Ecoblogi – A Blog by Daniel Elkama

The Austrian-British philosopher Karl Popper wrote in his book ”Open society and its enemies” in 1945 about the ”paradox of tolerance” and warns of the danger of fascism and its bystanders. The paradox goes roughly like this: If tolerant people tolerate and accept intolerance, it follows that intolerant people like fascists and Nazis will take over and destroy intolerance. So good cannot tolerate intolerance and evil, otherwise evil will take over and destroy good. Freedom does not include the freedom to be fascist or intolerant and thereby violate the freedom of others. No one’s freedom, such as freedom of speech or freedom of religion, does not include the right to violate the freedom and human rights of others. Often evil starts with words and speech and everything ends with violence. Nowadays, all kinds of hate speech, gross malice and intolerance are justified by freedom of speech. Social media in particular has become extremely toxic, and mostly far-right people come up with the most nasty things to say. In Finland, the speaker of the parliament Jussi Halla-aho has hoped that the liberal RKP member of parliament Eva Biaudet will be raped by immigrants. He has also said Norwegian mass murderer Anders Breivik ”was just in the wrong place at the wrong time” when he killed 77 people, including dozens of children and youths who were social democrats. Minister of Basic Finns Vilhelm Junnila shared the picture on social media, e.g. A snowman representing the Ku Klux Klan with a hanging rope in his hand wishing for a ”white Christmas”. White. I am very sad and angry about the miserable political situation in my home country, my home country which ten years ago was completely different.

The extreme right constantly tries to normalize racism, malice and hate speech. Using propaganda, lies, conspiracy theories and disinformation, the far-right tries to gain more ground in the liberal West, and ultimately destroy democracy. In Europe, fascist far-right parties like Finns Party are trying to make themselves salon-worthy and to make racism commonplace and acceptable. It is telling how Finnish politicians demand a ”safe space” for racism. Safe space is intended to protect the rights of weak minorities.

Often, the extreme right gets the support of the religious masses, especially the uneducated and ignorant, with its populist public agitation and religious rhetoric, less often they can agitate the civilized people. A good Christian cannot be racist or extreme right-wing or support extreme right-wing and injustice in any way. A good Christian always takes the side of justice and steps forward in resistance even in front of the commanders. In Nazi Germany, Hitler got the support of almost all the churches, especially the revivalist Christians. Some brave and heroic Christians, such as Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a priest who worked with minorities such as blacks and Jews in Germany and Harlem, New York, rose up in resistance. Bonhoeffer even stated that it is a much lesser evil and perfectly right to kill Hitler if you have to choose between two sins: kill Hitler or let Hitler kill millions. Bonhoeffer was killed by the Nazis in a concentration camp.

The number one goal of fascists is always the destruction of democracy and freedom. They want to create an anti-liberal, hierarchical and unequal world based on their romanticized imaginations, which in their eyes is a ”fascist utopia” where ”order” prevails. This idea has killed more people in world history than any other, hundreds of millions. Popper, like all wise humanists, understands that there are several ways to live what seems like a good life and that the effort to control others often leads to suffering and brutal violence. Society’s task is to secure everyone’s right to a good, happy and self-respecting life. The principle could be summed up as: ”To be free without offending others”.

Russia is a totalitarian terrorist state that is waging a brutal war of aggression in Ukraine, committing war crimes and oppressing its own citizens. Russia has banned and suppressed civil society and democracy with absolutely brutal violence. Russian opposition politician and defender of freedom and democracy Aleksei Navalnyi, who was murdered by dictator Putin’s regime in 2024, left a final message for the Russian people and the whole world, which can be heard freely in English:

”Listen, I have something obvious to tell you.

You must not give up. If they decide to kill me, that means we are extremely strong.

We must harness that power and we cannot give up. We must remember that we are a mighty force oppressed by these evil men.

We don’t realize how strong we really are. The triumph of evil is only possible when good people do nothing. So don’t be idle.”

Good always fights against evil. Many people have experienced to become martyred in the face of evil. Christians who resisted Roman tyranny were thrown to the lions or executed. Reformers who opposed the absolutism of the Catholic Church, scientists who fought for science against conservatism and a false world view, activists and conservationists who defended democracy and human rights have often been killed in history and still today. The killers have been blind tyrants, corrupt politicians and religious leaders and big multinational corporations. All these parties are united by lust for power, greed for money or religious and ideological blindness. Some are on the right side of history, others are on the side of injustice and evil, on the wrong side of history. As history moves towards the better, history often shows and reveals who have been servants of injustice and on the side of evil.

