Are you an "extremist"? Of course not; you wouldn't hurt a fly. But are you a "non-violent extremist"?

"What's one of those?" I hear you cry. Well, quite possibly, it's YOU.

The UK Government plans to introduce sweeping new powers called "Extremism Disruption Orders" and "Extremism Banning Orders" to combat individuals and organisations it deems to be "extreme". Who are "extremists"? Well, terrorists, of course. But what about political activists? Religious groups? Anti-religious groups? Trade unionists? Environmental campaigners? Are they "extremists" too? Well, they could be under the Government’s vague proposals: plans that are so opaque, poorly defined and broad in scope that they risk shutting down all kinds of legitimate speech in the UK.

Original Audio      Notes 

Hello everybody, Julian Charles here of TheMindRenewed.com, coming to you, as usual, from the depths of the Lancashire countryside here in the UK. And as that bracing rendition (from 1914) of the patriotic rouser, Rule Britannia! Britannia Waives the Rules fades into the background, welcome to TMR 122: “Don't Let David Cameron Turn You Into an Extremist”.

Now, last time I said that this time―as it has recently been the UK Conservative government's Jingoism Conference in Manchester, which thankfully finished last week―I said I wanted to talk about the government's proposals for so-called “Extremism Disruption Orders”. (Now, I could add to that “Extremism Banning Orders”, but since they're essentially the same kind of thing aimed at groups instead of individuals, I'll take those as read.)

And part of me is tempted, throughout the podcast, to use this prosaic Orwellian phrase, “Extremism Disruption Order”, over and over as a constant reminder of just how comfortably it would sit on the pages of 1984, or Animal Farm, but I think if I constantly said “Extremism Disruption Order” it might get a bit tedious. So, instead of saying “Extremism Disruption Order” all the time, I'll substitute for “Extremism Disruption Order” the acronym “EDO”, which will serve fairly well in place of “Extremism Disruption Order”, so long as you keep in mind that EDO does in fact mean “Extremism Disruption Order”.

What Is an EDO?

So what is an EDO? Well, if you're fortunate enough never to have heard of one (and I'm sorry to change that for you now), it's intended to be a court order that can be slapped on people to silence them.

“Silence whom?”, I hear you ask.

“Non-violent extremists”, says the government.

“And who are they?”, I also hear you ask.

Well, those who exhibit what the government describes as:

So, let me just say that again. An EDO could be applied to people who engage in:

Now, just a word on “British Values”. I loathe that phrase―it's horrible―but I love my country. In fact, I didn't realise how much I love my country until I went on a three-week holiday to Canada once. (Sorry, James Corbett, if you're listening, and my other Canadian friends out there.) It's nothing to do with Canada―in fact, I seriously considered staying in Canada, it's so beautiful (and the housing was cheaper)―but I just felt homesick for old Blighty. So, yes, I love this country, with its red pillar boxes, cream teas, Gilbert & Sullivan (you can't get more British than Gilbert & Sullivan, even though the music's 90% German). And I even love wonderfully stupid things like Black Rod striking the door to the House of Commons three times with a stick after having it slammed in his face during the State Opening of Parliament. Or the stuffed skeleton of Jeremy Bentham being wheeled, on special occasions, into meetings of UCL's College Council and minuted as “present but not voting”. Completely Daft. But I wouldn't be without these things. It's all quintessentially British.

So I love Britain, but I don't necessarily love its leaders, especially when they do and say things that are evil. And when they get up and say that Britain is exceptional and a beacon to the world, as they did a few days ago, while thinking it's perfectly OK to drone to death British citizens who are secretly suspected of being an imminent threat to national security, even though they're 2000 miles away. It all makes me sick to my stomach. It's an insult to everyone else in the world, and it smacks of a certain desperation. Why, if Britain has such an impeccable track-record, would anyone need to trumpet it so? (Glenn Greenwald put it best: “I believe this was all more lyrical in the original German”, he said.)

What Do They Mean?

Now, if you're anything like me―and suspect most of you are because you're listening to TMR―you will quite rightly be asking yourself: “What on earth does all this incredibly vague language actually mean?” It sounds OK, on the surface, to talk up things like democracy, liberty, respect, law and tolerance, but what does the government actually meanby those things?

Quite apart from this obnoxious sound-bite “British Values”, what does it mean to talk about “vocal opposition to democracy”? Are we provided with a definition of democracy? No.

