Rules for Revolution

Starters Guide for Modern Revolutionaries

Cartoon cc by DonkeyHotey

(If you’re in a hurry, just read the ‘Essential Guidelines for a Successful Revolution’ a small bit downwards)

The increasing suppression will only halt when it’s stopped.

It looks like we need a revolution. Sadly. But the arrogant brazen way the superrich, and their corporate voices, influence, read buy, laws and politics for personal benefits has crossed many red lines. Don’t forget, the American Revolution started because the British upperclass was totally ignorant about the needs of the American people, while being terribly arrogant about it. The current upperclass, or corporate, disconnect seems not very different. The current system is deeply broken. Their elitist rule creates mass poverty and health issues both for people and the environment. And very worrisome, it has become dangerous for our planet as a whole. Elections are more and more rigged to protect interests, through media manipulation, bribes, false accusations, election fraud (Legal Gerrymandering doesn’t make it less of a dirty trick) and distractions (read hefty debates about non-issues). We can only hope a Gentle Revolution is possible. One is certainly needed.

The dangers and needs for a revolution

From history we learn, sadly enough, that most revolutions end up in new faces, doing more of the same, or worse. Suppressed people who finally get to rule, often want to take full advantage of ‘their turn to rule’, often being quite easy in assigning who is an enemy of the new state. Not something to look forward to, except by the new elite and their own cronies. So how to avoid that the bullies in office and their cronies are replaced by a new set of bullies and their cronies? Any good revolution has a great massively supported rallying cry! It has real solutions whose merits have been proven, yet are thus far ignored by the ruling elite. And it has a set of clear and essential guidelines.

And as someone commented, many revolutions can be sparked by intelligence agencies, who may not have your interests at heart. They prey upon angry populations to create chaos, or, more likely, to get a government more to their liking. The CIA is notorious for it. Modern media only makes it harder to know who is playing who for what reason. So, is a good revolution possible?

Law becomes supression when it forbids people to act humane.

The Gentle Revolution is on!

Yes, even better: it’s already happening too, yet rarely shown in the news. Millions(!) are working for a better planet, fairer politics, human conditions at work, alternative energy and more. Think of the changemakers, social activists, honest investigating journalists, whistleblowers, NGO’s, clean energy innovators, artists, permaculture people, clean water protesters, etc. They are the backbone of our civilization. They need to be in the light. Go help them make the change we seek in the world. Here is one of the many great documentaries portraying them. Online you can find many many many networks, movements moving things ahead. That to me is the Gentle Revolution! Governments should support them, let them shine, rather than meet corporate lobbies in backrooms to make deals.

True integrity shines so much brighter than any fake pretense to have it.

Note, some of the most successful revolutions you hardly notice. They are an answer to a problem or need everyone recognizes. Few people outside Portugal (the Carnation Revolution) or the Czech Republic (the Velvet revolution) remember these revolutions. Which is a pity, as such shining examples should be strived for. When massive amounts of the population all decide it’s time to switch and act in a simple, clear, non threatening way, no force can stop them.

Cartoon cc by DonkeyHotey. When the police becomes an instrument of oppression in stead of safe keeper.

Essential Guidelines for a Successful Revolution:

What are the essential differences between successful and even peaceful revolutions and those ending in bloodbaths and or turning out to be more of the same in a new form? What are the basic principles they abide by?

1. Non Violence is essential. Fundamental. Violence begets trauma, exclusion and hidden resentments, making long term solutions more difficult and often leading to suppression to prevent possible uprisings or vengeful actions of the ‘losing side’.
2. The more leaders the better. The closer to a revolution truly ‘by and for the people’ the better. And be warned, the usage of these words is not the same as these words being true. Involve everyone by empowering them.
3. The higher the integrity of your leaders, the better. Our hearts can distinguish real leaders from politicians. Real integrity shines. It gets respected the world over. You can negotiate with such leaders.
4. The best solutions are inclusive and pragmatic. The suppressing side must see that a peace can be negotiated with their honour and, at the least some, wealth intact. Only then will they become willing to accept, let alone negotiate, a new reality.
5. The more directly the difference is noticeable, the better. A revolution that begins with people restoring what has been wronged, is the best kind. It shines so much better than a call to arms and offers so much more hope and clarity for everyone that this is the needed alternative.
6. Take care of the essentials first. Clean water, roofs for everyone, electricity are essential needs. When a revolution won’t take care of the essentials for it’s people, then it’s not much different as an elite robbing its people blind with a promise of ‘trickle down’.
7. Keep your values, and these principles, intact! “First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you and then you win.” Yet avoid a fight with fists and blood at all costs. And avoid being played, tricked into all kinds of possible escalations, lies and distractions. ‘They’ will try.
8. Play. Play to stay free from their games. Use humor, be practical and stay flexible and adaptive. The basic human mode to either fight, freeze or flee can be overcome by play and wisdom. When in play mode, many games they send at you become ineffective.
9. Dream big, stay real. Go for the best possible future people dream of. People will act for a real change that matters. Build upon that dream! Yet stay real, and accept reality as it is. Because a flawed understanding of reality has blinded many aspiring revolutionaries.

