Strategy of Protest and Revolution 1: Basic Elements

[@StrategyStuff]

Sorry, didn't know kids mode meant no commenting. Fixed now.

[@gokce9521]

Strategy Stuff the children will rise again and overthrow the adultgeoisie

[@taufiqutomo]

Well if today's kids want to be the next Greta Thunberg they do need to understand this.

[@useodyseeorbitchute9450]

@@taufiqutomo Well, if someone wants to repeat her success the recipe is quite simple: - have rich and well connected parents; - all the time stay as part of establishment, while pretending otherwise.

[@arandomguest0089]

I wonder, how come the French Revolution fail when the American Revolution succeeded?

[@nool9046]

arandomguest008 The American “Revolution” was more of a independence war, and other European powers wanted to hurt the UK by supporting America. Contrast that with the French Revolution, which was hostile to the ruling class of all of Europe and occurred in Europe’s strongest country. The American Revolution was essentially status quo, the thirteen colonies had been effectively republics for a century anyway, while the French Revolution was radical and right next to centers of power.

[@demeterruinedmylife3199]

When I use the mini-viewer and finds that it’s a kids video, my first reaction is that “hold up, we need to teach the kids before pushing them to the frontlines?”😂

[@mrniceguy7168]

We’re raising a generation of revolutionaries here

[@noneednoneed5752]

Yotube likes to be dumb

[@MartinWastlund]

I must give credit to you for the good pace maintained throughout the video: A fine balance between maintaining momentum and letting the viewer slowly digest what is being said and shown.

[@Njemanja]

Such a shame this channel doesn't have more subscribers. But then again, Eastory was also in this situation and at some point just exploded.

[@Apodeipnon]

yea, but eastory has eye candy

[@suprememax4948]

Well this channel is much more in-depth and information driven than Eastory. Eastory is leaning more towards infotainment which is easier for a larger audience to handle than (extremely interesting) videos that have a character more similar to a Master's Seminar

[@builder_dahomey]

This channel is quite unique if I might say myself.

[@petersmythe6462]

"We either get more of the movement to participate, or we get existing participants to do more." The second half of that multiplication is why fully online activism usually doesn't amount to a whole lot. Getting a bunch of people to do something no just active but coherent in the real world, and possibly illegal, is not something the internet is great at. Especially considering it lacks coercive force as a means to keep its own membership from including agent provocateur trolls or pulling stupid stunts or not showing up.

[@StrategyStuff]

I wouldn't entirely write the internet off, though the concerns about 'slacktivism' are quite valid (though such criticisms tend to focus very much on "traditional" social movement actions, and especially disruptive ones). But as you say, nobody has been able to organize effective Internet action on a sustained and reliable basis. I read a report on how the Trump campaign is attempting to organize Internet action through "gamification", so that's something to pay attention to.

[@iddomargalit-friedman3897]

@@StrategyStuff what about the arab revolutions? And metoo was also mostly online.

[@tracerpose6969]

​@@StrategyStuff *TL;DR: Protests and revolutions in the modern age are up for possible fundamental reevaluation with cybertechnology's rise. What is your opinion on cybersecurity's role in all this, and hacktivism in particular?* Also I hold deep affection for you and your work!

[@StrategyStuff]

I have never felt more obliged to respond to a comment... I think the first thing to figure out is: on a theoretical level, does cyber fundamentally change the principles of social movements; or is it just a matter of using a newer tool for the same old work? I tend to think that cyber is more likely the latter. The 3 grand strategic templates remain the same regardless of what technological level you are at. Meanwhile, on the strategic ‘theory of action’ level, I don’t see cyber opening up some fundamentally new way of creating disruption or cooptation (unlike, say, the development of print [sharing information] or TV [visualization])… yet. As mentioned before, I think ‘gamification’ might be a potentially innovative method for new forms of disruption/cooptation here. This goes to my second point, which is that even if cyber activism doesn’t open any new ground for social movements, it can and probably does make certain actions and even grand strategies easier. Ease of communication obviously strengthens the hand of strategies that rely on bottom-up organizations, while certain disruptive actions like whistleblowing, memeing etc will probably occur with greater frequency. As for cybersecurity… as I’ve pointed out, I don’t think ‘hacktivism’ introduces anything fundamentally new to social movements; they have merely ‘upgraded’ existing actions using the digital sphere. Nevertheless, hacktivism can have an outsize effect on a social movement compared with equivalent actions, simply because the digital sphere is not an entirely ‘normalized’ space and so establishments are still figuring out how to manage disruption on the digital sphere. Eventually, thanks to cybersecurity/Great Firewalls (but also other things like the emergence of established internet players etc etc), they will figure it out, and social movements will have to innovate on a different level to stay relevant. I would write more but it’s 1 am here