Are we given guidelines as to what would constitute “opposition” as opposed to mere critique of that democracy, whatever it might be? No.

Are we told what the phrase “opposition to the rule of law” means? Does it mean “opposition to any law whatsoever”, even including laws we might find unjust or immoral? We're not told.

“Mutual respect for beliefs”! If I say that I think David Cameron, because of some of the things he seems to believe, is looking more and more like he should be wearing a brown shirt and jack boots rather than a blue suit and tie these days―which, I hasten to add, in the interests of not receiving an EDO, I'm not necessarily saying, although I'm not necessarily not saying―is that extremism? Who knows?

And what of “tolerance of different faiths”? Years ago, before the victory of radical postmodernism specifically in the realms of religion and morality, tolerance used to mean something like: “I think you're wrong, but we'll peacefully agree to differ.” Now, tolerance has come to mean: “I must never say you're wrong, because that would be to “impose”―(and I use that word deliberately, I've heard it so much)―that would be to “impose” my views upon you. “What's true for you is your truth, and what's true for me is my truth.” So, which is it? Which definition of “tolerance” does the government have in mind? The old-fashioned coherent one, or the new-fangled incoherent one? Again, we don't know, because they haven't said.

So, it's absolutely essential that we get to know what they mean, because, as many people have been saying for a long time now, these EDOs are founded on such woolly and vague language that they could easily end up being applied to people who are acting well within the law. But then, David Cameron's government doesn't seem to be interested in the law. As he famously said to the National Security Council: “For too long, we have been a passively tolerant society, saying to our citizens: as long as you obey the law, we will leave you alone.”

Applied to Whom?

I mean, with all this vagueness, why shouldn't we be worried? Why shouldn't we think that, say, the following hypothetical persons might soon be at risk of receiving one of these official Shut-Up Orders? Let me offer a few possibilities:

1. An anarchist (of the peace-loving, philosophical type, for sure) writing a blog piece at their website, and trying to persuade people that our country would actually be much better off without a central government and its laws? Would that be to write against “the rule of law”?

2. A Christian preacher declaring in public the words of the Apostle Peter in Acts 4:12 - “And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” - and insisting that people of other faiths need to come to believe in Jesus Christ in order to be saved. That, I'm quite sure, in many people's view would be seen as an instance of that new-fangled “intolerance”.

3. A political activist who wishes to reform electoral politics in the UK giving an interview on an alternative-media Podcast, and recommending that people en masse spoil their ballot papers as a means of registering political protest? To some, I have little doubt, that would seem “undemocratic”.

4. And let me just add: An anonymous Army general, reported in a national newspaper as saying that, should the leader of the Labour Party be elected as Prime Minister and begin to implement certain policies for which he had been elected, then the Army “would use whatever means possible, fair or foul to prevent that”? That would, very clearly, be to write against “democracy”. (But I guess that one is a bit different, because it does seem to imply incitement to violence, so I'll look for a prosecution there. Then again, he's a general, so I won't hold my breath.)

I could go on, but I won't. And it doesn't matter whether I agree with what those hypothetical people say or not―whether I find what they say agreeable or unpleasant―they are exercising their right to freedom of speech, and they should be left alone. But will they be left alone? Well, I don't see how we can know, one way or the other, until we're provided with some clarity on what all this language actually means.

Lack of Clarity

And that's where we hit another problem. The government seems determined not to be clear. I mean, why, if they really know what they're doing, or they really have nothing to hide, would they be unclear? And yet, persistent lack of clarity seems to be a hallmark of this so-called Counter-Extremism proposal. Just listen to the Home Secretary Theresa May, on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme back in May this year. John Humphrys―who, I have to say, did a pretty decent job interviewing her―asks her to clarify what these EDOs are all about, and specifically what kinds of speech they're likely to slap down. And Theresa May's responses are, frankly, lamentable. She either doesn't know, even as Home Secretary, what this important legislation would actually do, or (even more worrying) she doesn't want to say.

Which has got to be one of the worst performances I've ever heard. Which is odd, because, for all my dislike of Mrs. May, I wouldn't for one moment call her inarticulate or stupid. So, something is going on here... all this bombastic talk about “British Values”, “democracy”, “rule of law”, blah, blah, blah... but as soon as John Humphrys gets specific , then it's all evasion, and no doubt what's going on inside her head is basically: “Get me out of here quick!”

