Blueprint for Revolution: how to use rice pudding, Lego men, and other non-violent techniques to galvanise communities, overthrow dictators, or simply change the world

by Srdja Popovic

Harvey Milk did what all of us who are passionate enough to get involved with one cause or another do, which is to talk bravely and expect people to listen. If you are reading this book, I assume you care at least a little bit about making a change for the better in the world. At one point or another in your life, you’ve probably tried to petition, organize, march, or do something else to raise people’s awareness of some very important topic or another. Maybe you just tried to convince a friend or a parent that their politics were all wrong. I’m willing to bet you a scoop of Israeli cottage cheese that I know what happened: you spoke passionately about saving the endangered North Atlantic salmon or about buying iPhones for chronically sad Bulgarian orphans, but people just nodded politely. I’m being cynical, of course, but only because I want to be absolutely clear about this very important principle of nonviolent activism: namely, that people, without exception and without fail, just don’t give a damn.