This is core wisdom: "We cannot change the world all at once. But we can change the way we think. We can clear away the clichés and make ourselves more lively. We can work together and then, when other things are in motion, be ready to turn the change in the right direction."
I focus on changing the way we think -- from being rugged individualists in a world running on economic interests to being people who care about each other in a humanitarian world. Change that fundamental -- which is us becoming who we were designed to be -- and everything we do will change.
Dan Rather said, “People will always vote with their pocketbooks, not with their hearts. Harris needed hearts. “ I hope we hold onto our hearts as we oppose this assault on decency, once again.
If they were truly voting their pocketbooks, or bank accounts (if they have any), they wouldn't have voted for a raft of oligarchs, rather than the candidate with proven plans against inflation, a proposal for financing first-time home ownership, upholding the ACA, etc. They were lead to believe they'd be better off with DT by Murdoch-aligned media.
It usually works, persuading us to modify our behaviour. One of the most successful advertising campaigns in the history of Madison Avenue was written by a woman who asked this question: “Is it true blonds have more fun?”
Something that has occurred to me would be for Madison Avenue to do a campaign to change the way we think, to go from separation and conflict to where we would work together as a cooperative humanity. That's the most fundamental change we need, and it's something a billionaire could fund.
I think Americans used vote with their pocketbooks as the two parties were pretty much alike. Now, we need to vote like other free countries do to protect democracy and human rights. #NotGoingBack
I’m sure Stasi Putin wasn’t too happy when East Germans ran away from his terror. 🏃🏼➡️🏃🏼♂️➡️
The first few weeks of her candidacy I saw a news report that there were two occupations making the most donations to her campaign. Teachers and nurses. Which supports his statement. People who take care of others, who care about others; we’re her strongest supporters.
In a caring world, where we know we are in it together, indeed people’s basic needs woudl be met. First embrace caring and the right policies will follow.
I like what you said Suzanne. The trouble has always been people can’t be made to care about each other. It can’t be legislated. Children naturally care deeply but we train that out of them. Caring becomes an embarrassment that other kids must not catch you doing. At least that was my experience in school. And oh my god you must never be gay or associate with someone who is. Lots of taboos. Lots of shame.
A democracy needs truth above all. Truth of information. This dearth is why Trump won. It’s why we have poisoned crops and poor quality water. It’s why everything that went wrong went wrong. We were lied to. Or simply not told important things.
Then it needs equal opportunity by law. All people are entitled to a right to their piece of Earth—their inheritance for being born here.
Well said. And what I write about is how to change humanity's mind. And I look for others to think with me. Now, it's all complaints about how it is and fantasies about how it could be, but no focus on actually getting humanity to think differently.
Right wing people do not follow media and if they do it's very right wing to the point of sketchy most likely Putin backed propaganda. They are only listening to what they want to hear. What Heather Cox Richardson writes or Timothy Snyder writes is nothing but gibberish because even if they do have a BA it's education focused on only serving their here and now. People have to have their basic needs met to look further. Yes, their basic needs were beginning to be met, but it wasn't a long enough duration to really push them into looking out more broadly.
I'm for getting us who do understand to organize. We are gadflies now, pecking away, but if we got together we could be a force. One way would be to get Marianne Williamson to put up a flagpole to create the Beloved Community for real: https://suzannetaylor.substack.com/p/lets-do-something-already-to-turn
To change the way Society thinks it starts with education for the children, only employing the finest teachers, and the food that we feed both. By six years old, besides learning to read and do useful math, they should know how to prepare simple, healthy food, do their laundry and shop for groceries and clean and groom themselves. They should be taught at least one valuable skill early, one that will pay them. Teach them simple banking to manage their personal money. Teach them that they have worth and that they will make a difference.
So, I just joined this morning as a paid subscriber after following your work for the last 4 mos or so. I’ve avoided any TV at all since the election. If I had to hear his voice again, or the crowing of his people, I’m not sure if I could avoid vomiting.
