Remocracy

Dictatorships are fragile and can be toppled by a strong, determined counter movement

Yesterday, I read Gene Sharp’s From Dictatorship to Democracy: A Conceptual Framework for Liberation (1993), which was very helpful in dispelling some gloomy/doomy clouds of pessimism floating around my head. I thought I would explore the many lessons Sharp offers in his book that perfectly apply to our current situation in the U.S.

My sense is that “we” (those who want to restore Democracy and the rule of law in the U.S.) need to concentrate on defining a systems-level analysis, combined with a strategic and tactical action plan that does not rely on vague ideas or promises. Such a movement needs tangible objectives, an inspiring vision of the future, and a shared sense of mission and purpose. Now that it is here, we can see Trumpocalypse2 was a necessary and inevitable crisis in our long-broken political system. We will either fall into a long-term despotism, or we will break out of it by clawing our way to a much stronger, more resilient and participatory Democracy. Perhaps we can even aim for a far more equitable democratic socialism here in the U.S., now that our moribund political system, designed to benefit the wealthy, has collapsed, and Capitalism is breaking down as Artificial Intelligence eats White Collar jobs by the millions.

Sharp’s perspective, informed by his research on many societies, is that overturning a Fascist regime or dictatorship requires a strong, indigenous, national movement that does not rely on support from outside. Also, nonviolent resistance tends to be far more effective than other forms of resistance. It can take quite a while to overcome a dictatorship, or it can happen quickly. But it requires building resilient movements and counter-institutions. Otherwise, even if one dictator falls, another despot will emerge out of the power vacuum. Sharp writes:

Resistance, not negotiations, is essential for change in conflicts where fundamental issues are at stake. In nearly all cases, resistance must continue to drive dictators out of power. Success is most often determined not by negotiating a settlement but through the wise use of the most appropriate and powerful means of resistance available. It is our contention… that political defiance, or nonviolent struggle, is the most powerful means available to those struggling for freedom.

At the end of his book, Sharp enumerates 198 forms of nonviolent resistance that can be used to help break a dictatorship.

In many ways, dictatorships are very fragile. They can crumble quickly, Sharp notes, and they often do. The legitimacy of a dictatorship relies on the personal authority and charisma of the dictator. This is not necessarily transferable. “Dictators require the assistance of the people they rule, without which they cannot secure and maintain the sources of political power,” he writes. The sources of this power include the following:

•Authority, the belief among the people that the regime is legitimate, and that they have a moral duty to obey it;

•Human resources, the number and importance of the persons and groups which are obeying, cooperating with, or providing assistance to the rulers;

•Skills and knowledge, needed by the regime to perform specific actions and supplied by the cooperating persons and groups;

•Intangible factors, psychological and ideological factors that may induce people to obey and assist the rulers;

•Material resources, the degree to which the rulers control or have access to property, natural resources, financial resources, the economic system, and means of communication and transportation; and

•Sanctions, punishments, threatened or applied, against the disobedient and noncooperative to ensure the submission and cooperation that are needed for the regime to exist and carry out its policies.

Sharp notes that all of these sources of a dictator’s power require people’s acceptance of the regime. Without “the submission and obedience of the population, and … the cooperation of innumerable people and the many institutions of the society,” the regime cannot continue. Our continued “submission and obedience” is not guaranteed. In fact, it can be withdrawn in many different ways.

Yesterday, we saw the abject, pathetic failure of Trump’s military parade — tiny crowds and a miserable look on his face — combined with gatherings of 5 - 10 million people across the U.S. for almost entirely peaceful “No Kings” rallies. Trump’s popularity rating is falling rapidly, around 40% at the moment (I find it incredible that it remains that high). However, we are still in a situation of extreme danger — not just for us here in the U.S., but, considering the power of the U.S., for the world as a whole. One issue — underplayed these days with all of the other outrages — is the extreme damage to our planetary ecology and human health that will be caused by Trump’s absurdly vengeful policies.

Read Jim Stewartson’s article on yesterday’s political assassination of key Democratic state Senators in Minneapolis.

What I find frustrating is the lack of coordination around constructing the alternative. With some notable exceptions, the Democratic Party continues to be a craven shill for corporate power and the financial elite; most of the entrenched leadership of that party as well as its over-paid consultant class needs to be removed. Protests like “No Kings” are great, but we need much more: A large-scale social movement proposing a defined political and economic alternative that includes progressive taxation to reverse wealth inequality; a serious plan to authentically reckon with the ecological emergency; and a project to introduce a much more direct, participatory democracy using the kinds of social technologies pioneered by Audrey Tang in Taiwan.

In the U.S., most people have been swaddled in layers of dishonesty, delusion, and deceptive ideologies since birth. All of this needs to be stripped away. When I try to envision this in any linear fashion, I admit it seems an impossible task. It seems like it would take many generations to accomplish this — and we have been steadily moving in the wrong direction in the last decades, with the growing popularity of authoritarian ideology supported by a metastasizing Right Wing media ecosystem. Studies show major cognitive decline in the population since 2010. Most people have stopped reading books, succumbing to Smart Phone addiction. I once hoped that the mass use of psychedelics could lead to rapid deconditioning and deprogramming from false ideologies. Instead, psychedelics have been — at least temporarily — assimilated into the Right Wing Libertarian / NxReactionary worldview and the “manosphere.”

However, things can change quickly. The fragility of a dictatorship is, in part, due to its lack of legitimacy.