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In 2011, the Arab Spring Revolutions
swept across the Middle East;
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from Tunisia to Egypt, Bahrain, and Syria.
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For more than 50 years, a quiet American scholar
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has been helping people
bring down their dictators.
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His tactics of nonviolent resistance have been used
in revolutions from Serbia to Ukraine and Iran.
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To be counted as a threat to a tyrant
is a matter of pride, I would say.
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It means we’re effective.
It means we’re relevant.
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This is the story of the power
of people to change their world,
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the modern revolution,
and the man behind it all.
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Gene Sharp’s tactics and theories are being
practiced on the streets of Syria as we speak now.
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My name is Gene Sharp,
and this is the work I do.
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How To Start A Revolution
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Boston, Massachusetts
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- What do you do?
How would you describe your work?
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- Oh, that’s always a problem,
describing my work.
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Primarily, I try to understand
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the nature and potential of
nonviolent forms of struggle
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to undermine dictatorships.
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This is a technique of combat.
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It is a substitute for war,
and other violence.
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His handbook to revolution
–From Dictatorship to Democracy–
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has been smuggled across borders and
downloaded hundreds of thousands of times.
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We don’t know quite how it’s read,
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but it certainly did into 30 some
languages in different parts of the world,
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on all continents except Antarctica.
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The hallmarks of Gene Sharp's work can be
seen in revolutions all over the world.
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Colors and symbols
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signs in English
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civil disobedience
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and commitment to nonviolent action
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Gene's books contain a list of 198
nonviolent methods of resistance.
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Oh, the famous 198 methods.
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There seems to have been
an extraordinary response.
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That’s simply the 198 specific methods.
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These specific forms of
abstract are economic boycott,
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are civil disobedience,
are protests.
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Exactly the counterpart of military,
different kinds of military guns or bombs,
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any military struggle.
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Unless they have something
instead of violence and war,
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they will go back with violence and war
every time.
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In 1983, Gene Sharp founded the
Albert Einstein Institution
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to spread the knowledge
of nonviolent struggle.
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For years, people living under dictatorships
have been coming here to East Boston for help.
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Jamila Raqib has worked for
Gene for more than 10 years.
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I began learning about the
work at a very basic level.
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I did most of my reading and learning as
soon as I started working at the institution
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and I was hooked.
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I didn’t start out to do this.
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I had a religious background that
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led me to want to leave the world in a bit
of a better place and better condition
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than when I came here,
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and how to do that was always a problem.
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Korean war, 1950-1953
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In 1953, Gene was sent to jail for refusing
conscription to fight in the Korean War.
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I had a two-year sentence.
I did nine months and ten days.
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In those days you counted the
days as well as the month,
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but I don’t think that my action
there did any good whatsoever.
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It was just to keep my sense of my own integrity
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so I would carry on in the work that
I thought was really important.
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I never met Einstein,
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but I wrote to him.
I don’t know how I got his address.
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I said: “Well, I’m about to do
such and such and go to prison,
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but by the way I’ve written this book on Gandhi
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three quite different cases from each other
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about Gandhi’s using nonviolent
struggle for a greater freedom
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through just nonviolent means.”
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And he wrote back that he was very
much hoped, but couldn’t know
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that he would have made the same decision I did
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and he would be willing to look at the manuscript
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which I had sent to him, and he did so and
wrote a very kind introduction to the book.
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Oxford University
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While studying at Oxford,
Gene had his Eureka moment
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a new analysis of the power of
people to bring down a tyrant.
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If you can identify the sources
of a government’s power,
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such as legitimacy,
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such as popular support,
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such as the institutional support,
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and then you know on what that
dictatorship depends for its existence.
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And since all those sources of power
are dependent upon the good will
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co-operation, obedience, and
help of people and institutions,
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then your job becomes fairly simple.
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All you have to do is shrink that support,
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and that legitimacy,
that co-operation, that obedience,
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and the regime will be weakened,
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and if you can take those sources far away,
the regime will fall.
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- And how did you feel at that point?
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- At the point, that Eureka point?
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- Yeah.
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- Oh, greatly relieved.
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- Greatly relieved,
because that’s what made it all reality.
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Harvard University
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While teaching his theories at Harvard, Gene was
about to meet an unlikely champion of his work
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Vietnam War hero, Colonel Bob Helvey.
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I first met Gene Sharp
at Harvard University.
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I was an Army Senior Fellow
up there for a year,
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and one day I saw a notice on the bulletin board
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about a program for nonviolent sanctions
at two o’clock this afternoon.
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So I had nothing to do, so I went
to see who these peace necks were
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and to confirm my preconceived notion
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that they probably had rings
in their noses and ears
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and dirty.
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And so I went up there just to see them
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and surprisingly they weren’t there.
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I saw regular looking people there.
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And a few minutes after we all sat down
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this little short, soft-spoken gentleman
comes to the front of the room and says:
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"My name is Gene Sharp
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and we’re here today to discuss
how to seize political power
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and deny it to others.”
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I say nonviolent struggle is armed struggle,
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and we have to take back that term
from those advocates of violence
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who try to justify with pretty words
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that kind of combat.
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Only with this type of struggle,
one fights with psychological weapons,
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social weapons, economic weapons,
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and political weapons,
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and this is ultimately more
powerful against oppression,
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injustice, and tyranny than is violence.
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That got my attention.
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This is the flag of the 5th Battalion,
7th United States Cavalry.
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The 7th Cav, as you know,
was the Regiment of General Armstrong Custer,
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who fought and died at the
battle of Little Big Horn.
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That’s me in my younger days.
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A full head of hair.
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This is the award for the Distinguished
Service Cross, that I got in Vietnam.
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Vietnam, 1968
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In 1968, Bob was deployed in Vietnam.
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He was decorated for bravery
during a Vietcong ambush.
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But his experiences there would change his
views on the way conflicts should be waged.
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I think Vietnam influenced my view about
the importance of nonviolent struggle,
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and particularly the importance of getting Gene
Sharp’s ideas out to the rest of the world,
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because we must have an alternative.
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Vietnam convinced me that we need to
have an alternative to killing people.
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Burma, 1992
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As a US defense official in Burma,
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Bob had seen the military dictatorship there,
persecute the minority Karen people.
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After leaving the army,
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Bob traveled back to the rebel camps to teach the
Karen Gene's lessons in nonviolent resistance.
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I was talking to one of the Karen Commandos
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and he says: “Where in the hell
has this information been?
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We’ve been fighting and killing people for 20 years.