Today, this feels like the ending scene of “Thelma and Louise” where, hands clasped tightly together, they sail off the cliff, solidarity intact. The “Normies,” like us, know for certain that there’s going to be a bad end to this, in a little while; while the “Abbies” (yes, a reference to another great movie – think Abby-normal) are crowing with glee and haven’t noticed yet that they’re on the way down.
So, what to do?
I personally have picked myself off the floor, and I’ve refused to get involved in any of what I assume will be finger-pointing and blame-gaming instead of the quiet introspection that most of us need right now. Self-care is important. For me, that means taking care of living things: family, some neighbors and colleagues, cats/dogs, houseplants; then re-engaging with Nature on walks, forest bathing (Japanese tradition), gardening outside, watching the sky at night.
What works for me, too, is music. I have a taste for World music from all over the Globe. And I go back to the songs from the 70’s – much of the message from then still resonates today. It’d be good for young people to “discover” that trove of wonderful music-with-a-message from back then.
I’ve also decided to get into better shape. More muscle, more strength, more attitude. I just got my Kamala tee shirt and sweatshirt and grocery bag in the mail. Will wear them with pride. I’ve dusted off my Martial Arts clothes, got out my bow (archery), joined a kick-butt women’s-only gun safety and training program – not because I believe the black helicopters are coming – but because of the mindset.
We all need to do what we need to do to develop the right mindset for the coming years. It’s going to be a grind. We’ll need the kind of drive and fortitude to keep things together when the inevitable car-meets-ground happens. We can do things to cushion the fall.
I want to thank you, Professor Snyder, for all of the wisdom and thought you’ve shared with us over these years. I thoroughly enjoy your books and your emails. You are one of America’s (and the world’s) treasures. Thank you for being there for the rest of us.
I just joined today, too, as a paid subscriber, in no small part to your reply, Dee. It’s solid advice in a time that’s going to test us to the utmost of our abilities.
I’m leaning into your wisdom and your words more than ever before. You have been here, all along, informing and warning us of what could happen. I’m hoping that you will continue to guide us in the coming years. There is something about your approach that feels more than just educated, historically based, thoughtful and incisive observation. It feels like it is infused with a compassion for the human condition and an eye towards integrity based growth over long arcs of time. Thank you for all the help you are providing.
Yes, and...someone else who has it all, with a special focus on global warming, is Geoffrey Deihl.
That the corporations and the billionaires are what have us stuck, and that degrowth is essential for our survival, are his pillars. Forces beyond us civilians have to deal with the oligarchy, but for degrowth we need a cooperative humanity, and looking to become that is my addition to the soup we all are in together.
Thank you for this brilliant essay! You are showing us that history is not just the product of single point actions. Historic change is the result of a process… The result of many interrelated actions over many years. The 1964 civil rights legislation was not just a product of Dr. King‘s actions. It resulted from many people‘s actions over many years, including many women who don’t get the recognition they deserve. When authoritarianism is finally defeated here in America, it will be because many people took many actions and came together as a community so that those actions supported and reinforced each others. Ultimately the truism coined by I think Buckminster Fuller will come into play. “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts“.
I need Prof. Snyder more than ever. Even as a Canadian. The hate is here. The Alliance Defending "Freedom" is here, lining Poilievre's pockets who can't wait to kill abortion, MAID, and my councillor Harold Jonkers was in the Ottawa Trucker Convoy terrorising citizens of the Capital for what? A vaccine?
Thank you. So your comment suggests to me that we can look at this work as cross-border projects between groups in the US and Canada. When Mexico became one more of many safe havens for abortion south of our border, I heard an interview with a South American woman organizer. She was asked, "Why Mexico and not the US?" Her answer: "In the US you have a big target called Planned Parenthood. In South America we have a history of cross-country networking connections that do not attract a lot of attention."
Indeed, Danny. The ADF, that Texas group, integral to overturning Roe arrived in 2020, and not just that, but Trump's politics have degraded the politics everywhere. Now we have Canadian flags with Fxxk Trudeau. Unbelievable in the past.