It is often said that everyone is somehow evil, as some claim. No we are not. Not all people are bad, some dedicate their whole lives to good. Mother Teresa and Nelson Mandela are not on the same level as Hitler or Anders Breivik. It is true that all human beings are more or less imperfect. Everyone makes mistakes. However, this does not mean that everyone is evil to some extent. In fact, I think most people are rather pretty good. Evil is something that fills the whole character and essence of a person: he is evil by nature and evil thoughts have become his norm and permanent way of thinking. It means that the person no longer has good will. Greed, hatred, religion, ideology or desire for power has completely blinded him. Of course, even this person has hope, he can repent of his evil and come to the side of good. In the Star Wars movies, the evil fascist leader Darth Vader repents in the very last moments of his life and destroys the dark emperor Palpatine enslaving the galaxy and thus saves the entire galaxy from slavery and death.

Evil is real. Other things increase good, such as happiness, joy, beauty and well-being. Others reduce these, such as sickness, death, war, stealing, oppression and malice. These are evil. The fact that there are conscious subjects who experience and feel brings with it responsibility and rights.

In the end, evil mostly stems from ignorance, a person does not know what is right and good, what is the purpose of life and what brings happiness to oneself and others. He may not even understand that happiness and good are worth pursuing. One may think that money and power bring happiness or that anger is a good thing. Such a person is in the dark, lost and ignorant. Hitler and the Nazis really thought they were fighting for a better world, even though they were full of evil. They believed that the free, egalitarian and democratic West and the Jews were evil. In other words, they were completely blind. The Indian philosopher Jiddu Krishnamurti often talked about this blindness of people, which was often caused by religion and ideas, people’s distorted world view. Such blindness has caused terrible suffering and hundreds of millions of deaths throughout history. There has been a fight over whose idea, ideology or god is better. This does not mean that all ideologies are bad. There are bad ideologies and good ideologies. Often there is also a fight between good and evil within ideologies and institutions. Other ideologies have made the world a better place, such as the Enlightenment, which promoted democracy, freedom, science, solidarity and equality. Enlightenment and humanism freed us from the tyranny of despots and corrupt religious leaders, at least in some parts of the world. We would not have Western democracy and equality without the Time of Enlightenment. Feminism brought equality between men and women, the US civil rights movement brought human rights to the black population of the US. Green ideology has saved the world from an environmental disaster and brought humanity, empathy and soft values to the world. Without the green ideology and the environmental awakening that began to stenghten in the 60s, the earth would have already been destroyed. It’s a scientific fact. So green-thinking people saved the whole earth and its life. Numerous people throughout history have fought for human rights, democracy and nature. They can be called real heroes like the Man of Steel and Batman.

Others are anything but heroes. The world is full of all kinds of cowards, greedy, hate-filled and even power-hungry despots like Darth Vader, for whom nothing in the world is enough. People who are ready to sell their mother, fatherland and soul. There are also those who watch from the sidelines while evil kills, enslaves, destroys, tortures, oppresses and rapes. This is wrong. Good cannot stand aside when evil acts wrongly. A good person resists evil, he says evil for evil and puts up a resistance. The cowards and the ignorant watch from the side. Many look from the side, even if they don’t even put themselves in great danger or even in danger at all while defending the weak, oppressed and bullied. If you don’t defend the bullied, the oppressed and the victims of injustice when you see injustice, then you are partly to blame for what evil does and causes. We can prevent the rise of injustice and cruel acts. We must be vigilant and have the will to defend the weak and oppressed. If someone is racist, unfair or mean, you have to say it out loud. In Nazi Germany, almost no one spoke out about the injustices of the Nazis. The end result was terrible and led to the death of a hundred million people in the Holocaust and World War II. It’s not wrong to call evil evil. When bad deeds are not seen and condemned, it is the same phenomenon as in the story of the emperor’s new clothes.

