Plutocracy is the rule, not just of money, but of evil (that’s the full sense of “Pluto”, successor of Hades and ancestor of Satan). Plutocracy is amplification of the human Dark Side by Civilization itself. In particular plutocracy shows up in evil corporations which employ politicians. This is not new: (elected) king Francois I of France and his rival Charles Quint (born a few miles away) were, de facto, owned by their respective banks, many around Florence for the former, and mostly in Germany, for the latter. Charles Quint got elected “Roman” emperor, because he spent even more bankers’ money than Francois.
Plutocracy turns into an oligarchy so extreme, it uses evil to keep on ruling. Oligarchy, the rule of a few, is intrinsically fascist and inhuman, because only a few rule… Whereas human genetics has evolved to be ruled by none except love of all and the reason of many… but for the exception of actual combat.
This brings us to the fascist instinct (also something honed by evolution to enable otherwise weak primates to survive). Fascism is not just a tool for plutocrats to go on with their power and terror. Fascism is an old instinct which dominates human behavior when, submitted to a threat of extinction, primates group up, and follow the leader, in all ways, because, so doing, they act as one, and are more coordinated, thus stronger in combat, as they act as one superorganism.
The fasces (“bundle”) symbolised the imperium power of the Roman magistrates (later the emperor) to inflict corporal punishment (beating with the rods) or even death (beheading by the axe), although no Roman magistrate could summarily execute a Roman citizen after passage of the laws of the twelve tables (but Roman “imperators”, top generals, could, on their soldiers). To be executed in Roman “old style” meant being beaten with rods while tied to a x-shaped cross, or the head stuck in a fork, and then beheaded (or self-strangled). This was the punishment that the Senate ordered for the emperor Nero, which prompted him to commit suicide.
The fasces appears to have originated from the Etruscans, as evidenced by surviving artifacts showing a thin bundle of rods surrounding a two-headed axe that may have been influenced by the labrys, the Minoan double-headed axe (the tradition may then have passed to the Franks, as the “Francisque” was a double headed axe). Under the Roman Republic, the fasces developed into a thicker bundle of birch rods, sometimes surrounding a single-headed axe and tied together with a red leather ribbon into a cylinder. The fasces suggests strength through unity, since a single rod is easily broken, while the bundle is very difficult to break.
The lictors were special officials and bodyguards who carried the fasces and preceded the magistrates or emperor. The highest magistrate, the dictator, was entitled to twenty-four lictors and fasces, a consul to twelve, a proconsul eleven, a praetor six (two within the pomerium), a propraetor five, and the curule aediles two. During a triumph (victory parade) the fasces was decorated with a laurel wreath. The “fasces” is the origin of our modern word “fascism” to denote totalitarian power. But it is used by many Republican organisations and governments merely as a symbolic continuation of Roman style authority, law and order, of We The People above the universe.
Hence the rise of fascism among those who fight plutocracy. It’s a defensive behavior by We The People. Thus fascism is used in contradictory ways. But that’s not surprising: to fight those with swords, one can’t use flowers, one has to use swords. Nazis didn’t get persuaded by logic. 5.5 millions obdurate German soldiers defending Nazism had to be killed, and even more than that had to be injured or imprisoned, for Nazism to stop. All too often, only violence can stop violence.
We saw this sort of complexity arise in the 1930s: Italian, German and Spanish fascists were financed, enabled, and manipulated by plutocrats (most of them from the USA)… However, the fascist leaders were riding an… anti-plutocratic wave! (Hitler and company claimed to be fighting “plutocrats”, as they themselves said… while being financed and even armed, by… the same plutocrats they were stridently excoriating in their public discourses!)
We have a similar situation now. Bankers, the financial sector, are more powerful than ever (due to a deliberate mismanagement, by bought-off politicians, of “Quantitative Easing” and “TARP” by US and EU governments). Plutocrats manipulate media, the British media, the least trusted among 33 countries polled, in particular (British media is owned by plutocrats who fear european legislation taxing and regulating them… worldwide, so their plan was to weaken Europe fatally…)
Listening to the psychology of Brexit politicians is reminiscent of the attitude the Nazis used to have: absolute certainty on the superiority of their bigotry: that certainty is hypocritical, superstitious, small-minded, colossally stupid, offensive to neighbors, etc.
Like the Nazis, they are paid to exhibit those traits.
The situation is thus very complex, and cannot be acted upon without prior correct analysis. This is true in Europe, and in the USA. Just complaining about “old political” parties, as plutocrat Soros does, is besides the points.
In particular, Brexit was a manipulation. Corbyn the head of Labor, himself, 45 years ago, was the sole anti-European Labor politician, at the time. So Corbyn is probably even more anti-Europe than May herself (also Corbyn is married to a banker, a rather paradoxical feature, below all his Marxist-like rhetoric)….
The way out is much more referendums: now thoroughly motivated, We the People will start analyzing the situation more thoroughly. The best place to start is to re-run the brexit referendum, this time making it “legislating” (last time it was consultative). Plutocrats don’t want this third referendum on Europe in the UK, because they know that We The People will vote to stay in the European Union.
Patrice Ayme
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This was in answer to George Soros
Europe, Please Wake Up
Feb 11, 2019 GEORGE SOROS
The first step to defending Europe from its enemies, both internal and external, is to recognize the magnitude of the threat they present. The second is to awaken the sleeping pro-European majority and mobilize it to defend the values on which the EU was founded.
MUNICH – Europe is sleepwalking into oblivion, and the people of Europe need to wake up before it is too late. If they don’t, the European Union will go the way of the Soviet Union in 1991. Neither our leaders nor ordinary citizens seem to understand that we are experiencing a revolutionary moment, that the range of possibilities is very broad, and that the eventual outcome is thus highly uncertain.
Patrice Ayme's Thoughts 