategies adopted by our present Government, & what Puttnam & many others call "the fascist playbook", are uncanny, undeniable & deeply disturbing.

Imho, the "culture war" IS the fascist playbook by another name.

https://twitter.com/docrussjackson/status/1371265857108738048