I, Revolution
Photo by Stefano Rellandini
Audio version read by George Atherton
In all revolutions, the agents of change – usually a small core of fired-up individuals – reach a personal point of reckoning where to do nothing becomes harder than to step forward. Then come the televised actions, the rebellions on campus, the random acts of defiance in high schools, supermarkets, malls, workplaces. A mass of support accrues. The little daily confrontations escalate. Momentum builds.
And finally the revolution ignites. Very often the ignition spark is a single symbolic act that takes the old power structure by surprise, a gesture that becomes a metaphor, living forever. Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat on the bus. A Vietnam protester feeds a daisy into the barrel of a rifle. A dissident stares down a line of tanks in Tiananmen Square. Nelson Mandela walks out of his prison cell in South Africa. A freedom flotilla breaks the siege on Gaza. These memes penetrate skulls like bullets.
The biggest impediment to revolution is a personal one: our own deep-seated feelings of cynicism and impotence. How can anything “I” do possibly make a difference? Most of us have trouble accepting radical change as a viable option. Entrenched in a familiar world, we cannot imagine another. It’s hard to see our current system as simply one stage of a never-ending cycle that sooner or later will fall and be succeeded – but this process of creative destruction is exactly how the world works.
We don’t need a million activists to jumpstart this revolution. We just need an influential minority that smells the blood, seizes the moment and pulls off a set of well-coordinated strategic moves. We need a certain level of collective disillusionment (a point I think we have now reached) and then we need the leaders of the affluent, “First” world nations to fumble a world crisis like global warming, a stock market crash or a nuclear standoff in the Middle East. By waiting for the right moment and then jamming in unison, a global network of a few hundred of us can pull the coup off. This November we create a sudden, unexpected moment of truth – a mass reversal of perspective; a global mindshift – from which the corporate/consumerist forces never fully recover.
What will you do? Share your ideas: [email protected]
Part: 1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – 6 – 7 – 8 – 9 – 10
Right-click to download the full audio version of "A Brief History of Revolution"
92 comments on the article “I, Revolution”
Displaying 71 - 80 of 92
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Canadian Tired
To be sure, these are pre-revolutionary times..but this revolution will not be I - centered...At some point, the lazy and dumbed down north americans will heed the call for revolt coming from less indolent nations; they will start a few meaningless fires, rattle a few gilded cages,but like every revolution of the people, this will come to be a footnote of history.
The real revolution that's brewing is one that will force itself on everyone; it is not an event that self-centered westerners will be able to shape to their liking.... - How would you like your revolution, sir? - Why thank you for asking...hmmmm..I'd like it to be...carnivalesque..I want to bring my kid and blah blah blah...... It is much less something we will do than something that will be done to us. Resource depletion will be at the forefront - think "peak everything we hold dear" within the next 60 years: oil, water, potassium, coal, uranium, food, medecine, etc., We have very proactively been comitting ecocide for a few millenia now and we are entering the last stretch, like marathon runners entering the stadium..
My solution to this unbelievable mess is to provoke the most crucial of coming tipping points: make peak oil a reality now.
Never in the history of mankind has an oppressive system been so fragile as it is today: everything we think we hold dear depends on oil and everything we wholeheartedly despise runs on it. Given time, what we hold dear would be recentered on things of real value and a lot of what we despise would be gone.
It is high time people who get it stop writing about it and start something that will have real consequences.
The word "revolution" never harmed anyone....
Canadian Tired
To be sure, these are pre-revolutionary times..but this revolution will not be I - centered...At some point, the lazy and dumbed down north americans will heed the call for revolt coming from less indolent nations; they will start a few meaningless fires, rattle a few gilded cages,but like every revolution of the people, this will come to be a footnote of history.
The real revolution that's brewing is one that will force itself on everyone; it is not an event that self-centered westerners will be able to shape to their liking.... - How would you like your revolution, sir? - Why thank you for asking...hmmmm..I'd like it to be...carnivalesque..I want to bring my kid and blah blah blah...... It is much less something we will do than something that will be done to us. Resource depletion will be at the forefront - think "peak everything we hold dear" within the next 60 years: oil, water, potassium, coal, uranium, food, medecine, etc., We have very proactively been comitting ecocide for a few millenia now and we are entering the last stretch, like marathon runners entering the stadium..