[@iddomargalit-friedman3897]

@@StrategyStuff on that issue, I can give a local example, although it's more warfare then protest - Every year on a specific date there is a coordinated attempt by pro-palestinian hackers to attack Israeli targets. It was big and scary (=effective) when it was first announced, but the Israeli authorities won: not by stopping every attack, but by humiliating the attackers, hacking their website and planting pro-israeli contents (including the anthem). Although there have been annual attacks in the years since, it was never as grand-scale, nor as highly reported, as the first. So if I'll draw any lessons - It seems to me that the effective way for governments to deal with hacking, might include attacking and *humiliating* the hackers back.

[@vanivanov9571]

The chart at 5:00 is a more pronounced issue in democracy, where politicians are frequently enacting roughly the same policies despite being in opposite parties, because you need to try to appeal to as many people as possible. With both politicians and social unrest, however, you generally have to act pretty extreme just to get these often very mild and ineffectual changes, simply to stand out enough to gain interest and appeal to the most extreme persons. So, the movements and politicians are generally all talk, rather literally. You should talk about recent civil unrest in America, with Canada and the US both removing gun rights from the public, possibly in fear of armed protests like in Michigan which stormed the state capital. The Establishment is not just suppressing uprising, but even the potential of the public to have uprisings, constantly.

[@leopoldivesic4872]

Useful knowledge in these uncertain times

[@taufiqutomo]

By watching this video, i run the risk of being put into intel agencies' "watch later".

[@yehyeh644]

they're watchin now

[@noneednoneed5752]

wellcome, there is plenty space :D

[@useodyseeorbitchute9450]

Please like, share and subscribe... :D

[@LuisAldamiz]

So what? Do they even have the processing power?

[@NOXIPHILIA]

Your videos are a gift. Simple, well structured and compact. I love them.

[@alexop5919]

OMG that is so AWESOME. Your content is basically an academic knowledge in understandable language

[@parkersenecal5547]

Your videos are awesome! Keep up the good work and take as much time as you need cause Quality>Quantity

[@builder_dahomey]

Now, I'm beginning to understand the strategy of the FST and NGN organizations clearly.

[@muhammadabdullahhanif8860]

Thank you for the great content. Just in time for my need.

[@Aldarinn]

This channel is an education. For anyone who wishes to learn how things really work in life and the world. All of life is just strategy

[@vtron9832]

Thank you so much for this specific series! This is just what I need!

[@viatorinterra]

After the Bolshevik video, will you also do a video on the Chinese under Mao Zedong? I'd like to see an example of Ideological Mobilization in practice, especially with the Patriots and Bolsheviks both doing Mass Agitation

[@StrategyStuff]

Yeah that’s my intention, do Mao Zedong after Lenin (focusing particularly on CCPs transition from urban party to rural warlord c.1927-1936). Probably will get it done before the next century lol

[@Volition1001]

@@StrategyStuffhow’s it coming along lol

[@juanfranciscobrizuela]

Thank you for uploading! This is one of my favorite channels

[@Cheddarchaos]

I was wondering if you include capital when talking about the establishment/state? The state exists primarily to serve the interests of capital imo but a recent example where this was most obvious is the Wet'suwet'en pipeline conflict.

