"Havel presents a greengrocer who puts a sign in his window saying, "Workers of the world, unite!" an old Communist rallying cry. "Why does he do it?," asks Havel. "He could be reproached for not having the proper decoration in his window; someone might even accuse him of disloyalty. He does it because these things must be done if one is to get along in life.""
"And, Havel asks, who would say it's wrong for workers of the world to unite? "It is an excuse that everyone can use," he writes, "from the greengrocer, who conceals his fear of losing his job behind an alleged interest in the unification of the workers of the world, to the highest functionary, whose interest in staying in power can be cloaked in phrases about service to the working class.""
"Prime Minister Carney did not mention President Trump by name. But he called on what he called middle-powers, like Canada, and most of the European states at Davos, "to live the truth," and see the scaffold of American power on which so much of their security had been built was being abandoned. "When even one person stops performing, when the greengrocer removes his sign, the illusion begins to crack," Carney said."
Vaclav Havel's greengrocer example shows how routine acts of symbolic loyalty sustain authoritarian systems by creating an illusion of consent. Ordinary people and officials adopt slogans and gestures to avoid reprisal or cloak self-interest, from preserving a job to retaining power. The rote performance of allegiance allows regimes to infer broad support that may not exist. That illusion begins to break when individuals stop performing those rituals, exposing the system's fragility. Mark Carney used this logic at Davos to urge middle powers and companies to "live the truth" as traditional security scaffolds weaken.
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