Reichstag fire - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The Reichstag Fire allowed Hitler to accelerate the banning of the Communist Party and was used to confirm Nazi claims of a pending Communist revolution.
The Rise of Hitler - Feb. 27, 1933 The Reichstag Burns Adolf Hitler, the new Chancellor of Germany, had no intention of abiding by the rules of democracy. He intended only to use those rules to legally establish himself as dictator as quickly as possible then begin the Nazi revolution. .... Hitler's storm troopers were about to reach new heights of power of their own and begin a reign of terror that would last as long as the Reich. ..... President Hindenburg had fallen under Hitler's spell and was signing just about anything put in front of him. ..... He also ordered the police not to interfere with the SA and SS under any circumstances. This meant that anybody being harassed, beaten, or even murdered by Nazis, had nobody to turn to for help. ....... Göring set up an auxiliary police force of 50,000 men, composed mostly of members of the SA and SS. The vulgar, brawling, murderous Nazi storm troopers now had the power of police. ....... Göring and Goebbels, with Hitler's approval, then hatched a plan to cause panic by burning the Reichstag building and blaming the Communists. The Reichstag was the building in Berlin where the elected members of the republic met to conduct the daily business of government. ...... the elderly Hindenburg ..... "You are now witnessing the beginning of a great epoch in German history...This fire is the beginning," Hitler told a news reporter at the scene. ...... Chancellor Hitler demanded an emergency decree to overcome the crisis. He met little resistance from his largely non-Nazi cabinet. That evening, Hitler and Papen went to Hindenburg and the befuddled old man signed the decree "for the Protection of the people and the State." ....... truckloads of SA and SS roared through the streets ...... The Nazis now turned their attention to election day, March 5. ...... "The sacrifice we ask is easier to bear if you realize that the elections will certainly be the last for the next ten years, probably for the next hundred years," Göring told them. ...... With no money problems and the power of the State behind them, the Nazis campaigned furiously to get Hitler the majority he wanted. ..... On March 5, the last free elections were held. But the people denied Hitler his majority, giving the Nazis only 44 per cent of the total vote ...... the lack of the necessary two thirds majority in the Reichstag was an obstacle. For Hitler and his ruthless inner circle, it was obstacle that was soon to be overcome.
How Hitler Became a Dictator Hitler and his fellow members of the National Socialist (Nazi) Party, who were determined to bring down the republic and establish dictatorial rule in Germany, did everything they could to create chaos in the streets, including initiating political violence and murder. ...... The July 31, 1932, election produced a major victory for Hitler’s National Socialist Party. The party won 230 seats in the Reichstag, making it Germany’s largest political party, but it still fell short of a majority in the 608-member body. ...... intolerant, noisy and undisciplined. .... during extreme national emergencies, people are most scared and thus much more willing to surrender their liberties in return for “security.” And that’s exactly what happened during the Reichstag terrorist crisis. ....... the average non-Jewish German was pretty much unaffected by the new laws and decrees ....... The Nazi terror in the early years affected the lives of relatively few Germans and a newly arrived observer was somewhat surprised to see that the people of this country did not seem to feel that they were being cowed.
Sounds and Images of Adolf Hitler
BBC - History - Audio: Hitler and the Jews
Look at how Prachanda has reacted. The 28 dead bodies are to be taken to Kathmandu. And the Maoists have announced they will launch the "third" people's movement. Prachanda has asked that the MPRF be banned.
The parallels are too many. I am not suggesting Prachanda is Hitler, but what I am saying is his dictatorial tendencies have not subsided. A man who used to take pride in the words "I hate revisionism, I seriously hate revisionism" might not have intentions to transfrom after all. Let's face it, this guy wanted to dedicate his life to the establishment of a one party communist dictatorship. But we started doing business with him because we thought he has had a change of heart, and he has accepted the basics of multi-party democracy. 30,000 Maoist soldiers have enteted UN cantonments with 3,000 guns. And that sure is progress.
But the alarming signs are too many. As a Madhesi I have expressed my moral support to the MPRF's civil rights movement for Madhesi equality. But I have also consistently stated that this movement that has now grown to become a Madhesi Janajati Dalit Movement is the last stand by the masses against the Maoist menace. The democrats need to stop seeing the Maoists as their ally and start seeing the Madhesi Janajati Dalit Movement as their true ally.
Hitler saw the German Communist Party as his primary roadblock to power. Prachanda sees the MPRF, and the Madhesi Janajati Dalit Movement as the roadblock to his party becoming the largest in the constituent assembly. Hitler wanted to ban the communist party. Prachanda wants the MPRF banned. Those are dictatorial tendencies.
Hitler used the fire as a pretext to make a final push for total power. Prachanda is using Gaur as a pretext to launch the "third" movement. These are warning signs.