[@StrategyStuff]

Your question is about what an 'establishment' actually is, which is something I've decided not to discuss on the video (b/c we'd be bogged down in semantics) - instead, I assume that every movement is targeting an 'establishment'. Ownership of capital (material as well as non-material e.g. cultural capital) tends to be a characteristic of establishments, BUT in the cases of decolonial or postmaterial movements, capital often seems to be involved on both sides.

[@Cheddarchaos]

@@StrategyStuff Thanks for replying! I'm not sure I agree with you but if you don't want to get bogged down with semantics that's fair enough, it's not really relevant to your main points. Looking forward to the next part

[@petrichor111]

Absolutely love it! Fantastic choice of topic and presentation! Keep it up mate

[@Rafjol]

This channel is brilliant. Who is behind it?

[@jackapgar5824]

It would be cool if you’d evaluate a movements efficacy, like Anyifa U.S, Antifa Eu, and BLM

[@iuriepripa3171]

@@OakInch Antifa was almost unknown before Trump's election. Quite some anachronistic justification there, fam. What does homosexuality have to do with this anyway?! Also, as was literally said in the video, violence can be part of a revolutionary stategy. The comment you so kindly responded to was asking about whether they were effective or not...

[@StrategyStuff]

Well I had a lot of these modern movements (especially the Occupies) in mind when I said that much of the power of traditional disruption (sit-downs, protests etc.) have been normalized. The practice of 'kettling' and confining protestors has reduced their ability to intrude into normal life and demand attention. Even when groups like Antifa grab attention, most dismiss/normalize their actions as 'oh that's just what they do'. That's why innovating on new ways to disrupt normalcy is important - I suppose BLM has done this, with stuff like 'die-ins' that attract + focus attention on their issues. IMHO internet memes are a very innovative form of non-physical disruption.

[@OakInch]

@@iuriepripa3171 LOL. All violence is not created equal. Nor is all violence legitimate protest. As I indicated, Leftist violence, that is based on nothing more than degeneracy, disgusts people. If the Left ever had a cohesive message, besides "I want to be obnoxious and violent" they completely lost the PR battle. They had nothing positive, unifying, or coherent to say. They were just, as their name indicates, "anti-". And just so you know, I am not a democrat or republican, left or right. But I can clearly see the Left today is compromised by anti-American and foreign interests.

[@oreo507]

@@OakInch well disgust is a personal opinion. I don't think black people disgusts anyone (except kkk members). Also "foreign interests" is a pretty bold statement to make so broadly. There's definitely groups on the super far left that r anti-American but if u were impartial it's pretty clear that those foreign interests also support the far-right. Any extremist group is likely to conform to those descriptions.

[@surperian4340]

@@iuriepripa3171 ignore him. He doesnt have enough brain cells to know that he is wrong, he just cares about justifying his already held positions

[@Julle399]

Glad to see you back with another videoi

[@Volition1001]

I would like to see a video similar to this series but on coups

[@bertrandnzomigni8084]

Useful information for revolt in authoritarian state today

[@GenoAtkins]

So how does one drain the swamp?

[@eps200]

Strong institutions and clear rule of law. Much much easier said than done.

[@mrniceguy7168]

eps200 People who use the phrase “drain the swamp” interpret institutions and rule of law as “the swamp”

[@Apodeipnon]

@@eps200 institutions and law are always tools of the state/establishment

[@fl3669]

eps200 exactly the opposite

[@ariovistus1491]

democracy dollars and ranked choice voting are a good start.

[@TheLolol94]

Very good research and magnificient job as always, from a fellow International relations student.

[@maciejkamil]

Your schematics are great!

[@Eccentrick218]

So extremely relevant nowadays

[@robertgabuna355]

It took almost 400 years for Filipinos to rise against a foreign colonizer. The same took over 10 years to overthrow a Dictatorial Government.

[@CedricAyres]

Great Stuff! I love your videos, keep them comming. =D

[@abelhutten4532]

Great topic and great video

[@sayidadam3728]

we wait for so long. if you can make this good quality videos more often. you can get my money.

[@Omegador]

Welcome back!

[@altaiaurelius]

Make people think they deserve something and make them think they don’t have it is the in-a-nutshell :)

[@romeo31108]

Great video!