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How come we didn’t know this?”
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Some of the Burmese came up to him and asked
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if he would write something for the Burmese on
how to move from a dictatorship to a democracy.
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That’s the origin of why the book was written:
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the Burmese.
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I couldn’t write about Burma honestly,
because I didn’t know Burma well,
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and he said not to write about something
you don’t know anything about,
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so I had to write generically.
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If there was a movement that wanted
to bring a dictatorship to an end,
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how could they do it?
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And so I wrote those theories,
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and they were serialized there,
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and published in English and in Burmese,
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and I thought that was it.
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In 1989, Gene traveled to China at the height
of the demonstrations in Tiananmen Square.
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Tiananmen Square, 1989
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It would shape his views about the
importance of planning and strategy.
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Lesson 1: Plan a Strategy
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I’d gone to Beijing
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after the Tiananmen Square
protests were well underway.
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That whole event, which it should be remembered,
was not just in Beijing
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but reportedly in 350 other cities of China,
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similar protests were going on.
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But they were not planned.
They were not prepared.
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There was no strategic decision.
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There was no advanced decision how long you
stay in the square and when you leave.
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The students had no plan.
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They were improvising all the way through,
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and later on we know that many of those
Chinese people who were out on the streets,
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in another day, were shot and killed.
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The attitude that you simply improvise
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and improvisation will bring you
greater success is nonsense.
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Exactly the opposite.
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That if you don’t know what you’re doing,
you’re likely to get into big trouble.
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Serbia, 2000
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The government of Slobodan Milosevic, in Serbia,
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presided over years of crimes against
humanity and brutal internal repression.
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The regime fueled the creation of new democracy
groups in the country fighting, for his removal.
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I went to Budapest at the request of the
International Republican Institute,
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which was providing support to
the Serbian Opposition Movement,
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and one particular part of that
opposition movement was Otpor.
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That’s a Serbian word for resistance.
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He’s a retired colonel, and he has
this type of military approach,
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and the way he speaks is really something that
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creates a strange impression
with a bunch of student leaders.
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We talked for a while, and I said:
“Well, there’s something missing here.
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We haven’t talked about who’s
leader of this organization.
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Who is the leader?”
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And then one guy said: “We don’t have a leader.”
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And I said: “Well, wait a minute guys.
I did not fall off the turnip truck coming over here.
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Somebody has to lead an organization that
has mobilized the entire Serbian society.”
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So we spent probably one hour
fooling him about some stuff,
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and the reason for this was that we were not
very comfortable about giving the details
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about the organization to the foreigner.
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And then they explained to me,
why there’s no quote “leader”.
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To keep it away from the government.
The government doesn’t know who’s in charge.
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And I later found out I was talking to the leader,
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Srdja Popovic.
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Belgrade
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Bob began teaching Gene Sharp's lessons
to the new Serbian revolutionaries.
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When Bob Helvey gave us the Gene Sharp’s politics
of nonviolent action, we were quite amazed.
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Partly I was ashamed that I didn’t
know about such a book before,
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even if there was a translation of From
Dictatorship to Democracy in Serbian,
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but I had never seen it.
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And seeing the knowledge of how power operates,
and pillars of the support operates,
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and all this stuff, we needed to learn
the hard way throughout our experience
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written systematically on one place
was quite an amazing thing.
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One of Otpor’s first tasks was to create a
symbol of resistance to help unify the people.
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It’s obvious that we are a majority.
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If we can just recognize all of
those who are against Milosevic
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by saluting each other with a fist, he would
probably be over within a few years.
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Lesson 2: Overcome "Atomisation"
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“Atomisation” is
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when a regime attempts to make
every individual in this society
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an isolated unit.
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It’s one of the main ways that took over their
systems, seek to control their populations,
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make them all fear each other,
fearing to speak out and to act together,
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never telling your neighbor or even sometimes
a family member what you really think.
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By seeing the example of the demonstration
and bravery by other people:
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Now it’s "we", now it’s "we",
and we can do something that I alone could not.
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During the 96-97, we were walking
day after day after day,
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and the police was walking streets,
and our numbers would start falling
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because it was obviously too boring for the
people to demonstrate every day in harsh winter.
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So we said: “Okay, why won’t we go home and
try to make noise from our balconies.”
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We were doing it from 7:30 until 8:00 pm,
as a response to the state TV news.
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That was the answer...
we don’t watch your crap.
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We do our own thing.
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From the pots and pans to doing the stickers,
so the stickers can be doing in every building,
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and also the things like,
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“Will you go and prosecute the
kids for wearing Otpor t-shirts
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when there is not one single law which
bans wearing anything on a t-shirt?”
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00:18:27,529 --> 00:18:31,021
So for the policemen, getting inside high schools
234
00:18:31,187 --> 00:18:34,528
and arresting high school kids only
because they were wearing the t-shirt,
235
00:18:34,703 --> 00:18:37,663
and then going home and talking to their wife
236
00:18:37,790 --> 00:18:41,576
whose friend was complaining
because her son was arrested.
237
00:18:42,617 --> 00:18:45,998
Getting a dialogue of your kids
was coming now from his school
238
00:18:45,999 --> 00:18:48,568
where nobody wants to spend time with him or her
239
00:18:48,659 --> 00:18:52,348
because their father is now beating
kids from my neighborhood.
240
00:18:52,514 --> 00:18:56,913
And now, this systemic oppression doesn’t work.
241
00:18:57,363 --> 00:19:00,860
Lesson 3: Pillars of Support
242
00:19:01,155 --> 00:19:05,663
These pillars are holding up the government,
like my fingers are holding up this book,
243
00:19:06,455 --> 00:19:10,295
and I developed a strategy to
undermine each of those pillars:
244
00:19:10,296 --> 00:19:11,272
the police,
245
00:19:12,205 --> 00:19:17,088
the [???], the religious
institutions, the workers,
246
00:19:17,533 --> 00:19:20,344
whatever, every organization.
247
00:19:20,907 --> 00:19:25,835
And as they weaken and start to
collapse, the government will collapse
248
00:19:27,603 --> 00:19:29,278
when those pillars are broken.
249
00:19:30,532 --> 00:19:35,300
Ideally we want those pillars not destroyed,
250
00:19:35,824 --> 00:19:40,179
but transferred over to the democratic movement.
251
00:19:40,491 --> 00:19:43,928
If you want these pillars to shift sides,
you need to co-opt people.
252
00:19:44,067 --> 00:19:45,948
It’s exactly what Otpor has done.
