Living Like It's 1939

Theresa's struggle

The phrase 'strong and stable' was also used in Hitler's Mein Kampf in a chapter on propaganda. Hitler spoke of creating a 'strong and stable power' through appropriate use of propaganda to garner supporters and members. In another chapter, he wrote

November 9, 1923, in the fourth year of its existence, the National Socialist German Workers’ party was dissolved and forbidden throughout the entire territory of the Reich.

Today, in November, 1926, it stands again before us, free through the whole Reich, stronger and internally more stable than ever before.

I would hope that there is nothing more to be taken from this than an unfortunate coincidence. Having a leader looking to Mein Kampf for inspiration should worry anyone. At worst, I would expect the Conservatives to have been inspired by Hitler's ability to earn power by creating an image of a strong and stable leader in the wake of war, depression, and desperation. Such propaganda gave the suffering German populace hope, before Hitler began to introduce terror through his constant military presence, fear-mongering propaganda, death camps, and secret police. His reign of terror should certainly not be something our politicians aspire to.

'Final solution' propaganda

Of course, it's not just our politicians who can accidentally or intentionally replicate the tactics of the Nazi propaganda machine. The press and 'personalities' also need to take some responsibility for what is said and encouraged. Yesterday, I discussed Katie Hopkins's horrific behaviour in the wake of the Manchester Arena bombing and why inciting hatred is the last thing we should do. Hatred will only ever incite more hatred, and further violence along with it. Already people have attacked Muslims and attempted to set fire to mosques. It is reminiscent to the treatment of the Jews in the early days of Hitler's demonising of them as 'undesirables'.

Make them the enemy, then make them the target; it's vile but often repeated tactic.

Hopkins seemed to encourage our own Holocaust, one targeted at Muslims. She called for a 'final solution', the exact words used by Hitler when planning the eradication of the Jews. It's a prospect any decent person would find abhorrent. It's dangerous talk. It's dangerous to normalise such statements and dehumanise a group of people into something 'alien' and 'enemy'. Such behaviour tells far right extremists and fascists that their dogma is acceptable, and that created an environment where violence can breed violence. Encouraging such behaviour is not only reckless and ignorant, but it sets a precedent which could bring a wealth of suffering.

Call in the troops

On top of having a Prime Minister using a slogan from Mein Kampf and a press who seem to think they can copy Hitler's fear-mongering tactics to attack a religion, we now have troops on our streets! They have been deployed in the wake of the Manchester bombing in order to assist with security as further attacks are deemed likely. We 'need' these troops because our police forces have suffered under Tory austerity and do not have the resources to adequately protect us. Unfortunately, our military is also under funded. That is only one aspect of what is do terrifying about the deployment of armed soldiers on our streets, though.

Take into account that an armed soldier is unlikely to stop a suicide bomber if he doesn't already know the bomber's intention. That begs the question 'why is our Prime Minister deploying troops?' The obvious answer is that we've suffered an attack and she wants to make a show of protecting us, rather than shouldering the blame for cutting funding to the police which will have negatively affected counter-terrorism.  This will be especially important in the run up to an election, during a campaign which has seen her popularity fall. However, we have to question what having a military presence on our streets says for our democracy.

Soldiers on the streets intimidate the civilian population, even when that's not the intention.

When it is the intention, they can be used to sway election results.

By placing soldiers on our streets, we are showing that we fear the terrorists and undermining our own mantra of 'keep calm and carry on'. Our unbroken spirit becomes somewhat tarnished when we place soldiers in parliament, around Downing Street, and around Buckingham Palace.

We need to show our life and democracy will go on, not encourage further attack by revealing to the terrorists that they are getting to us.

Isn't it time for change?

These attacks need dealt with by police, not the military, and for that we need a government who will invest in public services. The sooner the better. We also need a government led by someone who wants peace. In 2013, Jeremy Corbyn was awarded the Gandhi International Award for Peace. Isn't it time we chose to put our faith it a peacekeeper, as opposed to Mrs May who has resorted to calling in the troops, sells weapons to countries with dubious policies on war, terror, and human rights, and has a member of the IRA as one of her councillors?

Carmine Raven