Shy U.S. Intellectual Created Playbook Used in a Revolution

[groovedaddy]

BOSTON — Halfway around the world from Tahrir Square in Cairo, an aging American intellectual shuffles about his cluttered brick row house in a working-class neighborhood here. His name is Gene Sharp. Stoop-shouldered and white-haired at 83, he grows orchids, has yet to master the Internet and hardly seems like a dangerous man.

But for the world’s despots, his ideas can be fatal.

Few Americans have heard of Mr. Sharp. But for decades, his practical writings on nonviolent revolution — most notably “From Dictatorship to Democracy,” a 93-page guide to toppling autocrats, available for download in 24 languages — have inspired dissidents around the world, including in Burma, Bosnia, Estonia and Zimbabwe, and now Tunisia and Egypt.

When Egypt’s April 6 Youth Movement was struggling to recover from a failed effort in 2005, its leaders tossed around “crazy ideas” about bringing down the government, said Ahmed Maher, a leading strategist. They stumbled on Mr. Sharp while examining the Serbian movement Otpor, which he had influenced.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/17/world/middleeast/17sharp.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha22

[tabatha]

1. Very nice. Thanks.

The Egyptian uprising was organized - but by citizens.

[sabrina 1]

2. I just read about him yesterday and how the protesters had

organized based on his ideas. I wondered how they had fought actual battles so strategically. And how they knew to build all those barricades, and dig up the pavement etc. I was thinking how brilliant they were. And they were, but there was a huge amount of planning, using his ideas and others', before the actual revolution took place.

He sounds like a really interesting man and a good one.

[groovedaddy]

4. I think you just did! ;-) n.t

[jwirr]

5. And behind the scenes stand Gandhi and MLK. Let us not forget them.

[FSogol]

3. How long until he gets lumped in with Frances Piven, Sal Alinsky, ad Bill Ayers?

:shrug:

[guruoo]

6. 'Identifying the Achilles' heel'

Identifying the Achilles' heel

A myth from Classical Greece illustrates well the vulnerability of the supposedly invulnerable. Against the warrior Achilles, no blow would injure and no sword would penetrate his skin. When still a baby, Achilles' mother had supposedly dipped him into the waters of the magical river Styx, resulting in the protection of his body from all dangers. There was, however, a problem. Since the baby was held by his heel so that he would not be washed away, the magical water had not covered that small part of his body. When Achilles was a grown man he appeared to all to be invulnerable to the enemies' weapons. However, in the battle against Troy, instructed by one who knew the weakness, an enemy soldier aimed his arrow at Achilles' unprotected heel, the one spot where he could be injured. The strike proved fatal. Still today, the phrase "Achilles' heel" refers to the vulnerable part of a person, a plan, or an institution at which if attacked there is no protection.

The same principle applies to ruthless dictatorships. They, too, can be conquered, but most quickly and with least cost if their weaknesses can be identified and the attack concentrated on them.

-Gene Sharp, From Dictatorship To Democracy

http://www.hermanos.org/nonviolence/dictodem.html

[groovedaddy]

9. More often than not, so much hinges on the military, as we saw in Egypt and we're seeing it in the

other Arabic nations with burgeoning mass movements. In Egypt, ultimately the military sided with the people. The size of mass turnouts is also critical, as was the case in Egypt the day after Mubarak's lame speech. The police are also a factor, but failed to turn events in Eqypt. Apparently, the militaries in Libya, Bahrain and Yemen, are willing to openly fire on protestors.
Violence is still a potent factor in quelling such movements.

[provis99]

7. why is he not on CNN, rather than Sarah Palin all the time?

[KurtNYC]

8. kick