Massimo Introvigne’s “Roman Formula”
During the scientific meeting, Professor Massimo Introvigne, using the example of the Nazis who exterminated Jews in Germany in the 1940s, described the three stages that the Nazis went through in carrying out their anti-human plans. According to the professor, the sequence of stages is as follows: intolerance, discrimination and persecution. Moreover, Introvigne noted that these stages are passed by religious extremists to destroy any organization, up to the physical elimination of its representatives. Considering these three stages together, Introvigne derived the notion of the “Roman Formula,” which was officially adopted at the OSCE level in 2011.
Since the Enlightenment and the French Revolution, there have been two categories of courts in modern society: the court of law and the court of public opinion. Moreover, the court of public opinion can be more fatal than the court of law. Introvigne went on to emphasize a key approach in applying the “Roman Formula. It is that if religious extremists’ attacks have not succeeded in court, they will attack through the media, changing public opinion as they see fit.
The professor then proceeded to describe the stages of the “Roman Formula. The first stage is intolerance. The Nazis, through propaganda, created many stories and caricatures showing “bloodthirsty” Jews “eating” defenseless Germans. There was a film called “The Jew Suess” (1940) which showed how Jews allegedly steal and kill Christian children. Characteristically, after the film was shown, many people in Germany and Europe became wary of Jews and believed that they might actually kidnap their children. Introvigne stresses that with their propaganda the Nazis were able to convince Germans that the Jews were the cause of the misfortunes of Germany and its people.
The second stage, according to Introvigne’s formula, is discrimination. At this stage, a number of laws were passed which discredited Jews and restricted their rights. For example, persons of Jewish nationality were only allowed to live in ghettos. Professors were fired from universities, workers from hospitals, Jews were forbidden to serve in the army and police. It is an interesting fact that American sociologists, during a study of the reactions of Germans to the Nazi laws against the Jews, found that the population of Germany fully supported these anti-human norms. Thus, at that time, the Nazi propaganda machine and Hitler became even more popular among Germans. It went so far that the population itself began to appeal to the government to take drastic measures against the Jews, because they allegedly threatened their well-being.
Introvigne stressed that if religious extremists succeed in thoroughly shaping intolerance in society, then the population will perceive discrimination as quite natural and logical.
The professor went on to explain what the third stage — persecution — is all about. The Nazi propaganda explained that the laws restricting the rights of the Jews were not sufficient to solve the “problem” completely-“even though the Jews are no longer employed in the police and hospitals, they are still a threat to the well-being of the Germans.” As a result, reprisals against Jews by the German population began, including physical extermination. In the final part of the “plan,” the Nazis turned to open persecution and began to send Jews en masse to concentration camps.
At the end of the meeting, Introvigne noted that movement through the three stages of the “Roman Formula” is only seemingly slow. In today’s realities, if extremists post a few articles and videos on the Internet, it may seem like little has been done and there is no threat to you. However, in the long run, the actions of extremists can be fatal for those who are attacked. The professor also emphasized that such a 3‑stage algorithm, only on a much smaller scale, can be applied to any organization.