OMG! I am so ashamed of trump, a convicted criminal now is President of the US? How did this really happen. Watch some old films about Hitler. Especially find the film currently on FREVEE about Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
More wise words of wisdom. I’ve always said that if people got out and really traveled more they might see how others are living. And by traveling, I don’t mean heading to the biggest city and staying in the swankiest 5 star hotel.
That’s just a North American changing location.
As for the physical wall falling, color me ignorant of the true event. All that rattles around in my head about those days is Reagan saying, “Mr Gorbachev, tear down that wall!” And presto change-o, it fell. Thanks for the correction.
Same for me, SPW. I think that's what we all learned. Clearly, we needed a correction of that misinformation about what really happened. Thank you, Prof. Snyder, for informing us about the truth.
Yes, I answered this elsewhere, new at this. All the SUN papers are right wing, National Post is the National right paper, while Globe and Mail is National Left.
Yes. I have a nephew there who believes that Trudeau is a dictator. I tried to tell him that his grandfather and great grandfather who emigrated from Ukraine after WWII would disagree, having seen several examples of the real thing in that part of the world.
Yes, and some Americans think Biden is a dictator. Do they not know that if they were really living in a dictatorship they surely would have learned by now that one doesn't *complain* about the leader, either publicly or privately? In 2011 the Tea Party people held signs that read, "Obama is a tyrant," yet no one arrested them. Day-to-day life under dictatorship: not being able to trust anyone, including family members, neighbors, and friends--even in private; always being on guard about what they say in public; in short, unending hyper-vigilance, which eventually wears them down first psychologically, then physically. No, their understanding of dictatorship is that of those who live in privileged and relative comfort, who've either never experienced it or read about it.
When I hear Americans say that Biden is a dictator, I think about those from all over the world, but especially in central and eastern Europe (simply because I know more about that) who've suffered, been imprisoned, and murdered under dictatorships. A good start for people who now live in the US and Canada and think Trudeau and Biden are dictators is Jochen Hellbeck's "Revolution on My Mind: Writing a Diary under Stalin" (2009). To keep a diary in a dictatorship is to take a corporeal risk. https://www.hup.harvard.edu/books/9780674032316
P.S. Or just read about what daily life is like for Ukrainians under Russian
occupation.
P.P.S. Or Americans can just wait for it to happen next Jan. 20.
Fabulous! I just saw your interview with Ali Veshi (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfQ9dwXFhbM&t=337s) and really appreciated the message in it as well. Thanks for reminding us how we can think more productively and proactively about who we are and what we can do:
"In a time when many voters feel despair following the presidential election, it’s key to remember this is not the end. Americans still have their freedom and there are ways to remain politically active in this critically important time." Yale History Professor Timothy Snyder joins Ali Velshi to explain the work required to keep moving forward with dignity. “Freedom means you decide who you are, and then when things change around you, you continue to be that person. And in so doing, you do constructive work. You set an example for other people. You meet new people who are also trying to remain themselves.”"
In 1960 at 18 years old, a friend and I managed the local campaign in the Fairfax district of Los Angeles for John Kennedy - the good Kennedy. In the ensuing 64 years I have worn many hats in and out of the political world. Trump’s second ascendency disturbs me as a citizen and as a reformed political scientist. Liberals have lost their way and are struggling to find the next path to victory. I think the answer is simple - remember the role of economics in shaping our beliefs and behavior and understand that neoliberalism is not the answer. Neoliberalism, whether on the left or right, is based on lies. Lies we tell others and ourselves. Kamala Harris wrapped herself in knots trying to speak at the same time to those not buoyed by the current economic bubble and renegade Republicans she attempted to bring into her coalition. Harris’s economic policies were laughably thin on substance. Unlike Harris Trump wallowed in negativity, apparently in sync with the feelings of many who voted for him. Trump will do little for those people, but neither would Harris have. If Democrats want to win they need to find a way to adopt socialist policies without using the word just as Roosevelt did in the depths of the depression. Blame our current cultural and political situation on the devastating impact of criminal capitalism which promotes oligarchy and misery for the masses. Sounds like life in places like Hungary, Russia and, perhaps, soon the US doesn’t it?
