It Can’t Happen Here … Twice

Sinclair Lewis’s 1935 novel, It Can’t Happen Here, was a dystopian warning against fascist influence in the US. In the story, the nasty con man, ‘Buzz’ Windrip, was elected President and ran the country for his personal benefit. To secure his power base, he ruthlessly set about dismantling democratic checks and balance. Lewis wanted Americans to realise however much they thought authoritarian rule could not happen in the US, it would take just one devious scoundrel, backed by a misled public, to gain enough support to take control.

 

If the first Trump presidency is not enough to validate Lewis’ admonition, the 2024 elections are reminding us that history can indeed repeat itself.

 

But how could this have happened? Many causes have been cited, yet there is one which ought to be getting more attention – namely, the Spread of Unenlightened Self-Interest.

The Trump message which resonated with many voters – enough to tip the balance towards Trump in the seven swing states – contains variations on a core theme:

·      There will be big tax cuts – this will help you, and only hurt others who rely on bloated government programmes.

·      There will be support for fossil fuel jobs over all that ‘climate change’ nonsense – this will help you, and only hurt others who bang on tediously about ‘global warming’.

·      There will be lots of tariffs on imports – this will help you, and only hurt others in all those foreign countries getting rich off us.

·      There will be mass deportation of illegal immigrants – this will help you, and only hurt otherswho have no right to be in our country.

·      There will be more business deregulation – this will help you, and only hurt others who would damage our economy if we let them.

·      There will be an end to funding expensive arms for Ukraine – this will help you, and only hurt others who are not serious about peace with Russia.

Trump’s ‘populist’ appeal thus revolves around big promises that sound as though they would help Americans on a range of major issues. Some may be tempted to counter this by taking the ‘moral high ground’, and telling people to stop being selfish and think more about the needs of others. 

 

That would be a mistake.

 

When people are deeply concerned about making a decent living for themselves and their families, we need to connect with them by engaging them in discovering what would really help them, and what could actually hurt them. So the antidote to the ‘populist’ pill should take on board more the following formulation:

·      Beware of tax cuts that will just mostly help the wealthy few; check if the tax burden on you is genuinely going to be eased; and look out for corresponding budget cuts that are going to end up hurting you and your family.

·      The longer climate change is not tackled properly, the worse damages you will suffer from extreme weather with more frequent drought and flooding; by contrast, investment in green jobs will lead to much more sustainable employment for everyone, and prevent our country from becoming a backwater in green business globally.

·      Higher tariffs means you will have to pay more for what you have previously been buying; raising tariffs on imports will provoke other countries to raise their tariffs on our exports, which means our country will sell less abroad, our businesses will be harmed, and you will end up with fewer job opportunities; and remember, if we could so easily make the things we’ve been importing, why isn’t anyone doing it? (Answer: we might be able to do it – but it would be more costly; so look out for higher prices and inflation hurting you).

·      You know friends and neighbours who are kind and helpful to you, and they work hard, pay taxes, and boost the economy. If you wait until they are being dragged away for deportation before you protest, it would be too late. Do you really want to trust any agency with such sweeping powers when they could turn on you and question your ancestry?

·      Don’t you want safe products for your family, clean air and water, acceptable working conditions? ‘Deregulation’ just means they will get rid of laws that are there to protect you and your family.

·      Not supplying arms to Ukraine when it is attacked by Russia, when it is happening on the doorstep of NATO, which the US helped to establish after World War Two to prevent another global conflict from erupting? Are you going to be safer with a leader who prefers to appease a dictator who’s ordered the invasion of another country? Besides, if all this ‘peace’ talk is about saving money, why keep committing to huge defence spending everywhere else? 

No electoral strategy can work by dismissing people’s legitimate self-interest. What it must do is work with people to identify what will truly serve their interests, and what threatens the things they desperately care about.

The CONflating of Government and Governed

The people with power to govern a country may claim to act on behalf of those governed in that country, but it is quite possible for the former to go against the interest of the latter. Furthermore, citizens are entitled to disagree with and repudiate what their government do in their name.

