July 4, 2013
NewsRescue– As Egypt’s ex-president, Morsi wails from “house-arrest,” that “he is still the leader of Egypt,” it is useful to appreciate the A, B, C’s of a successful revolution like the world just witnessed, happening for the third time in the span of just two years, in Egypt.
Firstly, it must be noted that revolutions are seldom necessary. Nature has its magical way of resolving extreme oppressive situations. In history there have always been periods of horrible leadership, but after a while, these always crumble and are replaced by era’s of compassion and growth. Late Mahatma Gandhi said, “Remember that all through history, there have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they seem invincible. But in the end, they always fall. Always.” It’s in cycles, all the ancients tyrant empires have fallen. Yours too will.
When there is no other means to resolve the rule of a very wicked, tyrannous regime, it may be time to consider a revolution.
What to know about a successful revolution
1. It is never spontaneous.
There is always an organizer or organization behind it. Don’t ever imagine that some odd event can spiral into a successful dethroning. No. Every successful revolution out there has some wise planners. Most are actually preplanned, while some have the smart planners quickly jump on an available public grief opening. So if you are sitting down, writing or talking about a revolution. It will never happen. There have been hundreds of revolution worthy events that have not been converted, because no revolution planner exists. A revolution is like any other event, and events can not happen or be successful even if they do start, without the event planner. The recent Egypt revolution which toppled president Morsi was planned carefully by an Egyptian opposition group, “Rebel.” Rebel carefully planned, prepared common reasons of contempt and gathered the millions of signatures, to sign-up revolutionaries for the final execution.
If there is no plan and there are no planners, there will be no revolution. There will be revolts here and there, but no complete revolution.
2. A successful revolution needs a worthwhile goal.
You must know what the ultimate best goal is for a revolution. Does your society need total overhaul, or just a few changes here and there? Most times it is better to go for complete overhaul. History has it that the great error of George Bush senior, was merely asking for Saddam Hussein to evacuate Kuwait. To repair this error, his son had to wage a 9 year war, loose all credibility, and sacrifice thousands of US soldiers, while emptying over 6 trillion dollars, to finally get rid of Saddam. Bush senior had a perfect opportunity, with a globally agreeable cause to remove Saddam once and for all. Bush junior later had to cook up lies to do this.
Hence, the error was in the senior Bush not going for the top mark at the first opportunity—sacking Sadam from Iraq for invading Kuwait, once and for all. Some revolutions to note have been the Geza park revolution of Turkey, the Brazil bus-fare revolution and the Nigerian fuel subsidy removal revolution. All these revolutions had sub-ultimate goals. The minute some compromise was made, there was no justification of a continued revolution and conscientious people went home, being “people of their word.” Have a supreme goal, and start with this. If you have to compromise, at least you will end up with more than your basic target, rather than less.
3. Innovation be thy watchword
It is the twentieth century. We are not talking about a war with cannons and muskets. Nor a war with nuclear weapons. This is a social-media era and people are watching, there is social sensibility, correctness and so many other international political calculations and opportunities at play. In the Syrian rebellion, an entire city was dedicated to global propaganda. The cartoon city of Kafranbel, took it upon themselves to produce cartoons everyday for the satisfaction of the global media and their insatiable addicted mortals. Your successful revolution needs its hashtag industry, slogan factory, cartoon committee, and any other innovative mechanism you can think of. Employ savvy youth. You can never do it without them. Be sharp enough and they’ll join you. Even the type of revolution you engage in is subject to innovation. It could be an electronic revolution for starts.
4. Leadership multiplicity
Do not have one single head for your revolution. He could die. Seriously, he could. Or he can be bribed, arrested, talked out of it. Threatened to submission. There is no limit to what can happen to a few heads. Ensure that your revolution has multiple heads. Like Medusa, have all heads as able and capable tactical control centers. This was one of the the most amazing and distressing features of the occupy Wall street protests. The United States authorities could not identify “that leader,” to talk to and suppress. There were many unique and talented leaders. Hence the movement was virtually impossible to suppress, despite a mainstream media blackout. Thank god for the winter that suppressed the 99%. Recent articles have suggested that the FBI was considering employing snipers to take out the top leaders. Multiple leaders will mean, multiple “accidental” shots and greater room for media and public outcry. Don’t have a MLK or Malcolm X, one man revolution.
5. Revolutionaries are not violent
People don’t go out in revolutions armed to kill. When people die in revolutions and protests, they usually die due to accidents and excessive brutal force by the police. Your revolutionaries should be reminded to be peaceful and non-provocative at all times. The Syrian and Libyan rebellions, were armed rebellions and not revolutions. Pay attention to the difference. In Benghazi, people took up arms. This is an armed rebellion and no longer a revolution. This article is not about rebellions, that is outside our scope. The Syrian crises likewise was from the beginning an armed rebellion. Compare this to the Iranian green revolution and the Egyptian first, second and third revolutions. There was no arming of the revolutionaries and no citizens took up arms. But we can see that the revolutions were more successful and actually quicker than the armed and orchestrated rebellions. In every private and public statement, tops, you can go for a “civil disobedience,” but always mention, “non violence,” as your method and your directive. Let your revolutionaries be powerful like Buddhists, violently non violent. You will be surprised how much power blunt harmlessness has.
6. The environment
A bulging youth population promises easy and powerful revolutions. Unemployed youth, poverty, lack of social welfare and infrastructure; these factors make for a walk-in-the-park revolution. Egypt fulfills these criteria, and these factors enabled Egypt have three successful government toppling revolutions in the span of 2 years. You don’t want to ask people to sign your petition, or come out and protest when they are well fed, safe and secure. Youth are a quarter of Egypt’s population. Egyptians are young, unemployed and hungry. This is the common denominator and motivating force. Unfortunately most of us have lost morals. A moral cause to protest will hardly unite people, regardless of how necessary it is. But the current global famine, the youth bulge in many countries is an excellent environment for easy set-up of revolutions.
7. Be ready for victory
And when you win, what next? Egypt did not have a plan for victory. When they did win, the army took over, and then the people revolted a second time and the army quickly conducted elections and Morsi came in, but Morsi and his party were not trained or organized enough to rule properly and the people revolted a third time. As Libya fell, weapons flowed into the hands of all. These weapons have continued to cause death and instability in Libya and beyond. It will not be a bad thing to have a thought out post success continuity plan. You don’t want to leave your people worse off after removing the tyrant than they were before. You want to be successful, not just to win. Have some people in mind, notable, moral and intelligent leaders who can represent you and be called in to quickly stabilize the state. Make connections before, during and after the revolution. be in touch with the army. You need ties, you need political connections and strength, now and later if you truly mean well for your people.
8. A little bit of luck
Luck is what the modern world calls it. Traditional people like us call it prayer. Above all, pray for success. A revolution is never predictable. David toppled Goliath. Gandhi the British empire. You are in it for the long haul. Be serious, be determined to make a difference and pray.