Movements only cooperate when they share the same enemy. The tipping point may not be the amount of protest, but the moment we recognize our enemies are the same.
Thanks for this crucial reminder. You've caught me out! I think I'm being careful with words and concepts--I tell myself so, anyway--but I admit my fault here.
Reanimating the past in the present is one of your great gifts, Professor Snyder. Keep sharing it with us.
When Germany unified, the expectation was that the eastern Bundesländer would rapidly catch up economically with those in the former west, and that political unification would be quickly completed. Decades later, and neither expectation has been realized. The west invested hundreds of billions on the east, and still the Ossis lag economically behind the Wessis. The communist party didn't really die; it gave birth to the Linke which has in turn metastasized courtesy Frau Wagenknecht, who formed a left alternative party bearing her name (Bündnis Sarha Wagenknecht). Almost all the anti-Ukraine sentiment in Germany resides in the east, a byproduct of lingering Russophelia. Strangely, it is in the eastern Länder that the neo-Nazi NDP and its like-thinking successor the AfD have their strongest support. Totalitarianism seems to have an appeal that transcends its particular flavor.
It seems to me that it takes several generations to change peoples' attitudes. The DDR may be gone as a political entity, but its spirit lives on.
That physical stretches of the Wall still stand completes the picture.
I have no doubt that if Trump is successful in getting a total ban on abortions through Congress, there will be massive protests throughout much of America - and I don't mean just college campuses.
Similarly, other outrageous actions promoted in Project 2025's manifesto will engender demonstrations on a massive scale. Health care denial, minimalization and perhaps even destruction of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid will bring people into the streets. Will Trump call out the troops? We'll find out.
He won't need to call out the troops. He'll have his own private militias--Proud Boys, Oath Keepers, 3 Percenters, and Boogaloo Boys. He can and will pardon them for their crimes. SCOTUS has already given him license to ignore and thus destroy the rule of law. We are in deep shit!
Thank you, Dr. Snyder. I was aware that the 'Berlin' wall didn't literally 'fall' Like the Great Wall of China and Hadrian's Wall in Britain, it still stands today. But I do take exception to the word "communism" , There is not now, and never has been on Planet Earth a Communist regime. Quoting Shakespeare "a rose by any other name is still a rose". What the Russians did in 2017 was trade one dictator, the Czar (or Tsar) in for another dictator, Lenin. My understanding is this was the main cause of the falling out between Lenin and Trotsky - Trotsky want3ed a 'true' communism - similar to Plato's Utopia, But Lenin knew that wouldn't work - they needed time to re-educate people into thinking of the "greater" good. And of course, when Lenin died, there was Stalin, a confirmed dictator at heart to take over. To this day Russia remains a full on authoritarian dictatorship.
It is this which Project 2025 wants to bring to America. Democracy is messy. Too many people, have too many different ideas of how to attain the greater good for all. And, most importantly we have left out one of the foundations to achieve democracy - equal education for all.
True democracy would eventually end plutocracy. That’s why & how Trump won: our gang of the wealthiest picked Vance, funded Trump’s campaign, and helped design his outreach to the many who’ve felt downcast & ignored socially & financially.
This is core wisdom: "We cannot change the world all at once. But we can change the way we think. We can clear away the clichés and make ourselves more lively. We can work together and then, when other things are in motion, be ready to turn the change in the right direction."
I focus on changing the way we think -- from being rugged individualists in a world running on economic interests to being people who care about each other in a humanitarian world. Change that fundamental -- which is us becoming who we were designed to be -- and everything we do will change.
Dan Rather said, “People will always vote with their pocketbooks, not with their hearts. Harris needed hearts. “ I hope we hold onto our hearts as we oppose this assault on decency, once again.
If they were truly voting their pocketbooks, or bank accounts (if they have any), they wouldn't have voted for a raft of oligarchs, rather than the candidate with proven plans against inflation, a proposal for financing first-time home ownership, upholding the ACA, etc. They were lead to believe they'd be better off with DT by Murdoch-aligned media.