[@mindbomb9341]

Can you do one of these for Ukraine 2014?

[@boon1204]

Interesting

[@chloroxbleach8561]

What about strategies in shutting down revolution?

[@003mohamud]

Hello FBI

[@despilks]

patrician tier content. plebs confirmed for still not knowing to appriciate

[@jjc5475]

i wonder how much of this is applicable to company strategy and advertising...

[@LuisAldamiz]

Bread, land and peace is the same as The Communist Manifesto, if you bother reading it. It's not "cynic", it's a slogan vs a deeper text.

[@papajay111]

So Saul Alinsky was right???

[@RichardWagnerEnjoyer]

Analyzing the situation of January 6th, would Trump leading the march himself have any change in the results? What if the hundreds of thousands of protesters refused to leave DC and created sort of a 1956 Hungarian revolution situation?

[@StrategyStuff]

I don’t want to get too much into current events but I assume US Govt is resilient enough that you’d have to seize/control multiple institutions to actually get your way. Luttwak tweeted that a violent coup would have stormed the pentagon + fbi hq.

[@robertbuchan7086]

Social movements run by ordinary people ! Yeah Right.

[@corneliusfabianoustedperri7664]

Hey i Saw your video because, as a communist, i was intriested in what theory you would bring up. I Think your video is quite good and that more leftist should wacth stuff like this as a introduction to party orginization. So i wonder about, what your own opinion is to politics?

[@StrategyStuff]

Well I try not to inject my own personal values into videos... and in any case, strategy is about means, and it's up to the user to figure out what political goals/values he wants to achieve with them. Suffice it to say I'm not a Communist but I think Marxian analysis can be helpful. (I use the Marxist Rude's analysis as a basis for analyzing the French Revolution).

[@corneliusfabianoustedperri7664]

That makes sense to me and i kinda got the fealing of marxian thoughts when i saw part two (so i get now why that is). Thank you for your work and honesty, i think it is greate.

[@migkillerphantom]

@@StrategyStuff what exactly is "Marxist" about the study of tactical and strategic aspects of revolutionary movements? I am pretty sure Marxism is mainly taken to mean the economic(?) school of thought and subsequent political ideology.

[@thebadblokke]

Would you say that the current cultural revolution we are experiencing in the West (BLM, demands for environmental driven economic reform, gender rights, wokeness, etc) has more the characteristic of Mass Agitation or of Ideological Mobilization?

[@StrategyStuff]

IMHO the current movement is structurally quite similar to the American Revolution, ie starting out as a spontaneous uprising amongst university-educated elites, and then gradually evolving into mass agitation as elites use their positions of power to create/capture vanguards to spread the message to non-elites.

[@thebadblokke]

@@StrategyStuff Yep, that's what I thought as well. I even linked your video in my socials pointing the similarities out.

[@xoferwalken]

4:36

[@Ben-dw1vw]

Did Strategy Stuff say trans rights?

[@fearofmusic1312]

Well, that's an interesting hint, youtube algorhythm.

[@useodyseeorbitchute9450]

When MSM were telling that youtube algorithm was radicalising people you were not believing... :D

[@DensetsuVII]

You say you want a re-vo-lu-tioonn well you knowwww yourgonnahavetowatchabout5hoursofvideofromstrategystuffff~

[@blankface5052]

Lol let’s use this to overthrow the us government

[@transsexual_computer_faery]

awesome, subbed

[@RocketPropelledMexican]

Activists fighting other activists is an often overlooked facet of social movements.

[@kingofflamingos4344]

(Spanish communist and anarchist sweats nervously)

[@101jir]

Less overlooked in the Syrian Civil War for obvious reasons. Part of why I find it so interesting, these things that do exist in other conflicts (such as infighting in the Russian Revolution) have been greatly turned up in the Syrian Civil War. Not only do you have Assad fighting the Opposition (which eventually breaks up into different groups and the remainder take on a new name), but you also have the Kurds fighting ISIS. To make matters more complicated, international allies cannot agree on whom to support due to differing interests, so Turkey fights hard against the Kurds because they have a lot to lose if they succeed, while the US focuses on fighting Assad, and later helps the Russians against ISIS when they grow to be too much of a threat to the US. It of course happens in the Spanish and Russian civil wars, but it is by far less apparent.

