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

Making oppression backfire is a skill, sort of like jujitsu, that’s all about playing your opponents’ strongest card against them. Before you can do that, though, you need to understand exactly how oppression works. It’s important to realize that oppression isn’t some demonic force that bubbles up from some deep, festering well of evil in the blackened hearts of your opponents. Rather, it is almost always a calculated decision. In the hands of authorities everywhere—from dictators to elementary school principals—oppression achieves two immediate results: it punishes disobedience, and it prevents future problems by sending a message to potential troublemakers. Like so much we’ve been talking about, all oppression relies on fear in order to be effective: fear of punishment, fear of getting detention, fear of being sent to a gulag, fear of embarrassment, fear of whatever.