Yet there is a common political Con trick that tries to make people think that the government is identical with the governed. For example, if you criticise your government for not providing reliable public services, you are condemned for being negative about your country. If you point out the dangerous lies perpetrated by your government, you are accused of being unpatriotic. If you denounce the military actions of a foreign government, you are censured for being racist towards that foreign country.

In practice, we see this trick played all the time. US Republicans, when in power, are ever ready to brush aside ‘un-American’ criticisms of their failings along with a mass chanting of ‘USA, USA’. British Conservatives have repeatedly defended their mismanagement of the economy by steadfastly insisting that people should not talk down the UK. And anyone (Jewish or otherwise) who strongly disagrees with the tactics of Benjamin Netanyahu over decades is deemed ‘anti-Israel’, ‘antisemitic’. 

We must remember that one of the most important elements of democratic politics is that those who are entrusted with the power to govern do NOT personify the governed. Indeed, the people are the ones who ultimately hold the power and they only let the govern use it on a time-limited basis on the condition they use it wisely for the benefit of the country. It is precisely because what a government does may not match what a country seeks that members of the country can criticise and reject a government.

To conflate a government with the governed is to hollow out democracy. And that unsurprisingly is what authoritarian politicians are inclined to do. Once they have secured the power to govern, they present themselves as the voice of the people, the embodiment of the country. Anyone criticising them is an enemy of the people, denigrator of the country – and should not be trusted or listened to.

We must expose this trick and make sure those who govern badly cannot hide behind the flag of their country. The condemnation of political leaders who order the mass killing of people across their borders is not to be confused with animosity towards the people they have ruling power over. In many cases, it is because we care deeply about a country and the people who live there, that we want to point out the ill-intent and damaging behaviour of the individuals governing that country.

People who give their full backing to a ruler no matter what they do is not a patriot, but a patron of dictatorship.

Cooperation 101: lessons in co-existence

If people don’t learn why and how we should secure healthy co-existence, society suffers.

The key question is how we are to relate to others who can affect our wellbeing. And there are basically four different approaches which may be adopted:

[A] Cooperative Co-existence: mutual concern & support

Be concerned for others’ wellbeing, and be prepared to support them as one would want others to be concerned and supportive towards one. The whole community is stronger because its members are cooperative with one another for the sake of ensuring everyone has a fair chance to live a fulfilling life.

[B] Oppressive Co-existence: conflict & domination

Put one’s interests above those of others, and use whatever means necessary to make others serve one’s goals. Aim to fight (by force or by economic means) and defeat others, and consider being able to take advantage of others the only worthy aim.

[C] Parasitic Co-existence: manipulative exploitation

Pretend to respect cooperative arrangements, but seek to break the rules, cheat, and manipulate others so that one can make gains from others without them realising what one is up to. 

[D] Individualistic Co-existence: self-regarding indifference

Consider everyone’s wellbeing their own business, and shun collective arrangements as inherently unacceptable. Ignore others except where a particular agreement can bring tangible benefits to oneself.

Now [B] would be the chosen stance of totalitarians, theocrats, fascists, communists, militarists, who want to impose their rule on others, and make everyone else live in a way that fits with how they want things to be. [C] would be the approach of free-riders who may say all kinds of thing in public, but will not hesitate in private to trick, steal, or by any means take unfair advantage of others. [D] would be the path for libertarians, anarchists, and rampant individualists who reject all rules and regulations they have not personally endorsed, regardless of the implications for others. Unless we want to head towards social disintegration via [B], [C], or [D], we would need to nurture and strengthen [A] – inculcating mutual concern and support from early age, and sustaining it through lifelong learning.

This will involve the following core elements to be taught:

·      Reciprocity and the mutual responsibility that entails: 

Teaching the golden rule – highlight the importance of treating others as one would have others treat one; make sure all are disposed to be respectful and caring, and displace hateful prejudices; realise that everyone must take responsibility for the foreseeable consequences of their actions; and value support arrangements that will help whoever is in need.