[@RocketPropelledMexican]

@@101jir The SCW is a whole other can of worms and has a topic that I hope will be covered: the role of foreign actors. In the past you had the chance that your revolution would be kept relatively internal as power projection was limited. But nowadays modern technology means that states are able to receive and gather information almost instantly, and are much much more able to project power into others, especially a state that is weakened by protests. I truly do not think it is possible for modern social movements that get to the scale of revolutions to not be entangled with foreign power projection anymore.

[@101jir]

@@RocketPropelledMexican Indeed.

[@khosrau7541]

So glad the channel's moving in this direction, brilliant as always.

[@pedrovictor4002]

In South América the labor unions play a extremaly importante role in the organization of social movements. Will you eventually talk about the influence of these unions in the movements course, and internal organization?

[@StrategyStuff]

I haven't looked closely into Latin American movements yet, but i'm interested in suggestions. Currently I'm planning to do French Revolution (release soon), US Revolution (less soon), Russian Bolshevik, Chinese Communist (+ Vietnamese?), Indian liberation, US Civil Rights movement, probably anti-Apartheid and also something more modern. Maybe not all at once though...

[@AnnuakiAluqah]

Please post more of these awesome videos, thank you for great content

[@casssaph2287]

"Bottom up organizations represent moderate and flexible ideology that represents the majority of participants, which is, of course, an ideologue's nightmare" me: *laughs in anarchist*

[@beepbop6542]

me: *laughs in National socialist*

[@Gabriel-fq8yo]

@@beepbop6542me: laughs in Mussolini hung upside down over a gas station

[@randall172]

Do a strategy of the civil rights movement in the US

[@StrategyStuff]

Yeah it's definitely going to be in the video series

[@mausklick1635]

What is power, though? I can already see this video substituting empirical substance and theoretical framework with formalized language.

[@migkillerphantom]

Abstract pseudo quantified concept that serves as a stand in for various possible sets of potentially quantifiable variables that the movement system can employ to change the behaviour of the broader social/political system it is contained within.

[@a.f.nik.4210]

@@migkillerphantom big words

[@blaarg2657]

This video is the first one that has disappointed me.. it's totally not appropriate to use pseudo-maths with social concepts. Even with economics it's stretching pretty thin. I just hope there are no technocratic "grand strategies" formed with such thinking.

[@bidenator9760]

Blaarg2 I highly doubt anyone would use such formulas to determine the status of a movement. I think he included them for the sake of clarity, which I personally appreciate.

[@blaarg2657]

@@bidenator9760 but it's not clarity.. it's just gibberish.. like an equation for fun or sadness or something. Especially applying it to something as specific as a revolution... which always rely on hundreds of years of context

[@noah8690]

Wow, you really had good timing haha

[@zihansu7456]

I feel like I never really understood what "power" is. The way you touched on it in this video was very clear and easy to understand. Could you expand on that and do a separate video on the concept of "power"? Congrats on another awesome video btw, I've been a big fan since coming across your Japan Grand Strategy vid.

[@StrategyStuff]

I think a 100% theoretical video on “power” is probably too abstract and also very difficult for me to write (theory videos always trip me up), certainly one as specific as “power” as it pertains to social movements. But I’ll try and answer any Qs u have.

[@wheresmyeyebrow1608]

So social movements (because they do not come from the establishment unlike a coup d'etat) that come with varying degrees of participation (both by effort and numbers), organisation (bottom up or top down - the latter being unlikely in repressive states depending on the platform being argued / demanded), and tactics (coercion, co-option; all possibly with violence for more power) all to disrupt the establishment's desired status-quo until they either meet demands or repress if the outcome would be in their favour? Nice

[@iuriepripa3171]

This is super amazing, and I love it. Keep it up!

[@igorakcio]

Nice momentum

[@iddomargalit-friedman3897]

Amazing content. Eagerly waiting to see which movements you will focus on. I would especially like to know how do they motivate people/populous not just for specific actions, but for *initiative*.

