The good old (and definitely wise) Terry Pratchett told (in one of his Discworld novels), "But here's some advice, boy. Don't put your trust in revolutions. They always come around again. That's why they're called revolutions.".
A few days back, I was discussing with a friend the state of affairs in China and how (as per him) the Chinese people are fed up with the current form of communism there. He has a great faith that the people will rise and will change the regime. I could not comprehend that. How can the mighty communist party of China fall? We discussed the revolutions in South Africa, India, and the current (ongoing) one in Burma. We also discussed the Arab spring. people rise up. There are violent or non-violent protests. People die. In some rare circumstances, regimes change. We have seen this in Egypt and Ukraine. However, in both these places, only the heads of the state changed. Nothing else changed.
Bigger changes happened in history when the UK gave up its colonies. Besides all other factors, it was, by a large margin, due to the change of popular opinion in the UK. PM Attlee coming to power after WW II was, in a big way, responsible for India getting independence. And Attlee came to power because of the change in the perception of the common British people. Something similar happened in the Vietnam war. The common Americans wanted the war to end. They were disgusted by the amount of death and cruelty happening in the war.
So, be it through violence or non-violence, change in the perception of the oppressor is needed for the success of a revolution.
But what does one do when the oppressor is one's own, like in China or Burma? (PS: It can be noted that I am not trying to put China and Burma in the same box. They, rather, show two extremes. On one hand, we have a fairly small country's military and on the other hand, we have this juggernaut that does what it likes!)
I think, especially in these cases, there is a greater need for nonviolent protest. How long can the common soldiers follow the orders of the Tatmadaw bosses? How long can he keep killing his own friends? At one point, I am sure, the common soldier will reject the high commands.
What happens after this? Unless society is ready and rich to produce leaders with empathy and compassion, not much will change in the long run. How do we change the world? How do we change our society? Charity does begin at home. We have to start with ourselves. To start, we have to understand ourselves. To understand (as if in a lab) we need to be mindful. In Krishnamurti's words..."To transform the world, we must begin with ourselves; and what is important in beginning with ourselves is the intention. The intention must be to understand ourselves and not to leave it to others to transform themselves or to bring about a modified change through revolution, either of the left or of the right. It is important to understand that this is our responsibility, yours and mine..."
