"This is a civilized country, people said, there will be no war."

[femmedem]

This twitter thread by Ivanka Majik about growing up in Yugosavia stopped my heart:

When I was 14 I lived in a country called Yugoslavia.
This is a civilized country, people said, there will be no war.

We had hyperinflation. That means that they had to knock zeros of the currency so you didn’t have to carry buckets of cash.
This is a civilized country, people said, there will be no war.

We had lots of nationalist chatter. Even some pop songs that triggered fights at school discos.
This is a civilized country, people said, there will be no war.

Then I was 15. Teachers didn’t get paid. My mother was a teacher, so I know.
But this is a civilized country, people said, there will be no war.

It’s the others people blamed. The ones not like us.
But this is a civilized country, people said, there will be no war.

I was in Mostar in school and I wondered how I would get home if there was a war.
But this is a civilized country, people said, there will be no war.

When I was 16 my parents went out to dinner one night. I babysat my siblings. It was a Saturday.
We are going to England, my parents said, we think there will be war.

It was 1991, and there was war.

It is 2019, I am 44, and I live in Britain.

But this is Britain people keep saying.

Edited to add link:

Link to tweet

[mountain grammy]

1. I can happen here.. first step

make trump president.

[Perseus]

2. Correct, but unfortunately people's 1st reaction is the opposite

"It Can't Happen Here!" they will all tell you, and then...it happens!

[Aussie105]

3. Few more steps to go

but the US is well on the way.

Make a maniac hungry for power the leader: DONE.

Blame certain minorities for domestic problems: DONE.

Take power away from the people: DONE.

Declare a civil emergency, instigate martial law: NOT YET.

Factional violence, civil disobedience, citizen firing on citizen, major battles: NOT YET.

Sadly, no country is immune to civil war.

[90-percent]

4. First steps, my perspective

Reagan breaks the PATCO Union
Reagan implements trickle down
Iran-Contra criminals like Ollie North, Elliot Abrams, Cap Weinberger, etc. are pardoned
Clinton impeached for lying about sleazy, but consensual adult sex
Supreme Court Installs GWB as President in 2000, based on partisan factors, not legal factors
9-11 happens, with the PATRIOT ACT put into law 30 days later
Iraq Invasion
Great Recession of 2008.


and other things over an approximately fifty year arc


The morbidly wealthy keep pushing the boundaries of basic decency with their doctrine of more for them by extracting wealth from you and me.

the elected criminals supine to the .01% have yet to be checked in any meaningful way. If we don't hold at least the full blown TRAITORS to account, then fascism and a planet engulfed in climate change mass extinctions will be the fate of our failed experiment in Democracy.

-90% Jimmy

[barbtries]

11. yep.

you put it very well, but at a basic level i've believed for some time that this slide began with Reagan. trump seems to be the designated finisher, but hopefully democracy and the rule of law will prevail. still have yet to see.

[geardaddy]

12. Good analysis.

Reagan was a huge part of this.

[irisblue]

5. Great. Historical perspective and caffeine, and anxiety, all before 9am

[sandensea]

6. Destroying Yugoslavia is one of the IMF's favorite accomplishments.

Because while the underlying ethnic tensions were there, what pushed them part the boiling point was Prime Minister Branko Mikulić's acceptance of one of the IMF's dreaded "standby" loans.

Basically a credit line that forces the borrower to make economy-wrecking austerity cuts, credit controls, and (naturally) privatizations.

Mass unemployment and family belt tightening follows, and in an ethnic quilt like Yugoslavia the rest almost plays itself out as a matter of course.

[Pachamama]

7. She is referring to Britain right now because of Brexit-but it could be applied anywhere as she says

[marble falls]

8. It could happen here, too.

[IronLionZion]

9. A lot of people in the Balkans were told they're Europeans so they won't have war

after WWII, the war to end all wars.

Many Americans believe we're just too American to have war here either. Many are so worried that brown people are invading our borders that they don't even think about the Russians infiltrating the highest levels of our government and influencing our politicians. Kind of like what happened with so many other countries in recent history.

[Soxfan58]

10. Wow

I am feeling uneasiness after reading that. Could it happen here...yes.

[DirtEdonE]

13. I've read that the German people

still totally supported their fuhrer up until the time he is said to have blown his brains out in a bunker in Berlin - they expected he'd save them with some super weapon or order another surprise "lightning attack" that would change the course of the war even as they faced unavoidable total defeat.

To paraphrase Ivanka Makic's tweet, I lived in a country called America. "This is a civilised country, people said, there will be no war."

Then putin stole a presidential election for trump and together they blackmailed the entire GOP.