During the inauguration of the 45th President of the United States, Donald Trump, protesters took to the streets of Washington, with 217 of them being detained. They came out with placards, but eventually started overturning trash cans, smashing windows, and setting cars on fire. Many of them were dressed in black and acted somewhat organized. Regardless of how we feel about Trump and his policies, we are frightened by explosions and fires, people in masks, and the wail of police sirens. We rely on the reliability of the police. However, there is another side to this phenomenon.
Since the time of Spartacus, uprisings against authority have regularly occurred on this planet. The goal is always the same - freedom. The motives are always different. For example, economic - tax increases that preceded the uprising by Stenpaan Razin (although there are doubts); political, like the Romanian Revolution - the communist regime was replaced by pro-Western democracy; ethnic and national, like in Nagorno-Karabakh or Kosovo; and there are purely power-driven, like the October Revolution - the revolution was necessary for the Bolshevik party, and they carried it out.
In the succinct expression of Latynina, “there are far more revolutions in the world than democracies.” Indeed, most uprisings do not lead to an improvement in the lives of those for whom they rise. Although new people come to power, the orders remain absolutely or almost the same. The recent Ukrainian revolutions on the Maidan, such as the Orange Revolution and the Revolution of Dignity, are a vivid illustration of this.
The blame does not lie with the rebels, revolutionaries, and terrorists with armor and Molotov cocktails in their hands. Not even with the Robespierres who lead and inspire them. The blame lies with us, the majority, who cannot bring about change simply by changing the flag and declaring freedom. Remember how Lancelot tried to kill the dragon in a well-known film by Mark Zakharov, but it kept being reborn because that’s what the “best people of the city” demanded.
Therefore, revolutions, uprisings, riots, burning tires, snipers on rooftops, drunken students on piles of rebar, broken windows, and burned buses - all of this is meaningless and won’t change anything anyway? Apparently, smart people should respect authority, stay at home, watch TV series, not go to the Maidan with pots on their heads, and express their political demands democratically, dropping a ballot in the voting box every few years?
Yes, possibly. However, think about what the world would be like without Pugachev, Danton, Muravyov, Bakunin, Nechayev, Trotsky, Castro, Dudayev, Saakashvili, and many others who stood up against the authorities, risking their lives above all. Some were defeated by the authorities, some were eradicated, some managed to win and in turn become the authority to fight new revolutionaries and revolutions. Individual practical achievements of each uprising are not important, although there are many of them, and without them, we would not have pensions, days off, paid vacations, freedom of speech, human rights, equality, or justice. Something else is important.
What is important is that the spirit of disobedience to authority and readiness for uprising should constantly be present in society. As Jean Jaurès said, “a revolution is only possible where there is conscience.” It is these semi-drunk young people in balaclavas breaking the windows of our favorite restaurants and drawing graffiti on the walls of our homes who embody our conscience. Without them, we would be slaves.
Victor Hugo believed that “revolution is a return from the false to the true,” apparently understanding “true” as our ability and desire to be free.
Do not rush to condemn the rebels for broken windows and overturned trash cans. Perhaps, in a few hundred years, your great-grandchildren will be grateful to them for their freedom.
Translated by ChatGPT gpt-3.5-turbo/42 on 2024-04-20 at 17:48
