Solidarity with the Warriors » Chris Hedges » 2016-12-29 Role of “Conversion” in revolution. Four thousand veterans come to fight for the Indians against the U.S. Military at Standing Rock. Wesley Clark Jr., Chris Hedges.
the Lords of the American Corporate Empire.
Some people will want to skip straight down to heading “CONVERSION“.
How do we get all the separate “single issue” organizations, blogs, individuals all over the internet to combine and work together? We need a thousand arrows all pointing in the same direction!
Ghandi and Indian independence, Vietnam, de-segregation, were all single issues that infuriated millions.
We need one issue…maybe water…that every group can identify with and support.
There has been a lot of research into the ingredients or characteristics – – what does it take to make a successful revolution? To me, that is essentially what your question asks.
I can capture some basics from the research. I hope others will add Comments below.
I take a bit different tack than you.
Salt was a “single issue” that not only said way more than a whole chapter of a book could have said, but it empowered by exposing “the emperor has no clothes”. . . . What the blazes?! Of course we can evaporate sea water and collect the salt as we have done for a thousand years. We can and we WILL! They brought the empire down. A brilliant symbol, Salt, in that particular country at that particular time. And without any Communications Consultants scripting it.
I think it was less “single issue” than choice of the right symbol. . . . In “single issue” people often need to be able to articulate the complexities of the issue. Which may mean having the time to read “the book” on “the issue”.
How many people in the population are literate (the Gandhi example in India) AND have access to the book AND have time to organize their community?
Today, we pride ourselves on exchanging information faster than the speed of light. BUT you still need hours to actually read the material and more time to organize around the info.
We forget that people know things without reading about them. When the conditions for successful revolt have developed (because of the injustices) the emotional string can be plucked by use of the right symbol. The string will vibrate beautifully and clearly.
Related: 2011-10-18 From a single hashtag, a protest circled the world, (Reuters).
. . . As with any movement, a spark is needed to start word spreading. SocialFlow, a social media marketing company, did an analysis for Reuters of the history of the Occupy hashtag on Twitter and the ways it spread and took root.
. . . decentralized and leaderless, has mobilized thousands of people around the world . . .
. . . crowds have connected and gathered.
. . . The notion of Occupy Wall Street was out there but it was not gaining much attention — until, of course, it did, suddenly and with force.
. . . Social media experts trace the expansion to hyper-local tweeters, people who cover the pulse of communities at a level of detail not even local papers can match.
. . . a demonstration on the Brooklyn Bridge prompted hundreds of arrests and the spark was ignited.
. . . The Occupy Wall Street page on Facebook started on September 19 with a YouTube video of the early protests. By September 22, it reached critical mass.
. . . “No one owns a (Twitter) hashtag (#), it has no leadership, it has no organization, it has no creed but it’s quite appropriate to the architecture of the net. This is a distributed revolt,” said Jeff Jarvis, a journalism professor at City University of New York and author of the well-known blog BuzzMachine.
As I see it, a difficulty in trying to bring people under one umbrella, for example – – it was not “water” that triggered the spontaneous entry of Four Thousand Veterans into the snowstorm at Standing Rock.
Drawing from the research on successful revolutions, I think there is an absolutely critical component to be understood.
I recall in an early report from Standing Rock: from the dark wall of military personnel with their weapons and shields, rubber bullets, tear gas, the eardrum-splitting sound weapons, armoured vehicles, overhead helicopters, the attack dogs of the pipeline people – – the assembled might of the USA confronting the unarmed people at Standing Rock – – ONE member of the military said that he did not support what he and his colleagues were doing there.
Later – unexpectedly and in short time after the call went out from U.S. Army Veteran Wesley Clark Jr – four THOUSAND Veterans came, prepared to fight and go to jail in defense of the Standing Rock Sioux (as mentioned above).
Wesley Clark had hoped: By around the middle of November I think we’d only raised $3,000 and had 50 people going. I thought maybe if we were lucky we might be able to get 500.
The significance of “conversion” in successful revolt emerges from the research by Chris Hedges, a long-time war correspondent turned author and activist. He comes back to the point time and again. From his latest book, “The Wages of Rebellion: The Moral Imperative of Revolt.” (2015) which addresses the root causes and the seeds of revolution and resistance.
No government has ever fallen before attackers until it has lost control over its armed forces or lost the ability to use them effectively . . .