And you would think things would have improved since then. After all, that was four months ago, or so. So, surely by now, after that deeply embarrassing performance by no less a person than the Home Secretary herself, on national Radio, the apparatchiks of the Tory Party will have got their heads together and made sure their spokespersons have some clear statements up their sleeves (?) Well, apparently not. Only two weeks ago, on BBC Radio 4's AnyQuestions? programme, John Hayes (Minister of State for Security, no less) gave this, equally lamentable, performance.

Yes, a pig's ear describes that fairly well. But it's not because he's incompetent; it's because the policy is incoherent and dangerous, so no one can defend it. And let me offer you a little philosophy, Mr. Hayes. You say that we can't have complete freedom of speech, because it's necessary that speech be circumscribed in various ways to protect us all. Of course. But then you imply that we should therefore not object to speech being further circumscribed. But that entirely begs the question, which is: What are the specific ways in which you intend to circumscribe it?

And let me note in passing: That's the key to how these politicians can say they believe in free speech, while at the same time clamping down on free speech: precisely by the trick we've just heard. If you define free speech as “that which remains after you've circumscribed it”, then you can go on circumscribing it as much as you like, and you're still left with free speech! Hey presto! This is sophistry; it's not philosophy.

So, what is going on here? David Cameron may insist that he's moving us all “into the light”, as the rather crass rhetoric of his speech the other day put it, but he seems quite happy for us to remain in the dark on this one.

Freedom of Speech

What is going on, clearly enough, is a direct attack on freedom of speech. And I wrote to my Member of Parliament about this a little while ago. (And just in passing, I'll say Rosie Cooper is a pretty good MP; she really seems to care what her constituents think.) I have no problem with her reply to me, which was understanding and seemingly concerned as well. But in her second reply to me she enclosed a letter from The Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon―or, more fully, Tariq Mahmood Ahmad, Baron Ahmad of Wimbledon―writing, as he says, in his capacity as Minister for Countering Extremism. The letter is obviously a photocopy with the blanks filled in in pen, “Dear Rosie” at the top, and “Yours sincerely” at the bottom; but I'm left as a BLANK. Does that say something, I wonder? Whatever, one paragraph reads:

Well, you can imagine my relief when I read that! So, it's not “intended” to restrict anyone's freedom of speech (so he says). But even if it's not “intended” (which I doubt), if you leave the wording as vague as it is, you're going to end up getting that anyway, whatever your intentions. And there are going to be plenty of BLANKS out there who are going to be pretty cheesed off as we lose freedom after freedom, when Lord This, or Lord That, says to us: “Yes, but we never intended that to happen!” Then, Lord Tariq adds, by way of further attempt at reassuring me:

Well, thank heavens it will only be used to stop “extremism”, which, of course, is the very word I was asking for a satisfactory definition of! And “stir up divisions within a community”? I can think of lots of things that would do that, that fall fairly and squarely within the law, and rightly so. And “safeguards”! The letter ends:

It certainly does not; it's an insult. So, thank you very much Tariq Mahmood Ahmad, Baron Ahmad of Wimbledon, this particular BLANK is not impressed.

So, let me return to Emily Thornberry's point, that we already have a mass of laws. We already have a whole arsenal of legislation qualifying our right to freedom of speech: threat, harassment; breach of the peace; gross offence; high treason; obscenity; indecency; corruption of public morals; interfering with court process; defamation; etc. More to the point: incitement to racial hatred; threatening violence against people or property for “political, religious or ideological causes”; incitement to terrorism; disseminating terrorist literature; glorifying terrorism...

So, why do we need more legislation? What is it about this Islamist radicalisation process that the government says it's so keen to stop, that can't be dealt with by the mass of legislation we already have? Put another way: What's the extra that they want to do, that they won't say in a clear way?

