The Third Wave
The specter of fascist resurgence may not be far beneath the peaceful veneer of any nation. Even the most ostensibly free and open societies are not immune to fascism's lure -- including places like Palo Alto. What came to be known as the "Third Wave" began at Cubberly High School in Palo Alto as a game without any direct reference to Nazi Germany, says Ron Jones, who had just begun his first teaching job in the 1966-1967 academic year. When a social studies student asked about the German public's responsibility for the rise of the Third Reich, Jones decided to try and simulate what happened in Germany by having his students "follow instructions" for a day. But one day turned into five, and what happened by the end of the school week spawned several documentaries, studies and related social experiments illuminating a dark side of human nature -- and a major weakness in public education.
http://www.ronjoneswriter.com/wave.html
The Road to Dictatorial Hell
The MPAA and RIAA just submitted comments to the American Intellectual Property Czar, Victoria Espinel, laying out their proposal for intellectual property enforcement. They want us all to install spyware on our computers that deletes material that it identifies as infringing. They want our networks censored by national firewalls. They want border-searches of laptops, personal media players, and thumb-drives. I am enough of a techno-pessimist to believe that baking surveillance, control, and censorship into the very fabric of our networks, devices, and laws is the absolute road to dictatorial hell. Chekhov wrote that a gun on the mantelpiece in act one is sure to go off by act three. The entertainment industry's pursuit of its own narrow goals has the potential to redesign our technology to be the perfect tools for oppression.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2010/apr/16/digital-economy-act-cory-doctorow/print
Stop respectable fascism now
I have long studied the rise of "respectable" fascism across Europe. From my youth, I have opposed totalitarianism, and especially the religious persecution that is often a part of it. In July 2009, I stood and won against a Polish MEP, Michal Kaminski, for the post of vice-president of the European Parliament, because he symbolised the rise of disguised extremism in Europe.It was not my principle, it was a higher one: to oppose a menacing political movement at a key moment in Europe's politics. Ambivalence about totalitarianism has no place in today's Europe. It has now been disclosed that Kaminski has had fascist links: he was a member of Poland's notorious fascist National Revival Party (NOP) and tried, as its MP, to cover up anti-Jewish atrocities.The rise of "respectable fascism" must be stopped.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/jul/31/conservative-fascism-kaminski-europe/
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