The Global Crackdown on Dissent
Guest Post by CJ Hopkins
There are a lot of theories going around about the global crackdown on dissent.
Most of these theories are, essentially, bullshit.
Some of them are innocent, well-intentioned bullshit, in that the people putting them forth are honestly trying to explain what is happening, but they have no idea what the hell they’re talking about, or, due to their allegiances, they are only seeing one part of the picture. Others of these theories are not that innocent. Some are clearly designed to deceive, confuse, misdirect, and so on.
In the end, it doesn’t matter. Bullshit is bullshit.
As my regular readers know, for the last two years, I’ve been experiencing the global crackdown on dissent “up close and personal,” and trying to report on it. A lot of my reporting has fallen on deaf ears. Which is understandable, given the nature of what we’re up against, which is (a) formidable, (b) rather challenging to really understand, and (c) virtually unassailable, currently.
People don’t tend to like stories like that. They tend to like stories with “good guys,” and “bad guys,” and identifiable enemies, and simple solutions, even if those stories are, essentially, bullshit.
One of the most prevalent bullshit stories (i.e., theories) about the global crackdown on dissent is the one about how The Big Bad Government Forced the Poor Helpless Global Corporations to Censor Everybody, or at least Conservatives. Americans are particularly fond of this story, especially conservative Americans, as it casts the Big Bad Government as the antagonist, and good, freedom-loving, military-contracting billionaires like Elon Musk as the heroic protagonists.
Variations on this bullshit story include, but are not limited to, the ones about how the Woke cabal, or the Communists, or the Democrats, or the Biden administration, or the Starmer government, or the Satanists, or the Zionists, or some other assembly of perverted evil-doers is responsible for the global crackdown on dissent, and every other bad thing you can think of.
Another bullshit story that is popular with Americans is the one about how the evil EU is the Monster, because there’s no free speech in Europe, not like there is in the USA, where there’s the 1st Amendment, and everyone is free, and extremely armed, and, anyway, Europeans are pussies.
I could go on, but you get the idea … all of these stories, and theories, are bullshit.
The global crackdown on dissent is not a European, or a British, or American, or a Canadian, or Australian, or a Brazilian operation. It is a global, systemic operation. Governments aren’t forcing or extorting global corporations into censoring dissent. Left and right politics has nothing to do with it. It is part and parcel of the ongoing evolution of global capitalism, the globally hegemonic system we all live under. Re-electing Donald Trump will not stop it. Electing Bobby Kennedy, Jr. will not stop it. The Supreme Court will not stop it. Elon Musk won’t stop it.
As I put it in a recent column …
“What is actually happening is, a dominant power — a globally hegemonic dominant power in our case — is eliminating internal resistance throughout the territory it occupies, which in our case happens to be the whole planet. Any and all forms of internal resistance. The character of the resistance makes no difference … Islamic fundamentalism, Christian fundamentalism, neo-nationalism, ‘populism,’ socialism, whatever. Any form of resistance that interferes with the consolidation of its global hegemony and commodification of virtually everything.”
I am well aware of many people’s objections to referring to the system that we all live under as “global capitalism,” but that’s what it is. It may not be the kind of capitalism you want, but it is the kind of capitalism we have.
If we cannot identify it, we cannot understand it. If we cannot understand it, we won’t be able to change it.
I am going to demonstrate how that system works when it comes to cracking down on dissent. I’m going to use the facts of my case to do it. I’ve arranged them into a simple timeline, and editorialized as little as possible.
I would like you to note a few key elements: (1) the sequence of events and their dates; (2) the various entities involved, i.e., the German government, Amazon, Twitter, and X; (3) the “nationalities” of these entities, e.g., Amazon and X are “American” companies, and Amazon operates in markets worldwide, e.g., Amazon.de, -.co.uk., -.nl, -.ca, etc; (4) seeming contradictions, e.g., the fact that Amazon banned my book in three European countries, but continues to offer it other markets all around the world; (5) the fact that “free-speech X” is still censoring my Tweets and stonewalling my attorney; (6) the way the system reacts to press attention that it cannot control, i.e., prior to my original and second trials.
What we are up against is a global system. A system. Not a clutch of conspirators. Not a political party. Not a “cabal.” A system. A decentralized, supra-national, hegemonic, global system. Which is eliminating internal resistance. Like a body’s immune system fighting an infection. Yes, the system is run by people, individual people, but they are all replaceable, interchangeable parts of the system. No one is giving anyone orders to censor anyone or prosecute anyone or telling anyone what to publish or broadcast. No one has to. Anyone in any position of power knows what to do, without being ordered. If they didn’t, they wouldn’t be in their positions. They are organs of the body that the system comprises. We are the infection.
Until we understand that, and accept it, and embrace it, we are going to get nowhere.
Anyway, let me not spoil the fun. If you’re not too fed up with reading about my case, go ahead, review the following timeline. Note the six points I outlined above. And, if you subscribe to one of those theories I listed at the top of this piece, and referred to as “bullshit,” try your theory out on these facts. If it works, feel free to let me know.
…
May 4, 2022 — The Rise of The New Normal Reich: Consent Factory Essays, Vol. III (2020-2021) is published. It is an instant Amazon #1 bestseller in Political Science in the USA, Canada, and The Netherlands, and a Barnes & Noble bestseller. The cover art, by Anthony Freda, is an homage to William Shirer’s 1960 classic.
August 24-27, 2022 — Three months later, as the German authorities debate whether to lift the Covid mask mandates, I tweet the following Tweets. (Translation: (1) “The masks are ideological-conformity symbols. That is all they are. That is what they have always been. Stop pretending that they were ever anything else or get used to wearing them.” (2) “The mask always sends a signal.” — Karl Lauterbach, Germany’s Minister of Health, as quoted in Die Welt.)
August 29, 2022 — Amazon/KDP bans The Rise of The New Normal Reich in Germany.