<
https://edition.cnn.com/2023/12/08/us/tyranny-of-the-minority-american-democracy-cec/>
"It started as a political protest in the nation’s capital over a disputed
election, but it quickly turned into an all-out assault.
Armed right-wing militia and a mob of enraged demonstrators stormed the
building where lawmakers had gathered to vote on a new government. The
insurrectionists tried to break through the doors to the building where
lawmakers met, but riot police stopped them at the barricades. As both sides
battled one another on that chilly winter day, frightened lawmakers fled their
chambers as the mob called for their hanging. Many people were injured, and
some killed.
We’re talking, of course, about the insurrection of February 6, 1934 — an
infamous day when thousands of fascists and militia members tried to topple a
democratically elected government in France.
The French government survived that attack, but the political battle that
followed proved to be more consequential. A committee was formed to investigate
the insurrection, but right-leaning politicians rejected its findings and
constructed an alternative narrative that cast the insurrectionists as victims
of overzealous police and true patriots. No one was really held accountable,
and politicians who encouraged or justified the insurrection that day remained
in power.
A description of the 1934 riot comes midway through “Tyranny of the Minority:
Why American Democracy Reached the Breaking Point,” by Steve Levitsky and
Daniel Ziblatt. Their new book, which argues that the US must reform its
Constitution and political institutions because they are dangerously
antiquated, offers a chilling postscript to the French insurrection.
“In the absence of accountability for the events of February 6, French
democracy was badly weakened. Within six years, it would be dead,” the authors
write.
Could the same fate await the US? This is the question that haunts every page
of their impassioned book."
Via Lisa Stranger and Diane A.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
