Monday, December 29, 2014

Micah White — 9 Notes On The Future Of Revolution

If there’s gonna be a revolution, it’ll happen non-violently. I think it’ll be a very peaceful kind of. It’ll be more like an awakening, you know?
You think maybe maybe he read The Fourth Turning?

Esquire Magazine
Micah White, cofounder of the Occupy movement

2 comments:

Dan Lynch said...

"The protest tactics that we’ve developed—the repertoire of tactics that we’ve developed—like, marching and these kinds of things, are designed to influence liberal democracy. They were designed to influence people—like, elected representatives—who had to listen to their constituents. .... My thinking is moving away from protest."

Agree with Micah on that point. The ruling elites barely care about marches, freeway shutdowns, etc.. The protests are mildly embarrassing for the elites, but doesn't seriously threaten their power.

"If there’s gonna be a revolution, it’ll happen non-violently."

I don't think so. A USSR-style collapse is possible, but even during the USSR collapse there was some violence, and then thugs took over the country, since power abhors a vacuum.

Micah points to Egypt as an example of a non-violent revolution, but how did that turn out? If you ask me, Egypt was an example of how not to do things.

My sense of history is that in times of crisis, people crave a strong man to show them the way. While it is possible to have a progressive strongman like Chavez, more often than not conservatives are better at the strongman thing. Even if a revolution starts out with a progressive slant, like Egypt, or like the French Revolution, it is likely to be co-oped by a strongman. Power abhors a vacuum -- if progressives can't fill that vacuum, someone else will.

Tom Hickey said...

I sense that there is an awakening taking place in the US and other places in the world owing to the influence of the Internet, blogging, and social media. That will manifest asymmetrically and unpredictably, as it has been doing.

So far in the US the violence has largely been on the part of the security forces coordinated under DHS, with peripheral violence on the part of black blocs. The degree to which the clandestine services have been involved is unclear although the Freedom of Information Act has shown that the FBI has been actively involved in surveilling dissent since "the red scare."