253
00:19:46,115 --> 00:19:50,573
We were telling the police that we
are both victims of the same system.
254
00:19:50,660 --> 00:19:54,168
There is no reason to have war
between victims and victims.
255
00:19:54,256 --> 00:19:58,205
One of the victims wear blue uniforms,
Other victims wear blue jeans,
256
00:19:58,261 --> 00:20:00,298
but there is no reason for this conflict.
257
00:20:00,594 --> 00:20:02,566
And this worked, really worked.
258
00:20:02,567 --> 00:20:04,638
And it worked in Georgia.
It worked in Ukraine.
259
00:20:04,733 --> 00:20:06,424
It worked in many other places in the world.
260
00:20:06,520 --> 00:20:07,853
This is the way you do.
261
00:20:07,952 --> 00:20:13,083
You go and co-opt from this course of pillars.
You don’t throw stones at the police.
262
00:20:19,563 --> 00:20:22,976
Lesson 4: Resist Violence
263
00:20:23,189 --> 00:20:28,101
The many people in conflict situations
that would like to use violence,
264
00:20:28,102 --> 00:20:33,496
but their opponents really have more
military weapons and weapons of violence,
265
00:20:33,788 --> 00:20:36,177
usually physical weapons,
266
00:20:37,026 --> 00:20:39,430
than the potential resistors have,
267
00:20:39,923 --> 00:20:42,962
the resistors choose to fight with violence.
268
00:20:44,266 --> 00:20:50,075
Their opponent has all the advantages in that
situation because you’re choosing to fight
269
00:20:50,359 --> 00:20:52,176
with your opponent’s best weapons.
270
00:20:53,052 --> 00:20:58,901
But you can choose to fight with a totally different
kind of weapon in these nonviolent forms,
271
00:20:59,163 --> 00:21:01,834
which are much more
difficult for the opponent to counteract.
272
00:21:07,496 --> 00:21:11,353
Big concentration tactics are
very difficult to control.
273
00:21:12,423 --> 00:21:15,142
You have 20,000 peaceful demonstrators
274
00:21:15,422 --> 00:21:17,207
and one idiot breaking out a window.
275
00:21:17,350 --> 00:21:19,310
These people got all the media.
276
00:21:20,111 --> 00:21:23,912
So this is the message which can
efficiently undermine your movement.
277
00:21:29,516 --> 00:21:33,186
You would go on a march and there is a
risk of the people getting arrested,
278
00:21:33,251 --> 00:21:34,592
so what would you normally do?
279
00:21:34,902 --> 00:21:37,310
Instead of putting the big guys in front,
280
00:21:37,795 --> 00:21:40,453
you will put the girls in front,
281
00:21:42,242 --> 00:21:44,622
you will put the grandmas in front,
282
00:21:45,729 --> 00:21:47,768
you will put the military veterans in front.
283
00:21:47,845 --> 00:21:51,086
So the police is now faced with the friendly faces.
284
00:21:54,415 --> 00:21:59,605
And these people are actually carrying
the flowers and the banners and smiling,
285
00:21:59,683 --> 00:22:02,779
so you make the situation less threatening,
286
00:22:03,078 --> 00:22:07,189
so you make the possibility of
a violent outcome very small.
287
00:22:07,984 --> 00:22:13,142
October the 5th should be seen in the
context of successful strategy,
288
00:22:13,143 --> 00:22:16,992
and that was not the day like many
spectators or media, like CNN.
289
00:22:17,119 --> 00:22:20,967
They just see it as a big bunch of people,
revolution, boom, and it’s all over.
290
00:22:21,294 --> 00:22:23,719
It was, first of all, ten years
of attempts and failures,
291
00:22:23,720 --> 00:22:27,302
and two years of resistance of
Otpor, five different campaigns,
292
00:22:28,222 --> 00:22:30,570
and we were setting the victory on the elections.
293
00:22:30,939 --> 00:22:32,296
Serbian National Election
September 2000
294
00:22:32,336 --> 00:22:35,332
In September 2000, Serbia went to the polls.
295
00:22:35,796 --> 00:22:38,826
But Otpor expected Milosevic would fix the election.
296
00:22:39,445 --> 00:22:41,658
We knew that Milosevic will lose,
297
00:22:41,917 --> 00:22:46,130
and we knew that he will not
accept the fact that he has lost.
298
00:22:50,873 --> 00:22:56,190
So around 3 pm, you hear like two
to 300,000 people on the square,
299
00:22:56,349 --> 00:22:59,900
and there was a nonviolent takeover
of the physically of this building.
300
00:23:33,085 --> 00:23:36,958
And this is where the people who broke
into the building, on October the 5th,
301
00:23:37,180 --> 00:23:40,791
found many leaflets pre-marked for Milosevic.
302
00:23:40,838 --> 00:23:46,801
So this is where, actually the physical cheat was
taking place on the second floor of this building.
303
00:23:59,908 --> 00:24:02,082
It was more like a symbolic takeover,
304
00:24:02,622 --> 00:24:07,641
because what was the real takeover was
that Milosevic lost power that day,
305
00:24:08,212 --> 00:24:09,706
because police disobeyed,
306
00:24:09,707 --> 00:24:14,476
because he ordered the military to get through
the barracks after 3 pm and they disobeyed.
307
00:24:14,729 --> 00:24:16,332
This is where he lost the power.
308
00:24:16,507 --> 00:24:20,182
What you are looking at on the TV and
physical overtaking of the building,
309
00:24:20,301 --> 00:24:23,848
was just a symbol of him,
losing authority that day.
310
00:24:35,858 --> 00:24:42,057
I think what we learned from Bob and what comes
and derives from Gene Sharp thinking and writing,
311
00:24:42,058 --> 00:24:43,413
influenced the way we think,
312
00:24:43,653 --> 00:24:47,700
and also made our struggle more
efficient in a very important point
313
00:24:47,701 --> 00:24:50,367
when we were preparing for a resistive struggle.
314
00:24:50,741 --> 00:24:55,984
And yes, I think what Bob and Gene are
doing are precious around the world,
315
00:24:55,985 --> 00:25:02,306
and we strongly believe that the nonviolent
revolutions cannot be exported or imported,
316
00:25:02,488 --> 00:25:06,472
but the knowledge on how to successfully
implement nonviolent struggle
317
00:25:06,708 --> 00:25:10,309
can and is transferred from one
group to another as we speak.
318
00:25:11,380 --> 00:25:16,581
Well, I felt good that here was a
revolution that occurred non-violently.
