In his seminal book, On Tyranny, the historian Timothy Snyder warns of anticipatory obedience:
“Much of the power of authoritarianism is freely given. In times like these, individuals think ahead about what a more repressive government will want and then offer themselves without being asked. A citizen who adapts in this way is teaching power what it can do."
I’d like to give you a real life example. This week I’ve been at the amazing Hay Festival where I got to interview journalist and Hope not Hate researcher Harry Shukman alongside film director Havana Marking. In an act of incredible bravery, Harry Shukman spent a year undercover infiltrating far right extremist groups.
Harry discovered that the far right is more organised and better funded than many realise, adopting the disinformation tactics used by the tobacco and oil industries to spread phoney science to back their lies.
Film director, Havana Marking’s hard-hitting documentary Undercover: Exposing the Far Right follows Harry’s journey and revelations. However, when she tried to bring her film to air she encountered multiple barriers. First, the London Film Festival cancelled its screening of the documentary at the last minute citing ‘perceived risks of disruption or harm to audiences or staff.’
The world renowned festival refused Marking’s appeal to stand firm or find an alternative venue and the film was pulled. Thus allowing the far right’s tactics of creating a climate of fear to win, without them having to lift a finger. The cancellation in turn frightened potential investors and to date the film is without any US distribution, festivals or funding. The film’s important message will now remain unheard in the USA, where it is needed most.
The BBC issued another blow to the efforts of communicating the film’s vital message. They asked the filmmakers to include an interview with the far right violent extremist, Tommy Robinson ‘for balance’. The film makers refused. Thankfully Channel 4 stepped in and agreed to show the film.
Harry’s courageous work shows how real the threat to our democracy is. We urgently need our broadcasters and platforms to wake up to that threat and stand their ground. We need them not to give in for fear of protest or right wing criticism.
As Timothy Snyder warns in On Tyranny: ‘don’t hand over the power you have before you have to. Don’t protect yourself too early [by] mentally and physically conceding, you’re already giving over your power to the aspiring authoritarian”
We believe it is vital that more people hear this message and get to see the film about Harry’s work. If you haven’t seen it already you can watch it here. And feel free to forward this email on to anyone else who might be interested.
Thank you, as always, for standing with us in defence of compassion, truth and justice.
Warmly,
The Compassion in Politics team