You hear regular news of Maoists' mass meetings. You don't hear news of Congress or UML mass meetings.
The Congress and UML workers have not exactly gone back to their homes. Unless cadres of all parties can freely work and campaign in all villages, all towns, is it possible to have free and fair elections to a constituent assembly?
Most of the Maoist guns might have been put away. But is it not more about the ideology, the culture inside the party? Small groups of organized Maoists without weapons who are willing to beat people up are as capable to maintaining the climate of fear in the country as are armed ones. And that is precisely what has been happening. The Maoist party has not transformed, people, wake up. You have little time.
Hitler had limitless money on his way to power. Noone knows how much money the Maoists have. They obviously act like they have more money than all other parties put together. They are the only ones conducting mass meeting after mass meeting after mass meeting.
At this point holding elections to the constituent assembly is akin to rubberstamping the dictatorial ways of the Maoists. They don't even have to gain a majority. All they have to do is become the largest party, and then how do you stop them? You can't stop them now. They work side by side with the police now. Wait until they command the Home Ministry all on their own.
I have been a strong proponent of peace talks with the Maoists. And I do think it is a huge achievement that the civil war has ended.
But now I am a strong proponent of an exhibition of strength by the democrats, political strength. We have to stop acting like we owe the Maoists an electoral victory, that if we don't allow them to emerge the largest party by hook or crook, they will go back to the jungle, and then what? We have to make it absolutely clear the only way we will accept them is as a political party. And we have to take a strong stand. We have to draw a line in the sand.
The abductions, extortions and beatings continue. Ceased property has not been returned. How have the Maoists changed? Prachanda is not accepting Girija's leadership, he is using the old man. Krishna Sitaula is not a peacemaker, he is an appeaser who lets the Maoists act like they were a parallel police force.
The Madhesi Janajati Dalit Movement is a friend of the democrats, it is not the Maoists. The sooner they realize that, the better. The Madhesi Janajati Dalit Movement is the final stand by the masses against the Maoist menace.
Vague calls for dialogue and peace are not helping. We have to get specific. The democrats have to agree to the three basic demands of the Madhesi Janajati Dalit Movement, and then form a federal republic electoral alliance against the Maoists for the constituent assembly elections.
- Home Minister resign.
- Form probe commission.
- Hold proportional elections to the constituent assembly.
Gaur: The Madhesi Gongabu
PM, Defense, Finance: Congress, DPM, Home: UML, DPM: Maoist
Magar Event
Mainstreaming Maoist Tendencies In The Madhesh
Lawoti: Ethnic Or Administrative Federalism
Mainstreaming The Maoists: Various Scenarios
Madhesi, Janajati, Business Community
Three Parties: Congress, Communist, Sadbhavana
ANONYM: Association Of Nepali Organizations In New York Metro
Joint Movement
What Girija Could Have Done
Empowering Nepalis In New York City
Dipendra Jha: The Real Picture Of The Madhesi Movement
No Guns, Explosives, Weapons Outside Cantonments
MPRF: A Few Scenarios
It Is Tough For The Madhesi
Upendra Yadav: Madhesi Martin Luther King
New MJF Strategy: Hit The State, Not The People
Krishna Sitaula: Appeaser, Not Peacemaker
A Federal Republic Electoral Alliance Against The Maoists Needed
Sadist Koirala, Kans Sitaula, Pol Pot Prachanda
Further Compromise: Mixed Election With Reservations
5 Point Demand: Compromise Formula So Elections Can Be Held In June
MJF And NEFIN Must Become Political Parties
The Economist: Nepal's Ethnic Politics: The New Battlefront
Alliance for Democracy and Human Rights in Nepal,USA
Press Release
22nd March, 2007
New York
Alliance for Democracy & Human Rights in Nepal (ADHRN), USA is deeply saddened by the recent loss of 28 lives in a violent clash between Madhesi People's Rights Forum (MPRF) and the Maoist-aligned Madhesi Rashtriya Mukti Morcha in Gaur, Rautahat. As Nepal is making slow and difficult strides towards achieving greater democracy and stability, such incidents can only have obvious detrimental effects on the process.
ADHRN, in the strongest possible terms, reiterates the sheer unconstructiveness of violence in settling any disputes among any groups. Nepal has experienced enough share of violence in the past years, and this cycle of violence must end if we are to move forward.
As the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) is on the verge of entering the government, they must renounce, in totality, the culture of violence, intimidation and extortions. Similarly, any other groups aspiring to fulfill their genuine concerns must also proceed with utmost reliance on peaceful protests.
ADHRN also urges the current government, and the members of the civil society, to deviate from the tradition of playing blame games, take responsibility, and make sincere efforts towards addressing the genuine concerns of every Nepali citizen in creating a just a equitable society. Genuine peace can only be achieved by addressing the real concerns of the people with utmost sincerity.
