International Man: Recently, we’ve seen an escalating global crackdown on speech in the (formerly) free societies of Europe and North America.
For example, in the UK recently, the government has been imprisoning individuals for social media posts under the guise of curbing “hate speech.”
What’s your take on this growing trend in general and events in the UK in particular?
Doug Casey: A few instances have been reported about how Keir Starmer, the new prime minister of Britain, has imprisoned citizens for saying quite innocuous things on the street, even on Facebook. But it’s not just about a few random people. It’s a nationwide campaign.
Over 400 Brits have been imprisoned for trivial speech offenses. It’s become a case of life imitating art. By that, I mean reality is starting to resemble that great movie, V for Vendetta. I urge everybody to watch if they haven’t seen it yet.
The disturbances in Britain are mostly about migrants, most of whom are Muslims. Britain has a bigger problem than the US because most of their migrants are Mohammedans. Masses of Islamic migrants present a much more serious threat to Western civilization and values than the mostly South American migrants the US gets.
That’s because in Islamic societies, which observe Sharia law, there is no such thing as free speech. I’ve read the Koran and good parts of the Hadith. There’s no question that if Britain reaches a critical mass of Islamic population, the nature of society won’t just be modified a bit, as it would be with people from Spanish countries. Islam intends to eliminate basic Western values. Islam isn’t just another religion. It’s a totalitarian system comprehending all aspects of life. The penalties for breaking its laws are extremely severe.
Islam is the world’s fastest-growing religion, especially in what was once called Christendom. As traditional Western values fade (a whole separate subject), young people are looking for something to believe in, something to give meaning to their lives, and a serious group to belong to. Islam has simple answers presented with certainty.
Saying negative things about Islam, its prophet, any racial or ethnic group, or even government employees is now dangerous. Saying things that might “trigger” miscellaneous individuals is becoming risky and could be labeled “hate speech.”
This brouhaha about “hate speech” is reprehensible. The Bill of Rights has no exceptions regarding free speech. But forget laws; free speech is the most basic and essential of all rights. It draws a red line between a free man and a serf. And it doesn’t matter how unsavory, agitated, or hateful it may be.
In fact, I’m all for hate speech, regardless of how unpleasant it may be. Not just for the reasons I gave or because I like it (I don’t) but because I want to know what’s on others’ minds. I want to know what they’re thinking, what their psychology might be, and what kind of people I’m dealing with. It’s idiotic as well as immoral to suppress other people’s so-called hate speech. How can you know who you’re dealing with and what they believe?
Suppressing free speech, for any reason, is a step towards turning the West into a series of police states. It’s happening everywhere right now. And there’s very little resistance to it.
International Man: France recently arrested Telegram CEO Pavel Durov on dubious charges, threatening him with 20 years in prison if he doesn’t cooperate with governments.
What is really going on here?
Doug Casey: The type of people who go into government, almost everywhere, are inevitably those who like to control other people.
In private life, they’re busybodies and bullies. But once they gain control of the apparatus of the State, they’re happy to use force to impose their wills on others. The situation is worse in Europe. But as bad as the individual governments in Europe are, the European Union in Brussels is even worse; it elevates the worst of the worst to positions of power. Durov is being detained in France, but he’d have this problem everywhere in Europe.
What’s happened to Durov shows that even being wealthy, famous, and influential is no longer much of a shield against the types who control governments. And it’s not just Durov who is at risk. Elon Musk has been threatened. Interestingly, among billionaires, only Musk is an outspoken defender of free speech. You’ll notice that Bezos, Zuckerberg, and dozens of other billionaires who control the Internet, broadcasting, and publishing companies have no problems of this type. That’s because they’ve inserted themselves into “elite” and Deep State circles, mimicking their values. They’ll be just fine.
International Man: What does the escalating assault on free speech mean for political risk in Europe and North America?
Doug Casey: Freedom in the West is increasingly just kabuki theater. It’s pretty much what Frank Zappa said:
“At the point where the illusion becomes too expensive to maintain, they will just take down the scenery, they will pull back the curtains, they will move the tables and chairs out of the way, and you will see the brick wall at the back of the theater.”
The point is that, in many ways, the very idea, the concept of government itself, is being delegitimized. Even as the State becomes bigger, more grasping, and ever more counterproductive, its nature is being exposed. This is a good thing.
Stop pretending it’s “We the People.” We’re not living with the kind of government that seemed to exist in a 1930s Jimmy Stewart movie. Its essence is much closer to what Orwell projected in 1984, with a tinge of Huxley’s Brave New World.
The fact is that government is basically a fraud, where everyone tries to live at the expense of everyone else. However, only the elite who are in and around the State succeed at that game.
The West is becoming ever more like the old USSR, East Germany, or Ceausescu’s Romania. The government is populated by a new breed of Jacobins and Bolsheviks. They want you to deny your own mind and your own senses.
They want to wipe out the middle class. Why? The bourgeoisie—for all their faults—are traditionally entrepreneurial, free-thinking, and liberty-loving. The self-anointed elite would prefer a kinder and gentler version of feudalism. A world in which they’re on top and everybody else is a peasant on the bottom. The plebs should own nothing and be happy. But be given free rent, adequate doses of Prozac, and some walking around money for a few lattes at Starbucks.
International Man: In response to the arrest of Durov, El Salvador President Bukele made this statement:
What do you make of this?
Doug Casey: I previously viewed El Salvador as the most unstable and least desirable country in Latin America. Its traditional exports—and I’m not kidding—were bananas and poor people, very often gang members.
Bukele has transformed the country. I haven’t been there since his election, but it’s clear the place has changed radically since he locked up 65,000 hardcore criminals. The country is no longer a cesspool of violence.
Argentina is also undergoing a transformation. Its people finally got fed up with 80 years of statism, electing Javier Milei to institute sweeping and radical change. And not a moment too soon. I believe Milei, notwithstanding resistance by Argentina’s Deep State, could transform the country into one of the freest and most prosperous in the world while most places undergo mass migrations, revolutions, and wars. Hopefully, more countries will follow in the footsteps of Argentina.
What happens in the United States come November will be critical. If Harris is installed, I have no doubt that the US will accelerate its devolution into a police state. Trump is no prize, but at least he’s a cultural conservative who doesn’t want to overthrow the basic foundations of America.
International Man: Where do you think this trend is headed?
What can the average person do to protect himself?
Doug Casey: Joe Louis once said, “He can run, but he can’t hide.” That’s true of a boxing match. And until only a few decades ago, you could still get lost and start again the way you could in the old American West. But now because of the Internet, financialization, data banks, and omnipresent cameras and microphones, privacy has vanished.
When CBDCs become mandatory, it will be even harder to buy, sell, or do anything without being monitored by the authorities. How will it end? The best case might be the final scene in V for Vendetta—but don’t plan your life around it.
The whole world is starting to resemble the 1930s, an unpleasant decade that acted as an overture to the even more unpleasant 1940s. That’s likely to be true not just internationally, but in the US as well. The Reds and the Blues really hate each other. They can’t communicate, putting us on the ragged edge of something like a civil war.
What can the average person do to protect himself? I doubt the US is ready for real reform of its highly taxed and regulated economy. Over half the country is a net recipient of State largesse, and most believe that’s the way it should be. If the Fed stops inflating, the whole over-indebted mess will collapse.
That said, financial dangers are huge. But as great as they are, the political dangers are even more serious. It’s, therefore, critical to recognize the base cause of these problems. As shocking as it may sound, the institution of the State itself is the real enemy. It’s time to carefully analyze your relation to it.
Reprinted with permission from International Man.
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