take a course on how to face authoritarianism

How can we respond to authoritarianism?

Feb 04, 2017 · Number 1: Organize cultures of resistance. The first thing to do is organize cultures of resistance. Anti-fascism is not a solo event, it’s a team sport. As anti-authoritarians, all of us here work together if we want to win.

Should we avoid the term ‘authoritarianism’?

Apr 04, 2021 · Authoritarian demagogues, both domestic and foreign, are testing American and European commitment to democracy. We need to partner with each other to save this system of government—and ourselves ...

What is the central truth about authoritarianism?

Nov 30, 2017 · Authoritarianism is typically understood as a form of government or politics that concentrates power, minimises political pluralism and represses civil society, often in the name of confronting a supposed ‘enemy’ within or without. Populism is a more contentious term, but is usually understood as a form of politics that appeals to a certain ...

What does an authoritarian look like?

Aug 29, 2018 · In this book, as in On Tyranny, Snyder adopts a Manichaean vision of a global struggle between tyranny and freedom. Russia is an important actor in this universe; President Vladimir Putin’s ...

What are the 3 types of authoritarian government?

What is an example of authoritarianism?

What do you mean by authoritarianism?

How does a authoritarian work?

What is another name for authoritarian government?

How do you deal with authoritarian leadership?

How do you stop autocratic?

How do you deal with an authoritarian personality?

How do authoritarian governments control the public?

First, they suppress independent media and consolidate official news into government-owned or sanctioned mediums. Without accountability and with control over the press, leaders have impunity to lie to their people.

What are the three goals of surveillance?

Surveillance satisfies three goals of authoritarian states: rooting out dissent, building mistrust among people, and controlling the actions of the general population.

What was the largest underground publisher in the world?

The Polish Secret Military Printing Works , launched at the height of Nazi occupation in the fall of 1940, was the largest underground publisher in the world, producing hundreds of thousands of newspapers, magazines, brochures, and leaflets each month.

What was Poland's history?

Modern Polish history is one of resilience. Between 1772 and 1795, Poland was partitioned by three neighboring great powers — the Russian and Austrian Empires and the Kingdom of Prussia — and was wiped off the map of Europe.

When did Poland become independent?

Its people existed as a nation without a country until 1918, when the Treaty of Versailles once again recognized an independent Polish state. Freedom did not last long, as both Hitler and Stalin invaded Poland in 1939, launching World War II.

Was Poland a Soviet country?

Stalin took Poland for himself post-war, and until 1989, it was a Soviet satellite state. Poland joined the European Union in 2004, but recently elected a far-right, nationalist and xenophobic government that has flouted the rule of law and sparked a constitutional crisis.

What was the underground media?

In Nazi-controlled and then communist Poland, underground media — illegal to possess and distribute — was critical to the resistance effort. Bibuła (literally “tissue,” named after the bootleg paper that contraband media was printed on) educated a population whose leaders were trying to keep in the dark, challenged the state as the sole source of authority, and fostered discontent with the ruling powers. It was also a personal lifeline for those who had access to it: a brief respite from the heavily censored official press.

How does authoritarianism thrive?

Authoritarianism thrives on a polarised discourse, increasingly represented in the bubbles of information and knowledge that people inhabit. We need creative ways to tell the human stories that can burst through these bubbles. In some countries, like the US, there is a need to challenge racism and protect vulnerable communities, while also reaching mainly rural white voters whose disaffection has been captured by racist leaders. In many countries, it will also involve an honest retelling of our collective histories in order to confront the historical revisionism deliberately encouraged by many of today’s autocrats.

What is the fundamental response to authoritarianism?

Fundamental to any project that responds to authoritarianism is a rejection of any politics and practices that dehumanise people or deny control or agency over their lives – whether it is deciding whether it is safe for an asylum seeker to return to a country or regulating how people use their social benefits. It rejects outright the view that any person’s life or status is of no value or illegal – and resoundingly rejects any normalisation of the deaths of people that capitalism considers to be disposable. It also rejects seeing people as victims, rather than as people who have been dehumanised by systems of oppression, and who through collective struggle can achieve a dignified life.