319
00:25:17,422 --> 00:25:21,076
There was no violence on the part
of the democratic opposition,
320
00:25:21,891 --> 00:25:28,121
and it shows that what Gene was
talking a bout year after year after year,
321
00:25:28,335 --> 00:25:32,989
There are realistic alternatives to violent conflict.
322
00:25:33,314 --> 00:25:39,789
Well, I mean, after Serbia, we were working with
Georgians and Ukrainians and Lebanese and Maldivians
323
00:25:39,790 --> 00:25:46,444
and Iranians and Zimbabweans and Colombians
and Guatemalans and West Papuans
324
00:25:46,606 --> 00:25:51,674
and the groups from places in the world
I couldn’t literally find on a map.
325
00:25:53,319 --> 00:25:55,493
Georgia, 2003
326
00:25:55,715 --> 00:26:01,882
Then, from Serbia, the news spread to Georgia,
which was under a very repressive regime,
327
00:26:02,066 --> 00:26:06,439
and then to Ukraine, which again had
problems, and it spread there,
328
00:26:06,891 --> 00:26:14,049
and then to a series of other countries in the
southern tier of the former Soviet Union.
329
00:26:15,496 --> 00:26:18,287
Ukraine, 2004
330
00:26:21,184 --> 00:26:25,197
Vlodymyr Viatrovich was a leader
of Ukraine's Orange Revolution.
331
00:26:25,642 --> 00:26:30,642
He used Gene's book to convince activists that
there was a powerful alternative to violence.
332
00:26:31,850 --> 00:26:36,785
The protester community had
various schools of thought.
333
00:26:36,967 --> 00:26:40,827
In particular, there were people
ready to use some kind of force.
334
00:26:42,239 --> 00:26:43,991
The book in question
335
00:26:43,992 --> 00:26:47,541
is Gene sharp's book, From Dictatorship to Democracy
336
00:26:47,700 --> 00:26:49,723
The central concept of that book,
337
00:26:49,724 --> 00:26:54,874
fighting dictators non-violently,
was very pertinent for us.
338
00:26:54,875 --> 00:26:59,265
That was the idea that pretty
much shaped the protest
339
00:26:59,266 --> 00:27:02,393
that led to the Orange Revolution of 2004.
340
00:27:03,080 --> 00:27:05,533
We're united, we're many...
341
00:27:05,890 --> 00:27:11,007
I think that tens of thousands of people, no more,
342
00:27:11,008 --> 00:27:14,531
ever received Sharp's ideas directly from his book.
343
00:27:14,763 --> 00:27:18,802
But the ideas themselves,
no longer linked to Gene Sharp,
344
00:27:18,803 --> 00:27:23,512
reached hundreds of thousands of
people in the Orange Revolution.
345
00:27:23,906 --> 00:27:27,032
We're united, we're many,
we won't be conquered!
346
00:27:27,484 --> 00:27:29,915
So if we're to speak of his ideas,
347
00:27:29,979 --> 00:27:33,649
even if the people didn't know they were Sharp's,
348
00:27:33,650 --> 00:27:36,436
they were still widespread and influential.
349
00:27:36,705 --> 00:27:41,540
Yushchenko! Yushchenko!
350
00:27:51,902 --> 00:27:55,234
On the top floor of Gene's
home is his orchid house,
351
00:27:55,656 --> 00:27:57,622
a refuge from the work below.
352
00:27:58,305 --> 00:28:00,376
They take quite a bit of work.
353
00:28:01,067 --> 00:28:06,654
They became very important because
it was something I could treat,
354
00:28:06,743 --> 00:28:08,930
as they needed to be treated,
355
00:28:09,778 --> 00:28:13,114
and not expecting miracles,
356
00:28:13,115 --> 00:28:19,550
but if you don’t treat orchids right or anything
else in life, then it’s not going to thrive.
357
00:28:28,214 --> 00:28:32,017
- How did it feel watching your work spread?
358
00:28:32,785 --> 00:28:37,356
- Oh, that spread was really quite remarkable,
I always think.
359
00:28:38,705 --> 00:28:40,697
I’m still amazed.
360
00:28:42,236 --> 00:28:43,562
I’m still amazed.
361
00:28:45,277 --> 00:28:49,253
To have this piece that I
regarded as very introductory,
362
00:28:49,848 --> 00:28:52,175
I think it’s maybe 70 or 80 pages,
363
00:28:52,834 --> 00:28:58,659
to take off like that was a confirmation that
the analysis was more or less accurate.
364
00:29:00,370 --> 00:29:03,703
It didn’t spread because of good propaganda,
365
00:29:04,211 --> 00:29:05,623
or some sales pitch.
366
00:29:06,599 --> 00:29:10,630
It spread because people found it usable.
367
00:29:11,106 --> 00:29:12,958
They found it important.
368
00:29:19,760 --> 00:29:22,292
The books are there.
The literature is there.
369
00:29:22,356 --> 00:29:26,737
It’s online. It’s in people’s homes
and people’s hard-drives,
370
00:29:27,126 --> 00:29:32,324
and it’s being disseminated at a level where
that cannot stop, and it cannot be stopped.
371
00:29:36,869 --> 00:29:40,036
People go to great lengths to discredit this work,
372
00:29:40,369 --> 00:29:46,826
and there was one case where President
Chavez had referred to our staff as
373
00:29:46,851 --> 00:29:51,058
“the bunch of gringos at the Albert Einstein
Institution don’t understand Venezuela,”
374
00:29:51,680 --> 00:29:56,893
and I thought: “Well, it’s true that we may not
fully understand the situation in Venezuela.
375
00:29:56,894 --> 00:30:00,352
It’s probably quite complex,
but I’m not a gringo.”
376
00:30:00,799 --> 00:30:02,414
Gene Sharp, George Bush,
377
00:30:02,493 --> 00:30:05,351
and the ideologues of this
soft coup with a slow fuse…
378
00:30:05,930 --> 00:30:09,499
Gentlemen, you can forget this
plan of yours in Venezuela.
379
00:30:10,197 --> 00:30:14,326
In 2008, the Iranian government
broadcast a propaganda video
380
00:30:14,445 --> 00:30:17,146
accusing Gene of working for the CIA.
381
00:30:17,662 --> 00:30:21,019
The White House,
Washington D.C.
382
00:30:25,248 --> 00:30:29,653
Gene Sharp, the theoretician of civil disobedience
383
00:30:29,780 --> 00:30:32,617
and velvet revolutions,
384
00:30:32,958 --> 00:30:35,544
who has published treatises on this subject.
