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Home » Politics » Draw the parallels: How today's nationalists follow Hitler & Mussolini's playbook
 

Draw the parallels: How today's nationalists follow Hitler & Mussolini's playbook

Aleesha Matharu | Updated on: 9 April 2017, 16:53 IST
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This series of tweets from @PM_Travel_Tours gives us a window into a world of hyper nationalism
At a time of hyper-nationalism, a series of tweets proves the toxicity of patriotic frenzy

As hyper nationalism begins to reach a fever pitch in many corners of the world, a look back at where such notions have led can be more than just an eye opening experience.

A series of tweets on Twitter from the handle of 'Mustapha Mond', named after a character in Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, gives us a glance into a past hyper nationalistic world where compliance, duty and absolute cooperation with the state was a must.

For those pushing such nationalist agendas, the primary tool of choice to disseminate the message to trigger the masses has always been propaganda. And never was propaganda as insidious as it was during the two Worlds Wars. 

Mond's tweets underline how fascist and totalitarian regimes tend to make constant use of patriotic mottos, slogans, symbols, songs and other paraphernalia to drive patriotic frenzy.

In a world which looks to be teetering to the right, one where walls are going up instead of being broken down - the rise of the Hindutva brigade in Narendra Modi's India, Donald Trump's victory in the US, Reccep Tayyip Erdogan's strangling of democracy in Turkey, Rodrigo Duterte's trigger happy rule in the Philippines, and even Brexit are such examples - these tweets come at a pertinent time.

And as 'Mond' says himself, "feel free to draw parallels".

First published: 9 April 2017, 16:53 IST
 
Aleesha Matharu @almatharu

Born in Bihar, raised in Delhi and schooled in Dehradun, Aleesha writes on a range of subjects and worked at The Indian Express before joining Catch as a sub-editor. When not at work you can find her glued to the TV, trying to clear a backlog of shows, or reading her Kindle. Raised on a diet of rock 'n' roll, she's hit occasionally by wanderlust. After an eight-year stint at Welham Girls' School, Delhi University turned out to be an exercise in youthful rebellion before she finally trudged her way to J-school and got the best all-round student award. Now she takes each day as it comes, but isn't an eternal optimist.