My mind tells me that the people were duped by lie upon lie upon lie. Propaganda worked.
It usually works, persuading us to modify our behaviour. One of the most successful advertising campaigns in the history of Madison Avenue was written by a woman who asked this question: “Is it true blonds have more fun?”
Something that has occurred to me would be for Madison Avenue to do a campaign to change the way we think, to go from separation and conflict to where we would work together as a cooperative humanity. That's the most fundamental change we need, and it's something a billionaire could fund.
I think Americans used vote with their pocketbooks as the two parties were pretty much alike. Now, we need to vote like other free countries do to protect democracy and human rights. #NotGoingBack
I’m sure Stasi Putin wasn’t too happy when East Germans ran away from his terror. 🏃🏼➡️🏃🏼♂️➡️
Wrong! But Kamala needed brains!
Huh?
She didn’t need hearts she needs people with brains to understand
Got it. You're responding to the original post. I thought you were saying that KAMALA needed brains!
right
She needed people with both to understand. Which didn’t happen.
Or is it that many voters didn’t seem to have brains?
Ah Marthe, you have it! When you vote for your own butcher, what is the reason? Brain or heart? You say both and are probably right!
The first few weeks of her candidacy I saw a news report that there were two occupations making the most donations to her campaign. Teachers and nurses. Which supports his statement. People who take care of others, who care about others; we’re her strongest supporters.
This comment is a keeper for me. Thank you wise woman. 💙
YES.
In a caring world, where we know we are in it together, indeed people’s basic needs woudl be met. First embrace caring and the right policies will follow.
I like what you said Suzanne. The trouble has always been people can’t be made to care about each other. It can’t be legislated. Children naturally care deeply but we train that out of them. Caring becomes an embarrassment that other kids must not catch you doing. At least that was my experience in school. And oh my god you must never be gay or associate with someone who is. Lots of taboos. Lots of shame.
A democracy needs truth above all. Truth of information. This dearth is why Trump won. It’s why we have poisoned crops and poor quality water. It’s why everything that went wrong went wrong. We were lied to. Or simply not told important things.
Then it needs equal opportunity by law. All people are entitled to a right to their piece of Earth—their inheritance for being born here.
Well said. And what I write about is how to change humanity's mind. And I look for others to think with me. Now, it's all complaints about how it is and fantasies about how it could be, but no focus on actually getting humanity to think differently.
Right wing people do not follow media and if they do it's very right wing to the point of sketchy most likely Putin backed propaganda. They are only listening to what they want to hear. What Heather Cox Richardson writes or Timothy Snyder writes is nothing but gibberish because even if they do have a BA it's education focused on only serving their here and now. People have to have their basic needs met to look further. Yes, their basic needs were beginning to be met, but it wasn't a long enough duration to really push them into looking out more broadly.
I'm for getting us who do understand to organize. We are gadflies now, pecking away, but if we got together we could be a force. One way would be to get Marianne Williamson to put up a flagpole to create the Beloved Community for real: https://suzannetaylor.substack.com/p/lets-do-something-already-to-turn
To change the way Society thinks it starts with education for the children, only employing the finest teachers, and the food that we feed both. By six years old, besides learning to read and do useful math, they should know how to prepare simple, healthy food, do their laundry and shop for groceries and clean and groom themselves. They should be taught at least one valuable skill early, one that will pay them. Teach them simple banking to manage their personal money. Teach them that they have worth and that they will make a difference.
Teach them they have worth and will make a difference.
So, I just joined this morning as a paid subscriber after following your work for the last 4 mos or so. I’ve avoided any TV at all since the election. If I had to hear his voice again, or the crowing of his people, I’m not sure if I could avoid vomiting.
Today, this feels like the ending scene of “Thelma and Louise” where, hands clasped tightly together, they sail off the cliff, solidarity intact. The “Normies,” like us, know for certain that there’s going to be a bad end to this, in a little while; while the “Abbies” (yes, a reference to another great movie – think Abby-normal) are crowing with glee and haven’t noticed yet that they’re on the way down.
So, what to do?