385
00:30:35,673 --> 00:30:38,166
He is one of the CIA agents
386
00:30:38,167 --> 00:30:41,800
in charge of America's
infiltration of other countries.
387
00:30:44,109 --> 00:30:47,443
Well, you’ve seen our office.
You can see how well funded we are
388
00:30:49,054 --> 00:30:51,921
In a way, I was impressed that we were on the radar,
389
00:30:53,096 --> 00:30:56,651
that they had Gene Sharp sitting at the
White House, and in a way, I thought
390
00:30:57,532 --> 00:31:01,805
I wish those in the White House would listen to us,
I wish they would request a meeting with us,
391
00:31:02,021 --> 00:31:02,790
but they don’t.
392
00:31:03,175 --> 00:31:05,881
We sit here.
We operate out of our Tourem office.
393
00:31:06,144 --> 00:31:07,873
We have no connection with the White House.
394
00:31:08,136 --> 00:31:09,532
It just didn’t happen.
395
00:31:10,732 --> 00:31:12,152
We don’t do that.
396
00:31:14,669 --> 00:31:17,779
We are absolutely not a CIA front organization,
397
00:31:18,148 --> 00:31:22,746
and it’s really ironic because
we see this charge in the press
398
00:31:23,132 --> 00:31:26,000
and among various groups quite often,
399
00:31:26,270 --> 00:31:28,412
and we always wonder, where is this coming from?
400
00:31:29,678 --> 00:31:32,630
After the Iranian elections in 2009,
401
00:31:32,765 --> 00:31:35,820
opposition groups declared the result was a fix.
402
00:31:35,845 --> 00:31:36,568
Iran, 2009
403
00:31:36,569 --> 00:31:41,564
There are thousands upon thousands of people
streaming down through the main boulevard,
404
00:31:41,762 --> 00:31:43,626
all heading in the same direction.
405
00:31:43,627 --> 00:31:46,151
It’s quite something.
They’re waving green flags.
406
00:31:46,152 --> 00:31:48,772
People are hanging out of cars
giving the ‘V’ for victory sign.
407
00:31:48,932 --> 00:31:52,521
I was not sure people would
turn up given the warning,
408
00:31:52,521 --> 00:31:54,568
and I’m wrong.
409
00:31:56,590 --> 00:31:59,999
Thousands of protesters exploded
onto the streets of Tehran.
410
00:32:00,955 --> 00:32:02,860
The government response was brutal.
411
00:32:03,360 --> 00:32:09,414
During the uprising, a young Iranian student, Neda
Agha-Soltan, was shot by a government sniper.
412
00:32:14,353 --> 00:32:18,034
Her image would become a
rallying call for the opposition.
413
00:32:19,365 --> 00:32:22,271
Lesson 5: Political Ju-Jitsu
414
00:32:22,411 --> 00:32:25,512
When people are slaughtered,
when they are beaten,
415
00:32:26,441 --> 00:32:31,771
this produces a process
I call ‘Political Ju -Jitsu,’
416
00:32:32,763 --> 00:32:35,977
in which the opponent’s supposed strength
417
00:32:36,819 --> 00:32:39,465
is used to undermine the opponent
418
00:32:40,377 --> 00:32:44,687
by alienating more people
from supporting that regime,
419
00:32:45,497 --> 00:32:48,774
mobilizing more people into the act of resistance.
420
00:32:49,036 --> 00:32:51,408
It’s a kind of backlash effect.
421
00:32:52,448 --> 00:32:59,188
If the regime is so brutal, and instead of
intimidating people which the regime intends,
422
00:32:59,982 --> 00:33:03,780
it causes other population groups and institutions
423
00:33:04,335 --> 00:33:07,288
to withdraw their cooperation and their obedience
424
00:33:07,803 --> 00:33:13,331
and that loss of power and control that
more people are joining the resistance.
425
00:33:15,267 --> 00:33:20,180
Iason Athanasiadis was arrested by Iranian
Intelligence while reporting the Green uprising.
426
00:33:20,982 --> 00:33:23,969
When I went to see the Chief Prosecutor
on the second day that I was in prison,
427
00:33:24,239 --> 00:33:28,159
he looked at me when I took off my
blindfold, sitting in his office,
428
00:33:28,310 --> 00:33:30,146
and he said: “Do you know why you’re here?”
429
00:33:30,480 --> 00:33:34,916
And I said: “No, I mean, I’ve no idea.
I’ve just been arrested two nights ago”,
430
00:33:35,202 --> 00:33:38,414
and he said: “Well, there’s a very
serious accusation against you.”
431
00:33:38,804 --> 00:33:41,144
And I said: “What is that?”
And he said: “Are you sure you don’t know?"
432
00:33:42,081 --> 00:33:42,874
"Espionage."
433
00:33:44,470 --> 00:33:47,335
The interrogator kind of patted his laptop and said:
434
00:33:47,510 --> 00:33:51,224
“You know, this laptop contains
a Persian language translation
435
00:33:51,296 --> 00:33:54,669
of Gene Sharp’s "From Dictatorship To Democracy"
436
00:33:54,874 --> 00:33:58,229
which is a handbook for insurrectionists,
437
00:33:58,485 --> 00:34:03,961
and it gives them several dozen easy ways by which,
438
00:34:04,033 --> 00:34:06,921
if they only follow these ways,
they can overthrow a government
439
00:34:06,922 --> 00:34:08,969
a legitimate government, any kind of government.
440
00:34:09,864 --> 00:34:13,332
And I have read this book,
and so have my colleagues."
441
00:34:14,411 --> 00:34:16,928
When the organizers of the uprising were arrested,
442
00:34:16,953 --> 00:34:21,580
they were charged with using over
100 of Gene Sharp’s 198 methods.
443
00:34:24,024 --> 00:34:32,925
What this work does is show people that they
themselves can be responsible for their own future,
444
00:34:32,926 --> 00:34:35,044
for their own liberation.
445
00:34:35,331 --> 00:34:37,792
People are beginning to liberate themselves,
446
00:34:38,633 --> 00:34:42,723
They don’t have to depend on an outside power.
447
00:34:43,826 --> 00:34:46,183
This is Srdja, my cat,
448
00:34:46,414 --> 00:34:48,500
named after Srdja Popovic.
449
00:34:49,263 --> 00:34:53,144
But they don’t have to depend on an outside power.
They can do it themselves.
450
00:34:53,675 --> 00:34:57,637
And can you imagine how good
that makes a country feel?
