Shortly after 9PM on the evening of February 27, 1933 the Berlin Fire Department responded to an emergency call reporting that the Reichstag building, home of the German Parliament, was on fire. On site they found the massive building consumed by flames. When the blaze was finally extinguished at around 11.30PM, the Reichstag lay in ruins. Amongst the smouldering wreckage, authorities found bundles of flammable material indicating arson. Communist agents were quickly blamed and Germany and the world changed forever.

The Reichstag fire of course was the pretext Hitler needed. The day after the fire, on February 28th, in accordance with the German Constitution, the President of Germany proclaimed “The Reichstag Fire Decree” which suspended Habeas Corpus, freedom of expression, freedom of the press, rights of peaceable assembly and free association and the privacy of telephone and mail. In the space of less than 24 hours Germany was transformed from a democratic – albeit dysfunctional – country into a single party totalitarian state. 12 years later the country would be a smouldering ruin.

Germany’s fire burned hot and quickly. The pressures that had built up in the 20s and 30s gave fuel to what became an explosive conflagration.

But a fire does not have to burn quickly to do damage. A fire can start and burn unnoticed for a long time while slowly, inevitably weakening the foundations of a structure before it results in a collapse just as devastating.

Like the Germany of the thirties, the United States of the early 21st Century is a nation under pressure. Fifteen years of war, the constant threat of terrorism, two generations of economic stagnation, racial and demographic tensions, and the forces of automation, deindustrialization and globalization have created deep divisions and a palpable tension amongst its citizenry. America of 2017 finds itself with a dysfunctional political system and a constitution that appears to be increasingly unable to contain the forces of polarization and extremism. So, while America has not yet had a Reichstag fire-type event, it’s quite possible that the conditions have been set and the match has already been struck.

Take the slow, steady, inevitable and perhaps irreversible chipping away at our privacy by the national security state in the years following 9/11. In the wake of that attack, the National Security Agency (NSA) and other agencies began the large-scale collection of what they euphemistically call “signals intelligence” from American citizens. Basically it means that they began to listen to and record our phone calls and read our emails and web searches. The Edward Snowden revelations made clear that there is little we say or do electronically that escapes the notice of the government.

Then, there are the recent attacks on the press by the Trump Administration. This offensive, almost without precedent in the history of the Republic, strikes at the heart of freedom and the foundations of truth and transparency that we, as Americans, believe are essential to good government. Throughout the 2016 campaign, candidate Trump, ever hyper-sensitive to criticism, mused frequently about changing libel laws to make it easier to sue the press. His obvious intent was to chill his critics. As President, he has more-or-less embarked on an anti-media jihad, echoing the Nazi-era slur, “lügenpresse” (lying press) by deriding the media as purveyors of “fake news.” Last week, he stepped up the rhetoric to an almost unbelievable degree by describing the press as “the enemy of the American people.” His chief advisor, Stephen Bannon has described the press as the “opposition party” and demanded that they “keep their mouth shut.” The White House has purged major news outlets from press briefings. Everyday it become more clear that the President and his Administration want to do away with the independent, objective, but often critical, reportage of a free press.

But perhaps the most ominous “spark” to our American version of the Reichstag fire appears to be an emerging and insidious campaign that is happening in statehouses around America to restrict the right of Americans to demonstrate peacefully against their government.

Since the election we have seen the emergence of an unprecedented political movement in America. In the shadow of a close and divisive election, in the face of an unresponsive Congress and a polarizing Administration that seems either unwilling or unable to reach out across the partisan divide, protestors have taken to the streets in record numbers. Following a sparsely attended Inauguration, millions turned out to protest. Thousands descended on airports to protest the shockingly ill-conceived and unconstitutional Muslim travel ban. This week at Congressional town halls across the country thousands more turned out to express their discontent at their compliant and complicit Congressional Representatives.

But as millions take to the street, which has become the last refuge of democratic speech in a system that has become unresponsive and indifferent to their concerns, in legislatures across the country, Republicans are responding by conspiring to make it more difficult, more risky and in some cases illegal to exercise this right. In states as diverse as Michigan, Minnesota, Iowa, Washington and North Dakota Republicans have advanced bills that would criminalize certain forms of protest. Minnesota’s law would permit municipalities to sue protestors for compensation to pay police forces required at a demonstration. In North Dakota, the anti-protest bill, shockingly, would allow motorists to run over and kill protestors that block roadways. Missouri’s law would criminalize concealing your identity at a peaceful event. In North Carolina, following Inauguration Weekend incidents, Republicans are considering legislation that would make it illegal to heckle politicians in that state. Colorado has tabled legislation that would impose fines and other penalties for obstructing industrial equipment in the course of a demonstration.

But perhaps the most shocking, the most regressive, the most anti-democratic legislation curtailing the freedom of Americans to associate and to demonstrate was passed in the Arizona statehouse this week.

SB1142 is a dramatic expansion of the the Grand Canyon State’s racketeering law, generally aimed at organized crime, to include organizers of protests as well. The law redefines what is considered rioting. Under the new law protest organizers can be found criminally liable in the event that a protest turns violent or creates damage to property even if it was planned as a peaceful event. It exposes organizers to civil forfeiture laws that could result in a protest organizer losing their home if, for example, some windows happened to be smashed in the course of the protest. Moreover, by including protests in a racketeering statute, the police can arrest and change people for simply planning events.

It is hard to see the Arizona law and the legislation being advanced in other states as anything other than an attempt to “chill” protests by creating huge legal and criminal liabilities for protest organizers.

The Los Angeles times observed:

“It is a fundamental principle of American democracy that the policies and statements of a president — any president — should and must be second-guessed by citizens, experts, artists, stakeholders and, of course, the media. Political protest is part of the lifeblood of American democracy, from the Boston Tea Party to the modern-day tea party to the Women’s March on Washington last month. And squelching peaceful protests is as democratic as, well, fill in the name of your favorite autocratic regime.”

When you consider the trend over the past decade: more invasive electronic surveillance, an unprecedented and aggressive attack on first amendment freedom of the press by an administration that disdains transparency, and now the widespread criminalization of political speech and protest, then it starts to look a lot like a purposeful sustained full-frontal assault on civil liberties and political freedoms. A slow burn eroding the foundations of our democracy.

In Germany in 1933, after the proclamation of the Reichstag Fire Decree, opposition to Hitler faded quickly. The government rounded up and harassed political opponents, restricted speech and criminalized all political parties except the National Socialists. Internal dissent was not a factor after that point despite the fact that the Nazi’s came to power by winning only a minority of votes. Today, the Reichstag Fire and the Decree that followed are remembered as the event that squelched meaningful open, popular opposition to the Nazis.

For America, the parallels are troubling. We have an increasingly unpopular government that won only minority support but is sustained by a partisan cadre of “true believers.” A highly charged political environment. Dysfunctional institutions. A prolonged assault on political rights and civil liberties in the name of safety, security, and the fear of terrorism.

The question becomes: Has America already had its Reichstag Fire event and we are simply living through a slow motion curtailing of rights and freedoms in response to it, or have we only lit the fuse and are still awaiting the explosion that will change America forever?

Because the pressures that are driving people into the streets are not going away and those who would attempt to silence those voices are surely playing with fire. At this time, it is well worth remembering the the words of John F. Kennedy:

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.”

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