·      Objectivity and the cooperative enquiry that requires: 

Teach open reasoning – assessment of what is to be believed should be based on exchange of evidence and coherent arguments; no unquestionable doctrine (religious or ideological) can be invoked to justify any assertion; anyone with relevant information should be allowed to contribute to deliberations; and provisional findings are subject to future revisions.

·      Inclusivity and the citizen participation that demands: 

Teach power sharing – explain the danger of power being concentrated in one or a few; wealth and other resource inequalities must be minimised to curtail power gaps; collective power is pragmatically necessary but must be democratically accountable; limits on different forms of power should be set to protect all; and deliberative engagement is essential.

Illiberal populism and plutocratic manipulation have gained grounds because too many people are unaware that allowing the unscrupulous to fan distrust and hate, spread lies and distortions, and accumulate vast wealth and power to dictate terms to others, means that insecurity and oppression will destroy any chance for healthy co-existence. 

Under the rubric of ‘personal and social education’ or ‘citizenship education’, we must start teaching why and how we should strengthen cooperative co-existence.

Remembrance of Policies Past

So many politicians forget that if you don’t engage citizens in assessing and responding to public issues, and treat them as mere supplicants, mistrust and mistakes will follow. 

When I was made Head of Civil Renewal under the Labour Government back in 2003, a key challenge was to find out why despite the substantial investment and support the government had given to public services across the board, people’s confidence in many of those services was still lagging behind.

For example, fear of crime remained high in many areas where crime rates had actually fallen; there was frustration with how ‘little’ was being done in areas which were undergoing substantial regeneration; there was scepticism about health improvement when provisions were becoming better than ever; and overall, people felt they had barely any control over public decisions that affected their lives.

It turned out the clue was in the last item on that list – the lack of efficacy. When people sense that they have no real influence over decisions that are made for them, they cannot help but wonder if those decisions truly reflect their concerns. And this doubt is exacerbated by decisions which turn out to be flawed precisely because they had been made without involving people who had relevant views to contribute.

The remedy, we concluded, was to develop more extensive community engagement. What that meant was NOT tokenistic consultation exercises with dry questionnaires or drab public meetings. What we promoted, under the banner of ‘Together We Can’, was a wide range of approaches that helped people learn and deliberate about the issues in question, enabled them to question and reflect on the evidence and options, offered them a chance to express their preferences having heard what others had to say, and provided them with feedback so that further adjustment could be made in the light of preliminary steps being taken.

In areas where such approaches were taken forward with proper support and experienced facilitators, the evidence was clear – trust in public bodies’ actions went up, satisfaction with outcomes rose, relationships between state agencies and the public improved, cost effectiveness increased with fewer mistakes being made, and objectives set with citizens’ input more readily achieved.

One would think that progressive politicians returning to power would build on this and ensure that citizens are deliberatively involved in developing the policies needed to deal with the problems piled up by years of misrule. But what we have seen so far is virtual amnesia on the community involvement front. Policies are announced with no citizen engagement, and their unpopularity is cited as their necessity. This is not the way to build democratic support or confidence. 

Difficult decisions can be reached, so long as the people affected by them have a fair chance to participate, learn, and influence them constructively. What might otherwise be unpopular could be revised as something also tough, but owned by communities.

Politicians who think the only way to deal with difficult problems is to keep the public away from deliberating about them, are likely to be keeping themselves away from the public who will see them as remote and uncaring. They should remember the lessons we learnt from ‘Together We Can’. Otherwise, isolated they’ll lose.

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A general guide to the resources relating to Together We Can is available at: https://hbtam.blogspot.com/2019/07/together-we-can-resource-guide.html

More specific materials can be found in relation to: Civic Pioneers (on local authority support for developing effective engagement practices), Take Part (on active learning for citizen participation), Guide Neighbourhoods, (on facilitating exchange of ideas across neighbourhoods for influencing public bodies), and Together We Can (on policies developed by different government departments).