451
00:34:58,320 --> 00:35:00,749
That we did it ourselves.
452
00:35:01,090 --> 00:35:04,821
And that’s why it’s so important that
we transfer this skill and knowledge.
453
00:35:05,209 --> 00:35:08,392
There’s no reason for the United
States to be occupying anybody.
454
00:35:08,393 --> 00:35:10,591
We’re not good at occupying anybody.
455
00:35:10,917 --> 00:35:14,413
Neither was the Soviet Union
good at occupying people.
456
00:35:15,293 --> 00:35:16,578
Let the people alone.
457
00:35:16,603 --> 00:35:20,277
Give them the power to change their
government if they want it changed.
458
00:35:21,405 --> 00:35:28,802
To be counted as a threat to a tyrant
is a matter of pride, I would say.
459
00:35:28,945 --> 00:35:31,481
It means we’re effective.
It means we’re relevant.
460
00:35:32,005 --> 00:35:38,979
It means, out of this very small office,
we produce work that threatens regimes,
461
00:35:39,448 --> 00:35:42,034
and I think that’s pretty cool.
462
00:35:43,043 --> 00:35:43,661
Yeah.
463
00:35:45,371 --> 00:35:48,297
Tahrir Square, Cairo, 2011
464
00:35:48,560 --> 00:35:51,171
This was the beginning of the Egyptian Revolution.
465
00:35:51,568 --> 00:35:57,293
The uprising was spontaneous, but Egyptian democracy
groups had been working on the strategy for years.
466
00:36:02,654 --> 00:36:07,614
Egyptian democracy group Kefaya first
visited Gene in Boston in 2006.
467
00:36:08,589 --> 00:36:14,309
Five years later, former Serbian revolutionaries
were training new groups on the outskirts of Cairo.
468
00:36:14,612 --> 00:36:19,119
Egypt’s Muslim brotherhood posted
Gene's work in Arabic on their website.
469
00:36:21,086 --> 00:36:24,675
When the moment came, these groups
were ready to guide the revolution.
470
00:36:25,260 --> 00:36:27,513
Well, let’s go live to Tahrir Liberation Square.
471
00:36:27,514 --> 00:36:30,462
We can speak to a freelance journalist
who joins us on the line now,
472
00:36:30,463 --> 00:36:35,680
Ruaridh, we were hearing about those heightened
security measures today around Tahrir Square.
473
00:36:35,960 --> 00:36:39,770
Is there a different atmosphere here compared
with say yesterday and the day before?
474
00:36:40,236 --> 00:36:42,957
Ah, yes. It’s an incredible atmosphere today.
475
00:36:42,958 --> 00:36:50,644
That cross section of Egyptian society that left
Tahrir Square yesterday is back in force now.
476
00:36:50,645 --> 00:36:53,033
They’ve managed to re-energize the protesters.
477
00:36:53,034 --> 00:36:56,589
There’s very young children, women, older men here.
478
00:36:56,986 --> 00:37:00,013
People are singing and dancing.
There are many instruments in the square,
479
00:37:00,150 --> 00:37:03,491
and it’s more full here than it has been in days.
480
00:37:05,578 --> 00:37:09,258
Ahmed Maher was a leader of Egypt’s
April 6th democracy group.
481
00:37:10,806 --> 00:37:13,273
We waited for an incident,
the spark,
482
00:37:13,361 --> 00:37:15,229
that would move all the people.
483
00:37:15,444 --> 00:37:19,721
There were many reasons to act,
but we were waiting for the spark.
484
00:37:21,412 --> 00:37:23,039
And that was Tunisia.
485
00:37:23,460 --> 00:37:25,582
Tunisia, 2011
486
00:37:30,487 --> 00:37:32,106
In fact it was...
487
00:37:32,257 --> 00:37:35,235
There has always been rivalry in soccer
488
00:37:35,331 --> 00:37:37,362
between Egypt and Tunisia.
489
00:37:37,615 --> 00:37:42,250
So maybe we started before Tunisia
490
00:37:42,488 --> 00:37:47,963
but Tunisia beat us and started
the revolution, so why not us?
491
00:37:48,234 --> 00:37:50,962
People saw on the web "The answer is Tunisia".
492
00:37:55,942 --> 00:37:58,679
Leave! Leave!
493
00:37:58,889 --> 00:38:02,332
Of course there was a strong influence
494
00:38:02,380 --> 00:38:05,697
from Gene Sharp's writings articles and books.
495
00:38:05,884 --> 00:38:09,175
We got them from the internet, read them
496
00:38:09,486 --> 00:38:11,395
and we learned quickly
497
00:38:11,396 --> 00:38:14,165
and understood the essence of non-violence.
498
00:38:14,456 --> 00:38:17,361
We also saw many documentaries on the internet
499
00:38:17,774 --> 00:38:22,843
about the experiences of
people applying non-violence.
500
00:38:23,144 --> 00:38:25,318
The idea itself was very inspiring
501
00:38:25,565 --> 00:38:29,188
whether it came from the documentaries or the books.
502
00:38:32,322 --> 00:38:35,093
As the peaceful protest grew in Tahrir Square,
503
00:38:35,275 --> 00:38:39,286
President Hosni Mubarak intimidated
them with weapons of war.
504
00:38:43,513 --> 00:38:46,229
Our experience may be slightly different to Otpor.
505
00:38:46,230 --> 00:38:50,702
Before the revolution, they won the
army and police over to their side.
506
00:38:51,226 --> 00:38:53,022
It was different with us.
507
00:38:53,023 --> 00:38:57,015
We had a very big battle with the police
508
00:38:57,498 --> 00:38:59,338
and the army was always neutral
509
00:38:59,339 --> 00:39:02,633
but eventually intervened on our side.
510
00:39:02,831 --> 00:39:05,096
The experience is different to an extent
511
00:39:05,493 --> 00:39:08,382
between us and Otpor in Serbia.
512
00:39:10,909 --> 00:39:16,308
Even after violent clashes with police, the
revolutionary leaders restored nonviolent discipline
513
00:39:16,473 --> 00:39:18,600
in the face of overwhelming force.
514
00:39:21,578 --> 00:39:25,316
The protesters faced brutal attacks
from police and security forces,
515
00:39:25,467 --> 00:39:27,101
but they held their ground.
516
00:39:36,711 --> 00:39:39,306
Of course, technology played a big role
517
00:39:39,307 --> 00:39:41,112
in faster communication,
518
00:39:41,542 --> 00:39:46,052
in delivering the message to the
people and mobilizing them.