(Substantiations of each of these points can be found further down below.)

There are of course many other aspects. How to organize? What do you stand for? What is the rally cry? What banners, language and symbolism to unite under? How to deal with differences within? How to deal with people within your side messing up? All I can do is wish you the best in the difficult times ahead and hope for the best. Start or support a bottom up movement including a huge diversity of options. It’t the best way to make it inclusive.

Why did I write this?

I and many others have written an awful lot about the state of the USA and the world. Global corporate power is currently, with allowance by the White House, heavily investing in the dirtiest possible energy ‘solutions’ and the dirtiest ways to retract it from the soil. Global long and short term effects are completely ignored, suppressed or lied about. And globally eco-systems suffer for it. Even when climate change is not real, mass extinctions and degrading eco-systems are.

When the truth is hidden, because it may damage investments, people suffer. When the consequences of such manipulations lead to decaying ecosystems, climate change and modern slavery inside private prisons, aren’t addressed, we all will suffer the long term consequences. It’s urgently time to put a stop to this.

Finally, if the core of a revolution, doesn’t have love, it will only be more of the same.

Towards an healthy planet and fair social systems.

If all governments and corporations would truly embrace the best green solutions, a huge shift would be possible. In fact, many new financial growth possibilities would also come into existence. Solar energy was the biggest growth energy industry until oil lobbies made Trump put obstacles in place and fund ‘clean’ coal. If only these ruling parties would accept the short term financial losses for the gain of our planet as a whole, we could all end up winning. When interests because of power and pride would be relinquished, and local investments in local solutions everywhere would be supported all swarms of refugees and immigrants would stop. Just accept that in a connected world, you can only truly win, when everyone wins.

“We can’t solve our problems with the same kind of thinking that created it.” ~ Einstein

Further substantiations of the principles:

1. More on why Non Violence. All revolutions that were decided in violence left long lasting wounds, and mostly ended up in more of the same with different faces. The arrogant French king that lost his head, may have been decadent, delusional and non caring about his subject. The revolutionaries were vengeful, equally delusional, equally arrogant and way more violent, as they still needed to establish their power using excessive force. However different communism was compared to Tsarism, it was equally oppressive, corrupt (money being replaced by position in the party) and dis-functional (massive hunger and lack of goods). Avoid it becoming a struggle over power, however great you think your own ideas are. If you need to convince others of that, you are more of the same. Study non-violent strategies, study successful non-violent revolutions.
2. More on as many leaders as possible. The best revolutions are people driven. Don’t follow strong aggressive leaders who propagate force. Don’t follow leaders to whom you look up in hope, ignoring lust for power signals or cruelty, people like Mao or Stalin. Such leaders too often end up using you for their own interests, however idealistic they start off. On the other side of the spectrum are the faceless revolutions, these often enough end up quite well. And when the masses carry it, it will serve the masses. The fall of the Berlin Wall, the Hippie Revolution that helped end the Vietnam War, the Women’s struggle to get equal rights, the Mexican Zapatistas all had so many collaborating to make it happen, that no force could stop them. The last ones even had masked leaders all using the same name, so no suppressive government could take its leaders out, let alone know who they were. And think about it? How can soldiers fire at masses that contain, most possibly, their mothers, sisters, children and friends? And think about the #metoo movement. Because it has not one clear leader, it has leaders everywhere. This helps a lot of women in places where singles leaders could never reach. Yet the #metoo movement can only work when the next principle is intact as well.
3. More on Integrity. Avoid strong men (m/f) with lust for power. Avoid slick great salesmen and politicians. ‘Nationalist’ leaders (read leaders with a tribal mindset) love shouting “Think of our Greatness, trampled upon by ‘them’!” or worse “Attack them!!” It gives them a great role, while leaving trails of blood in their wake. Even victories bring home bodybags and trauma’s that haunt veterans and their families for generations. Other leaders are more like devious schemers promising you their change. Be warned! Such ‘leaders’ (see Trump) will be just more of the same. Integrity also means: we shouldn’t forgive the mistakes of our own side that we don’t accept from ‘the other side’. (It angers a lot of people that Trump does often the same as what he attacked Hillary and Obama on. And just as side note, that the USA is out of the Paris agreements, and never questions, let alone brings their own war criminals to trial is a thorn in the eyes of the world. Adding more power to stay untouchable doesn’t help create a better world, rather the opposite.) In the end, all wrong-doings are ammunition for anyone fighting you. We better choose leaders who live with clarity and integrity; those who walk the talk. Nelson Mandela, Vaclav Havel, Gandhi, Marten Luther King all got a lot more done for all people. They all had great support from a massive part of the population. So if you want leaders, choose such voices. Men like Che Guevara, however popular once among teenagers, or general Videla lacked such support. The first died in Colombia because he got no support from the local population and the second needed a regime of terror the keep his CIA sponsored coup afloat. Compare such disasters with Nelson Mandela. Mandela is still seen as a shining example of exemplary leadership in this world. People do recognize such integrity. Bernie Sanders has it too. Such integrity shines in this world where too many lie to protect their interests. And seek to be a light yourself too.
4. More on inclusiveness and pragmatic approaches. Prepare solutions that include the old elite into the new constellation after the revolution. It makes for much better negotiations and possible peaceful solutions like in South Africa, or the fall of the Berlin Wall. Angry beliefs (sorry Alex Jones), brilliant sounding philosophies and attractive new models have created a lot of suffering. Especially when they demonize part of the population. Think of the tragic massive killings of all suspected intellectuals in Cambodia. Avoid that minority elites like nobility, ruling tribes or clans, or certain religious beliefs fear they will be the victims to such a model. It makes them fight much harder and often much more viciously. And such viciousness often spirals to even more fear for revenge by the revolutionaries. Also ideologies sounding the opposite of the elite, are actually empowered by the elite you fight. Fighting religious zealots often turns you in a fanatical zealot as well. Just listen to a few aggressive Fox News war hawks crying for pre-emptive aggression. They somehow often target much smaller nations (North Korea, Iran) that already are scared as hell of American aggression. And being a zealot may feel empowering. Oh, how we often love the rush of righteous anger within; read ‘the Dark Side’. Keep your head and emotions free of such preconceptions. Look and deal with the real needs of everyone, including the people that kept you down. When the English could leave India with their heads held high, they left so much easier. When the whites in South Africa found they could trust Nelson Mandela, the way to a solution was open.
5. More on starting with changing things for the better. When US Cities become Sanctuary Cities and their civilians applaud that move, you know an essential threshold has been crossed by the central government. When the people start doing what their ‘leaders’ should be doing, and then get opposed and suppressed for doing so, you know something is deeply rotten at the top. You also know that humanitarian consciousness and action may be the healthiest rally cry of all. It’s also a cry people can start to act on tomorrow by doing practical stuff that does make the difference. Open homeless shelters, give free healthcare, start educations in community homes for those that can’t pay. And it’s a great way to check the elite. Do they oppose such an attitude or, hopefully, they start helping. Because that too counts as a victory, perhaps even the easiest and best one.
6. More on the caring for the essentials. The rule of law in liberated cities is the example of how a revolution takes care of its children. Too many revolutions devoured their own children. Too many ‘leaders’, bent on revenge unleashed their trauma onto the part of the population out of which the elite arose. Such ‘leaders’ are too preoccupied by their lust for revenge that they may become blinded by the real needs of the ‘liberated’ people. I heard some therapists claim that the Israeli Jews suppress their Arab population and the Palestinians out of the pains they suffered in WWII. This is perhaps the most dangerous trait in many revolutions. The poor end up enriching themselves. The suppressed end up suppressing. The neglected stop listening when they own it all. How to avoid that. By keeping on helping everyone with their essential needs. A great revolution is humble, supportive, caring and listening to the needs of those that missed such things. Take Flint in the USA. The party really helping them, and all other cities with too much lead in the water, is the one you can hope is worth their word.
7. More on keeping your values and principles intact. There are so many dirty tricks corrupt governments and nasty lobbies use. Here is a list: You will be attacked. You will be divided. You will be offered bribes or rewards. You will be smeared. You will be agitated. You will infiltrated by people who press you to cross lines. You will be seduced to sell out or use aggression. You will be wrongly accused. You will ignored. Make a mistake and can be portrayed in main stream media as aggressive trouble makers. Let them. Keep at it. And keep clear, that you as a whole people are in this together. When they attack, they attack all of you. When they seek to divide you by singling out certain groups, remember you’re all people. Like in the USA: Native Americans are framed as backward protestors, Blacks as criminals, Muslims as terrorists, Irish as good white people, Mexicans as lazy illegals. They are all Americans; all suffering from bad education, bad healthcare, polluted environment. And they all get pointed at as being the problem, the obstacle to progress. Even when they, as most white people, are framed as those endangered by the the other groups, most of them suffer the same problems. Therefore act with humanity, act with a compassionate caring heart.
8. More on play and wisdom. When you are free from judgement, free from preconceptions of how things should look, free from pride, free to play with however things are, you become untouchable. When you use wisdom, and don’t act rashly, you are so much harder to trap. Consider asking with every grave bit of news: “Who benefits from this impulse they send at me?” Current Americans should wonder: “Who benefits from me getting angry at those non-kneeling blacks? Who benefits from me fearing the Alt-Right or terrorists?” Etc. (Actually fearing them makes sense, as fascism is just around the corner of them gaining power. But being aware of the danger, yet keep on playing is the better answer. ) Meanwhile the biggest real issues are not addressed yet: the decaying infra-structure, the lack of affordable healthcare, the exploding funding of the military (already by far the biggest in the world), the opioid crisis, the massive growth of poverty and homelessness, wages that can’t feed families. These real issues at home are not the doing of any minority. It’s the corrupted and bought government doing that! And they’d rather not have you focus on that. The Koch brothers spend a lot of good money to have you get exited about these other issues. And again, being aware is healthy, being carried away by emotions over it, makes you vulnerable to being messed with. Stay cool and play! Don’t take it too f#*king seriously. Not because it isn’t serious, but to act free you shouldn’t take it as such. It so helps you stick with principle no 7.
9. More on dreaming big and staying real. Don’t sweat the small stuff. What will be the best possible gain most people hope for? How strong is that hope, or more real, the willingness to act upon that hope? The thing is, most people fear risking the ire of their government. They fear the big price they might pay for inciting that change. But no hippie wondered about taking that risk. They just followed a higher call, a hope for everyone. They partied themselves into the light. In reality there were few, yet these few became the symbol of a whole generation. The East-Germans climbing the Berlin wall, had stepped beyond fear. Most of the guards, who should have shot them for it, shared the same hope for change. It was an idea whose time had come. So for what idea, do you and your people feel the time has come? And what is standing in the way of its realization?

