Nazi Germany didn’t just spring up randomly in a vacuum. It was a slow build from the end of WWI. The war reparations that they had to repay to the rest of the world plunged the country into financial destitution. 1/ https://twitter.com/jonberrydesign/status/1018219301805805568

Hitler, who was the last chancellor of the Weimar Republic - appointed by then-President Hindenburg in 1933, had already started using the ECONOMIC ANXIETY of the country to gain support and push towards a Nazi state a year after his failed coup in 1923. 2/

By the time he was appointed as chancellor, the NSDAP was the largest elected party in the Reichstag. Less than 2 months after he was appointed, the Reichstag passed the Enabling Act, which essentially gave Hitler the power to enact laws without their involvement. 3/

Kristallnacht didn’t happen until 1938. 15 years after Hitler attempted to gain control of the government. 15 years after he wrote Mein Kämpf. 5 years after he was legitimized by the Weimar Republic. 4 years after the Nazi Party became the ruling party. 4/

Kristallnacht was not the start of Nazi Germany. 8.5 million people did not decide to wake up one day and think that 6+ million Jews, Romani, gays, etc. were subhuman. The party started small and grew through a combination of fear mongering, nationalism, and propaganda. 5/

80 years later, we remember the Holocaust as being horrific. We honor those who died. We praise the French Resistance, the Dutch Resistance, the Warsaw ghetto all for fighting back. 6/

I say all that to say this: we forget the path that led to that point. Instead, in the face of all that we see, there are calls for civility. There are calls for meeting in the middle. 7/

Instead of remembering that path, instead of remembering that Nazi Germany did not suddenly appear one night in 1938, #Antifa #blackbloc #occupyICE are all demonized. Instead of remembering Warsaw, the Dutch, and the French, direct action is demonized. 8/

Get it together and understand that fascism doesn’t happen overnight. Seeds are planted and then fed and watered. And it takes time for them to grow. And sure, not all of those seeds take, but eventually you have enough plants that you will have a harvest. 9/

And there’s already a small harvest, isn’t there? The whataboutism, the “summer camp conditions”, the demonization of anyone who doesn’t toe the/any party line, calls for compromise, the silence of the gov’t at large other than to introduce “unmasking antifa” etc., etc., etc. 10/

What point on the path is too far? At what point between being put in a pot of boiling water and dead, do you realize your situation? 11/

Stop saying this isn’t your America. This America is the America of Native genocide and reservations, of slavery, of Jim Crow, of Japanese internment. 400 years of repeated history, but you think some statue sitting in some bay is the real America. No. Stop it. 12/

Fascism may not need a majority, but shuffling off responsibility onto some 40% of “fanatics” and pleading for civility towards one group out of one side of your mouth while apologizing to the rest of the world out of the other isn’t going to block off that path. 13/

Demonizing the people who are actively attempting to make sure that “your America” doesn’t descend further along that path is not “resisting.” 14/

I spent the first 5 tweets of this ridiculously long thread discussing the history of the Weimar Republic and Nazi Germany because it’s important, but just knowing history isn’t enough. You need to be able to apply what you know. Start thinking critically. 15/15