519
00:39:46,187 --> 00:39:50,028
Also, technology played a role
520
00:39:50,029 --> 00:39:51,576
in the internal organization.
521
00:39:51,858 --> 00:39:54,921
You have groups in various governments
522
00:39:54,922 --> 00:39:57,287
and need to be in constant contact with them
523
00:39:57,668 --> 00:40:01,381
so instead of holding a meeting every fortnight
524
00:40:01,571 --> 00:40:05,950
you can, through a secret group on Facebook,
525
00:40:06,111 --> 00:40:10,060
via conference on yahoo, Skype or Abouttalk
526
00:40:10,061 --> 00:40:12,950
via any program, constantly communicate.
527
00:40:13,260 --> 00:40:16,939
All those helped so much in spreading ideas.
528
00:40:32,414 --> 00:40:35,858
As Muslims and Christians guarded
each other while they prayed,
529
00:40:36,016 --> 00:40:40,263
the leaders of the revolution were persuading
the army to support the protesters.
530
00:40:40,843 --> 00:40:44,517
I believe the army eventually helped us
531
00:40:44,518 --> 00:40:46,970
because the army is of the people.
532
00:40:47,111 --> 00:40:50,146
The army conscripts come from the people,
533
00:40:50,230 --> 00:40:53,754
and the army has a big patriotic role.
534
00:40:53,984 --> 00:40:57,470
The police may have fixed
elections, protected the corrupt,
535
00:40:57,471 --> 00:40:59,659
they've been involved for many years
536
00:40:59,842 --> 00:41:02,500
and were protecting their interests and existence.
537
00:41:17,476 --> 00:41:19,603
I was returning to Tahrir Square,
538
00:41:20,481 --> 00:41:24,566
just entering the square through
the permanent search gate.
539
00:41:24,788 --> 00:41:29,701
There was a cafe which had the TV on very loud.
540
00:41:30,225 --> 00:41:32,093
In the name of God the Merciful.
541
00:41:33,522 --> 00:41:35,260
Citizens,
542
00:41:36,236 --> 00:41:38,525
in these difficult circumstances
543
00:41:39,327 --> 00:41:41,504
that the country is going through
544
00:41:43,428 --> 00:41:46,197
President Mohamed Hosni Mubarak has decided
545
00:41:47,515 --> 00:41:50,749
to step down as President of the Republic.
546
00:41:59,512 --> 00:42:01,739
It took him a while to step down.
547
00:42:01,795 --> 00:42:04,274
I just went crazy when I heard the speech.
548
00:42:04,764 --> 00:42:07,283
I started crying, thinking that at last
549
00:42:07,416 --> 00:42:11,219
the dream we've had for years
and endured so much for
550
00:42:11,719 --> 00:42:13,290
has come true.
551
00:42:13,417 --> 00:42:15,409
It was a really tough moment.
552
00:42:15,838 --> 00:42:18,187
I then ran screaming into the square.
553
00:42:18,774 --> 00:42:22,654
Everyone was just crying, screaming,
554
00:42:22,655 --> 00:42:24,293
laughing, dancing, singing...
555
00:42:24,484 --> 00:42:26,777
It was a historic moment.
556
00:42:27,502 --> 00:42:30,224
I just couldn't believe it.
557
00:42:30,383 --> 00:42:33,714
For a few days I wondered if it was possible.
558
00:42:54,324 --> 00:42:55,998
But somebody knew what they were doing,
559
00:42:56,959 --> 00:43:02,009
and we don’t need anyone claiming
credit for us or me or anyone,
560
00:43:02,136 --> 00:43:05,192
if it’s not deserved and if it’s not documented.
561
00:43:14,263 --> 00:43:16,502
Syria, 2011
562
00:43:26,703 --> 00:43:29,337
Massacre in Juma, 15 so far killed.
563
00:43:35,411 --> 00:43:40,506
Ausama Monajed is a communications expert and
one of the leaders of the Syrian Uprising.
564
00:43:42,488 --> 00:43:44,957
This is a video of a kid that’d been shot at.
565
00:43:47,722 --> 00:43:50,682
One boy was shouting: “My brother, my brother!”
566
00:43:50,841 --> 00:43:54,343
He co-ordinates a network of secret
cameras all over the country.
567
00:43:55,089 --> 00:43:58,764
It’s just a basic HD camera
linked to a satellite modem,
568
00:43:58,913 --> 00:44:04,200
and we upload it on streaming websites
where we can get the live feed,
569
00:44:04,225 --> 00:44:07,051
and we managed to get this Al Jazeera today.
570
00:44:11,010 --> 00:44:21,047
Gene Sharp’s tactics and theories are being
practiced on the streets of Syria as we speak now.
571
00:44:24,109 --> 00:44:30,659
What we did is promote these tactics and explain them
to people through the Facebook pages that we have
572
00:44:31,108 --> 00:44:33,101
and also the YouTube channels.
573
00:44:33,176 --> 00:44:38,206
This is how they’re applied,
from putting flowers on the spots
574
00:44:38,206 --> 00:44:43,925
where fallen heroes fell and frustrations
from the campaign while you marched,
575
00:44:44,082 --> 00:44:49,371
from cleaning streets and
making it nicer and better
576
00:44:49,372 --> 00:44:55,365
because we can do something even better than the
regime can do in terms of services, so yeah.
577
00:44:58,680 --> 00:45:03,108
From Dictatorship To Democracy gives
you the inspiration, the assurances
578
00:45:03,109 --> 00:45:08,072
that this could really be achieved
and this can really happen.
579
00:45:09,588 --> 00:45:14,144
In Summer 2011, after a brutal
onslaught by the Syrian military,
580
00:45:14,310 --> 00:45:16,811
Ausama traveled to Boston to meet Gene.
581
00:45:17,717 --> 00:45:18,741
- When were you last here?
582
00:45:19,630 --> 00:45:25,150
- I can’t remember exactly. Was it 2007 or 2006?
583
00:45:26,166 --> 00:45:27,823
Yeah, years ago,
584
00:45:28,958 --> 00:45:37,663
when it was only a few people thinking about
nonviolent resistance scenario in Syria,
585
00:45:37,664 --> 00:45:43,487
and only quite a few believed this can
really happen in a country like Syria.
586
00:45:49,094 --> 00:45:50,085
Ok. All set.
587
00:45:54,673 --> 00:45:55,871
- Gene.
- Hello.
588
00:45:55,872 --> 00:45:57,275
- Hi.
- How are you?
