“Keep up your friendships abroad, or make new friends in other countries. The present difficulties in the United States are an element of a larger trend. And no country is going to find a solution by itself. Make sure you and your family have passports.”
Timothy Snyder, “On Tyranny”
Having a passport is a luxury many people don’t have, but to the extent to which it is possible to travel outside the country, Snyder argues that it can open people’s minds to other cultures and ways of being in the world. We would argue that reading widely can do similar work. Either way, it’s important not to assume that the United States is going through its own political turmoil and only we can solve our own problems. American exceptionalism, Snyder insists, is a doomed idea, and it will be our demise. The issues we see at home are paralleled in many other countries, as we all face similar problems–with the effects of globalization, the ongoing consequences of colonialism, and a worsening climate crisis, to name a few–and there are also historical models of how countries have dealt with authoritarians, autocrats, and tyranny in the past. We can learn from them.
One thing we learn from other countries is that democracy is widely popular among the general public, and that people care about voting, particularly when the opportunity is taken away from them. A primary way we protect the right to vote is to vote while we still have the opportunity. Once that right is taken away, it is not easily regained.
In a recent Substack article, Snyder made the connection between autocracy and poverty. In countries with autocratic leaders, like Russia and Hungary, poverty is greater because resources are diverted from everyday people to the ultra-wealthy. This is a direct result of the policies of autocrats, like Trump and Vance, who care only about lining their own pockets. In short, take a trip and learn from another culture. Barring that, learn as much as you can from the histories of other countries and what peers in other countries are going through right now. If nothing else, it may make us feel less alone.
As Snyder puts it:
Democracy is rising or falling around the world…The lessons that we can learn are common, and the moment we are capable of learning from other people, we actually become more free ourselves.
Hear Timothy Snyder speak about this lesson on YouTube.
This lesson was letterpress printed with handset wood type and Process Blue ink on a Vandercook proofing press.
