– THE PLUCKING OF THE FEATHERS
Bonito Mussolini was the 27th Prime Minister of Italy and etched his name in history as an ultimate exemplar of an unfettered dictatorship. The ignoble leader, known as ‘El Duce’ who was executed by firing squad was undoubtedly an infamous authority on governmental bullying. He represents the gold standard of this ignominious style of government.
When men of such dastardly ilk speak on their area of unmeritorious expertise, all and sundry ought to listen. As such, when Mussolini lectured on authoritarianism, the world certainly listened. He remarked that in seeking to accumulate absolute power, it is shrewd to approach this in the same manner as plucking a chicken, feather by feather. Also,Mussolini explained, this must be done to ensure each cry (squawk) by the chicken is heard separate and apart from each other and as a collective whole, the different screams are mooted because they are all isolated.
THE BEGINNING
As you wake every morning, you may hear of stories of the basic violations of the rights of citizens. There is a natural tendency to feel that these developments have nothing to do with you. You may not fall into the category of those being persecuted and may remark: ‘this has nothing to do with me’. This is the classic reaction to the slow plucking of the chicken. It starts with a quiet manipulation of the law and justification of isolated occurrences of a crackdown which is normally very swift.
It is worth noting the example of Hitler’s Germany, another historical gold standard of the dangers of a state apparatus with dishonorable intentions for its citizenry. On the evening of February 27, 1933, alarms suddenly rang out in the Reichstag as fire destroyed the building’s main chamber. Within 20 minutes, Hitler was on the scene to declare: “This is a God-given signal! If this fire, as I believe, turns out to be the handiwork of Communists, then there is nothing that shall stop us now from crushing out this murderous pest with an iron fist.” Thereafter, the slow plucking of the chicken began with the law as the chief weapon to crack down on opponents. By March, 21,1933, a law was passed which made it a crime to speak out against the government or speak against government officials. On March 24th, 1933, the Enabling Act was passed by a vote of 141 to 94. It empowered the Chancellor of Germany to punish anyone who was considered an ‘enemy of the state’. The point is, the manifestation of the smallest signs of wanton violations of the most basic democratic rights, are most likely the beginning of the slow plucking of the chicken.
INFORMATION IS YOUR SHIELD
Unfortunately, those who lived under the repressive rule of Benito Mussolini did not have the benefits of social media. Therefore, the plucking of the feathers was easy. However, in these modern times, is a difficult art but still quite possible nonetheless. Truth and the emblazoning of the facts via technology is dictatorship’s kryptonite. Take it from those extremely familiar with this subject, such as Hannah Arendt who argued: ‘Before mass leaders seize the power to fit reality to their lies, their propaganda is marked by its extreme contempt for facts as such, for in their opinion fact depends entirely on the power of man who can fabricate it.”(Origins of Totalitarianism).
As previously mentioned, thankfully, modern societies have access to dictatorship’s main fear, social media which facilitates free speech. However, in service of staying on the topic, do not think that it is far-fetched to suggest that this indulgence cannot be ripped from you. The slow plucking begins with a crackdown on free speech which can morph into a complete shutdown of the internet. The evidence is there, numerous repressive regimes have introduced all manner of security excuses to facilitate a complete blackout on the internet.
Considering all that I have said, never consider it implausible that early signs such as the suspension of pre-trial liberties, witch-hunting, spurious investigations or isolated incidents of human rights violations are not the beginning of a police state or a grand dictatorship.