My solution to this unbelievable mess is to provoke the most crucial of coming tipping points: make peak oil a reality now.
Never in the history of mankind has an oppressive system been so fragile as it is today: everything we think we hold dear depends on oil and everything we wholeheartedly despise runs on it. Given time, what we hold dear would be recentered on things of real value and a lot of what we despise would be gone.
It is high time people who get it stop writing about it and start something that will have real consequences.
The word "revolution" never harmed anyone....
Anonymous
I think this is totally the wrong way to go about it.
So what, 80000 so called activists the world over, a few people (if they actually know each other) in the street of each major city trying to start a riot or something?
Revolution is not going to slow the advance of consumerism and the destruction of the environment, it will only be met with resistance from people much bigger and more powerful than us.
This change is going to be (as adbusters says) a war for our minds. Need to realise that material acquisitions will not make us happy, what we need is community and social interaction, and need to think about where the products we buy are coming from - conscious consuming. The budding organic movement, people buying local from family businesses and local produce markets, people demanding eco-friendly goods.
These are things that people will come around to in their own minds, in their own time. We can raise awareness of it. Teachers can show us the door, but we must walk through it ourselves.
The change will come from a change of mindset of the people. When more and more people start buying and demanding eco friendly products, local goods etc, the corporations who control the markets will have to meet the supply, and thus the system begins to change itself.
The system IS the way of life of the people. Way of life of the people changes, the system changes
Our small attempt at revolution will at best raise a bit of awareness that there are a growing number of people unhappy with the way of things, but in terms of doing any real good, how exactly do we shut down the world? Guerilla war on oil supply?
Think of this analogy. There is a heavy duty padlock, the strongest padlock you can imagine. Mr Boltcutters comes along, he is the biggest, meatiest, strongest, toughest set of boltcutters imaginable, but trying as hard as he can with his brute force, he just can't defeat the padlock! Then along comes Mr Key. A tiny piece of metal, he his weak and pathetic in comparison to the brute strength of Mr. Boltcutter. But he is shaped in exactly the right way, and with the tiniest application of force, and a slight twist, he is able to unlock the padlock. He understands the padlocks internal workings, and he is able to open from the inside.
The soft always overcomes the hard. Lets get into peoples minds and accelerate the change by raising awareness of the problems and real things that people can do make a change. Thinking about wants and needs, boycotting globalised corporations and known sweatshop drivers, buying local. A mass changing of buying habits will effectively cause the change we are wanting for.
Anonymous
I think this is totally the wrong way to go about it.
So what, 80000 so called activists the world over, a few people (if they actually know each other) in the street of each major city trying to start a riot or something?
Revolution is not going to slow the advance of consumerism and the destruction of the environment, it will only be met with resistance from people much bigger and more powerful than us.
This change is going to be (as adbusters says) a war for our minds. Need to realise that material acquisitions will not make us happy, what we need is community and social interaction, and need to think about where the products we buy are coming from - conscious consuming. The budding organic movement, people buying local from family businesses and local produce markets, people demanding eco-friendly goods.
These are things that people will come around to in their own minds, in their own time. We can raise awareness of it. Teachers can show us the door, but we must walk through it ourselves.
The change will come from a change of mindset of the people. When more and more people start buying and demanding eco friendly products, local goods etc, the corporations who control the markets will have to meet the supply, and thus the system begins to change itself.
The system IS the way of life of the people. Way of life of the people changes, the system changes
Our small attempt at revolution will at best raise a bit of awareness that there are a growing number of people unhappy with the way of things, but in terms of doing any real good, how exactly do we shut down the world? Guerilla war on oil supply?
Think of this analogy. There is a heavy duty padlock, the strongest padlock you can imagine. Mr Boltcutters comes along, he is the biggest, meatiest, strongest, toughest set of boltcutters imaginable, but trying as hard as he can with his brute force, he just can't defeat the padlock! Then along comes Mr Key. A tiny piece of metal, he his weak and pathetic in comparison to the brute strength of Mr. Boltcutter. But he is shaped in exactly the right way, and with the tiniest application of force, and a slight twist, he is able to unlock the padlock. He understands the padlocks internal workings, and he is able to open from the inside.
