Healthy Sociopolitical Engagement: How people respond (successfully) to political oppression

8 videos + 13 ingredients = 2 hours of fun and education for the whole family/tribe/team

Hopefully most people are aware of the important protests in France that have occurred this week in response to the French government’s call for mandatory vaccinations and digital/compulsory passes and tracking systems.

“Sky News host Cory Bernardi says French President Emmanuel Macron announcing compulsory COVID-19 vaccinations is the first step in an authoritarian wave set to sweep the world. I say that because there is no way a nation like France would make such moves without the approval of others in the European Union, Mr Bernardi said. And the Eurocrats who actually run the whole show, they will make sure these reforms are adopted in other European countries and then it is only a matter of time before it leeches out and reaches our shores. In a televised address, Macron announced that COVID-19 vaccinations would be compulsory for anyone that wants to work in or patronise a bar, restaurant or café. If you want to travel on a plane, train or bus you'll need to be jabbed. Everyone over the age of 12 will need to have been vaccinated - or display a recent negative test - to access a public show, concert, festival or amusement park.” From youtube.com/watch?v=3GSxLvO9ROU

What are the ingredients for successful sociopolitical change? Why would some populations be more likely to succeed?

When I see events in Paris (France), I can’t help but compare with what I would reasonably expect in my hometown of Houston (Texas, USA) and why these two cities would have very different political outcomes based on personality, geography/architecture, and demographics; both cities have populations of >2million with greater urban area populations totaling 7M for Houston and 10M for Paris. Obviously, Houston is not a national capitol as is Paris, thus, the comparison is not exactly fair; however, substituting other cities where I have lived such as Portland, Seattle, Austin, and Dallas-FortWorth would not change this evaluation. New York City would be a better comparator with a population of 8M and population density of ~10,000 per km2, both of which are similar to Paris.

Voting vs Petitioning vs Protests vs Revolution: I am sure everyone has heard the adage, “If voting changed anything, they would make it illegal.” Petitions are usually ignored, as are peaceful protests.

Here are a few of the variables that I think about when looking at groups in need of political change. Some of these have a few words detail while others are simply listed with empty space that invites your imagination.

1. Population density (architecture, city planning) near the political capitol:

2. National pride/vision, clarity in the mission and goals to be achieved: Any revolution will need thousands/millions of people working together for the same goal; they must have a unifying theme. Otherwise all they will have are small(er) groups fighting for personal/group advantage, and they will end up either getting defeated as a group or fighting among each other.

3. Leaders (who can articulate)

4. Followers (who can listen): Note the lack of organization depicted in Orwell’s Homage to Catalonia.

5. A relatively recent history of successful popular revolution:

6. People who know their history, have examples of sociopolitical successful change:

7. Modicum of inclusiveness, lack of excess factionalization/division within the population: In other words, if people have already been divided and conquered before the protest begins, then they are not going to win any revolution.

8. Work ethic: People have to be willing to fight for and work for what they want, to make sacrifices.

9. Maintenance, planning, discipline of the organization per Greg Satell’s presentation

10. Skills—technical and social: per Tamara Richardson’s presentation

11. Networking, correspondence, documentation: per Tamara Richardson’s presentation

12. Perceived likeliness of success

13. Maintenance, feeding, sheltering, and entertaining/comforting the people engaged (per DrV’s presentation on leadership and Tamara Richardson’s presentation): People won’t volunteer very long nor fight very hard if they are cold, wet, hungry, miserable, bored, depressed, and alone. Good leadership includes taking responsibility for the welfare of the troops/participants.

And finally, this wonderful/deeper explanation from sociologist Nick Lee:

Dr Alex Kennerly Vasquez (introduction; brief Bio-CV) writes and teaches for an international audience on various topics ranging from leadership to nutrition to functional inflammology. Major books include Inflammation Mastery, 4th Edition (full-color printing, 1182 pages, equivalent to 25 typical books [averaging 60,000 words each]), which was also published in two separate volumes as Textbook of Clinical Nutrition and Functional Medicine (Volume 1: Chapters 1-4; Volume 2: Chapter 5—Clinical Protocols for Diabetes, Hypertension, Migraine, Fibromyalgia, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Psoriasis, Vasculitis, Dermatomyositis and most other major inflammatory/autoimmune disorders); several sections have been excerpted including Antiviral Strategies and Immune Nutrition (ISBN 1502894890) (aka, Antiviral Nutrition [available as PDF download] and Brain Inflammation in Chronic Pain, Migraine, and Fibromyalgia. Dr Vasquez’s books are available internationally via bookstores such as BookDepository, Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, ThriftBooks, AbeBooks, BetterWorldBooks, WaterStonesBooks and his new Telegram channel is https://t.me/DrAlexVasquez.

Sources

1. Leadership Knowledge Protects Society: healthythinking.substack.com/p/leadership-knowledge-protects-society

2. Democratic Breakthroughs: The Ingredients of Successful Revolts Friday, July 27, 2012 https://www.usip.org/publications/2012/07/democratic-breakthroughs-ingredients-successful-revolts

3. Ingredients for a Revolution. April 27, 2010 https://www.christianunityministries.org/2010/04/27/ingredients-for-a-revolution/

4. Revolutions 101 | National Geographic Mar 23, 2018 youtube.com/watch?v=856kcVieUgU

5. Why do some movements succeed, while others fail? | Greg Satell | TEDxMorristown Jun 9, 2017 youtube.com/watch?v=IOt1dLVyHjQ

6. How to Start a Social Movement | Tamara Richardson | TEDxUQ Sep 26, 2017 youtube.com/watch?v=BVYbxOAy4kQ

7. Why People Revolt - An Overview of Theories of Revolution. Dec 21, 2018 youtube.com/watch?v=q5uvVsEiteE