Conspiracy Theorists

Well, I think a clue to a big part of it is this:

Now, we've spent quite a lot of time on this programme looking at the whole idea of “conspiracy theory” and its various shades of meaning, so I won't rehearse all that here. But what comes over to me from these kinds of statements (which are clearly very carefully crafted to make them as slippery as possible and difficult to comment upon) is that one of the main extras the government wants to do is to shut people up who even question the actions of the Deep State. Which, by the way, is why there's so much talk about “narratives”. This is an important point. In one breath they will talk about the “poisonous ideology” of ISIS; in another breath they'll talk of the “poisonous narratives”. (And let me just say in passing: I hate the ideology of ISIS; I think ISIS is barbaric. And I know Mr. Cameron has said it's not enough to say you don't support ISIS, but I'm not going to fall for that cheap trick. And I don't respect what Mr. Cameron says anyway, so I'll say it again: I hate ISIS.) So what are narratives? Well, they're stories, and stories have chapters, episodes and paragraphs...

...and into a story, you can slot pretty much anything you want.

That's why they bang on about “narratives”, because then they can come after pretty much anyone they want ; and they can say: “Well, there's some part of the story that you're telling, that seems to slot somehow into the broader story that someone else is telling, and they're violent people, so you're implicated.” That is a terrifying policy; that could end up criminalising anyone they so desire.

And I put some of these things that David Cameron has said to Paul Craig Roberts when he was on our show last time, and it's worth hearing again what he had to say.

Deep State

So, at its heart, I don't think this is really essentially about counter-extremism; I think it's about shutting down criticism of the State, and in particular the Warfare State. It's not essentially about counter-terrorism, because the straightforward causal links between non-violent ideas and acts of violence are not at all clear; and there's a very definite worry that legislation of this sort, by targeting people who are completely innocent, will more likely lead to violence than discourage it. Listen to what David Anderson QC writes, the officially-appointed Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation in the UK:

So, how can this be essentially about counter-extremism? I don't think, at heart, it is. And Vince Cable agrees.

Purpose

So, what's my purpose in doing this today? Is it to get another show out in the hope of gaining a bigger audience? Well, if that was my main motivation, there are loads of other things I could have done: another well-known guest; an avant-garde subject; a wacky subject―because those always pull in an audience. But, to be quite honest, TMR exists for things that matter. And I think this matters, because we are watching our freedoms being flushed down the toilet as we speak―not just in the UK―and we must do everything we can to stop it (without violence, of course). Wherever we are, we must do what we can.

If you're in the UK there is something you can do, and I'm appealing to you today to do it. You can write to your MP and express your concern. Now I know it's not fashionable in alt-media circles to say such things. We're supposed to be totally cynical about political structures and say, “Well, there's no point in playing their game”, and all that kind of thing. But, the fact is, we do still have a modicum of democracy left. I've written to my MP, and she's written back to me twice; she's clearly taken on board what I've said, and she says she's going to scrutinise this proposed legislation when it soon comes before her. And because I've written to her, my concerns will form part of her understanding of the issues involved when she comes to assess that Bill of Parliament. The system is far from perfect, but there are MPs who actually do their job and try to represent the views of their constituents at Westminster. But if we don't write to them and tell them what we think, they won't know we're concerned. And if they don't think we're concerned, they're less likely to be. So please write.

There's an easy way to do it. Visit Defend Free Speech, a campaign being run jointly by the Christian Institute and the National Secular Society―(an unlikely combination I know, but all the more notable for it)―and now BigBrotherWatch has joined. You'll find that at DefendFreeSpeech.org.uk. There you'll be able to do their quick Extremism Quiz to see if you might qualify for an EDO because of what you think. (It's quite fun, but a bit creepy.) Also there's a facility to identify your MP, and a form ready there on the website to send a letter directly to your MP. And they may well respond to you. I just wrote an email in the first place, and Rosie got back to me twice by post. So, if you're in the UK, please write. And if you're somewhere else in the world, please go and like their Facebook page. Any kind of encouragement helps; it only takes a click. And please let other people know about this campaign. I am amazed at how few people know about this proposed legislation. Even bright, otherwise well-informed people seem to be completely in the dark about it, which is (I'm sure) how the government wants it, otherwise it would be announced from the rooftops by the mainstream media. This is too important to drop. There's a fair amount of opposition to it among politicians and academics etc., so we need to harness that opposition, and encourage our MPs to do what's right. And it's harder to do what's right if you don't think your constituents care and you don't think they're with you in what you're doing.

