brainworm reviewed Blueprint for revolution by Srdja Popovic
Readable, relatable and actionable
4 stars
I started this while travelling and finished it in a couple days.
It's about Otpor! - the nonviolent and creative movement that helped topple the dictatorship of Milosevic in Serbia in the early 2000s (and NATO bombing Belgrade...)
But it's also about many other movements and actions across the world in the 20th century, with many events and interesting tactics I'd never heard of. Popovic makes analysis across these movements and gives ~10 broad advices.
The writing does at times get a bit annoying: he makes it sound like Otpor! and the Serbs figured everything out and he seems to like throwing leftists under the bus.
Nevertheless I think he makes a very good case for nonviolence and offers pragmatic advice: find points, however small, which 99% percent of population support (or aren't against), creatively campaign to win those & use the momentum and credibility from that to go on …
I started this while travelling and finished it in a couple days.
It's about Otpor! - the nonviolent and creative movement that helped topple the dictatorship of Milosevic in Serbia in the early 2000s (and NATO bombing Belgrade...)
But it's also about many other movements and actions across the world in the 20th century, with many events and interesting tactics I'd never heard of. Popovic makes analysis across these movements and gives ~10 broad advices.
The writing does at times get a bit annoying: he makes it sound like Otpor! and the Serbs figured everything out and he seems to like throwing leftists under the bus.
Nevertheless I think he makes a very good case for nonviolence and offers pragmatic advice: find points, however small, which 99% percent of population support (or aren't against), creatively campaign to win those & use the momentum and credibility from that to go on to the next, bigger thing.