Just as important as non-violent discipline, unity, and planning, knowing when to finish what you started–neither too soon, nor too late–and declare victory is key to a movement’s success.
| This post is part of a reading series on Blueprint for Revolution, by Srdja Popovic. To quickly access all chapters, open the book title tab on the Authors & Books page. Disclaimer: This chapter summary is personal work and an invitation to read the book itself for a detailed view of all the authors’ ideas. |
It is important to know what you are heading for. President Kennedy did not just promise to send astronauts to the moon, but also to bring them back to Earth. By contrast, for lack of anticipating that the best organized groups in Egyptian society, the army and the Muslim Brotherhood, were the ones positioned to seize power after Mubarak’s downfall, “the young nonviolent activists who were so successful at mobilizing people in the streets of Cairo and bringing real unity to the citizens of Egypt set themselves up for major disappointments. . . .That’s why it’s important for nonviolent activists to finish what they start. The glamorous achievement of toppling a dictatorship only counts as a victory if the not-so-glamorous task of putting a democracy in its place has been accomplished.”
Aside from celebrating too early and leaving an open field for malevolent actors, waiting too long can also be dangerous. In 1989, instead of accepting the Chinese government’s concessions, the students believed that the unimaginable success of their mass protest had enabled them to demand that true democracy replace CCP rule. “Because the Tiananmen Square activists refused to accept the minor yet meaningful victories they’d already been handed by the party, the government panicked at the thought of further unrest and crushed the uprising. As a result, social movements in China were set back nearly two decades.”