I personally have picked myself off the floor, and I’ve refused to get involved in any of what I assume will be finger-pointing and blame-gaming instead of the quiet introspection that most of us need right now. Self-care is important. For me, that means taking care of living things: family, some neighbors and colleagues, cats/dogs, houseplants; then re-engaging with Nature on walks, forest bathing (Japanese tradition), gardening outside, watching the sky at night.
What works for me, too, is music. I have a taste for World music from all over the Globe. And I go back to the songs from the 70’s – much of the message from then still resonates today. It’d be good for young people to “discover” that trove of wonderful music-with-a-message from back then.
I’ve also decided to get into better shape. More muscle, more strength, more attitude. I just got my Kamala tee shirt and sweatshirt and grocery bag in the mail. Will wear them with pride. I’ve dusted off my Martial Arts clothes, got out my bow (archery), joined a kick-butt women’s-only gun safety and training program – not because I believe the black helicopters are coming – but because of the mindset.
We all need to do what we need to do to develop the right mindset for the coming years. It’s going to be a grind. We’ll need the kind of drive and fortitude to keep things together when the inevitable car-meets-ground happens. We can do things to cushion the fall.
I want to thank you, Professor Snyder, for all of the wisdom and thought you’ve shared with us over these years. I thoroughly enjoy your books and your emails. You are one of America’s (and the world’s) treasures. Thank you for being there for the rest of us.
See you on the Trail…
If the dear Prof ever needs a spokesperson, l nominate you,
Dee!
Yikes! Hilarious, but perish the thought. 🤎
Stranger things have happened!
I just joined today, too, as a paid subscriber, in no small part to your reply, Dee. It’s solid advice in a time that’s going to test us to the utmost of our abilities.
Thanks for that, and welcome aboard! See you on the Trail.
I’m leaning into your wisdom and your words more than ever before. You have been here, all along, informing and warning us of what could happen. I’m hoping that you will continue to guide us in the coming years. There is something about your approach that feels more than just educated, historically based, thoughtful and incisive observation. It feels like it is infused with a compassion for the human condition and an eye towards integrity based growth over long arcs of time. Thank you for all the help you are providing.
Yes, and...someone else who has it all, with a special focus on global warming, is Geoffrey Deihl.
That the corporations and the billionaires are what have us stuck, and that degrowth is essential for our survival, are his pillars. Forces beyond us civilians have to deal with the oligarchy, but for degrowth we need a cooperative humanity, and looking to become that is my addition to the soup we all are in together.
https://open.substack.com/pub/geoffreydeihl/p/will-the-corporatocracy-stand
Thank you for this brilliant essay! You are showing us that history is not just the product of single point actions. Historic change is the result of a process… The result of many interrelated actions over many years. The 1964 civil rights legislation was not just a product of Dr. King‘s actions. It resulted from many people‘s actions over many years, including many women who don’t get the recognition they deserve. When authoritarianism is finally defeated here in America, it will be because many people took many actions and came together as a community so that those actions supported and reinforced each others. Ultimately the truism coined by I think Buckminster Fuller will come into play. “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts“.
I need Prof. Snyder more than ever. Even as a Canadian. The hate is here. The Alliance Defending "Freedom" is here, lining Poilievre's pockets who can't wait to kill abortion, MAID, and my councillor Harold Jonkers was in the Ottawa Trucker Convoy terrorising citizens of the Capital for what? A vaccine?
Thank you. So your comment suggests to me that we can look at this work as cross-border projects between groups in the US and Canada. When Mexico became one more of many safe havens for abortion south of our border, I heard an interview with a South American woman organizer. She was asked, "Why Mexico and not the US?" Her answer: "In the US you have a big target called Planned Parenthood. In South America we have a history of cross-country networking connections that do not attract a lot of attention."
Indeed, Danny. The ADF, that Texas group, integral to overturning Roe arrived in 2020, and not just that, but Trump's politics have degraded the politics everywhere. Now we have Canadian flags with Fxxk Trudeau. Unbelievable in the past.
