Srdja Popovic - Blueprint for Revolution: How to Use Rice Pudding, Lego Men, and Other Nonviolent Techniques to Galvanize Communities, Overthrow Dictators, or Simply Change the World

A Spiegel & Grau Trade Paperback Original

Copyright 2015 by Matthew Miller and Srdja Popovic

All rights reserved.

Published in the United States by Spiegel & Grau, an imprint of Random House, a division of Random House LLC, a Penguin Random House Company, New York.

S PIEGEL & G RAU and the H OUSE colophon are registered trademarks of Random House LLC.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Popovic, Srdja
Blueprint for revolution : how to use rice pudding, Lego men, and other nonviolent techniques to galvanize communities, overthrow dictators, or simply change the world / Srdja Popovic; with Matthew Miller.
pages cm
ISBN 978-0-8129-9530-5 (paperback)
ISBN 978-0-8129-9531-2 (eBook)
1. Nonviolence. 2. Civil disobedience. 3. Revolutions Philosophy. 4. Protest movementsPhilosophy. 5. PacifismPolitical aspects. I. Miller, Matthew. II. Title.
HM1281.P67 2014
303.61dc 23 2014005583

www.spiegelandgrau.com

Cover design: Thomas Ng
Cover photograph/art: pixelbully/Alamy

v3.1

This is a book about revolutions.

Not the violent kind: those usually end up soaked in the blood of innocent people. And not the type carried forth by a small group of zealots: if you wonder how those work out, curl up with a good biography of Lenin. Instead, this is a book about the kind of movements that are now sweeping through so much of the world, from Cairos Tahrir Square to Occupy Wall Street. Its a book about the revolutions launched by ordinary people who believe that if they get together and think creatively, they can topple dictators and correct injustices.

I had the good fortune of being one of those ordinary revolutionaries, and I traveled on a strange personal journey from a too-cool-to-care Belgrade bass guitarist to one of the leaders of Otpor!, the nonviolent movement that toppled the Serbian dictator Slobodan Miloevi. After a brief stint as a member of the Serbian parliament, I now work as a friend and consultant to any movement, large or small, anywhere in the world, that wishes to apply the principles of nonviolent action to oppose oppression and bring about liberty, democracy, and joy. But dont worry: this book isnt about me. Instead, its about all the things Ive learned while working with activists from Syria to Kiev, about the big ideas and the small tactics that make what I like to call people power such a mighty force. Because Im no great intellectual, Ive chosen to convey most of this information not with dry facts or dense theories but by simply telling stories of remarkable individuals and movements, the challenges they faced, and the lessons they learned.

The book can be thought of as having two parts, and in the first section youll find plenty of examples that demonstrate what nonviolent activism looks like in the world today as well as the key features that define successful movements for social change. In the second part, I go over some practical tips on how one can actually put these nonviolent techniques to good use. I hope that youll be able to relate to these stories and examples and that they will inspire you to make a difference of your own. Because of the nature of these storiesin some cases, the anecdotes I share pertain to people who still have much to lose should their exact role in their respective movements be knownI took the necessary precautions and changed some names and other personally identifying pieces of information. I also took the occasional liberty of simplifying complex stories by paring them down to their essentials, with apologies to scholars and pedants.

The ideas and the stories in this book are meant to be not only understood but also felt. Like a great rock album, theyre meant to get you on your feet and moving. And theyre meant to convince you that even though the suits, the bullies, and the brutesthe whole cadre of grim men who usually run thingsmay look invincible, often all it takes to topple them is a bit of good fun.

Unless otherwise credited, all illustrations come from the authors collection.

A clenched fist, the symbol of Otpor!, on a wall in Belgrade, Serbia, during the autumn of 1998.

The logo of former Venezuelan president Hugo Chavezs TV show, Al Presidente.

An Egyptian woman displaying the logo of the April 6th movement. (Mohamed Abd El Ghany, Reuters)

The people of Libya are united.

Tel Aviv Pride: A family day in Israel, 2011. (Nina Jean Grant)

Using rice pudding to kickstart a revolution. Lonuziyaaraiy Kolhu, Maldives. (Munshid Mohamed)

A child in Moscow, May 2012. (Julia Ioffe)

The pillars of Yemens power, 2011. (Khaled Abdullah Ali Al Mahdi, Reuters)

The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., after delivering his I Have a Dream speech in Washington, D.C., August 28, 1963.

A Dime for Change: a dilemma action organized by Otpor!, Serbia, 2000. (Milos Cvetkovic)

Syrian activists painting Ping-Pong balls with anti-Assad messages. (Riahi Brothers, Arman and Arsh T. Riahi)

)

Anti-Putin toy protest in Barnaul, Siberia. Russia, February 2012. (Andrei Kasprishin, Reuters)

Anti-Mubarak desktop wallpaper.

Pussy Riot performing in Moscow. (Denis Bochkarev)

A Ukrainian woman places a carnation into the shields of riot policemen during Ukraines Orange Revolution of 2003. (Vasily Fedosenko, Reuters)

Otpor! activists raising their clenched fists in Belgrade during the spring of 2000. (Petar Kujundzic, Reuters)

GOTOV JEHe Is Finishedone of a million such stickers produced by Otpor! throughout August and September 2000.

Occupy Sesame Street performance during Occupy Wall Street, New York, autumn 2011. (Riahi Brothers, Arman and Arsh T. Riahi)

Hundreds of thousands of protesters were preparing for the nonviolent takeover of the Serbian Parliament Building in Belgrade on October 5, 2000. (Igor Jeremic)

2000This is the Year: Otpor!s campaign following the groups Orthodox New Year Concert in January 2000.

Celebrating OPTORs victory in the October 5 revolution, Slavija Square, Belgrade. (Igor Jeremic)

Nelson Mandelas cell in Robben Island Prison in South Africa. (Paul A. Mannix)

Nonviolence sculpture by Carl Frederick Reuterswrd. (MHM55)

A Muslim holding the Koran and a Coptic Christian holding a cross in Tahrir Square. Cairo, February 6, 2011. (Dylan Martinez)

We Are Watching You: Otpor!s billboard campaign holding the newly elected post-Miloevi government accountable to Serbias vision of tomorrow following the October 5 revolution. Serbia, 2000.

Female Otpor! activists in the front ranks of a protest march, November 11, 1999. (Igor Jeremic)

If Not Us, Who? Occupy Wall Street activists facing police near Zuccotti Park in Lower Manhattan during the fall of 2011. (Riahi Brothers, Arman and Arsh T. Riahi)

Peter Gabriel performing Biko and saluting the crowd with clenched fist during his concert at Kombank Arena in Belgrade on the anniversary of the October 5 revolution that toppled Miloevi. Belgrade, October 5, 2013. (Tony Levin)

()