I’ve always said that any talk of a “revolution” makes me extremely angry, whether it’s when Sen. Bernie Sanders and his supporters talk about it or, more recently, when Rep. Jamaal Bowman talks about it.
Of course, I feel the same way when the right wing talks about it.
Why? The 4th of July is the perfect day to discuss it.
On a day when we celebrate our country’s own war of independence, it’s easy to romanticize revolution. But liberation from colonial rulers is clearly different from ideological revolutions. The former are essentially wars of independence against an outside power. What about the latter? There is nothing romantic about them.
Ideological revolutions are essentially civil wars. They pit family and friends against each other. They are bloody, chaotic and cruel, and the scars they leave behind last for generations. Ideology is easily distorted, and ideologically based revolutions rarely produce the results one hopes for. In Egypt, The 2011 Revolution The brutal regime of President Hosni Mubarak, lack of freedom of speech, severe political repression, and other economic concerns fueled this movement. The result? The Muslim Brotherhood was then elected by popular vote and further repressed. Arab Spring It was no victory for freedom or democracy.
Ukraine’s Orange Revolution of 2004 and 2005 toppled a Moscow-installed dictator and ushered in a new era of seemingly successful democracy, but it sowed the seeds for Russia’s invasion of Crimea and Donbas (in eastern Ukraine) nearly a decade later, and a full-scale invasion in 2022 that continues to this day, leaving tens of thousands of Ukrainians dead.
What else is there? Houthi Islamists take power Most of Yemen; and Sudan’s 2018-2019 Revolution I dethroned the tyrant, but… in the end… Ongoing civil war Tens of thousands of lives have been lost and millions have been displaced.
Of course, many of you may be thinking, “American politicians and activists that “That’s kind of a revolution, dammit.” Of course it’s not a revolution. But revolutions are not democracy. Revolutions are about getting what you want based on other mechanisms.
In fact, it is why the right has worked so hard to subvert our democracy, and there is nothing more undemocratic right now than our illegitimate Supreme Court.
“We are in the process of a second American revolution, and it could be a bloodless revolution if the left allows it,” said Kevin Roberts, president of the influential Heritage Foundation.
This is the heart of the “revolution”: the belief that democracy has broken down and that extraordinary measures are necessary. These motherfuckers understand that Republicans don’t have the public support to implement their agenda, so they’re going to use the Supreme Court to dismantle our political and electoral systems. They can avoid bloodshed because they control some of the key institutions. And now, court-sanctioned lawlessness gives second-term President Trump the freedom to do just about anything he wants.
Do Sanders and Bowman want a revolution against that? Good luck. Democracy is the only thing that protects us from tyranny. Any attempt to undermine democracy, even in words, is in the interest of right-wing fascists.
For me it’s personal too.
I lived in El Salvador in 1979. Revolution/Civil Warthe war An estimated 75,000 people died And thousands of people fled… including me and my family. When I read about refugees and people fleeing war zones, That was me.
And I, relatively speaking, didn’t have too much trouble. My family was able to land safely in Chicago, where I was born. My parents had legal status, so we were able to cross the border legally. They had friends and networks that could help them get started again. I hadn’t lost any relatives in the war. So, no big deal, right?
But at the age of nine, I was taken away from my friends, grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. I left the warmth and comfort of my school and found myself in an uncomfortable environment where I was severely bullied for my accent, lack of English skills, strange clothing and inability to understand the local culture.
In fact, it was only recently that I began to heal, with the help of psychedelics, the alienation and trauma I felt from being removed from a safe, loving space. I always thought, “I didn’t have it so bad. Many people in Sudan, Ukraine, Gaza, Myanmar, Mexico, and my home country of El Salvador have it so much worse,” but trauma is trauma, and that 9-year-old boy didn’t know or care how his suffering was worthy compared to the suffering of others. It wasn’t a competition.
“Revolution” to me means suffering, suffering that is rarely rewarded. When I say the word, it physically appears in my throat, constricting me. It is viscerally uncomfortable.
Former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill Famous Quotes“Democracy is the worst form of government except for all others.” It’s certainly a difficult question, and the dissatisfaction with our system itself is real. There’s much that needs to be structurally reformed: the Electoral College, an unfair Senate, a lawless Supreme Court (and now a lawless President). But an imperfect democracy is preferable to a chaotic and destructive revolution, one in which the right has all the advantages (not just structural, but also guns).
Democracy is hard work, and it’s especially unpleasant right now given the drama surrounding the Biden campaign, which is truly a disaster.
But this is our best chance of success. If you talk about a “revolution”, I’m no longer interested. I’m withdrawing. Victory in November is the only way to avoid catastrophe.
