How to Start a Revolution Page #5

and need to be in constant contact with them

so instead of holding a meeting every fortnight

you can, through a secret group on Facebook,

via conference on yahoo, Skype or Abouttalk

via any program, constantly communicate.

All those helped so much in spreading ideas.

As Muslims and Christians guarded

each other while they prayed,

the leaders of the revolution were persuading

the army to support the protesters.

I believe the army eventually helped us

because the army is of the people.

The army conscripts come from the people,

and the army has a big patriotic role.

The police may have fixed

elections, protected the corrupt,

they've been involved for many years

and were protecting their interests and existence.

I was returning to Tahrir Square,

just entering the square through

the permanent search gate.

There was a cafe which had the TV on very loud.

In the name of God the Merciful.

Citizens,

in these difficult circumstances

that the country is going through

President Mohamed Hosni Mubarak has decided

to step down as President of the Republic.

It took him a while to step down.

I just went crazy when I heard the speech.

I started crying, thinking that at last

the dream we've had for years

and endured so much for

has come true.

It was a really tough moment.

I then ran screaming into the square.

Everyone was just crying, screaming,

laughing, dancing, singing...

It was a historic moment.

I just couldn't believe it.

For a few days I wondered if it was possible.

But somebody knew what they were doing,

and we dont need anyone claiming

credit for us or me or anyone,

if its not deserved and if its not documented.

Syria, 2011

Massacre in Juma, 15 so far killed.

Ausama Monajed is a communications expert and

one of the leaders of the Syrian Uprising.

This is a video of a kid thatd been shot at.

One boy was shouting: My brother, my brother!

He co-ordinates a network of secret

cameras all over the country.

Its just a basic HD camera

linked to a satellite modem,

and we upload it on streaming websites

where we can get the live feed,

and we managed to get this Al Jazeera today.

Gene Sharps tactics and theories are being

practiced on the streets of Syria as we speak now.

What we did is promote these tactics and explain them

to people through the Facebook pages that we have

and also the YouTube channels.

This is how theyre applied,

from putting flowers on the spots

where fallen heroes fell and frustrations

from the campaign while you marched,

from cleaning streets and

making it nicer and better

because we can do something even better than the

regime can do in terms of services, so yeah.

From Dictatorship To Democracy gives

you the inspiration, the assurances

that this could really be achieved

and this can really happen.

In Summer 2011, after a brutal

onslaught by the Syrian military,

Ausama traveled to Boston to meet Gene.

- When were you last here?

- I cant remember exactly. Was it 2007 or 2006?

Yeah, years ago,

when it was only a few people thinking about

nonviolent resistance scenario in Syria,

and only quite a few believed this can

really happen in a country like Syria.

Ok. All set.

- Gene.

- Hello.

- Hi.

- How are you?

- Hi, good to see you again.

Good to see you. Good to see you.

- Good to see you.

- Good to see you too. How are you doing?

- Not too bad.

- Im happy to see you. It was so good you have

time in your schedule to come to say, Hello.

- Well, the pleasure is mine.

I was really delighted, and I can

tell you theres a lot to talk about.

- This is new territory for us.

- Yeah.

- Weve never been there personally.

The cases weve studied dont exactly match.

Hes so humble and down to earth to a

limit that you feel how amazing this is,

like all these great writings coming from

a very tiny little office in Old Boston.

Its rather interesting.

Maybe theres one thing thats been learned in

quotation mark, may become Tunisia and Egypt

which I think is a mistake, a major mistake.

And that is that the existing ruler has to resign.

He doesnt have to resign.

You take all the supports from

out from under him, he falls,

no matter what he wants to do.

This is the distinction in the

analyses between nonviolent coercion,

in which he has to resign but hes forced into it,

and disintegration, when the

regime simply falls apart.

Theres nobody left with enough power to resign.

If Einstein was the genius in physics,

so Gene Sharp is the genius in freedoms,

and how to achieve freedoms.

Lesson 6:
Dont Give Up

I feel good in a way that were spreading the word,

and if people follow Genes advice

on how to think about waging an unbalanced struggle,

sooner or later theyll win.

See, the advantage that we have using this form

of struggle, the people against the tyrant.

As long as we dont surrender, we never lose,

and thats a key.

As long as you havent given up, you havent lost.

I think, in the long term,

Gene Sharp will be a household name.

I think his books will be in

every library in the world,

and they will be translated into most languages.

Can we survive until then?

Can this institution survive until then?

Well, we certainly hope so.

Politically significant nonviolent action has

occurred in at least the following countries:

Guatemala, Australia, Thailand,

Burma, China, Japan,

Georgia, Iran, Kurdistan, Russia,

Serbia, Ukraine, Venezuela, Vietnam, Zimbabwe,

and theres bound to be a couple more.

I think theres the father-daughter

relationship developing there.

They can sit down and talk,

and theyre on the same wavelength.

She protects him,

and I think she loves him as a

daughter who loves a father.

Gene Sharp is someone who is,

of course, my personal mentor,

but I think he has served as that

role for multitudes of people.

He is someone who has dedicated his life

to providing the means by which oppressed

people can self-reliantly gain liberation,

and that is something which I

believe has changed the world

and will continue to do so in dramatic ways,

Its really personal stuff.

Sometimes people ask me what I really want.

Do I have a dream?

And I do.

I dream that the oppressed people of the world

will be able to learn from the available records

and new experiences that this

type of nonviolent struggle

can be used to liberate all oppression and

replace military and violent conflicts,

so that you wont have to carry on

struggles against terrorism anymore

because the people who might have become terrorists

have instead chosen to use this kind of

struggle to help out the oppressed people.

This can change the local

systems throughout the world.

My name is Gene Sharp,

and that is my dream.

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