StingRay
JF-Expert Member
- Jun 28, 2014
- 503
- 628
Naanza kupatwa na mashaka kuwa huenda kuna watu wanaunda matukio flani flani ili kutimiza azma zao za kisiasa dhidi ya rais Magufuli.
Mtu anaenda kujificha kwa mjomba wake huko halafu wenzake wanasema kapotea au katekwa halafu lawama anaanza kupewa rais Magufuli.
Haya matukio ya kupotea potea watu inabidi tuyaangalie kwa jicho la tatu na si kumeza kila kitu tukisikiacho.
Msidanganyike kirahisi. Stukeni.
Signs Of An Incoming Dictatorship
1. Assertions Of An Alternate Reality Via The Press & Propaganda
The reality of life under a dictatorship (under Kim Jong Un, for instance) is often a highly regulated and tailored experience. Dictators of all stripes seek to control information and how it's spun; they aim to "transform their citizens' thoughts and opinions and reshape expectations," via control of media and public discourse. They create a "fictitious world" that runs parallel to the real one, and demand that everybody believe in it and its tenets unquestioningly. Contradictory views aren't just denied, they're not actually allowed, and punishment for expressing disbelief or dissent can be severe.
2. Silencing & Discrediting All Opposition
The essence of dictatorship is that it can't actually be effectively challenged, because the legs of any opposition party or force have been metaphorically cut off. Arrests, ordinances forbidding public gatherings for any reason, violent suppression, interference with the work of opposition politicians and voices, and removal of the means and ability to create an effective opposition are all part of the beginner dictator's arsenal.
3. Disabling Public Accountability
Figures at the top of government remain untouched by reprisal or accusations of wrong-doing through tight control of legislature and the public. There are many mechanisms by which governmental figures are meant to be kept accountable (laws about nepotism or cronyism and bodies responsible for monitoring their behavior are examples). Their erosion, or a decision to completely ignore them, is a signal of poor respect for democratic processes.
4. Utilizing Nationalistic Rhetoric To Control Military Force
The place of the army is often a strong part of fascist rises to power, whether it's through military coups or other means. The unquestioning support of the military when putting schemes into practise is a pretty invaluable tool. Why? Because of the labyrinthine nature of codes about military obedience to the president when he's trying to do something illegal. What's more important when it comes to force, is the build-up of internal security forces. Surveillance and use of force or discouragement against one's own citizens, particularly dissenting ones, essentially requires a lot of spies.
5. Manufacturing Crises To Use Emergency Powers
One of the interesting things about dictatorships throughout history is that they often emerge out of political, economic and nationalistic crises. That sort of volatile environment makes one of a dictator's top tricks, creating or fanning problems so that they can institute "emergency powers" and effectively take complete control without using the rule of law, pretty easy. It's well-known (and now a normal feature of movies) that they'll institute these crises themselves to get the right to declare martial law or extraordinary circumstances or whatever else they want.
6. Widespread Domestic Surveillance & Informers
Extremely rigid systems of governmental power don't work without intense regulation of the ordinary population. To whit, the beefing up of internal security in dictatorial situations is all about getting information, and using it to control people. Vast networks of informers are common with encouragements for informing on basically everybody, and the consciousness that anybody around you might be sharing titbits to save their own skins.
7. Abolishing Or Restructuring Checks & Balances To Power
There are a lot of institutions, in functioning democracies, to prevent heads of state getting everything they want all the time from everybody without consent or democratic agreement. The judiciary is one, and term limits and fair elections are another. Dictatorial heads of state will begin to interfere with these institutions and their ability to regulate, from stopping them performing their jobs to filling them with yes-men to ceasing their funding to abolishing them altogether.