Wednesday, November 02, 2005

The Gentle Revolution

It *is* possible for people to change their government. Without violence. And with very little hope of success, objectively. The secret is: don't quit.

"I really do inhabit a system in which words are capable of shaking the entire structure of government, where words can prove mightier than ten military divisions."

~~ Vaclav Havel

Check out the entry in the Wikipedia. Read. Regain hope.

Vaclav Havel : "I recall that my friends and I for decades were asked by people visiting from democratic Western countries, 'How can you, a mere handful of powerless individuals, change the regime, when the regime has at hand all the tools of power: the army, the police and the media, when it can convene gigantic rallies to reflect its people's "support" to the world, when pictures of the leaders are everywhere and any effort to resist seems hopeless and quixotic?'

"My answer was that it was impossible to see the inside clearly, to witness the true spirit of the society and its potential -- impossible because everything was forged. In such circumstances, no one can perceive the internal, underground movements and processes that are occurring. No one can determine the size of the snowball needed to initiate the avalanche leading to the disintegration of the regime."

Was it Howard Dean? Cindy Sheehan? You?

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