We are living in dangerous times, Timothy Snyder argues forcefully and
eloquently in his book, “The Road to Unfreedom.” Leaders and followers, are
irresponsible, rejecting ideas that don’t fit our preconceptions, refusing
discussion and rejecting compromise. Worse, many are prepared to deny the
humanity and rights of others.
The road to
unfreedom, as Snyder sees it, is one that runs right over the Enlightenment
faith in reason and the reasonableness of others — the very underpinning, of western
institutions and values. Recent examples, found around the world, demonstrate
both how important conventions and mutual respect are as a way of maintaining
order and civility — and how easily and carelessly they can be smashed. Just
think of President Trump’s regular impugning of the loyalty of those who work
for the American government, CDC or the FBI.
So many in the
U.S. no longer care about understanding themselves and their pasts as complex
and ambiguous. Rather many look for comforting stories that claim to explain
where they came from and where they are going. Such stories relieve them of the
need to think and serve to create powerful identities. They also serve the
authoritarian leader who rides them to power.
Snyder makes a
valuable distinction between the narratives of inevitability and those of
eternity. The former are like Marxism or faith in the triumph of the free
market: They say that history is moving inexorably toward a clear end. The
latter do not see progress but an endless cycle of humiliation, death and
rebirth that repeats itself. Not surprisingly these often draw on powerful
religious iconography. Both, as Snyder points out, produce intolerance of those
who disagree.
Liberal
democracy is being undermined from within. In addition to the general malaise Snyder
identifies, “The Road to Unfreedom” also points to human agency — in particular
that of Vladimir Putin. At home and abroad Putin has willing collaborators and
“useful idiots,” as Lenin supposedly called them. Yet the evidence is that
Putin is ruthless in his determination to hang on to power and destroy those he
perceives as enemies of Russia, a large group.
He has used
covert and not so covert means (think of the “volunteers” in eastern Ukraine
who drove Russian Army trucks) to destabilize neighbouring governments and to
stir up dissent in countries from France to the United States. Within Russia,
as recent elections illustrate, he bends the Russian people to his will through
a mixture of coercion and persuasion. As Snyder says in one of his incisive
comments, Putin’s dominance is based on “lies so enormous that they could not
be doubted, because doubting them would mean doubting everything.”
To understand
Putin, Snyder argues persuasively that you must understand his ideas - a strange
and toxic mixture of fascism, religion and 19th-century notions about race and
the struggle for survival. His pronounced use of sexual imagery would also
interest Freud. There is a stress on power and virility and corresponding fears
of sexual nonconformity. Putin and his obedient press regularly attack gays and
gay rights as part of a Western conspiracy to destroy Russia.
So what can
the concerned citizen in the U.S. do about the decay in public life? As Snyder
says, keep digging for the facts and exposing falsehoods. As Thucydides, the
father of history, said, “Most people, in fact, will not take trouble in
finding out the truth, but are much more inclined to accept the first story
they hear.” Mistrust one-sided accounts of the past or the present. “The Road
to Unfreedom” is a good wake-up call. We may not agree with all of Snyder’s
conclusions, but he is right that understanding is empowerment.
Reference:
The
Road To Unfreedom, Russia, Europe and America, Timothy Synder, Tim Duggan Books
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