Familiarity Breeds Connections

There are people who, because they lacked the opportunity when they were young to experience trusting, positive interactions with members of certain groups (characterised by ethnicity, gender, religion, etc), end up becoming distrustful, even instinctively resentful, towards those groups in general. They do not feel comfortable at the thought of being near people from those groups. Eventually, what is uppermost in their minds is segregation – keep immigrants away, keep ‘aliens’ out of their neighbourhoods, keep women from the workplace, keep gays out of the army, etc. 

To make things worse, there are charlatans who seek to make their political fortunes from stoking the fear and animosity of the segregation-minded, and many of them have won electoral backing with their ‘populist’ offer of racism, misogyny, and homophobia. 

Instead of conceding to their agenda of dividing people into an ill-defined ‘us’ and a prejudice-filled ‘them’, we should support the widening and deepening of human connections. The more opportunities people have to become familiar with each other, to see one another as having similar emotions, of capable of sharing experiences, of working together, the more immune they are to lies and distortions spread about ‘others’.

But how can this be done? Isn’t it so much pie in the sky? In reality, there are numerous ways – tried and tested – that can promote positive familiarity. Here are four types that should be more widely utilised.

First of all, at the most basic level, there are simple ‘meet and greet’ events. For example, intergenerational functions bringing young and elderly people together, with a few tasty snacks and drinks, have helped to turn mutual suspicion into friendly exchange and support. Neighbourhood gatherings have enabled people who have not known each other’s cultures or customs to share different types of food and music, and get to know and appreciate one another.

Secondly, there are many ways to arrange for people with diverse backgrounds to work together on a common task. Cooperative school projects have proven to get young people to go from viewing ‘newcomers’ as interlopers to regarding them as valued teammates. Community activities – from local clean-up to collective monitoring for safety concerns – build trust and appreciation among those who were otherwise strangers.

Thirdly, we have considerable evidence on how deliberative decision-making techniques can help overcome disagreement. Planning for Real, for example, has made it possible for residents who had very different views about how their local area should be altered or regenerated, to exchange ideas constructively with the help of a 3-D model of the area, and move towards a consensus of their own making. Participatory Budgeting allows people to present and consider explanations to and from each other regarding competing options to spend public money, and consider with shared understanding which options to revise/support.

Last but not least, even where people have had relationships broken because one has actually hurt another, or both sides have been drawn into a violent conflict, restorative justice sessions or reconciliation commissions have contributed to mending shattered trusts, and reconnecting people – by facilitating in-depth discussions so that those involved can have a real chance to explore pain, remorse, new commitments, and hope.

Keeping people apart is all segregationists know – for them, walls maintain ignorance, distrust, susceptibility to anger and hate.  Familiarity, on the other hand, breeds connections. Countless case studies attest to their impact on bringing people together, leading to enhanced understanding, trust, and cooperation.

The Morality of Retaliation

Imagine someone from a building goes across town to a quiet neighbourhood and throws a grenade into a house, killing three people inside. The survivors in the house and their neighbours then set off with guns and bombs and head towards the building where the culprit is known to live.  They are told that a few people there might be friends of the killer, but the vast majority of the building’s residents have nothing to do with him. Nonetheless, consumed by the desire for vengeance, the now heavily armed group launch an all-out attack on the building, killing hundreds of defenceless people – children amongst the innocent victims. They insist that they just want to make sure the original murderer does not escape, and they cannot be blamed for the deaths they cause.

No government in the world, or any sane person for that matter, would for one moment accept what the killing mob have done as a legitimate response to what had previously happened, or tolerate it, let alone help them commit such atrocities.

Imagine now some terrorists have taken control of a county in the UK or the US. They declare themselves the administrator for that county, and one day they launch missiles at X, a foreign country, killing thousands of people there because they hate X.  The government of X announces its retaliation plan which involves shooting, bombing, starving, hundreds of thousands of people in the terrorist-run county.  The vast majority of those who are to be killed as a result do not support the terrorists, they do not support the launching of the missiles at X, they just want to live in peace. But in the name of hunting down the terrorists, the government of X keeps escalating their military actions even as dead bodies of innocent victim keep piling up.

