First, They Came for the Truth

When I was a freshly minted Cal grad, 22 years old and knowing basically nothing (academics - sure; life - hell no), I had the very great privilege of beginning what would become one of the most important friendships/mentorships of my life - ended only by her death from cancer in August, 2000 - with one of the most effective human rights defenders of the latter 20th century, the truly remarkable Ginetta Sagan.

I couldn't possibly enumerate here the countless invaluable lessons I learned from this amazing woman, who was as razor sharp as she was compassionate, as focused as she was charismatic. Ginetta had been a member of the Italian Resistance as a teenager during WWII and narrowly escaped death many times, the last being early in 1945 when she was captured and tortured mercilessly by the Brigate Nere (Mussolini's equivalent to Hitler's SS) for 12 weeks, saved only by two German - yes, German - officers who had secretly turned and joined the partisans; the night before she was to be summarily executed, the two officers came to the station where she was being held, shouted orders to the Brigate Nere present that they were here to kill the little partisan, and dragged her out of her cell and into a waiting car. Once they were at a safe distance, one officer gently explained who they were and that they were taking her to a convent where she would be hidden by the nuns and nursed back to health (she was in pretty bad shape after months of starvation and torture).

Ginetta rarely spoke of those months in captivity in any detail - I think it was just too painful for her to recall. But she did say one thing that stuck with me: she said the absolute worst thing she experienced - worse then enduring the beatings and rape and starvation - was being forced to watch the torture of others. She said it was nearly unendurable, the only time she thought she might actually break.

And I bring this up because over the years I have observed that this is how authoritarian regimes operate, without exception, all over the globe. In China (or Myanmar or Russia or Saudi Arabia), when they really want to go after a human rights activist (or other brave dissident), they detain his/her mother, or sister, or spouse. They then deny contact, forcing the primary target to imagine what horrible consequences have befallen their loved one. This - dictatorships worldwide understand - is eminently more effective than simply imprisoning the activist herself. Because feeling agonizing guilt over the maltreatment of loved ones is often harder to bear than being maltreated oneself.

And this is the first thing that came to mind when I watched last week the ostentatious firing and "escorting" out of the White House of a great patriot, Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, AND HIS BROTHER, Lt. Col. Yevgeny Vindman (who had absolutely nothing to do with the impeachment process). Because this is how corrupt autocracies operate. This is how vicious dictators do business: they come for you, sure, but more importantly they come for YOUR FAMILY. They try to destroy you because you had the temerity to stand up to tyranny, but they also scorch the earth around you by taking down those you love. They know no morality, no justice, no rule of law. It's all about instilling fear and silencing dissent in order to maintain power.

If this is sounding frighteningly familiar, it's because that's the country the US has become. Right now. TODAY. We now live in a nation where brave soldiers who have been wounded in service their country are treated like criminals by a weak, ignorant, corrupt, deranged draft-dodger president who is himself a career criminal, and where the branches of government entrusted to check his abuses of power cower in fear instead of doing their constitutional duty. A nation where the autocrat is coming after completely innocent family members of those who cross him to send a message to anyone who might be considering similar dissent: We will destroy you. Your family. Your reputation. All that you are. And no one will do anything about it. As the Brigate Nere fascists told Ginetta, no one will hear your screams, no one can save you.

I have no ironic hashtag for this post. I can muster no pithy wrap-up (if you've made it this far - thank you for reading). Ginetta would be apoplectic and aghast that this is happening here, as every single one of us should be. I do not recognize my country today.