The Revolution Business

[Magda Hassan]

June 2011

Democratic change has been demanded across the Middle East. But was what seems like a spontaneous revolution actually a strategically planned event, fabricated by 'revolution consultants' long in advance?

Revolution consultants are the worst nightmare of every regime. Srdja Popovic was a founder of the organisation 'Otpor', a revolution training school. It was instrumental in the overthrow of Slobodan Milosevic in the 1990s and has now inspired a new generation of activists. Political commentators like William Engdahl are convinced Otpor is being financed by the USA. "The people from Otpor gave us a book in which they described all their strategies", says Ezzedine Zaatour of the Tunisian uprising. That book was written by an American, Gene Sharp, and is now considered the "revolution guide book", being used by opposition movements worldwide. As Optor release their latest gadget, a resistance training computer game sponsored by American organisations, world leaders are voicing their concerns. "This is called a gentle coup!", insists Hugo Chavez.

[Ed Jewett]

I have raised similar questions, most notably at the Global Network meeting
[ http://www.space4peace.org/reports/gn_conference_11.htm ] where the question
was met with disbelief, a guffaw or too, and the general attitude that I myself might have been the infiltrator. The co-opting or corruption of dissent and civil disobedience has a long history in the US whose evilarchy has weaponized almost everything about people and from the worlds of the social sciences. I almost expect an IARPA program called "Fishes and Loaves" (but then we already have Monsanto's lawyer sitting on the Supreme Court).