OMG! I am so ashamed of trump, a convicted criminal now is President of the US? How did this really happen. Watch some old films about Hitler. Especially find the film currently on FREVEE about Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
More wise words of wisdom. I’ve always said that if people got out and really traveled more they might see how others are living. And by traveling, I don’t mean heading to the biggest city and staying in the swankiest 5 star hotel.
That’s just a North American changing location.
As for the physical wall falling, color me ignorant of the true event. All that rattles around in my head about those days is Reagan saying, “Mr Gorbachev, tear down that wall!” And presto change-o, it fell. Thanks for the correction.
Same for me, SPW. I think that's what we all learned. Clearly, we needed a correction of that misinformation about what really happened. Thank you, Prof. Snyder, for informing us about the truth.
Question: Is there a right-wing media presence in Canada akin to Fox News?
Yes, I answered this elsewhere, new at this. All the SUN papers are right wing, National Post is the National right paper, while Globe and Mail is National Left.
Yes. I have a nephew there who believes that Trudeau is a dictator. I tried to tell him that his grandfather and great grandfather who emigrated from Ukraine after WWII would disagree, having seen several examples of the real thing in that part of the world.
Yes, and some Americans think Biden is a dictator. Do they not know that if they were really living in a dictatorship they surely would have learned by now that one doesn't *complain* about the leader, either publicly or privately? In 2011 the Tea Party people held signs that read, "Obama is a tyrant," yet no one arrested them. Day-to-day life under dictatorship: not being able to trust anyone, including family members, neighbors, and friends--even in private; always being on guard about what they say in public; in short, unending hyper-vigilance, which eventually wears them down first psychologically, then physically. No, their understanding of dictatorship is that of those who live in privileged and relative comfort, who've either never experienced it or read about it.
When I hear Americans say that Biden is a dictator, I think about those from all over the world, but especially in central and eastern Europe (simply because I know more about that) who've suffered, been imprisoned, and murdered under dictatorships. A good start for people who now live in the US and Canada and think Trudeau and Biden are dictators is Jochen Hellbeck's "Revolution on My Mind: Writing a Diary under Stalin" (2009). To keep a diary in a dictatorship is to take a corporeal risk. https://www.hup.harvard.edu/books/9780674032316
P.S. Or just read about what daily life is like for Ukrainians under Russian
occupation.
P.P.S. Or Americans can just wait for it to happen next Jan. 20.
How about broadcast media?
So sorry. I love Canada and her people. Hate seems to breed hate like roaches and before you know it, you’re overrun.
We lived in West Berlin, it is so true the wall didn’t fall, and you are right about how words matter. But it was a joyous night!
I was in Denmark/Sweden then, and it was a joyous night for all except the commies and stasis ✌🏻
Fabulous! I just saw your interview with Ali Veshi (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfQ9dwXFhbM&t=337s) and really appreciated the message in it as well. Thanks for reminding us how we can think more productively and proactively about who we are and what we can do:
"In a time when many voters feel despair following the presidential election, it’s key to remember this is not the end. Americans still have their freedom and there are ways to remain politically active in this critically important time." Yale History Professor Timothy Snyder joins Ali Velshi to explain the work required to keep moving forward with dignity. “Freedom means you decide who you are, and then when things change around you, you continue to be that person. And in so doing, you do constructive work. You set an example for other people. You meet new people who are also trying to remain themselves.”"
Indeed, our American political rhetoric is so weighed down with bullshit, we have never been more exceptional.
November 9, 1939. Kristallnacht. This is what we need to remember about today.