Where did authoritarianism originate?

The roots of contemporary authoritarianism, however, lie in nominally liberal states. The former colonial powers such as France, the UK or the Netherlands, and settler states such as the US and Australia, have their origins in enslavement, genocide and dehumanisation and practiced an authoritarian politics.

What is the purpose of pacification?

The goal is to obtain and maintain political and economic control over territories by winning ‘hearts and minds’.

What is authoritarian policy?

Authoritarian policies are also what the state is most easily able to implement, as security policy is one of the few areas of government authority that has escaped the market. With the rise in social instability, states therefore all too easily default to disciplining dissidents and the dispossessed.

Why is a strong articulated response by the left important?

A strong articulated response by the left is clearly needed to address the complex and deeprooted causes of today’s authoritarianism. This will happen only if we learn from the past and articulate the most appropriate responses to the issues we now face. Social movements worldwide are gaining strength, while the contradictions and failures of the authoritarian right project are becoming clear – because its rise is really a symptom of the systemic crisis and does not provide real solutions. At the same time, as people become more organized and vocal, they become more of a threat to states which is an additional reason for the rise in repression. Here are some of the principles and practices that were raised as important elements to integrate into the resistance to authoritarian leaders and the construction of an anti-authoritarian future.

What is the real democracy?

Real democracy has always come out of struggle, particularly by those who have been dehumanised and demand dignity and respect. We need to learn from past struggles, such as the anti-colonial and civil rights struggle or, turning to history, the Haitian revolution, which articulated an inspiring emancipatory vision of society that could bridge multiple identities and mobilise change against the divisive appeals of the right or the elite-shaped universalism that promotes the ‘market’ and globalisation.

Who wrote the Road to Unfreedom?

To better understand the impact of Russian involvement in American politics, members chose the historian Timothy Snyder ’s new book, The Road to Unfreedom, for the Masthead book club. Snyder’s argument: Authoritarians like Russia’s Vladimir Putin convince people that they, as individual citizens, are powerless to address threats to their country.

Who was Ivan Ilyin?

Ivan Ilyin, a Mussolini supporter exiled to Germany during World War II, morally justified totalitarianism. Putin’s ideology draws on Ilyin’s thinking. Timothy Snyder: It’s striking how many times Putin quotes Ilyin in his writing, and in important circumstances.

How to defend an institution?

2. Defend an institution. Follow the courts or the media, or a court or a newspaper. Do not speak of “our institutions” unless you are making them yours by acting on their behalf. Institutions don’t protect themselves. They go down like dominoes unless each is defended from the beginning. 3.

What are the lessons of the 20th century?

1. Do not obey in advance. Much of the power of authoritarianism is freely given. In times like these, individuals think ahead about what a more repressive government will want, and then start to do it without being asked .

What does it mean to abandon facts?

To abandon facts is to abandon freedom. If nothing is true, then no one can criticize power, because there is no basis upon which to do so. If nothing is true, then all is spectacle. The biggest wallet pays for the most blinding lights.

Who wrote the power of the powerless?

Perhaps “The Power of the Powerless” by V’aclav Havel, 1984 by George Orwell, The Captive Mind by Czeslaw Milosz, The Rebel by Albert Camus, The Origins of Totalitarianism by Hannah Arendt, or Nothing is True and Everything is Possible by Peter Pomerantsev. 7. Stand out. Someone has to.

A Top-Down Style

Since taking office in 2019, Florida’s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, has worked with the state legislature to consolidate power at the state level while also blocking local public-health mandates during the Covid-19 pandemic, as an article on DeSantis’s leadership style in the Washington Post reports.

Unchecked Power

A top-down, or authoritarian, leadership style is often carried out in a fully professional manner. But at times, an authoritarian leadership style can cross the line into unfair and even abusive behavior.

How Does an Authoritarian Leadership Style Affect Negotiation?

Notably, an authoritarian leadership style is often at odds with best practices for leadership and negotiation. Consider that those who favor an authoritarian style tend to be powerful leaders negotiating with less powerful parties.