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Here are the usual steps a government will take in suppressing resistance or dissidence. Check your situation against this list, to determine how far things have already gone, and what might be coming next. Only when you know these things can you prepare to neutralize government actions.
1. Identify
The government will attempt to identify resisters, "troublemakers," and influential or motivational persons who might serve as focal points for organization of resistance. Without leadership, especially without widely recognized leadership, there are no "centers" around which resistance can coalesce. Even those individuals who might be ready to join a resistance movement will feel they are alone. Means the government may use to identify possible resistance groups or leaders include gun registration lists, computerized identification systems, and domestic intelligence gathering activities. Glick details examples of the latter, from American experience. Thomsett describes the measures Hitler used to identify possible focal points for resistance. During the Bill Clinton administration, the U.S. government compiled a list of anti-abortion leaders, on the grounds that they might commit violence against abortion mills. Your government may already be compiling lists of potential dissidents. Do your best to stay off them.
2. Marginalize
Once a group or individuals have been identified, the next stop is to marginalize them. The print, broadcast, and electronic media will proceed to present the identified group in unfavorable terms, to lead the public into viewing the group as "undesirable," "extremist," or simply on the fringes of society. Remember, the Communists in the Soviet Union never killed any "people." Instead, they killed kulaks, capitalists, wreckers, saboteurs, enemies of the people, counter-revolutionaries, and similar "extremists." Likewise the Nazis never killed any Jewish "people." Instead they killed maggots, menaces to society, scum, parasites, bacilli, etc. By first marginalizing the people they wanted to destroy, these governments were able to get away with their murders. Note that in 1935, Joseph Goebbels, Nazi Propaganda Minister, organized "spontaneous" demonstrations against Jews. The purpose was to make the German people think anti-Jewish sentiment was much stronger than it really was. Those Germans who were not anti-Jewish were made to feel that they were in a minority.
In the U.S., this marginalization happened to the "militia movement" after the Oklahoma City bombing, even though there was no connection between the convicted bombers and any "militia" organization. During the government siege of the Branch Davidians at Waco, Texas, the Davidians were constantly referred to in the news media as a "cult" living in a "compound," not as a "religious group" living in a "community." This effectively marginalized them.
Once marginalization has been successful, the public is less likely to identify with or sympathize with the target group as the government campaign is stepped up.
3. Demonize or Label
Once the public has, in its mind, relegated the target group to fringe status, it is easier for the government to attack it. The public can be manipulated against the group. Public attitudes can be led from antipathy to open hatred. Hitler was very successful in using this against Jews, Gypsies, and other marginalized groups. During the spring and summer of 1935, the "spontaneous" public outbursts organized by Goebbels made it appear anti-Semitism was the norm in Germany. When the racist Nuremberg Laws were enacted in the fall of 1935, the public was already convinced that most Germans were anti-Semitic. Those who weren't anti-Semitic felt themselves to be a small and isolated minority.
4. Persecution
Once the target group has been pushed to the fringes of society and made out to be the "bad guys," violence against the group’s members can be taken with impunity. Wholesale criminalization of the marginalized groups will lead to aggressive actions against them by law enforcement personnel. Thugs and goons who attack members of these marginalized groups will not be prosecuted. Anyone who attempts to oppose these actions on "civil rights" grounds will be regarded as some kind of freak.
5. Elimination
The last step is elimination of the target group. This need not go to such blatant extremes as Nazi Germany’s "Final Solution," Stalin’s anti-kulak campaigns or starvation of the Ukrainians, or the Chinese massacre at Tiananmen Square. Mass jailings, confiscation of property, loss of jobs, and various civil penalties may suffice to break the back of the resistance. However, once the target group is sufficiently demonized and persecution has begun, even such extreme steps as those taken by Hitler, Stalin, or the Chinese Communists will meet with little public opposition, especially if the government has created an atmosphere of crisis. Rounding up the members of the target groups will become a routine exercise in logistics and transportation.
References:
Glick, Brian, War at Home, Boston, South End Press, 1989, ISBN 0-89608-349-7
Thomsett, Michael C. & Jean, The German Opposition to Hitler, Jefferson, NC, McFarland & Company, 1997, ISBN 0-7864-0372-1
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