22
From yesterday to today, and from Westernia to our real-world countries
Flashmag! Issue 160 May 2025
What connects Caesar, Hitler, and Silicon Valley? Not ideology. Not rhetoric. But a shared exploitation of the system’ s weaknesses, a militarization of public consent, and a steady march toward the centralization of power under a single banner— whether an empire, a Reich, or a platform. In each case, the death of democracy was not inevitable, but it was made possible. By elites who believed they could control the outcome. By citizens who traded their rights for order. By laws that bent just enough to break.“ Who controls the past controls the future.”“ Who controls the present controls the past.”— George Orwell
In the age of techno-authoritarianism, data is power. The ability to predict, influence, and restrict behavior is not in the hands of states alone but in the hands of private companies that operate across borders and escape democratic control. Platforms decide which voices are heard and which disappear. Algorithms shape elections, markets, and memory.
22