Blueprint for Revolution: How to Use Rice Pudding, Lego Men, and Other Nonviolent Techniques to Galvanize Communities, Overthrow Dictators, or Simply Change the World

Srdja Popovic knows what he's talking about. As one of the founders of Otpor!, he masterminded the nonviolence movement that eventually toppled the Serbian dictator Slobodan Milosevic. Later he and his colleagues consulted with the nonviolent movements in the Maldives, Egypt, and Burma. This book draws upon these frontline experiences: what worked, what didn't work, and how to do it better.Comedy works -- you can't laugh and be afraid at the same time, and oppressive regimes mostly want you to be afraid so they can control you. So create street theater that ridicules your adversary while being totally legal. Violence doesn't work. You're trying to hit a much bigger opponent at his strongest point. Also, all that dying makes it kinda unsustainable.Popovic conveys his hard-earned wisdom with hilarity & great storytelling, making the daunting endeavor of revolution seem wholly accessible to ordinary folks. Adhere to the holy trinity of nonviolent discipline, unity and planning, he says, and you will go far. Some choice quotes: "...ordinary people don't take to the barricades because things are bad. In order for your average citizen to really get engaged with an issue, he needs to think that it's unfair or wrong." "When you think of power, remember that exercising it comes at a cost, and that your job as an activist is to make that cost rise ever upward until your opponent is no longer able to afford the charges."This is brilliant stuff, folks -- a manual for both the suburban mom trying to stop the megamall next door, and the activists aiming to topple a ruthless dictator. Read it, live it, and make good stuff happen.-- Ali Binazir, M.D., M.Phil., author of The Tao of Dating: The Smart Woman's Guide to Being Absolutely Irresistible, the highest-rated dating book on Amazon for 4+ years

I liked this one enough to recommend it on my book recommendations email list. My interest in this book was piqued less by any interest in revolution, geopolitics, or activism, and more by my interest in psychology and persuasion. If you know anything about humans, you've certainly shaken your head at the "strategies" of activists lately. It appears to be a series of random actions and name-calling, driven purely by emotion, with no thought given to how those actions will influence anyone in particular.I believe I heard about this book from Arnold Schwarzenegger, on his second Tim Ferriss podcast appearance. He proposed that climate activists focus on air pollution rather than "climate change." The gist being that air pollution is currently killing 7 million people per year, and you can actually see the pollution in many places – outside my window included. It's easier to persuade people to fix something currently happening to them, rather than by getting them to worry about some unknown thing that might happen at an unknown point in the future.This book is written by Srdja Popovic, who was a founder of Otpor!, an opposition group that helped engineer the overthrow of Serbian dictator Slobodan Milošević. It's easy to by inspired by the Egyptian revolution happening in Tahir Square, and ignore the years of small victories, coalition-building, and careful branding that preceded it. This, Popovic argues, is probably why the Occupy movement (which Popovic suggests should have been called a more inclusive "99%" movement) fizzled out in the U.S..It's an engaging read, with stories of him and his team coaching activists from places like Ukraine, Egypt, and Syria. He illustrates how to create change through humorous pranks, or by focusing strategically on something that affects a wide swath of people. For example, Otpor! released turkeys costumed as Milošević's wife so that news outlets would cover Milošević's police chasing them and looking ridiculous.He also tells stories of how focusing on cottage cheese helped fight wealth inequality in Israel, how Harvey Milk used dog poop to get people to care about gay rights, and how, as the subtitle suggests, rice pudding was used to launch a revolution in the Maldives.

I have begun my process to enact change for the betterment of America, I am a mother, wife, daughter, sister, aunt and friend who is terrified of what this country is becoming. Being of humble origins I have been diligently researching how to create change and bring on revolution and thats when this book came to my attention. This book is relatable in so many ways, it speaks to me and gives me hope that I can create the changes I seek with other like minded people. I have no illusions that things will change over night or that every American will join my movement immediately because I know that is a dream but I do realize I am not the only one who sees the issues we are having in this country and can no long stand by and watch as our children's futures grow darker and darker. Rampant pedophilia, child abuse, malnutrition, homelessness, human trafficking, child abductions, molestation and school shootings make me fear for all the children of this country. If we continue on this path those children that actually make it to adulthood will be broken and traumatized individuals with no direction in life and for those who don't, they will leave behind grieving families that never recover from the loss and injustice of what happened. This will lead to a society of hopelessness and mentally weak individuals running our country even further into the ground. Thank you for this book, I hope I can apply these principles and key factors to my movement and some how make a difference for the better.