At this hour of great uncertainty, we urge all sides to resort to maximum restraint, so as to ensure that the cycle of violence is ended, and that the road to further chaos is timely and decisively terminated.
ADHRN also take this opportunity to express our heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims.
Sanjaya Parajuli
President
ADHRN
www.alliancenepal.org
1 comment:
The "Reichstag fire" analogy does not work in the Gaur case. The key difference is that during the Reichstag fire Hitler was already the Chancellor (head of the govt) and he could control the debate i.e. politicize the event and take advantage of it. And he did. Hindenburg, the ailing President, the WWI hero and the leader of the Prussian military establishment was the only person with power and moral authority to stop Hitler. But Hitler knew that Hindenburg was staunch anti-communist. He adroitly used the Reichstag fire to convince Hindenburg to grant him more authority by saying it was the precursor to Communist counter-revolution. The rest as they say is history.
If Prachanda had been the PM, then Hitler analogy would have been very convincing. Prachanda could have politicized the Gaur incident to rouse nationalistic sentiments (which is very powerful in Nepal esp vis-à-vis India) and drummed up political support to gain absolute power (much like GW Bush did post 9/11). But he is not - he is not even in the government. The best Prachanda and his henchmen could do was to meekly ask Girija to do their bidding i.e. ban the MPRF (big deal).
Rather than the Reichstag fire, the best analogy is probably the post-1917 Russian civil war. After Lenin's takeover of the Russian State, the Czarist melted into Russian taiga and waged four-year long counter-revolution against the Red Army with the support of the imperialist powers of the day. The same seems to be happening in Nepal. MPRF is the "White Army" of Nepal (see the story below from today's Nepalnews, http://www.nepalnews.com/archive/2007/mar/mar25/news04.php); the tarai is the taiga; and the Hindutva elements in India (BJP, RSS, WHP) are the new foreign imperialist power. I am not surprised that Mandale elements are starting to resurge with vengeance (the Mar 9 bombing of Pandey and Pahadi, http://www.nepalnews.com/archive/2007/mar/mar09/news04.php, being the case in point) but I am surprised that it took them that long. The Baathists in Iraq didn’t take a year to re-group. May be the Mandale’s are working in the “Nepali time” :) The Mandales’ have the reason to fight. After all they have lost everything post April-2006 revolution. The only way they can hope to gain power is through instability i.e. look the country was so much better when we were at the helm.
Of course the Maoists had the role in the Gaur incident (the Maoists-MPRF scuffle has been going on for a while) but I don’t think they expected to be massacred. Like the Mandales, the Maoists also have tons to gain from political instability. Frankly, speaking if there is fair election, the Maoists will not even win 9 seats they won, in their previous incarnation, during 1991 election – there is much anger against the Maoists amongst the “silent majority” of rural Nepal. The Maoists are probably in the best position to take over the state should there be a need. They still have the militia which are fed and cloth by the state; the munitions they have turned over to the cantonments is a joke; the Maoists have descended from hills and infiltrated cities & towns to better position themselves; the political parties esp Girija & Nepal don’t have the balls to confront Maoists excesses (looting, extortion, kidnapping and killing); and Nepali Army is totally demoralized – it still need radical reforms to remove all the JBRs, Thapas and Pandeys that were promoted for their ethnic affiliation rather than for merit.
The point is that political instability will remain unabated unless MPRF stop being the tool of the Mandales and go back to their original purpose – which to channel the grievances of the tarai people – and Maoists abide by the letter and the spirit of 12-point Agreement. Unfortunately, the power centers of Nepal don’t have too much leverage over either parties. India does but we don’t know what India’s goal is vis-à-vis Nepal. My fear is that political violence will take a u-turn for the worse if the CA election is delayed (most likely) from April-May timeframe. If my fear comes to fruition, in the finance parlance, I’d say, IT’S TIME TO SHORT NEPAL.
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NMSF severs ties with MJF; says MJF chair is a royalist
Nepal Madhesi Student’s Front (NMSF), the student wing of the Madhesi Janadhikar Forum (MJF) has said that it has severed its allegiance to the MJF as the MJF indulged in un-political and pro-palace activities.
The two day meeting of the NMSF decided to break its ties with the MJF, terming the latter’s recent activities ‘un-political’.
Issuing a press statement, chairman of the NMSF, Keshav Kumar Jha, accused MJF chairman Upendra Yadav, with his close ties with palace forces, is conspiring against the elections of the constituent assembly.
The MJF has been alleged to be responsible for Wednesday’s bloodshed in Gaur of Rautahat district, which left at least 28 persons dead.
The statement further flayed MJF chairman Yadav for replacing politically sound people on the MJF’s central committee with royalists, plotting to protect the King in the name of religion and vandalising the statues of literary figures and democratic leaders during the Madhesi movement. nepalnews.com pb Mar 25 07
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