They Thought They were free

So, how shall I end? In a sense I've said most of what I wanted to say. I've expressed my concern and I've plugged the Campaign, which are the two things I really felt compelled to do. And yes, my main concern is the chilling effect. If the government is successful, I don't for a moment think the authorities are likely to have the time and energy to waste on thousands of people. (Not in the short term anyway.) What's much more likely is the chilling effect; people will shut up. They'll not want to be seen as an “extremist”. We'll end up policing ourselves, and each other; and I think that's really what they really want.

But I haven't quite shared everything; there is one more thing. If you've listened this long, you could think: “Well, that's enough” and turn off now, and quite frankly you wouldn't have missed the main point of the podcast. But if you have a little bit more stamina, then do stay awhile, because there's something else.

Back in 1955, the journalist Milton Mayer published a famous book called They Thought They Were Free : The Germans, 1933-45, published by Chicago University Press, which was a study of the lives of ten ordinary Germans who lived through the years of the Third Reich. And one of those chapters really gets to me. And I'm going to read it in full, and you'll see what I mean. And don't misunderstand me, I'm not for one moment saying that there's a direct parallel with what's going on now, and what went on back in those dark years. But there are clearly echoes. As I read it, keep in mind all those who might laughingly say, with a roll of the eyes: “Don't worry too much about all this; it won't go that far. This is Britain. This is the 21^st Century.”

An excerpt from

They Thought They Were Free

The Germans, 1933-45

Milton Mayer

But Then It Was Too Late

"What no one seemed to notice," said a colleague of mine, a philologist, "was the ever widening gap, after 1933, between the government and the people. Just think how very wide this gap was to begin with, here in Germany. And it became always wider. You know, it doesn’t make people close to their government to be told that this is a people’s government, a true democracy, or to be enrolled in civilian defense, or even to vote. All this has little, really nothing, to do with knowing one is governing.

"What happened here was the gradual habituation of the people, little by little, to being governed by surprise; to receiving decisions deliberated in secret; to believing that the situation was so complicated that the government had to act on information which the people could not understand, or so dangerous that, even if the people could not understand it, it could not be released because of national security. And their sense of identification with Hitler, their trust in him, made it easier to widen this gap and reassured those who would otherwise have worried about it.

"This separation of government from people, this widening of the gap, took place so gradually and so insensibly, each step disguised (perhaps not even intentionally) as a temporary emergency measure or associated with true patriotic allegiance or with real social purposes. And all the crises and reforms (real reforms, too) so occupied the people that they did not see the slow motion underneath, of the whole process of government growing remoter and remoter.

"You will understand me when I say that my Middle High German was my life. It was all I cared about. I was a scholar, a specialist. Then, suddenly, I was plunged into all the new activity, as the university was drawn into the new situation; meetings, conferences, interviews, ceremonies, and, above all, papers to be filled out, reports, bibliographies, lists, questionnaires. And on top of that were the demands in the community, the things in which one had to, was ‘expected to’ participate that had not been there or had not been important before. It was all rigmarole, of course, but it consumed all one’s energies, coming on top of the work one really wanted to do. You can see how easy it was, then, not to think about fundamental things. One had no time."

"Those," I said, "are the words of my friend the baker. ‘One had no time to think. There was so much going on.’"

"Your friend the baker was right," said my colleague. "The dictatorship, and the whole process of its coming into being, was above all diverting. It provided an excuse not to think for people who did not want to think anyway. I do not speak of your ‘little men,’ your baker and so on; I speak of my colleagues and myself, learned men, mind you. Most of us did not want to think about fundamental things and never had. There was no need to. Nazism gave us some dreadful, fundamental things to think about—we were decent people—and kept us so busy with continuous changes and ‘crises’ and so fascinated, yes, fascinated, by the machinations of the ‘national enemies,’ without and within, that we had no time to think about these dreadful things that were growing, little by little, all around us. Unconsciously, I suppose, we were grateful. Who wants to think?

"To live in this process is absolutely not to be able to notice it—please try to believe me—unless one has a much greater degree of political awareness, acuity, than most of us had ever had occasion to develop. Each step was so small, so inconsequential, so well explained or, on occasion, ‘regretted,’ that, unless one were detached from the whole process from the beginning, unless one understood what the whole thing was in principle, what all these ‘little measures’ that no ‘patriotic German’ could resent must some day lead to, one no more saw it developing from day to day than a farmer in his field sees the corn growing. One day it is over his head.