The soft always overcomes the hard. Lets get into peoples minds and accelerate the change by raising awareness of the problems and real things that people can do make a change. Thinking about wants and needs, boycotting globalised corporations and known sweatshop drivers, buying local. A mass changing of buying habits will effectively cause the change we are wanting for.
Canadian Tired
"The soft always overcomes the hard" .....That may well be the case..after all, the Grand Canyon was carved by water....but it had all the time in the world to do it. To merely state that "time is of the essence" in regards to today's convergence of crises is a platitude that does not even convey a tenth of the urgency we should be feeling. Sure, I can see all around me people who are very slowly starting to get it, but at the pace they are going the Earth will look like the moon before they truly wake the f*** up and say " Ok, that's enough now..what can we really do?"
You answer as a jest "Guerilla war on oil supply?" ....yes, the only answer that addresses all the problems we're facing and only accelerates the coming of challenges we will all have to face anyway.
We should take our cue from the Nigerians and create the international version of MEND...look it up if you're not aware of their existence.
The soft option is not an option anymore, but the crucial point is to choose the hard option that is right at this very point in time.
Canadian Tired
"The soft always overcomes the hard" .....That may well be the case..after all, the Grand Canyon was carved by water....but it had all the time in the world to do it. To merely state that "time is of the essence" in regards to today's convergence of crises is a platitude that does not even convey a tenth of the urgency we should be feeling. Sure, I can see all around me people who are very slowly starting to get it, but at the pace they are going the Earth will look like the moon before they truly wake the f*** up and say " Ok, that's enough now..what can we really do?"
You answer as a jest "Guerilla war on oil supply?" ....yes, the only answer that addresses all the problems we're facing and only accelerates the coming of challenges we will all have to face anyway.
We should take our cue from the Nigerians and create the international version of MEND...look it up if you're not aware of their existence.
The soft option is not an option anymore, but the crucial point is to choose the hard option that is right at this very point in time.
Bullets
"We just need an influential minority that smells the blood, seizes the moment and pulls off a set of well-coordinated strategic moves. By waiting for the right moment and then jamming in unison, a global network of a few hundred of us can pull the coup off."
• What kind of strategic moves?
• Who will do it?
• What will be their post-revolutionary agenda?
• Where will they get their mandate from, for that agenda?
• In what way will they "jam in unison"? What does that mean in detail?
Just wondering. Without defining these crucial criteria, the raw impulse for revolution is nothing more than an inchoate, self-indulgent, and lazy bellyache.
Bullets
"We just need an influential minority that smells the blood, seizes the moment and pulls off a set of well-coordinated strategic moves. By waiting for the right moment and then jamming in unison, a global network of a few hundred of us can pull the coup off."
• What kind of strategic moves?
• Who will do it?
• What will be their post-revolutionary agenda?
• Where will they get their mandate from, for that agenda?
• In what way will they "jam in unison"? What does that mean in detail?
Just wondering. Without defining these crucial criteria, the raw impulse for revolution is nothing more than an inchoate, self-indulgent, and lazy bellyache.
meme warrior
You are wrong. The approach you favor is a typical leftie hyper-intellectual path where everything is carefully defined using a "science" of revolution. That doesn't work anymore. And, quite frankly, people are tired of this "know it all" approach, as if anyone can know when the revolution will happen.
History shows us that the people who adopt your approach, always stand around calling out "wait wait the revolution isn't ready yet" in the midst of insurrection.
What we need is a Situationist-inspired approach where the point is to pull oneself, and the society at large, out of the everyday boredom of consumerism.
It is a conscious decision to reject your style of activism and revolutionary party building.
meme warrior
You are wrong. The approach you favor is a typical leftie hyper-intellectual path where everything is carefully defined using a "science" of revolution. That doesn't work anymore. And, quite frankly, people are tired of this "know it all" approach, as if anyone can know when the revolution will happen.
History shows us that the people who adopt your approach, always stand around calling out "wait wait the revolution isn't ready yet" in the midst of insurrection.
What we need is a Situationist-inspired approach where the point is to pull oneself, and the society at large, out of the everyday boredom of consumerism.
It is a conscious decision to reject your style of activism and revolutionary party building.
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