In 1960 at 18 years old, a friend and I managed the local campaign in the Fairfax district of Los Angeles for John Kennedy - the good Kennedy. In the ensuing 64 years I have worn many hats in and out of the political world. Trump’s second ascendency disturbs me as a citizen and as a reformed political scientist. Liberals have lost their way and are struggling to find the next path to victory. I think the answer is simple - remember the role of economics in shaping our beliefs and behavior and understand that neoliberalism is not the answer. Neoliberalism, whether on the left or right, is based on lies. Lies we tell others and ourselves. Kamala Harris wrapped herself in knots trying to speak at the same time to those not buoyed by the current economic bubble and renegade Republicans she attempted to bring into her coalition. Harris’s economic policies were laughably thin on substance. Unlike Harris Trump wallowed in negativity, apparently in sync with the feelings of many who voted for him. Trump will do little for those people, but neither would Harris have. If Democrats want to win they need to find a way to adopt socialist policies without using the word just as Roosevelt did in the depths of the depression. Blame our current cultural and political situation on the devastating impact of criminal capitalism which promotes oligarchy and misery for the masses. Sounds like life in places like Hungary, Russia and, perhaps, soon the US doesn’t it?
Democrats aren’t socialists 🗽
I have not yet cried about Tuesday's outcome - until now. Please keep writing. Your leadership may change the world.
Movements only cooperate when they share the same enemy. The tipping point may not be the amount of protest, but the moment we recognize our enemies are the same.
Also think about AOC's comments about aligning with groups that share some but not all of your values/goals. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQV33d92n3c
Thanks for this crucial reminder. You've caught me out! I think I'm being careful with words and concepts--I tell myself so, anyway--but I admit my fault here.
Reanimating the past in the present is one of your great gifts, Professor Snyder. Keep sharing it with us.
When Germany unified, the expectation was that the eastern Bundesländer would rapidly catch up economically with those in the former west, and that political unification would be quickly completed. Decades later, and neither expectation has been realized. The west invested hundreds of billions on the east, and still the Ossis lag economically behind the Wessis. The communist party didn't really die; it gave birth to the Linke which has in turn metastasized courtesy Frau Wagenknecht, who formed a left alternative party bearing her name (Bündnis Sarha Wagenknecht). Almost all the anti-Ukraine sentiment in Germany resides in the east, a byproduct of lingering Russophelia. Strangely, it is in the eastern Länder that the neo-Nazi NDP and its like-thinking successor the AfD have their strongest support. Totalitarianism seems to have an appeal that transcends its particular flavor.
It seems to me that it takes several generations to change peoples' attitudes. The DDR may be gone as a political entity, but its spirit lives on.
That physical stretches of the Wall still stand completes the picture.
I have no doubt that if Trump is successful in getting a total ban on abortions through Congress, there will be massive protests throughout much of America - and I don't mean just college campuses.
Similarly, other outrageous actions promoted in Project 2025's manifesto will engender demonstrations on a massive scale. Health care denial, minimalization and perhaps even destruction of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid will bring people into the streets. Will Trump call out the troops? We'll find out.
He won't need to call out the troops. He'll have his own private militias--Proud Boys, Oath Keepers, 3 Percenters, and Boogaloo Boys. He can and will pardon them for their crimes. SCOTUS has already given him license to ignore and thus destroy the rule of law. We are in deep shit!
Thank you, Dr. Snyder. I was aware that the 'Berlin' wall didn't literally 'fall' Like the Great Wall of China and Hadrian's Wall in Britain, it still stands today. But I do take exception to the word "communism" , There is not now, and never has been on Planet Earth a Communist regime. Quoting Shakespeare "a rose by any other name is still a rose". What the Russians did in 2017 was trade one dictator, the Czar (or Tsar) in for another dictator, Lenin. My understanding is this was the main cause of the falling out between Lenin and Trotsky - Trotsky want3ed a 'true' communism - similar to Plato's Utopia, But Lenin knew that wouldn't work - they needed time to re-educate people into thinking of the "greater" good. And of course, when Lenin died, there was Stalin, a confirmed dictator at heart to take over. To this day Russia remains a full on authoritarian dictatorship.
It is this which Project 2025 wants to bring to America. Democracy is messy. Too many people, have too many different ideas of how to attain the greater good for all. And, most importantly we have left out one of the foundations to achieve democracy - equal education for all.
True democracy would eventually end plutocracy. That’s why & how Trump won: our gang of the wealthiest picked Vance, funded Trump’s campaign, and helped design his outreach to the many who’ve felt downcast & ignored socially & financially.
Agreed
1917 🙏