Carnival Of a Concertina Wire!

The template is same.

Everywhere.

And since time immemorial.

The land is quiet.

Bordering on the peaceful.

The usual disappointments and the feeling of being left uncared for.

They are not big enough to cause a revolution.

Not small enough to ignore.

The existing government slips into complacency.

Ignores the bureaucracy that has been allowed to grow.

Allows red tape.

Nepotism slips in.

The rot sets in slowly, and steadily.

The disconnect between the people and the government gets palpable.

There is still democracy.

Though often creaking at its joints with failing institutions.

The government with no sense of the pulse of the people, does not see the threat.

The threat is usually someone waiting on the sidelines.

Patiently, biding his time.

Watching the discontent breed.

Stoking it when and where possible.

Within one generation, people have seen their dreams vanish.

They do not comprehend how they slipped from a promised progress to the current chaos.

The man on the sidelines takes center stage.

The playbook is clear on its guidelines.

Expose the corruption.

Question the glaring nepotism, impossible to hide anymore.

Blame a particular group.

It is usually the one that comprises people

• Of a different color (Race)
• Of a different faith (Religion)
• Of a different country (Xenophobia)
• Of a different orientation (Sexual)
• Of a different level (Class and Caste)

Explain how the (imagined) past glory is gone.

Cry over the loss of nationalistic pride.

Paint a gory picture on how the “others” have taken what is ours.

Promise prosperity.

Offer reverting to a glorious past.

Alter history.

No one remembers what really happened.

(There are people who deny Holocaust)

(There are people who KNOW that Holocaust was a Jewish conspiracy)

Convince people that democracy is for the weak.

Only the strong can rule.

(People voted life was better under Emergency, under Ceausescu, under Tito, under Stalin)

Only the strong can protect the majority.

Regularly lie.

More blatant the lie, the better.

Election comes.

The corrupt, inefficient leaders, still trusting democracy, promise the same promises.

The challenger assures a cleanup and a fresh start.

It is not even a contest anymore.

The strong man wins.

Corruption continues, but away from the public eye.

Nepotism thrives in an effective camouflage.

Decades can pass by only blaming the past rulers.

The people can be kept happy with symbolic peanuts.

Crush the minority.

Expel the immigrants.

Close the borders.

The rich get richer.

The poor do not realize that they are poor.

The opium of religion and race lulls them into a stupor.

The disappointed are now in a trance.

High on an imagined Utopia.

The rulers continue with one vitriolic slogan after another.

Soon there are no “them”

Only “us”

And we are all equally screwed.

No institutions to support us, for they are the first ones that were compromised.

But who cares?

We are hungry.

We are alone.

We have no future.

We have no rights.

But we are happy because “they” are gone.

“################” (insert the relevant national slogan applicable to your country)

Picture created by ChatGPT