Today, the extreme right and others often claim that they too should be tolerated if we are tolerant. This is an illogical argument, as shown by Popper’s paradox of tolerance. Not all thoughts and ideas are equal. Others are completely wrong and on the side of evil, and such ideas and thoughts should not be tolerated. Some argue that democracy involves the acceptance of all kinds of thoughts and ideas and that democracy is the rule of the majority where the majority decides. Neither is true. Liberal democracy also includes the principles of justice and respect for human rights. Democracy cannot and should not accept undemocratic, unjust or anti-human rights ideas and intolerant, undemocratic and violent extremist ideas like the extreme right. Democracy is not about the majority dictating things. Democracy is not the dictatorship of the majority, nor is it populism. Laws apply to populists and they can’t do whatever they want. The majority can be totally wrong, as Athens and Socrates show. Hitler came to power through democratic elections. This does not mean that it and the Nazis were acceptable. Germany’s then pre-Nazi leaders are an example of a weak democracy that did not know how to oppose and discipline undemocratic forces, i.e. the Nazis. Today, it is written into the constitution of several countries that undemocratic and anti-human rights parties cannot come to power. Institutions such as the UN and the EU and international agreements ensure the implementation of justice. Authorities and judicial institutions can overturn unjust and human rights decisions of democratically elected leaders. This is how a strong liberal democracy works. The constitution, the courts and institutions like the chancellor of justice are important means of limiting populism. UN agreements always take precedence over national laws. This works in a democracy, but unfortunately several authoritarian states do not pay attention to the common rules. Often, however, dictators, oppressors and those who commit war crimes are ultimately held accountable, for example by the International Criminal Court in The Hague under the UN. This happened, for example, to Serbian leaders who committed genocide. After the Second World War, the Nazi leaders ended up in front of the Nuremberg War Crimes Tribunal and received sentences for ”crimes against humanity”. Dictators like Saddam Hussein and others will have to answer for their actions sooner or later. Some build peace, cooperation and a happy world and others only try to kill, destroy and steal. There is no hope in the world without cooperation, especially international cooperation. Common rules create safety for everyone and enable a happy society and world. Common rules are for all of us and for the good of all of us.

Bad people, such as the far right, often say that you must not judge. This is also an invalid argument. Bad deeds can be condemned. Saying evil does wrong and calling evil evil is not condemning a person’s human value or wishing evil on him. Even the truly evil has human value. From the point of view of humanism, avenging evil with violence, torture or the death penalty is wrong, and humanism gives even evil the opportunity to change and atone for their actions. Good does not lower itself to the level of evil. Calling evil evil instead is right and defending good, as well as preventing evil from working and defending people and nature from the oppression and violence of evil.

We live in a time where crazy and loud people’s agitators and blind angry populist politicians rise to power. Their purpose is to destroy and destroy democracy, liberal society and human rights. First come angry speeches and empty promises, then they rise to power and try to silence the wise, as Popper states. Then they destroy their opponents and create authoritarian rule.

Donald Trump just said that if he won’t be re-elected as president ”there will be a bloodbath”. I think Donald Trump is referring to the civil war with this. Donald Trump already attempted a violent revolution once on Washington’s Capitol Hill, in which 4 people died and several were seriously injured. His purpose was to prevent the declaration of Joe Biden, who was chosen in democratic elections, as president, to buy time for himself and probably get the army on his side. Donald Trump is a convicted criminal who even stole classified documents related to nuclear weapons. When the FBI raided his Mar-a-Lago villa, Trump tried to lose documents, e.g. by burning them in the toilet bowl. Donald Trump has transferred money to his election campaign and business from a children’s cancer foundation. Donald Trump is a convicted rapist and financial criminal who has been banned from doing business in New York and fined $300 million for financial crimes. No one who calls himself a true Christian can say that he supports this kind of monster for president.

What is Donald Trump’s political goal? What does Donald Trump want? He wants to create a fascist America and destroy democracy. To create his own ”MAGA” and ”order” that does not respect human rights, freedom, equality, or international agreements. In fact, Trump has no respect for anyone but himself. He has said in an interview that ”he could continue as president for longer than two terms, if the people want”. According to the US Constitution, the presidency is limited to two terms to respect democracy. Trump does not respect democracy and the US Constitution. He’s actually a small and petty-minded, angry and bitter old curmudgeon who wants endless money and power. He would even sacrifice the whole world for his own benefit. Men like Donald Trump and Putin are the true enemies of humanity. Similar to Roman emperor Nero in his time.

This time of the world we live in is dark in many ways, but the world has hope. Sometimes development takes a leap back. This was the case in the 30s and this is partly the case now. However, dictators and despots always lose their power in the end. The power they took from the people will return to the people. No oppressive power built with injustice and violence is eternal. The anger will die down in time and the voice of the guns will fall silent one day. Even if the world is covered under continental ice for a thousand years, one day the ice will melt and spring will come again and the flowers will bloom again.

Daniel Elkama