A Primer on Divide and Conquer Politics

[McCamy Taylor]

Divide and Conquer is the 1%’s favorite game. By pitting one working class group against another, they can reduce the 99% to 33% for, 33% against and 33% too disgusted to even think about it any more.

Divide and Conquer enabled generations of American businessmen to keep unions out of their factories. All they had to do was whisper “The unions will bring in ____ to take your jobs.” Fill in the black with Blacks, Irish, Italian, Chinese. Workers were willing to accept less pay rather than risk losing their jobs altogether.

Divide and Conquer split the Democratic Party down the middle in 1968 with the Civil Rights side backing Humphrey and the Anti-war side backing anyone but Humphrey. MLK Jr. was conveniently assassinated because he might have made the two sides realize that their struggles were the same. The result---Richard Nixon and the Killing Fields of Cambodia.

Divide and Conquer was a favorite ploy of the Romans when they were crafting their Empire. They even had a phrase for it, divide et impera. It was used later by European colonialists around the world. Recently, we saw France pit Hutus against Tutsis in a contrived genocide in Rwanda aimed at increasing France’s access to the minerals of western Africa. Other countries have played the D&C game in the Congo too, supplying weapons to one side or the other in regional conflicts. Sometimes they supply them to BOTH sides. The result is a country without an infrastructure, incapable of supporting itself so that it becomes dependent upon the foreign buyers of its natural resources which are purchased at bargain prices.

Divide and Conquer was used in the Americas by settlers who pitted one Nation against another. The victorious but weakened winner was then massacred or escorted to a reservation.

Divide and Conquer, Muslim versus Jewish allows a handful of families to control most of the wealth in Israel. Divide and Conquer, Muslim versus Jewish, allows a handful of families to control most of the wealth in Saudi Arabia.

Divide and Conquer pitted minority rights groups against women’s rights groups as described by Angela Davis in her book “Women, Race and Class” the bible for those interested in Divide and Conquer politics.

Divide and Conquer is the Washington Post declaring “Pelosi Knew” about Bush’s illegal interrogations.

Divide and Conquer is the Washington Post declaring that anonymous sources report that Obama plans to slash Medicare and Social Security.

Divide and Conquer is Bush Sr.’s “Willie Horton” strategy and Pat Buchanan’s “Southern Strategy” and the Bush Jr. DOJ’s prosecution of Black celebrities and politicians.

Divide and Conquer tells gays “Blacks took away your right to marry in California.”

Divide and Conquer created the myth of the “Welfare Queen”. At the very same time, Divide and Conquer talks about “Poor white trash.”

Divide and Conquer routinely attends peaceful political rallies intent upon starting violence. D&C can be found on both the police and the protester side. D&C does not represent either group, but inevitably, one side or both are stigmatized for what D&C did. As in “All those protesters are so violent.” Or, “All those police are so brutal.”

Divide and Conquer is the guy at the protest who tries to encourage others to break the law.

Divide and Conquer is the gal who declares “All those____ are so bad!” Fill in the blank with protester, police, soldiers, teachers, parents, elderly, children, striking workers, doctors, nurse, firemen. Never, ever fill in the blanks with investment bankers, military contractors, news media executives, insurance company executives, pharmaceutical executives billionaires. We must not issue blanket condemnation of the rich and famous. That would be class warfare.

Divide and Conquer deals in generalities, not specifics. Divide and Conquer takes the specific and turns it into a generality.

Divide and Conquer often cloaks itself in righteous indignation.

Divide and Conquer is Hillary supporters calling Obama supporters sexists, and Obama supporters calling Hillary supporters racists.

Divide and Conquer created Nazi Germany. Christian Germans were pitted against Jewish Germans and Communists and gays and Roma.

Divide and Conquer whispers into the ear of a white worker “Universal healthcare will steal your insurance and give it to a Black.”

Divide and Conquer whispers into the ear of an unemployed Black “You would have a job if it wasn’t for those Mexicans.”

Divide and Conquer tells a man “You don’t share any responsibility for that child. She should have used birth control.”

Divide and Conquer tells a woman “All men are potential rapists.”

Divide and Conquer says “I am starving, because you have enough to eat.”

Divide and Conquer was denounced by the Founders of this country who declared “We must all hang together or surely we will hang separately.”

Divide and Conquer is the most common form of right wing propaganda disseminated on liberal message boards. It is the tactic used most often to disrupt threads. It is the comment that evokes a visceral sense of outrage even as a warning bell goes off in your head saying “But this isn’t right. This isn’t getting us any closer to our goal.” The arguments that Divide and Conquers crafts have only one solution----you must declare “We refuse to be Divided and Conquered”

Divide and Conquer’s mortal enemy is Solidarity.

[annabanana]

1. The 1% are now working 24/7 to break up and discredit the occupiers. . . . . n/t

[Marazinia]

2. Can we elect you in 2012?

I like your post, I get your point. Even though I still worry the cops and National Guard are going to show up and start clubbing us over the head like baby seals, destroying what little sense of solidarity I might have with law enforcement otherwise doing a tough job for low pay. However, except for sharing a species category, I can't live in solidarity with some people in this world. For example, I'm never going to get along with Neo-Nazis because their goals are absolutely contrary to my own. I'm never going to get along with people who insist that it's okay to profit while keeping workers in poverty or turning out dangerous and shoddy products. I'm never going to feel any solidarity with anyone who looks at other human beings as things instead of as people.

