Dictatorships are built on narratives. To stop them one must break their narrative, which is an iterative process—they’ll change the narrative to explain away new developments, but if you force them to keep making changes faster than their adherents can absorb them, their shared reality will fall apart.
I feel this is really the most important answer here. We must break the false narratives that they use to hold power.
And nothing does that better than video evidence. Fortunately, virtually every cell phone still in existence can record video.
but the problem now is we are in the age of "ai" & fake videos.
They will just claim everything is fake (while claiming their own fake videos are real and the only Truth).
They've given up on narratives and now say lots of conflicting things to overload your brain.
Ding Ding Ding! This right here. Unfortunately, they say one thing one day, and the opposite the other, and know their followers will latch onto the answer they want to believe/be true. It is exactly how religions work too.
Nice try FBI
Damn
Username checks out.
In my opinion, it depends on the kind of dictatorship and your status of power. I assume that you're an average US american looking at the election rn - then there isn't really anything we can do here. The system is simply too strong, and Donald Trump has too much institutional authority to be stopped.
However, I ask you to keep in mind that dictatorship isn't an authoritarian monolith and that we as common citizens have a possibility to influence and undermine authoritarian governments. Nazi Germany immediately comes to mind; many citizens disobeyed the government, may have leaked information or sabotaged important projects, even into the highest ranks (Stauffenberg and Schindler are prime examples). A dictatorship is only as effective as the bearers of power in a certain region. For example, police officers, but also common citizens (just keep in mind that a significant amount of Germans provided shelter for Jewish people).
It seems from my perspective that the authoritarian train cannot be stopped. So I'd do my best now to prepare for what is to come. Educate yourself about the key political players in your concrete region, if you decide to stay. Understand who holds the essential components of power - the council, the police officers, school district. Who supplies the common goods? Especially local producers often are connected strongly to the people and can be a major influence in the region. With this knowledge, you will be able to in turn exercise influence yourself and be able to help yourself and people who will be victims of Project 2025. We have a certain strength here - we know what it coming. Many people don't. Use this knowledge for the good. Even if you cannot stop a "global" transition to the authoritarian regime which is to come, you can mitigate its effects on the local community by participating and influencing the bearers of decisions.
I hope it makes sense. If you disagree, feel free to reply - I'd love to get more input on this topic. If any further questions arise, don't hesitate to ask :)
According to the german constitution germans are not only allowed but required to kill unelected heads of government.
Although I'm Swiss, I would do the same. Every Swiss person has to enter the Military and it's a societal contract that our militia is there to keep the democracy alive.
*Every Swiss male has to enter the military unless unable or unwilling to.
No Swiss person has to enter the military.
I'd also like to see proof of the first claim. Germany's Grundgesetz Art. 20 (4) gives the right to oppose but doesn't require it.
Yes and no. Every Swiss male has to serve in the military. You are allowed to compensate for it instead, but there is still a Wehrpflicht, that doesn't change. Just that the compensation is Part of the Wehrpflicht.
You can also be arbitrarily deemed "unfit for service" and forced to pay a pretty expensive compensation fee for the next several years, even if you would have preferred to have done the months of military or year of civil service instead.
you can't anymore actually. There was a ruling of the Europäischer Menschenrechtsgerichtshof (I think that's how it's called?) (not the one of the EU but the one of the European Council) that that was discriminatory and they legally have to allow everyone to serve.
It was in an official document on the official website (I think of the Kanton Luzern?), so it certainly isn't a fake. I can possibly find it for you again if you want to.
Edit: can't find the official Document, but here you go: https://www.srf.ch/news/schweiz/europaeischer-gerichtshof-wehrpflichtersatz-diskriminiert-gesundheitlich-untaugliche
In the second paragraph they talk about what I just said.
A lot of authoritarian governments are/were elected though.
yeah, but the Moment they change the laws into "only we can get elected" they are a legitimate target
Join the resistance. Evil must be opposed.
after all other options are exhausted civil disobedience is the only thing left
examples would include handing about abortion pills in illegal states
Yes, this makes sense! Hopefully while doing so one could build a coalition that includes more and more people.
And when/how would you know it was time to do this thing you're ready to do?
You wouldn't. Everyone would keep being brainwashed into accepting reality. It's happening now.
Sorry, couldn't hear you over the sound of the boiling water in this pot
I read the question as "why would you stop a transition to a dictatorship," and the answer to that is to stop a transition to a dictatorship. Like, duh.
But for real, I don't really have the answers. Things aren't that dire yet where I live, but the best time to start on mutual aid is yesterday - and the second best time is today.
If you mean the current US election, absolutely nothing. Americans need to suffer at least for a short while to truly understand what they have done. Once the American people are willing to accept reason then any method of resistance from civil disobedience to revolution becomes acceptable.
Americans need to suffer at least for a short while to truly understand what they have done.
Americans need to suffer at least for a short while
FTFY
I'm not as optimistic about that as you are. The average person only knows what they're told and as long as the right controls the narrative in their homes they're going to think 'liberals' and 'illegals' and 'trans' are causing their pain, no matter how bad it gets.
Maybe some pain is what they need to snap out of this, but they also need a trusted voice to tell them the truth about who is doing it to them. Right now that person doesn't exist in a vast swath of American homes.
Suffering people vote for authoritarians.
If history is repeated isn't it more likely that it results in a one party nation that isn't taken down unless a foreign country intervenes militarily?
These type of movements seem to lean towards one that as reflective of what the people of the country want with the initial stages more downplaying people's worst criticisms until power is successfully seized from all corners of that country's government.
Even if you'd get a vengeance kick out of it, the suffering won't produce the good results you want.
At least 30,000,000 people protesting non violently for a year, hoping no war will erupt. This might help
"Protesting" isn't what we need. We need them running for office, whether that is president, senator, congressperson, or even for the local school board: a lot of those lower officers will move up over time.
Just like the remnants of the Tea Party took over the GOP, we need a "Guillotine Party" to redirect the Democrats to focus on the robber baron billionaire class.
Yes, if that many people would do that it could make a huge difference
I guess, it depends on the dictatorship. For example if it's the one being formed in the US currently, here are some ideas: https://theintercept.com/2024/11/14/trump-agenda-organize-protest-movement/
Resign
ERM. Vote
I would like to think a lot of sacrifices for the sake of my "fellows".
Realistically some mild ineffective activism with a whole lot of hiding because I'm not responsible for the idiots that let the situation get there in the first place.
You say that as if dictators, by their nature, aren't going to sneak up on us. The question, sadly, should be what we would do once one reveals themselves, and the answer to that is in a battle of wit VS law.
BLOOD AND MURDER
I wouldn't. I'd just move somewhere else.
Why? Because whatever I do to attempt to stop the transition will be much less effective on obtaining quality of life improvements for myself and my loved ones than moving somewhere else. And that's not even going into the risks of attempting to get between a potential dictator and their power.
Votes are individually irrelevant. Protests are ignored, even if massive. Opinions and relevant facts to change opinions are lost in a sea of extremely well funded narrative-affirming propaganda. Civil disobedience will get you nothing but legal trouble. Strikes are broken.
Let's be real. There is nothing that can be done, realistically, as an individual without an extraordinary amount of political capital, money or military influence.
Anything short of a huge chunk of the armed forces organizing an armed coup is completely irrelevant.
The only realistic solution is jumping ship.
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