"How is this to be avoided, among ordinary men, even highly educated ordinary men? Frankly, I do not know. I do not see, even now. Many, many times since it all happened I have pondered that pair of great maxims, Principiis obsta and Finem respice—‘Resist the beginnings’ and ‘Consider the end.’ But one must foresee the end in order to resist, or even see, the beginnings. One must foresee the end clearly and certainly and how is this to be done, by ordinary men or even by extraordinary men? Things might have. And everyone counts on that might.

"Your ‘little men,’ your Nazi friends, were not against National Socialism in principle. Men like me, who were, are the greater offenders, not because we knew better (that would be too much to say) but because we sensed better. Pastor Niemöller spoke for the thousands and thousands of men like me when he spoke (too modestly of himself) and said that, when the Nazis attacked the Communists, he was a little uneasy, but, after all, he was not a Communist, and so he did nothing; and then they attacked the Socialists, and he was a little uneasier, but, still, he was not a Socialist, and he did nothing; and then the schools, the press, the Jews, and so on, and he was always uneasier, but still he did nothing. And then they attacked the Church, and he was a Churchman, and he did something—but then it was too late."

"Yes," I said.

"You see," my colleague went on, "one doesn’t see exactly where or how to move. Believe me, this is true. Each act, each occasion, is worse than the last, but only a little worse. You wait for the next and the next. You wait for one great shocking occasion, thinking that others, when such a shock comes, will join with you in resisting somehow. You don’t want to act, or even talk, alone; you don’t want to ‘go out of your way to make trouble.’ Why not?—Well, you are not in the habit of doing it. And it is not just fear, fear of standing alone, that restrains you; it is also genuine uncertainty.

"Uncertainty is a very important factor, and, instead of decreasing as time goes on, it grows. Outside, in the streets, in the general community, ‘everyone’ is happy. One hears no protest, and certainly sees none. You know, in France or Italy there would be slogans against the government painted on walls and fences; in Germany, outside the great cities, perhaps, there is not even this. In the university community, in your own community, you speak privately to your colleagues, some of whom certainly feel as you do; but what do they say? They say, ‘It’s not so bad’ or ‘You’re seeing things’ or ‘You’re an alarmist.’

"And you are an alarmist. You are saying that this must lead to this, and you can’t prove it. These are the beginnings, yes; but how do you know for sure when you don’t know the end, and how do you know, or even surmise, the end? On the one hand, your enemies, the law, the regime, the Party, intimidate you. On the other, your colleagues pooh-pooh you as pessimistic or even neurotic. You are left with your close friends, who are, naturally, people who have always thought as you have.

"But your friends are fewer now. Some have drifted off somewhere or submerged themselves in their work. You no longer see as many as you did at meetings or gatherings. Informal groups become smaller; attendance drops off in little organizations, and the organizations themselves wither. Now, in small gatherings of your oldest friends, you feel that you are talking to yourselves, that you are isolated from the reality of things. This weakens your confidence still further and serves as a further deterrent to—to what? It is clearer all the time that, if you are going to do anything, you must make an occasion to do it, and then you are obviously a troublemaker. So you wait, and you wait.

"But the one great shocking occasion, when tens or hundreds or thousands will join with you, never comes. That’s the difficulty. If the last and worst act of the whole regime had come immediately after the first and smallest, thousands, yes, millions would have been sufficiently shocked—if, let us say, the gassing of the Jews in ’43 had come immediately after the ‘German Firm’ stickers on the windows of non-Jewish shops in ’33. But of course this isn’t the way it happens. In between come all the hundreds of little steps, some of them imperceptible, each of them preparing you not to be shocked by the next. Step C is not so much worse than Step B, and, if you did not make a stand at Step B, why should you at Step C? And so on to Step D.

"And one day, too late, your principles, if you were ever sensible of them, all rush in upon you. The burden of self-deception has grown too heavy, and some minor incident, in my case my little boy, hardly more than a baby, saying ‘Jewish swine,’ collapses it all at once, and you see that everything, everything, has changed and changed completely under your nose. The world you live in—your nation, your people—is not the world you were born in at all. The forms are all there, all untouched, all reassuring, the houses, the shops, the jobs, the mealtimes, the visits, the concerts, the cinema, the holidays. But the spirit, which you never noticed because you made the lifelong mistake of identifying it with the forms, is changed. Now you live in a world of hate and fear, and the people who hate and fear do not even know it themselves; when everyone is transformed, no one is transformed. Now you live in a system which rules without responsibility even to God. The system itself could not have intended this in the beginning, but in order to sustain itself it was compelled to go all the way.

