Naomi Wolf: 10 easy steps towards fascism

Back in 2007 Naomi Wolf wrote an article in The Guardian on how a civilized democratic society can be reduced to a barbaric fascist state. This article is timeless and should be taught in schools, or should have been taught in schools. Is it too late? 

Here are the steps:

1. Invoke a terrifying internal and external enemy
2. Create a gulag
3. Develop a thug caste
4. Set up an internal surveillance system
5. Harass citizens' groups
6. Engage in arbitrary detention and release
7. Target key individuals
8. Control the press
9. Dissent equals treason
10. Suspend the rule of law

It's worth revisiting the article for the comments Wolf includes for each one.

Sheila Malcolmson running for nomination for the NDP Nanaimo-Ladysmith riding

May 2005 photo by David Borrowman

“After 12 years in local government where I’ve been really happy and honoured to serve Islanders, I’m seeing more and more where a lot of the barriers to implementing the kind of protections and society that we want to hang on to is being thwarted at the federal level – whether that’s pipeline approvals and gutting environmental protection regulations, killing public input opportunities, gutting affordable housing and co-op funding – so much flows from the federal side, and that’s where I’m called to serve right now.”

Sheila Malcolmson in The Flying Shingle, March 24, 2014, in answer to the question why she is running for the nomination of NDP in the Nanaimo-Ladysmith riding.

Mending the Broken Promise

From Thomas Mulcair: 

The Conservatives' Unfair Elections Act, C-23, prohibits Elections Canada from promoting youth outreach and education initiatives, like Student Vote—a non-partisan school program that encourages young people to participate in the electoral system‎. Thanks to the advocacy work of Elections Canada, over 500,000 Canadian students learned about the voting system and were encouraged to participate in school elections during the 2011 federal election.

(For more information go to Craig Scott's page. )

The inherent promise in so much of what we have learned over centuries of human struggle, is that power is to be used for the greater good of all its citizens ~ to create societies that allow people to live peacefully and with enough resources to care for their beloved community. Freedom of information, a clean environment, and an education system that supports our children's physical and intellectual growth to become responsible and healthy citizens.

But this promise is broken whenever leaders divert their responsibility for their personal ambition of wealth, or to centralize power for an elite. Every ruling system no matter what it is called breaks the promise and destroys hope for the future when the covenant is corrupted.

We are all stakeholders here and if we choose to believe there is nothing we can do to get closer to a fair and just society, we break the contract and enable the opportunists to rob our children of a livable future.