Mastodawn

Felix Denbratt 1d ago

“‘For Orbán in Hungary, it took about four years, for Vučić in Serbia, it took eight years, and for Erdoğan in Turkey and Modi in India, it took about 10 years to accomplish the suppression of democratic institutions that Trump has achieved in only one year’

…

US democracy is now back at the worst recorded level since 1965, when US civil rights laws first introduced de facto universal suffrage. All progress made since then has been erased, according to the report.

Worldwide, democracy has receded to its lowest levels since the mid-70s. ‘The world has never before seen as many countries autocratising at the same time’

…

A record 41% (3.4 billion) of the world’s population currently resides in countries where democracy is deteriorating, the report claims, adding that Washington is leading this global turn away from democracy.”

The very fucking *least* you can do right now is not comply in advance.

Yes, I’m looking at you, tech folks.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/commentisfree/2026/mar/17/trump-is-aiming-for-dictatorship-thats-the-verdict-of-the-worlds-most-credible-democracy-watchdog

‘Trump is aiming for dictatorship’. That’s the verdict of the world’s most credible democracy watchdog

Sweden’s V-Dem Institute warns that the US is no longer a liberal democracy. And autocracy is creeping across Europe too, says writer Martin Gelin

The Guardian

✡️ 🇵🇸

anarchismhebrew

Hi everyone. Please read this post

#DemocracyAtRisk

Toni Aittoniemi 1d ago

@aral Trump & Hegseth are threatening Iran with war crimes publicly - destroying their power plants - so it should be clear to everyone what they’re about.

When Russia did this to Ukraine, just years ago, all diplomatic ties were cut.

But when USA does it, nothing happens.

We are all corrupt, and the values we say we represent don’t mean squat.

William B Peckham 17h ago

@gimulnautti @aral Destruction of the infrastructure civilians need to survive during a military operation is a war crime. Donald Trump is threatening more war crimes, which means there are more grounds to condemn him as a war criminal. Right along with Netanyahu and Putin, there should be warrants out for his arrest internationally.

Remember when he posted
"I love the smell of deportations in the morning?"
I knew where he was heading.
Dictatorship & war.
And we're all in for it.
The whole world.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5fd8oU4DSY

'I Love The Smell Of Deportations In The Morning': Trump Trolls Chicago With 'Apocalypse Now' Post

YouTube

@aral What OS are you using? What are you thoughts on age assurance?

Aral Balkan 1d ago

@shwell macOS/iOS daily drivers; various Linux dev/testing/servers

Age assurance benefits fascists. (See who’s lobbying for it.)

@aral Gavin Newcomb is the most vocal at the moment. But I get both sides are wanting it.

GhostOnTheHalfShell 1d ago

The tech guys from Silicon Valley bankrolled the GOP’s total control of the federal government they are the people who wrote project 2025 and the guys from Silicon Valley have their dark enlightenment (read human extinction) movement.

These people have prepared safe houses in bunkers with the full expectation of civilization collapsing it’s something they are deliberately working towards because they have their “nerd” flavor of the second coming.

Nicole Parsons 1d ago

https://thehill.com/blogs/in-the-know/5616043-stewart-trump-tech-ceos-saudi-ties/

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/13/technology/amazon-google-persian-gulf-war.html

https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/escalating-tensions-turn-spotlight-big-techs-ai-investments-middle-east-2026-03-02/

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/technology/tech-news/report-claims-google-microsoft-palantir-ibm-nvidia-and-oracle-are-irans-new-targets-for-their-links-to-/articleshow/129458745.cms

The authoritarianism has fossil fuel funding.

Tech is awash with oil money of petrostate despots & oil oligarchs.

https://www.axios.com/2017/12/14/koch-tries-its-hand-at-venture-capital-1513277500

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-04-06/google-thiel-stand-out-in-saudi-prince-s-silicon-valley-tour

https://medium.com/predict/musks-ties-to-putin-laid-bare-2d0b0568a42e

https://www.npr.org/2025/05/15/nx-s1-5398586/why-top-tech-ceos-joined-trump-on-his-trip-to-saudi-arabia

https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidjeans/2024/08/20/8vc-russian-oligarchs/

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/10/28/saudis-kingdom-holding-company-to-maintain-twitter-stake

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2025/05/13/trump-tech-execs-riyadh/

https://thehill.com/business/5297272-trump-business-leaders-saudi-investment/

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-11-06/saudis-plan-100-billion-ai-powerhouse-to-rival-uae-s-tech-hub

https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2024/05/saudi-prince-alwaleed-bin-talal-invests-elon-musks-24b-ai-startup

https://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-google-hand-dissident-data-to-saudi-arabia-activists-say-2023-7

To Aral and everyone, whom it may concern, hello!

Democracy? Even the word: Geistiger Humbug!
Herrschaft des Volkes? Woruebr soll das Volk denn herrschen? Ueber die Fliegen; Ziegen; Steine???

The 'Populus', doesen't exist either. A deep-fake wording!

@aral tbh, when other countries see what "democraty" brings you I don't know why they should try to become one.

@aral The evolutionary thrust fostering democracies has lost its strength. Authocracies have evolved as well, in some new form, still deceiving people into a new freedom, now given by pervasive digital access to the world. Personally, without a specific knowledge, I think that a regain of civil rights could take a few generations time.
The number of persons feeling subjugated by the real manipulators is well below the critical mass. While the mass distraction techs are effective is hard4change

Display Name 1d ago

@luc0x61 @aral I agree except for the time it may take for the reaction to surface. History sped up. It may happen surprisingly quick

@alper @aral I think we'll see more 'adjustments', than revolutionary changes, as we've seen in the 20th century.
Let's see: if the reaction is quick as you say, I should be able to see it happen. If my darker feeling is right then I won't witness its coming 😉

@aral - Thank you.

DavidM_yeg 16h ago

The only thing I disagree with in this is all the breathless hyperventilating about ‘how fast’ Trump has been able to tear down democratic institutions.

“Only one year!”

It only seems that way to the poor misguided Americans who thought they lived in an exemplary and stable democracy, the ones who bought the propaganda that declared American democracy was the best in the world, instead of being a teetering castle made of sand ready to collapse in a strong wind.