While violence and terrorism are often part of revolutions, the fundamental tool of any successful revolt is the nonviolent conversion of the forces deployed to restore order to the side of the rebels (in this case the Standing Rock Sioux and all their supporters are “the rebels”). Most successful revolutions are, for this reason, fundamentally nonviolent.
In the video below, Mark Ruffalo in his “amazing uncut speech” is eloquent on this point.
The Russian Revolution was victorious once the Cossacks refused to fire on the protesters in Petrograd in 1917 and joined the crowds.
And the harsh Communist regimes in Eastern Europe were doomed in 1989 when the security forces no longer defended them.
The superior force of despotic regimes is disarmed not through violence but through conversion.
After watching Episode 6 of Vaccinations Revealed, I believe there is more to the arrival of the Veterans at Standing Rock.
Episode 6 included the Worldwide Premier of the movie, VACCINE SYNDROME.
The Gulf War Syndrome was more accurately a Syndrome caused by the vaccine for Anthrax. A million military and other first responders were forced to receive a number of injections of the vaccine. With disastrous consequences for thousands and thousands of them (more at http://sandrafinley.ca/?p=18218).
When you know what happened, the deaths and the slow deaths – – lives, people and families totally ruined – – those people then ignored, discarded in the gutter – – you know that thousands upon thousands of people who would, under normal circumstances, be proud and patriotic supporters of their military buddies, were no longer.
“Destributed revolt” which I interpret as empowerment at the community level, whether the community is a real or virtual one.
Don’t waste too much time trying to contact and to obtain a buy-in from various people or groups (e.g. to organize under one theme, water).
“… nonviolent resistance as a political force is still young, its possibilities not yet well enough known, and is thus seldom an incitement to the masses and is seldom encouraged by the media. For all that, those striving for human rights are dependent on our solidarity and the feeling is growing of an ever increasing threat through the power of dictatorships, the armaments race and the immobility of bureaucrats.
I first visited the Museum in 1999 at a time when NATO was bombing Kosovo.
Non-violent resistance has been on-going in North America for a very long time. Really, it is part of our heritage. Lots of examples we’ve talked about.
It seems to me that Hedges’ research makes explicit – – puts a name to a strategy we’ve used but had no name for: conversion. And he makes the importance of the strategy known.
In a later posting we can talk about conversion in another sphere, the intelligentsia. If you are in open, transparent society I think conversion, as a strategy, is as simple as having conversations with fellow citizens with the idea that the conversation (information) might bring some light to bear that will shift the views embraced by that person.
In a clandestine world, conversion would more likely be called “fifth column”. I have referred to it as “infiltration”.
The attempt to “convert” is not the exclusive tool of one side or another. The corporatocracy has the advantage of lots of money to create propaganda for converting us or maintaining us in a passive, as opposed to rebel role.
SO, HOW IS CONVERSION TO OUR SIDE ACCOMPLISHED?
Actions that you feel comfortable with (definitely not the same for everyone!).
Clark’s action ended up being a big one. Seemingly little actions are just as important – – talking about what he and the Veterans did magnifies the value.
People, their drives and emotions are very different. The opportunities for them to express their humanity open up as a consequence of life lived in the years that precede the Action.
Our lived experiences are very different. That thing that drove Wesley Clark Jr is HIS, it could not have been MINE. But I and perhaps millions of others can, through him, see a light that shines on Standing Rock.
Then, through the work of Chris Hedges, the arrival of 4000 Veterans at Standing Rock becomes not just another incident to be reported. (Or not reported.) It has great significance when understood through the lessons of history: No government has ever fallen before attackers until it has lost control over its armed forces or lost the ability to use them effectively . . . The superior force of despotic regimes is disarmed not through violence but through conversion.
. . . hyper-local . . ., people who cover the pulse of communities at a level of detail not even local papers can match.
Means that WE are critical. Which you implicitly understand – – your desire to organize us such that our arrows are all pointing the same direction.
Feedback on progress tells us how close we are getting to the “successful revolution”. Social unrest (awareness of and anger over Governments that serve corporate and elite interests – – the 1%) is widespread.
The number of conversions in the U.S. is apparent. Talk, talk, talk . . . it works.
The U.S. Government has lost the confidence and trust of its citizens. And of many of its veterans, a critical part of the military.
There are more points to be made (hoping others will make theirs) and I still want to tell the little victory I think we achieved. But later.