[Worship Money]

3. Yeah

The OP does make sense, to a point. This is definitely a real thing, and it really does get directed at dividing the lower classes.

However, to your statement, at some point certain ideologies/ways of thinking are just systemically, diametrically opposed to what I stand for. It is existential. There are some enemies that will ALWAYS be the enemy.

[applegrove]

4. The British ruled their empire that way... by ruling through local chiefs and keeping

differences between cultural groups strong.

[Marazinia]

7. Is it?

I have family members I can't live in solidarity with, much as I love them. They're Republican capitalists to the core, and I have far more in common with any leftist, anywhere in this world, than I do with them.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

5. An excellent primer!

We've all fallen prey to these manipulation techniques at one time or another in our lives.

:kick: & R!

[elocs]

6. The tactic is used because it has worked for centuries.

Any real reason other than wishful thinking that it will not continue to work?

[McCamy Taylor]

8. It didn't work in 1776

[happyslug]

9. That because the British were Stupid AND Greedy.

New England had wanted to be Independent from England since at least the late 1600s, but the fear of the French in Canada meant they had to accept British Rule. Once the French were gone in 1763, that opened up the Great Lakes for expansion from New England.

In the Middle Colones, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and to a large degree Maryland and Virginia, the issue was more expansion into the Mississippi River Valley (including the Ohio). In the South the movement was also westward into the Mississippi, but less dependent on the Ohio.

Notice all three areas wanted to go west, but the British who had just taken the Mississippi River Valley and Great Lakes from the French wanted it for its furs NOT as Farm land. The British wanted to keep the existing fur business, which was very profitable, in their hands. Furthermore they wanted the American Colonies to pay for the Troops to keep them out of the Mississippi and Great Lakes systems.

This was made clear in the Intolerable acts of 1774, which included a provision that limited ALL of the Colonies to the Eastern Continental divide (And Americans had been living pass that divide for at least 40 years by that time). George Washington had purchased huge areas West of the Eastern Continental Divide, and it was this provision more then anything else that made him support Independence (I am of the opinion that if the Quebec Act, which was the Act among the Intolerable Acts, that stripped all of the Colonies of their claim to lands beyond the Eastern Continental Divide, had NOT been added to the rest of the Intolerable acts, Washington, and much of the South, would have sided with the British).

It was clear that Britain had different plans for the Mississippi Valley then did the Colonies, and once that was clear in the form of the Quebec Act, even the American South switched to Independence (Through it is the opinion of most Historians that the support for Independence in the South (excluding the Frontier) was just over 1/2 the population, the rest of the population supported the British.

Please note, the Frontier was overwhelming anti-British. The Frontier was mostly "Protestant" Scot-Irish, who had left Ireland do to the fact the laws against Catholics also applied to them for they were Presbyterians. The English Considered the only proper Protestant Church was the Church of England, or as it was called in Ireland, the Church of Ireland, and that Presbyterians were as bad as Catholics. Please Note, Washington had a habit of calling such people "White Indians" for their manners and habits were very similar to the Native Americans. Yes not much love lost between the people on the Frontier and the rest of the South at that time period.

Anyway, the British had always relied on the fact that the South was the most loyal sections of the Americans, to make sure New England would not leave. All of the Colonies had developed an economy of low taxation, for their main source of revenue was selling lands purchased from the Native Americans. The Quebec Act also forbade this, thus every Colony was directly affected by the Quebec Act. This convinced enough people in the South they needed to be independent of England.

Thus it was the Greed of Parliament to get the profit of the fur trade for themselves, while the cost to protect the fur trade was to be borne by the Americans, that lead to American Independence. British promises of NO longer wanting to do that did NOT convince enough Americans to end the demand for Independence (Such offers were made, but by then it was to late). Greed and Stupidity outdoes most acts of the top 1%, but often can take centuries to kick in (as was what happened to Rome and its 1%, took almost 600 years before the problems caused by the Greed of the top 1% to lead to the end of the Roman Empire). In the case of American, France was still strong enough to use the fact that the 99% wanted out of the British Empire to get that done and thus weaken the top 1% of the British Empire. Such a weakening of the British top 1% was important to the French of the 1770s.

I am NOT for looking for Foreign allies, but that it is during time of a Crisis that the top 1% will give into the demands of the 99%. Thus we must be willing to continue this "Fight" (and when I use the term "Fight" I do NOT mean any act of violence, but the peaceful protests we are seeing) and force the situation for we are in crisis and even elements of the top 1% accept that unpleasant fact.

, and as in most cases, when the 1% finds themselves facing foreign enemies they need the 99% to defeat.

[Mosaic]

12. We can teach our children at home and at school

About the techniques of the wicked to control civilizations. We must!

[Bobbie Jo]

10. Excellent.

K&R :kick:

[Mosaic]

11. Highly Recommended

This is the best piece I've read here at DU! Congratulations!

[mmonk]

13. I do believe the Obama administration has opened the door

to Social Security and Medicare cuts. The divide word is "slash" to distract from the fact and allow those who will be hurt by the cuts to accept the cuts as somehow protecting them from worse cuts and thus create the thought of it being a sort of defense of these social safety nets.