There seems to be a tide of disharmony running in the world at the moment, it runs habitually, but does not always rise high enough to involve western nations.
The rise of the far right, simultaneously in so many western nations, is not an accident, it has been coordinated and uses the same methodologies.
As a teacher I used to present what happened in post World War 1 Germany and ask, “Could it happen here?”
The student responses were always the same to the extent that they believed that British people would not be taken in by such nonsense. I was never so confident and events in recent times suggest I was right to be sceptical.
The victims are always the same, the least fortunate members of society, the sick, the poor, the homeless and those who are different in some way, through religion or language or nationality or dress.
The solutions are always simple. Expertise is not to be trusted. The press that does not print the party message is vilified.
Make no mistake, many of the elements that would define the fascist state are already in place in Trump’s America, in the Tory UK and in the actions of the current Israeli government. In Russia, the cult of personality around Putin stops people thinking objectively believing that the national interest resides in one man.
It is time for democratic and fair minded people to speak up to oppose this lurch to dictatorship which will bring so much harm to the world.
I grew up in the 1960s, believing that the world was an exciting place and that the trajectory of development was always upward. In my lifetime I believed that hunger and absolute poverty would be eliminated, after all it would be so much simpler than going to the moon!
We now need to address the cancerous stage of capitalism which takes resources to the rich and deprives the rest in society. We need a kinder and more supportive world which protects the planet and all her citizens.