If you were living in a country about to become a fascist dictatorship where would you emigrate to?
Me, New Zealand, I can speak the language easily, it was the first country in the world for female suffrage and the only British colony to give something of a fair deal to the native population ergo it’s least likely to turn into a dictatorship.
Is stay and fight not an option? Those of us who have the resources to escape could just run out, but it would seem unfair. Then again, whatever high-minded ideals I think I’d have, I’d still probably run – human nature. But in the here and now, I’d like to think I’d stay put and make a fuss.
Yeah but the premise is the running. If things got as scary as Nazi Germany I’m honestly not sure I’d be brave enough, if I was on my own maybe.
I have my eyes on a couple of countries in Europe, and Canada. However I’m not one to give up easily. 🙂
Great, thanks guys, now I feel like a total coward.
I’d like to think I wouldn’t leave, but how I’d actually react? I don’t know, and nor does anyone else if you put the same hypothetical to them.
I’d aim for Canada, New Zealand, or maybe Australia or the US. The latter two, definitely not perfect countries, but the more liberals they have, the less power the right wing fuckwads have there. (And Australia’s just seen off its racist fuckwad, so things seem to be looking up there.)
What if I did stay? Working for the police, I’d be essentially co-opted into working for the regime, assuming extended background checks didn’t eventually pick up on some of the opinions I’ve given out (only semi-anonymously, if you follow the trail) on the internet. Working for the police in a fascist state? Would that put me in a good place to make a difference? Maybe if I was an officer, particularly a senior one, but not as a comms operator.
I’ve been bouncing an idea for a Fatherland/Spooks-style distopian drama series set in a fascist-ruled Britain around in my head for several weeks now, so the theories on how resistance could be possible have been bouncing around with it.
Hell, the Republic of Ireland!
They speak English, have a reasonable governmental system, and are culturally very similar to the British. Also, same sort of weather.
Above all, it’s very handy for supporting the resistance movement back in old Blighty.
My old mate Dr Gripenerve spoke to me about this sort of thing many moons ago.
"All those people that run out on their homeland and their families, when things get difficult," he said, "do you think anyone in their newly adopted land would put much trust in them?"
😉
Cheer up, this is England, and summer’s here!
Mish, if I was a copper in a police state, I’d completely blank you when I walked past you in the street as well…
…that’s how dead letter drops work, after all. 😉
Canada was my first thought, particularly as citizenship would be easier to get as my mum was born there. On the other hand I suspect that Scotland might well have declared independence by the time things get that far. And with Scotland being the only mitigating factor against tory domination I suspect I might have fled there when independence was declared anyway.
I’d have to totally blank you if you kept on working for the police in a fascist state. Unless you were leaking stuff to my resistance cell, obviously 😉
Mish says I have to say something. Ireland’s surely a bit close?
I favor Canada or New Zealand.
I’m not entirely convinced that we aren’t going in that direction now with our so-called democracy and continual erosion of civil liberties.
I’d like to stay and fight, but experience has taught me that one man can’t make a difference, they just get chewed up and spat out by the machine.
Fascist dictatorships don’t spring up without support, and if that’s the way the country was really going I think I’d want out, although doing the hero bit and staying to fight has a certain appeal and purpose to life.
Who knows, how can any of us say. Assuming also that we weren’t all wiped out for being potential radicals.
You make the assumption that the rest of the world would be open to us. In such a situation there is the potential for some countries to close their borders to British refugees to prevent them being overwhelmed, or indeed if they were in cooperation with the corrupt regime.
No country is that far from the fall, but this would make me really, really wish I’d gotten around to getting joint citizenship during the window.
Well, planning to run in the direction of Australia *anyway* at some point in the not too distant future, however if I was still in England and shit was kicking off to the point I couldn’t stay any longer, I’m thinking anywhere that’d have me would do just fine, somewhere in the region of Scandinavia would probably do nicely.
And assuming that it was Australia that had become the fascist state? Still Scandinavia?
Probably, it’s as good as place to be as any. Slighly colder, but everyone speaks english anyway and politially they don’t get too involved on a global scale so shouldn’t be too hard to blag entry.
Independent Scotland as a safe haven? No ta. First place to get invaded once the government starts to flag in popularity.
After all, France is a first world nation with the entire EU at its back.
Ireland… yeah, let’s try and conquer Ireland again.
Scotland? Let’s put the ‘Great’ back into Great Britain, and bring those victims of the SNP’s lies back into the fold! England Prevails!!