"You have gone almost all the way yourself. Life is a continuing process, a flow, not a succession of acts and events at all. It has flowed to a new level, carrying you with it, without any effort on your part. On this new level you live, you have been living more comfortably every day, with new morals, new principles. You have accepted things you would not have accepted five years ago, a year ago, things that your father, even in Germany, could not have imagined.

"Suddenly it all comes down, all at once. You see what you are, what you have done, or, more accurately, what you haven’t done (for that was all that was required of most of us: that we do nothing). You remember those early meetings of your department in the university when, if one had stood, others would have stood, perhaps, but no one stood. A small matter, a matter of hiring this man or that, and you hired this one rather than that. You remember everything now, and your heart breaks. Too late. You are compromised beyond repair.

"What then? You must then shoot yourself. A few did. Or ‘adjust’ your principles. Many tried, and some, I suppose, succeeded; not I, however. Or learn to live the rest of your life with your shame. This last is the nearest there is, under the circumstances, to heroism: shame. Many Germans became this poor kind of hero, many more, I think, than the world knows or cares to know."

I said nothing. I thought of nothing to say.

"I can tell you," my colleague went on, "of a man in Leipzig, a judge. He was not a Nazi, except nominally, but he certainly wasn’t an anti-Nazi. He was just—a judge. In ’42 or ’43, early ’43, I think it was, a Jew was tried before him in a case involving, but only incidentally, relations with an ‘Aryan’ woman. This was ‘race injury,’ something the Party was especially anxious to punish. In the case at bar, however, the judge had the power to convict the man of a ‘nonracial’ offense and send him to an ordinary prison for a very long term, thus saving him from Party ‘processing’ which would have meant concentration camp or, more probably, deportation and death. But the man was innocent of the ‘nonracial’ charge, in the judge’s opinion, and so, as an honorable judge, he acquitted him. Of course, the Party seized the Jew as soon as he left the courtroom."

"And the judge?"

"Yes, the judge. He could not get the case off his conscience—a case, mind you, in which he had acquitted an innocent man. He thought that he should have convicted him and saved him from the Party, but how could he have convicted an innocent man? The thing preyed on him more and more, and he had to talk about it, first to his family, then to his friends, and then to acquaintances. (That’s how I heard about it.) After the ’44 Putsch they arrested him. After that, I don’t know."

I said nothing.

"Once the war began," my colleague continued, "resistance, protest, criticism, complaint, all carried with them a multiplied likelihood of the greatest punishment. Mere lack of enthusiasm, or failure to show it in public, was ‘defeatism.’ You assumed that there were lists of those who would be ‘dealt with’ later, after the victory. Goebbels was very clever here, too. He continually promised a ‘victory orgy’ to ‘take care of’ those who thought that their ‘treasonable attitude’ had escaped notice. And he meant it; that was not just propaganda. And that was enough to put an end to all uncertainty.

"Once the war began, the government could do anything ‘necessary’ to win it; so it was with the ‘final solution of the Jewish problem,’ which the Nazis always talked about but never dared undertake, not even the Nazis, until war and its ‘necessities’ gave them the knowledge that they could get away with it. The people abroad who thought that war against Hitler would help the Jews were wrong. And the people in Germany who, once the war had begun, still thought of complaining, protesting, resisting, were betting on Germany’s losing the war. It was a long bet. Not many made it."

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The excerpt from pages 166-73 of They Thought They Were Free: The Germans, 1933-45 by Milton Mayer, published by the University of Chicago Press. ©1955, 1966 by the University of Chicago. All rights reserved.

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Well, there's not much that I need add after that. I wanted to include it because I think it's an important text, and it does stand as a warning to us all, wherever we are and whenever we are: that our freedoms can slip away from us bit by bit if we are inattentive. As that man said, all that's necessary is that we do nothing. So I'm going to end by saying again: Please do write. If you're in the UK, please do write to your MP; support this campaign. And whatever else it is that you do this Autumn, please, do not let David Cameron turn you into an extremist.

You have been listening to me, Julian Charles of TheMindRenewed.com, and I very much look forward to speaking to you again in the near future.

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