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14 Killed in anti-government protests in Nepal

(www.tribuneindia.com)
560 points whatsupdog | 1 comments | 08 Sep 25 11:24 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
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perihelions ◴[08 Sep 25 11:48 UTC] No.45167153[source]▶
Hard-earned freedoms are wasted on societies who don't have memories of what it took to earn them. Freedom is a ratchet: slides easily and frictionlessly one way, and offers immense resistance in the other.

This is all so disheartening.

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andrepd ◴[08 Sep 25 14:27 UTC] No.45168737[source]▶
Even the memories are no antidote. In the Philippines the memory of Marcos didn't stop autocrats from rising to power. Even in Europe, countries with relatively recent memories of autocracy and fascism, such as Portugal and Spain, have far-right parties with >20% seats in Parliament, just like in France or Germany.

What is to be done?

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niteshpant ◴[08 Sep 25 15:10 UTC] No.45169299[source]▶
It is not a question of what, but a question of why.

Why do autocrats rise to power? Why are far-right parties rising in power in Germany, France, Spain and Portugal?

I've come to see this as a fundamental human nature one can't go against. Some people are, just evil. Humans will always love self more than others. This love of self can turn into a hatred of others, or easily be turned into a hatred of others.

Acceptance that evil forces and opportunitists and populists will always be around us is the first step in asnwering what is to be done

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1. titanomachy ◴[08 Sep 25 15:29 UTC] No.45169540{3}[source]▶
If the closest you can get to understanding populists is “some humans are just evil and selfish”, a large part of humanity will remain mysterious and unreachable to you.

I think everyone understands tribalism to some extent. You would probably expend more effort to protect your child than you would a stranger. Populism just turns up the knob on this instinct.