So, The last 7 days has seen the "unthinkable". Genuine, openly National Socialist and white supremacist marches on the streets of America.
It has left a young woman dead. Heather Heyer. One of 20 people hit by a person who thought it wise to drive a car into a group of protestors because he felt his rights were threatened. Heather was 32, and exercising her own right to protest. That decision cost her far too much.
read the article here
Over the last 206 days since Donald Trump took office there has a been a insidious creep in the kind of separatist, "blame all our ills on others" talk that the world has seen on a number of occasions throughout human history.
Whether that be a north Korean dictator, LGBT people, blacks, hispanics "immigrants, or whoever else comes to the mind of 45 at the time, it seems there is always someone to point the finger at.
In recent years much of the worlds human right abuses have been in what we like to call the developing world, or places that have vastly different moral codes to our own western "enlightened view" Yet here we are in 2017, 99 years on from the end of the "great war" & we seem determined to walk a path towards yet more conflict. One that seemingly will originate not in a small unknown country but in the very heart of our own western society.
Those of you who know your history will know it was an assassination, that of the arch duke Franz Ferdinand, that sparked the conflict a century ago. Yet what kept it going over four bloody, grief stricken years were the allegiances and divisions, nationalism and some measure of imperialist doctrine. It is these sentiments that we now see coming to the fore.
Led by a mouthpiece who has an indefinable hold over a large number of people, with an agenda that is only partially exposed to the harsh light of publicity, the 45th president of the USA is systematically undoing that which - publicly at least - put him there in the first place.
Democracy, freedom and the simple premise that all humans are equal.
Truthfully at his inaugural speech I had grave concerns over the language used. I wrote about it back then in January . Twice.
Jumping forward in history - if you'll forgive the contradiction in terms - to a situation that arose from the ashes of the great war, I am reminded of a speech by the then UK Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain. 1938 "peace in our time...."
The single biggest danger that Trump now represents is not "who he is" but "where" By which I mean he is placed within a tolerant and forgiving "civilised" society that will seek to make reparation and to "work with" rather than "oppose"
Sadly 1938 showed us that this approach has some flaws. The rise in openly separatist and nazi rhetoric is testament to the influence that trump has. Perhaps in time we may see this as a knee jerk reaction to the 44th present and the fact that along with a myriad other qualification and qualities the man happened to have darker skin than his predecessors. Whatever the driving force, this is not an over night problem.
45 is the now visible symptom of a festering sore that has failed to heal in American society. This situation is the manifestation of years of covert under ground malice. Sleeping, waiting for that chance to rise again, when the world just starts to get comfy and thus averts its gaze long enough to allow the infection to spread.
Trump is perhaps a sacrificial lamb. The man himself is too great a buffoon to have any real power willingly vested in him by those who do have an agenda. He has little real skill, save one. He can control or at least incite the mob, as a self publicist and narcissistic showman, and THAT is his greatest asset. and should be our greatest fear.
For once that mob starts to move, and I believe we are seeing the slow gatherings of speed, events will spiral. 45 has been invested with an authority he deserves less than he understands. So when events begin to spin out of his control as they inevitable will, those who could manage the situation will be left powerless by virtue of the office of the President of the USA being held by someone with none of the required skills. Some might even say that 45 lacks will to calm the coming storm, since it is he who brought it forth.
It could be said that the democratically elected ruler of Germany in 1932/3 was the ruin of both his country and it's reputation for generations thereafter.
Donald Trump may yet prove to have a similar destiny and place in history. One can hope not of course, but if it is to be so, then the question is: how much of the rest of the world will the US take down during its own implosion?
Anglo german relation were important in 1938. In 2017, are the US/UK relations any less so? The most powerful nation on our planet is - currently at least - the greatest threat to humanity.
If you're not worried by that, then I suggest you take a closer look.
Sarah
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