Could totalitarien rule, where everything is controlled by the powers that be, once again become a reality in Europe?

"The TV is 'real'.... It tells people what to think. It wants to be right... It rushes you towards the conclusions it wants you to draw so fast that your mind does not have time to protest: 'What nonsense!'" (R. Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451)

Nina Karlström - 27.09.2019 @ 16:44

Could a totalitarian leadership evolve in Europe again?

By Laura Eichmüller, BG-BRG Kufstein/Austria

No freedom of speech, no right of thinking freely. Everything is dictated by the government, TV programs, radio programs, articles in newspapers, education or free time activities. You are not allowed to decide on these things. Decisions concerning that topic aren't allowed to be made by yourself. There's no I, only We. As a single person you are useless, together you are strong. The points mentioned above are a few signs of totalitarian leadership. When translated, the word ‘total’ means ‘everything’ and that means that there's no single decision left for the human being to make on his own life. When we think about past totalitarian regimes led by Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini and others, we think about the horror, the exclusion of specific ethnic groups, for example Jews, concentration camps and all the unnecessary deaths that many suffered during these times. ‘Never again’ was the claim after the end of World War II. At the moment it looks as if the totalitarian era was over. However, does a possibility of totalitarian leadership exist in Europe?

At first sight the thought of that seems absurd. No, something like that will not happen! Europe has learned from its mistakes. That's what we might think at first, but we often forget that a leadership like this doesn't come overnight. It sneaks into our lives, TV programs, and headlines. New concepts of enemies are established. If we think about how nationalist, extreme right-wing parties have risen in the past few years, showing xenophobia, nationalistic thinking and intolerance towards “foreign” religions like the Islam in their election programs, we should be worried. What if we spin that thought further until we get to the point when parties like that form our government? Such groups often show attitudes like the ones of National Socialists during the Second World War. Would we be far apart from a totalitarian regime, if these parties led a country?

Is mankind even able to think in this way again? The Internet makes it easy to compare different parts of the world, and differences in the freedom of speech, of information and of making decisions are detected much faster. Social media make it easier to discover irregularities and after only a short period of time many people know about them. To my mind, it's very unlikely for a totalitarian leadership to appear in the near future in Europe. Politics are getting very transparent these days and the population knows if something's going wrong. To be able to rule over every aspect of our lives, one big step has to be taken: The World Wide Web must be shut down. As long as it's possible to share information that easily it is difficult for a totalitarian leadership to rise because 7 billion people can watch. The fact that some leaderships of that kind aren't even hundred years back and still exist in North Korea, for example, makes it more difficult. However, in the distant future things might look different. Maybe democracy has come to an end and another huge war in Europe has been fought. Then other people will rule the countries. Could that leadership be a totalitarian one? Maybe, but I don't think people living at present will experience that.

In the end I can say that at the point we are now it's very unlikely to have a totalitarian rule. People know a lot about the horror of the past leaderships and don’t want these to come back. They want freedom more than anything else. People want to be individuals, to think freely and live without the control of others. Totalitarianism does not correspond with that. That's why I believe we are safe, as long as we think freely and believe in a free life without any rule over personal decisions. But you never know what the future might bring.

Drawing by Laura Eichmüller

Laura Eichmüller - 11.11.2019 @ 19:35

Hi,

I really like your text! I think, it was very interesting to read your point of view and if you think that a totelitarian leadership can develop in Europe. And I share your point of view. I also have doubts that something like a dictatorship could arise in the near time.

Anastasia Sobol - 03.12.2019 @ 16:08

We think it is interesting that you brought up this subject, especially about North Korea because considering ur society, they are living in a world that could have been possible about 50 years ago but not today. They are limited with their freedom, which is awful, they are not allowed to have their own opinion or travel to another country.

Felix Barkeus, Elise Bengtsson, Vincent Kroon

Växjö Katedralskolan

Felix Barkéus - 09.12.2019 @ 12:12

Hi Laura

Thank you for your effort to make this important message widespread. I’m from Poland, the country where our freedom is really important for everybody. After the war ended it wasn’t so easy for us here. The communists occupied our country for another forty-four years, until the 1989. These where the dismal times and I hope they will never come back. But we can’t be certain.  It was all about the money and power back then, I don’t think it ever changes, does it?

There’s one book, called “Animal farm” by George Orwell. It’s about animals, who created a totalitarian regime. It started very innocently, but shortly after, everything began to change for the worse. Animals were scared and started starving. Some of them were even sentenced to death.

 We can’t get too comfortable, it happened in the past, and history has that nasty habit to repeat itself. We just need to learn from our grandfathers’ mistakes. We are not them, we have a new start. I believe, that our generation is different. That’s why we have to work together, cooperate and be ready to react when somebody starts to act suspiciously. I feel like it’s mostly about being brave, courageous enough to speak up and defend what’s important to us.

Dominika Gwóźdź - 14.01.2020 @ 21:38

Hi Laura,

Thanks for writing the article, it's really thought-provoking. I agree with your opinion, however I'd like to point out one thing — the web and internet doesn't necessarily have to be shut down, it can be simply controlled. Let's take China as an example. Chinese government plans to launch a “Social Credit System” in 2020. It's a programme that rates the actions of an individual and provides boons — or penalties — based on their behaviour. These things can range from access to premium schools and tax reliefs, up to travel ban and complete ban on internet access for “displaying anti-government behaviour”.

Dominika brought up “Animal Farm” by G. Orwell, but I think that his other book, “1984” will suit your article better. While Animal Farm shows the way how the totalitarian regime is established, 1984 shows how life looks under such government. Police, repressions, control and Big Brother watching over every single aspect of our lives.

In Europe however, totalitarianism is unlikely to occur. If we stay vigilant and won't distance ourselves from European integration projects — like the EU — these scenarios may will stay in the past and won't happen again.

Jakub Fenert - 16.01.2020 @ 18:53

Hi I enjoyed your text. It was interesting about the North Korea because it is a country who have many limits and rules and the government decides everything. They people there are limited with their freedom which is absolutely awful. They are not allowed to have their own opinions or travel to other countrys. They live in a world that could be able to happen in 50 years ago not now.

Ahmad Tamer - 23.01.2020 @ 11:29