How to Start a Revolution Page #4

You can see how well funded we are

In a way, I was impressed that we were on the radar,

that they had Gene Sharp sitting at the

White House, and in a way, I thought

I wish those in the White House would listen to us,

I wish they would request a meeting with us,

but they dont.

We sit here.

We operate out of our Tourem office.

We have no connection with the White House.

It just didnt happen.

We dont do that.

We are absolutely not a CIA front organization,

and its really ironic because

we see this charge in the press

and among various groups quite often,

and we always wonder, where is this coming from?

After the Iranian elections in 2009,

opposition groups declared the result was a fix.

Iran, 2009

There are thousands upon thousands of people

streaming down through the main boulevard,

all heading in the same direction.

Its quite something.

Theyre waving green flags.

People are hanging out of cars

giving the V for victory sign.

I was not sure people would

turn up given the warning,

and Im wrong.

Thousands of protesters exploded

onto the streets of Tehran.

The government response was brutal.

During the uprising, a young Iranian student, Neda

Agha-Soltan, was shot by a government sniper.

Her image would become a

rallying call for the opposition.

Lesson 5:
Political Ju-Jitsu

When people are slaughtered,

when they are beaten,

this produces a process

I call Political Ju -Jitsu,

in which the opponents supposed strength

is used to undermine the opponent

by alienating more people

from supporting that regime,

mobilizing more people into the act of resistance.

Its a kind of backlash effect.

If the regime is so brutal, and instead of

intimidating people which the regime intends,

it causes other population groups and institutions

to withdraw their cooperation and their obedience

and that loss of power and control that

more people are joining the resistance.

Iason Athanasiadis was arrested by Iranian

Intelligence while reporting the Green uprising.

When I went to see the Chief Prosecutor

on the second day that I was in prison,

he looked at me when I took off my

blindfold, sitting in his office,

and he said:
Do you know why youre here?

And I said:
No, I mean, Ive no idea.

Ive just been arrested two nights ago,

and he said:
Well, theres a very

serious accusation against you.

And I said:
What is that?

And he said:
Are you sure you dont know?"

"Espionage."

The interrogator kind of patted his laptop and said:

You know, this laptop contains

a Persian language translation

of Gene Sharps "From Dictatorship To Democracy"

which is a handbook for insurrectionists,

and it gives them several dozen easy ways by which,

if they only follow these ways,

they can overthrow a government

a legitimate government, any kind of government.

And I have read this book,

and so have my colleagues."

When the organizers of the uprising were arrested,

they were charged with using over

100 of Gene Sharps 198 methods.

What this work does is show people that they

themselves can be responsible for their own future,

for their own liberation.

People are beginning to liberate themselves,

They dont have to depend on an outside power.

This is Srdja, my cat,

named after Srdja Popovic.

But they dont have to depend on an outside power.

They can do it themselves.

And can you imagine how good

that makes a country feel?

That we did it ourselves.

And thats why its so important that

we transfer this skill and knowledge.

Theres no reason for the United

States to be occupying anybody.

Were not good at occupying anybody.

Neither was the Soviet Union

good at occupying people.

Let the people alone.

Give them the power to change their

government if they want it changed.

To be counted as a threat to a tyrant

is a matter of pride, I would say.

It means were effective.

It means were relevant.

It means, out of this very small office,

we produce work that threatens regimes,

and I think thats pretty cool.

Yeah.

Tahrir Square, Cairo, 2011

This was the beginning of the Egyptian Revolution.

The uprising was spontaneous, but Egyptian democracy

groups had been working on the strategy for years.

Egyptian democracy group Kefaya first

visited Gene in Boston in 2006.

Five years later, former Serbian revolutionaries

were training new groups on the outskirts of Cairo.

Egypts Muslim brotherhood posted

Gene's work in Arabic on their website.

When the moment came, these groups

were ready to guide the revolution.

Well, lets go live to Tahrir Liberation Square.

We can speak to a freelance journalist

who joins us on the line now,

Ruaridh, we were hearing about those heightened

security measures today around Tahrir Square.

Is there a different atmosphere here compared

with say yesterday and the day before?

Ah, yes. Its an incredible atmosphere today.

That cross section of Egyptian society that left

Tahrir Square yesterday is back in force now.

Theyve managed to re-energize the protesters.

Theres very young children, women, older men here.

People are singing and dancing.

There are many instruments in the square,

and its more full here than it has been in days.

Ahmed Maher was a leader of Egypts

April 6th democracy group.

We waited for an incident,

the spark,

that would move all the people.

There were many reasons to act,

but we were waiting for the spark.

And that was Tunisia.

Tunisia, 2011

In fact it was...

There has always been rivalry in soccer

between Egypt and Tunisia.

So maybe we started before Tunisia

but Tunisia beat us and started

the revolution, so why not us?

People saw on the web "The answer is Tunisia".

Leave! Leave!

Of course there was a strong influence

from Gene Sharp's writings articles and books.

We got them from the internet, read them

and we learned quickly

and understood the essence of non-violence.

We also saw many documentaries on the internet

about the experiences of

people applying non-violence.

The idea itself was very inspiring

whether it came from the documentaries or the books.

As the peaceful protest grew in Tahrir Square,

President Hosni Mubarak intimidated

them with weapons of war.

Our experience may be slightly different to Otpor.

Before the revolution, they won the

army and police over to their side.

It was different with us.

We had a very big battle with the police

and the army was always neutral

but eventually intervened on our side.

The experience is different to an extent

between us and Otpor in Serbia.

Even after violent clashes with police, the

revolutionary leaders restored nonviolent discipline

in the face of overwhelming force.

The protesters faced brutal attacks

from police and security forces,

but they held their ground.

Of course, technology played a big role

in faster communication,

in delivering the message to the

people and mobilizing them.

Also, technology played a role

in the internal organization.

You have groups in various governments

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