High values are truly essential, as you want the web to become more healthy, not less.

Fair warning

I have written about this before: if the ‘other side’ isn’t interested in the peoples needs, they will play dirty and develop ‘solutions’ to your strategies. Of course, because they think in power and self interest they’ll overlook the most healthy one, making the world a better place for everyone. Sadly. They will seek to blacken certain peoples reputation with an incident. That might be to attack, or smear, your side (Bernie = socialist = commie = Stalin) or distraction (Like a sudden clear and present reason for a war. Wars are great distractions, as they tend to have everyone choose sides. You better support your own country or you can be called a traitor.) Understand the following: when there’s just one incident, consider it a false flag until proven otherwise. Especially when the accusations are sharp and clear before there’s any real proof or investigation. Witch hunts are too often started after one curious incident. Innocent people received a death sentence for one murder thanks to a vengeful jury that had their biases played by a cunning prosecutor. Or check Julian Assange’s curious rape case, consider the Tonkin incident or the ‘proof’ for the Iraqi Weapons of Mass Destruction and many more such ‘reasons’. After such incidents be curious after the truth. “It seems the Syrian gas attacks didn’t happen, as we’ve been told, but who cares, let’s keep on bombing them.” If there are any doubts left, don’t act. World peace is worth more than jumping on the band wagon for an enraging, yet mysterious, crime. More people die of the Opioid crisis every day!

Foul play is also a great way to get you playing the same game as the powers that be. Their cronies and errand boys will play along, for many a stupid reason. They play chess with people. They want you to play chess back. Beware, for they are masters at move-countermove. So while countermoves may seem necessary, please reconsider if that means you’re being pulled into the chess game. Hence the importance of the play mode, or in the words of Isabella Duncan:

“If I can’t dance in your revolution, I don’t wanna be part of it.”

More on becoming a Gentle Revolutionary. More on making it work together.

More on dealing with media manipulations. More on how the descend into darkness happens.

If you need more education to support regenerating our ecosystems.

If that is not enough, than really start to study this topic, with BluePrint for Revolution by Sdrja Popovic or just go and study the lives and works of the great non violent revolutionaries who have gone before, and some revolutions that went terribly wrong. They’ll have many lessons too.

Humor can help turn things upside down, while making them absolutely clear.