589
00:45:57,276 --> 00:46:00,847
- Hi, good to see you again.
Good to see you. Good to see you.
590
00:46:00,887 --> 00:46:03,310
- Good to see you.
- Good to see you too. How are you doing?
591
00:46:03,460 --> 00:46:04,539
- Not too bad.
592
00:46:05,357 --> 00:46:10,213
- I’m happy to see you. It was so good you have
time in your schedule to come to say, “Hello.”
593
00:46:10,214 --> 00:46:11,484
- Well, the pleasure is mine.
594
00:46:11,485 --> 00:46:15,124
I was really delighted, and I can
tell you there’s a lot to talk about.
595
00:46:15,198 --> 00:46:17,856
- This is new territory for us.
596
00:46:17,857 --> 00:46:19,240
- Yeah.
597
00:46:19,261 --> 00:46:25,617
- We’ve never been there personally.
The cases we’ve studied don’t exactly match.
598
00:46:25,824 --> 00:46:31,421
He’s so humble and down to earth to a
limit that you feel how amazing this is,
599
00:46:31,422 --> 00:46:40,200
like all these great writings coming from
a very tiny little office in Old Boston.
600
00:46:40,251 --> 00:46:43,007
It’s rather interesting.
601
00:46:43,134 --> 00:46:50,578
Maybe there’s one thing that’s been “learned” in
quotation mark, may become Tunisia and Egypt
602
00:46:50,896 --> 00:46:53,762
which I think is a mistake, a major mistake.
603
00:46:54,025 --> 00:46:58,271
And that is that the existing ruler has to resign.
604
00:46:59,290 --> 00:47:00,765
He doesn’t have to resign.
605
00:47:01,448 --> 00:47:06,409
You take all the supports from
out from under him, he falls,
606
00:47:08,933 --> 00:47:10,670
no matter what he wants to do.
607
00:47:12,628 --> 00:47:18,910
This is the distinction in the
analyses between nonviolent coercion,
608
00:47:19,362 --> 00:47:23,386
in which he has to resign but he’s forced into it,
609
00:47:23,965 --> 00:47:27,966
and disintegration, when the
regime simply falls apart.
610
00:47:28,403 --> 00:47:31,260
There’s nobody left with enough power to resign.
611
00:47:32,673 --> 00:47:38,713
If Einstein was the genius in physics,
so Gene Sharp is the genius in freedoms,
612
00:47:39,665 --> 00:47:41,258
and how to achieve freedoms.
613
00:47:41,525 --> 00:47:44,279
Lesson 6: Don’t Give Up
614
00:47:46,712 --> 00:47:52,491
I feel good in a way that we’re spreading the word,
and if people follow Gene’s advice
615
00:47:52,492 --> 00:47:55,603
on how to think about waging an unbalanced struggle,
616
00:47:56,413 --> 00:47:57,968
sooner or later they’ll win.
617
00:47:58,793 --> 00:48:04,625
See, the advantage that we have using this form
of struggle, the people against the tyrant.
618
00:48:06,649 --> 00:48:09,518
As long as we don’t surrender, we never lose,
619
00:48:10,622 --> 00:48:11,915
and that’s a key.
620
00:48:12,264 --> 00:48:16,510
As long as you haven’t given up, you haven’t lost.
621
00:48:19,920 --> 00:48:24,014
I think, in the long term,
Gene Sharp will be a household name.
622
00:48:25,133 --> 00:48:28,228
I think his books will be in
every library in the world,
623
00:48:29,191 --> 00:48:33,585
and they will be translated into most languages.
624
00:48:36,273 --> 00:48:40,828
Can we survive until then?
Can this institution survive until then?
625
00:48:40,872 --> 00:48:42,646
Well, we certainly hope so.
626
00:48:46,281 --> 00:48:52,259
Politically significant nonviolent action has
occurred in at least the following countries:
627
00:48:53,981 --> 00:49:00,821
Guatemala, Australia, Thailand,
Burma, China, Japan, …
628
00:49:00,822 --> 00:49:08,501
…Georgia, Iran, Kurdistan, Russia,
629
00:49:09,327 --> 00:49:19,370
Serbia, Ukraine, Venezuela, Vietnam, Zimbabwe,
630
00:49:22,252 --> 00:49:24,530
and there’s bound to be a couple more.
631
00:49:29,109 --> 00:49:34,587
I think there’s the father-daughter
relationship developing there.
632
00:49:35,932 --> 00:49:39,665
They can sit down and talk,
and they’re on the same wavelength.
633
00:49:40,648 --> 00:49:41,846
She protects him,
634
00:49:42,989 --> 00:49:46,989
and I think she loves him as a
daughter who loves a father.
635
00:49:48,828 --> 00:49:52,626
Gene Sharp is someone who is,
of course, my personal mentor,
636
00:49:53,062 --> 00:49:59,633
but I think he has served as that
role for multitudes of people.
637
00:49:59,838 --> 00:50:02,473
He is someone who has dedicated his life
638
00:50:02,839 --> 00:50:09,461
to providing the means by which oppressed
people can self-reliantly gain liberation,
639
00:50:09,850 --> 00:50:15,151
and that is something which I
believe has changed the world
640
00:50:15,152 --> 00:50:17,792
and will continue to do so in dramatic ways,
641
00:50:20,665 --> 00:50:24,077
It’s really personal stuff.
642
00:50:34,560 --> 00:50:37,925
Sometimes people ask me what I really want.
643
00:50:38,980 --> 00:50:40,693
Do I have a dream?
644
00:50:41,638 --> 00:50:42,503
And I do.
645
00:50:43,837 --> 00:50:47,230
I dream that the oppressed people of the world
646
00:50:47,928 --> 00:50:54,291
will be able to learn from the available records
647
00:50:54,981 --> 00:51:01,051
and new experiences that this
type of nonviolent struggle
648
00:51:01,602 --> 00:51:08,720
can be used to liberate all oppression and
replace military and violent conflicts,
649
00:51:09,489 --> 00:51:13,989
so that you won’t have to carry on
struggles against terrorism anymore
650
00:51:14,583 --> 00:51:17,170
because the people who might have become terrorists
651
00:51:17,472 --> 00:51:23,156
have instead chosen to use this kind of
struggle to help out the oppressed people.
652
00:51:23,911 --> 00:51:27,617
This can change the local
systems throughout the world.
653
00:51:30,215 --> 00:51:31,945
My name is Gene Sharp,
654
00:51:32,612 --> 00:51:34,112
and that is my dream.60064
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