What should be done?  The terrorists who launched deadly missiles should be brought to justice, certainly. What about the vengeance-seekers who order the mass killing of innocent people in that unfortunate county? Should they be aided with more guns and weapons? Or should they be stopped from taking even more lives?  

If we were residents of X ourselves, we might be caught up in the shock and anger, and if someone says with the press of a button, the terrorists responsible would be erased from the face of the earth, we might be all for pressing it. But what if that would cause the deaths of hundreds of thousands of innocent people as well – would we still want that button pressed?

Think now of being stuck in the cursed county. The people in control make all kinds of outrageous decisions. There’s nothing we can do. Nobody outside is going to help us. Instead, when the murderous people in charge set about killing people in another land, we get caught up in the retaliation and face being shot and bombed because there is nowhere else we can go.

Sometimes it is difficult to determine if an act is morally wrong or not.  Then there are times when it is the easiest thing in the world to recognise that killing hundreds of thousands of innocent people is unforgivably evil.

Fake & Furious: the politics of hate

When Islamic extremists commit acts of violence, right-wing politicians declare it’s all down to Islam being what it is. But when racist extremists commit acts of violence, right-wing politicians ignore racism, and tell us to focus on the ‘real’ underlying causes (by which they mean ‘immigration’).

So how is immigration causing racist violence? Is it because foreign students are paying higher fees to study at our universities and thus help sustain the higher education sector which has been severely underfunded by the government? Is it because carers come from abroad to provide the much-needed support for our frail and elderly population? Is it because the NHS only functions thanks to the dedicated work of doctors and nurses who have moved here? Is it because immigrants pay taxes that contribute to our public finance?

It turns out it’s not immigration, but the negative perception of immigration that is connected to racist extremism. And what causes that negative perception? Here are four main factors: 

[1] Hate-carriers

There are people who are plagued by an emotional void that can only be filled by directing hate at a group of scapegoats. When they pick on immigrants, it gives them a sense of superiority. By being hurtful about people they can falsely depict in negative ways, they feel better about themselves. They then set about infecting others with hate, and rejoice in their twisted camaraderie. 

[2] Scapegoat-hunting politicians

There are politicians whose priority is to help the rich and powerful. They lower taxes for the wealthy, deregulate for large corporations, and underfund public services. Then in order to deflect public discontent, they tell people to fear and resent immigrants and refugees, and blame immigration for the problems caused by privatisation and austerity.

[3] Enemy states 

From fuelling anti-EU rage to stoking riots, Russian-linked activities are known to have been promoted to destabilise the UK. By spreading lies about immigrants and refugees, stirring up anger and hate, enemy states sharpen social divisions in our country. Ironically, many self-styled nationalists on the Right in the US and Europe have become pro-Russia because they welcome their support in demonising immigrants.

[4] Social media profiteers

Profiteering owners of social media platforms are well aware that in enabling people to send messages anonymously to spread false information, promote racial hatred, and incite violence, they are causing psychological and physical damages to countless innocent people. But they continue to prioritise their profit-making at the expense of others’ suffering.

If we are to tackle the causes of negative perception of immigration, we need to deal with the four factors outlined above. Hate-carriers need to be isolated from infecting others. Their attempts to radicalise those susceptible to such manipulation should be tracked and stopped. Scapegoat-hunting politicians should be exposed for their insidious agenda to weaken public services and mislead people into blaming immigrants. Enemy states’ role in promoting anti-immigration lies and propaganda must be widely flagged up so people can see where the real threats are coming from. And social media profiteers will only take their responsibility seriously if they are sufficiently and swiftly fined for allowing hate-mongering to flourish through their platforms.

To get tough on racist extremism, we do indeed have to get tough on the causes of racist extremism.