[@StrategyStuff]

it will definitely include: French, American, Russian, Chinese, India, Civil Rights, probably apartheid. Probably suffragettes, gay rights, solidarnosc, Iranian. Then maybe something newer. May intersperse them with another video series.

[@iddomargalit-friedman3897]

@@StrategyStuff Wow. If each will be as good as the French one it will be extraordinary.

[@nzuzongeleka6561]

Thank you for returning. Really. There is no other channel that offers people like us what you do..

[@suddenuprising]

You are a genius.

[@simplehuman487]

Welcome to BreadTube!

[@joebiden9979]

Does anyone know any similar channel in quality and topics ???

[@wildborat88]

Why do you think the lebanese so called revolution didn't work. And what would be the best way to run it from a strategic point of view

[@wildborat88]

Do you think we should let corrupt politicians not go to jail only get the stolen money this way the cost of change would be less and then the cost of distribution and demands will be met?

[@StrategyStuff]

I really am not knowledgeable on the Lebanese protests and I wouldn't claim to know what's wrong and how to fix. There do seem to be structural parallels between it and the video I'm about to push out on the French Revolution (1789).

[@wildborat88]

@@StrategyStuff thanks for your answer i really appreciate it

[@fabreezethefaintinggoat5484]

thanks

[@Aleccourtney]

is this legit?

[@henryhargraves4184]

6:09 Kony 2012 in a nutshell

[@nafeesyoutube9996]

Great

[@randomperson6988]

Hi fbi

[@oceanlau13]

Good work 希望多啲香港人睇到

[@mickmickymick6927]

Is there anywhere outside facebook you post the review of the literature? Maybe github?

[@StrategyStuff]

OK I'll probably set up a blog and copy/paste stuff my scripts + FB stuff on there too

[@StrategyStuff]

strategosstuff.blogspot.com/2020/05/thoughts-strategy-of-protest-and.html

[@mickmickymick6927]

@@StrategyStuff Thank you so much

[@tracerpose6969]

@@StrategyStuff Seconding what Mick said, thank you!

[@evilmurlock]

when you drink gasoline becouse its organic: Helf

[@camilohinojosa5232]

Great video, I really enjoy and look foward for new releases! Strategy Stuff is my favorite channel!

[@rockethola3515]

Excellent video. Thanks

[@tellingfoxtales]

Is this a nudge?

[@adcorssolum]

Awesome video

[@malithaw]

This is such an underappreciated channel. Great insight as always

[@GBERTS]

very good!

[@yehyeh644]

very epic

[@antonikudlicki1100]

how about strategy of counterrevolution?

[@princeofparmma]

That would be a great epilogue if he can do that!

[@StrategyStuff]

I have a very brief description of how the 'victims' MIGHT have done better, but actual counterrevolution might have to wait for another series...

[@antonikudlicki1100]

@@StrategyStuff fair enaugh thanks for response keep up the good work ; D

[@iddomargalit-friedman3897]

@@StrategyStuff Also an expanding on dealing technics, either by the establishment, or by counter-movments, would be awesome.

[@nool9046]

You MUST make a video on the Russian Revolution

[@StrategyStuff]

You’re in luck, that’s the next video

[@photehepson]

do you have a patreon or anything? i want to support your great work :)

[@StrategyStuff]

Hey, sorry for late reply. It’s just not fair to have a Patreon with this sort of output schedule haha

[@deadgavin4218]

I'm gonna guess Chinese south eastern united states that's where his accent is from

[@StrategyStuff]

Hong Kong actually (and studied in UK). I was planning to visit the South this year but of course I can't

[@deadgavin4218]

I was basing it off a youtuber/twitter named E-kon now that I think about it I believe he was from the Guangdong Hong Kong area; is there a lot of exchange between there and south Easter Texas to Atlanta area?

[@StrategyStuff]

Quite a few Hong Kongers study in the US. I personally have friends who have studied in Texas, Louisiana, Tennessee, North Carolina. Most are in California/New York tho of course