Successful Revolutions Require Organization

Massive rallies and marches fail to result in change, unless they are supported by organizations. It takes political parties to win elections, military forces to stage a coup, pressure from organized religions, and labor unions to change corporations and institutions of learning.

     Individuals with ideas for reform can write books, but organizations need to put these ideas into operational form. When would-be reformers approach Nancy Pelosi, the former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, for her endorsement, she asks if they can muster a group of at least one thousand. Crowdfunding on social media suggests one way to gain support for causes.

     Where are groups already assembled? On college campuses, war and South Africa's apartheid protesters gained traction. Members of Jewish temples, Muslim mosques, African-American and other Christian churches share common causes.

     In Prague, dissidents hung out at the Art Deco cafe, Kavarna Slavia, to plot the Velvet Revolution that ended communism in Czechoslovakia. The Cafe Gallery and Bassiani night clubs in Tbilisi, Georgia, now attract young people ready to break out of post-Soviet police and interior ministry restraints and to embrace liberalized Western culture. The clubs serve as a gathering space, not only for locals, but also for tourists, rappers, and DJs with European followings. Young Russians received social media news of a club protest that led demonstrators to the steps of Georgia's parliament.

Colombia Concludes Peace Deal with FARC

Colombia and FARC revolutionaries signed a peace accord to end 50 years of fighting on September 26, 2016, but, despite Colombia's President Santos winning the Nobel Prize for Peace shortly after a referendum, voters in Colombia decided on October 2 to reject the terms of the accord by a slim margin.  These terms stipulated:

• The Colombian government would grant FARC guerrillas amnesty from their crimes. A major sticking point. Guerrillas would also be guaranteed a minimum wage and seed money to build new communities. They would help the government destroy landmines and the coca crops that once funded their operations.
• FARC would take part in a truth commission similar to the one South Africa formed after apartheid.
• FARC would surrender its guns.
• FARC would become a political party.

Negotiators spent four years forging this plan and, after the referendum, they went back to Havana to try again. A new deal was reached, and, on November 30, 2016, by bypassing voters, President Santos won approval for the revised peace accord from the Colombian Congress. Rebels will not face prison for the war crimes they confess. They will disarm under UN supervision and disperse. Former FARC rebels will be allowed to run for Congressional seats, but not to represent new districts created in former areas of conflict.