Modern Revolutions

- What methods did the groups use to express their frustrations and ultimately lead to the revolution?

Two years before the revolution a movement called Otpor was created by a group of university students to express their frustrations against the Serbian Government. The movement had been trying to overthrow the dictator since it was created. Days before October 5 2000. Protestants took over the Kolubara mines, one of the cities most important electricity producers. Days after this over half million workers and youth gathered in the streets of Belgrade to protest. The parliament building was partially burned and the protestants took over the RTS studios ( a symbol of  Milošević’s rule) showing that the regime had lost power.  Milosevic was a brutal dictator that waged war against Serbia’s neighbors.  The Serbian people were frustrated with the economic sanctions that were placed on Serbia. - How is your revolution similar and/or different to one of the revolutions previously studied?

This revolution is similar to one of the revolution we previously studied, the Filipino EDSA revolution. In the day of the revolution thousands of people took over the city’s  main roads, the EDSA avenue, without this avenue most workers could not attend their jobs. In the Bulldozer revolution, people took over the RTS building (Radio Television of Serbia). When the RTS studios were taken over, the station was quickly renamed “Novi RTS” (”New RTS”) as a sign that the regime had lost power. The overtaken station is just like  how EDSA avenue was taken over.  The people were also not violent in Serbia. - What was the eventual outcome of the revolution, and did the nation/people become better due to the revolution? After the revolution, Milošević was turned in to authorities on April 1, 2001 and was sent on June 28 2001 to the Hague to face charges at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. Milosevic was later found dead in his cell at the UN crime tribunal’s detention center on March 11 2006. Vojislav Koštunica was elected president after dictator Milosevic was thrown out of office.  Yes, the country was better after the Revolution, they re-gained their freedom, rights and the Serbian people no longer faced the UN’s economic sanctions.

- Was the revolution justified? Would other methods have worked? Yes, this revolution was justified. In the summer of 2000, when Milosevic’s term as dictator was nearing an end, the election was changed. Instead of the  One term of presidency, it was now directly elected via the French system of presidential elections with a maximum of two terms. Many people were angered with this decision because they believed that Milosevic’s reforms were not to improve democracy, but just to keep his power. The vote took place on September 24 2000. The DOS coalition, a unified opposition several opposition parties in Serbia formed, reported that it won over half of the votes. The regime said that no candidate won more than half the vote and that a second round would take place. These irregularities led DOS to a peaceful protest to take Milosevic out of office. Yes, this revolution was justified. Another method that could have happened is that the UN could have been brought in and Milosevic would be handed to them directly as a human rights abuser right away. - Briefly state whether or not your revolution follows Crane Brington’s Stages of Revolution?

The Serbian Bulldozer revolution fits Brington’s revolutionary stages . For phase 1 of the revolution, symptoms, the middle class did express anger over economic restraints and a movement against the government was created. For phase 2 of the revolution a moderate opposing government was formed called the Democratic Opposition of Serbia. For Phase 3 the storming of the RTS building was a violent uprising and Milosevic had resigned due to the rallying. For phase 4, a democratic leader named Vojislav Kostunica came into power. Milošević was turned in to authorities in April 1, 2001. Peace resumed in the nation and in the region, the revolution fits the stages perfectly.

1. What methods did the group(s) use to express their frustrations and ultimately lead to a revolution?

When the three Baltic nations were released from the Nazis power, they quickly got conquered again, by the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union, a communist country, had taken away the independence of three nations and dictated them unjustly. Of course, these nations were not pleased. In order to express their frustration to the Soviet government, they sung their traditional hymns that were strictly forbidden by the Soviet government due to the lyrics. The songs demanded liberty without any violence. In the first few attempts, there were not enough people participating, but in at the last attempt, some political leaders participated in the event, and in total there were 300,000 people (more than 1/5 of the population) uniting their beliefs in the songs. As another symbol of rebellion, the Estonians brought out their flags of Estonia that had been prohibited for over 50 years. They waved the flags around while singing. The three countries: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, were brought together to make a human shield from the Soviet government’s armed forces sent to stop them. The line of people wounded up to 370 miles, over all three of the Baltic nations. Their methods were always non-violent, and there was no bloodshed even when the Estonians were endangered by the Soviet tanks. 

2. How is your revolution similar and/or different to one of the revolutions previously studied? 

This revolution was non-violent like the People Power in the Philippines. Also, it required singing and a human shield called the Baltic Chain/Way which was very unusual. The people of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania had rebelled in a peaceful way by singing forbidden rock and roll songs which was different because most of the other revolutions consisted of aggression, bribery and lots of killing to get their way. The Soviet tanks and police men that came to stop the protest did not hurt anyone because there were 2 million people, though unarmed, which were more than they could handle. They probably didn’t shoot anyone for fear that all three countries fighting for independence would overthrow their powerful weaponry and fighting would have occurred. This revolution was done very dissimilarly compared to the American and French revolutions. 

3. What was the eventual outcome of the revolution, and did the nation/people become better due to the revolution? 

After the many years of effort, the revolution finally came to an end as a complete success. This Singing Revolution lasted for 4 years. They were freed by the Soviet Union, obtained their independence and are living independently now. Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia’s economy are quite high now, and are recognized by the UN as countries with a very high average income. The countries are growing at rapid speed, and the citizens are living very peacefully because of the successful revolution. Therefore, because of this revolution, the three Baltic countries are part of Europe, and the citizens are living quite prosperous lives. Latvia even earned the title as the highest growth grade in 2000. Lithuania is equally doing well, as they have also been recognized by another country with the highest growth rate in 2003. Estonia has the fastest growing economy now; all because of the successful revolution. The revolution changed everyone’s lives, and stirred them into a good direction.  

4. Was the revolution justified? Would other methods have worked? 

This revolution was definitely justified. They were getting rid of communism which prevented them from having much freedom such as voting, free speech and was brutal because the army controlled the country. People were not recognized, badly treated and could be randomly arrested without the help of lawyers. If there was any other technique to gain their independence, it might have involved violence or they could’ve used another way to protest. If they had created rallies, it would have caused much more conflict. The way they dealt with a bad government was very impressive and well thought out.  

5. Briefly state whether or not your revolution follows Crane Brinton’s Stages of Revolution. 

This revolution does not follow Crane Brinton’s Stages of Revolution because the rebels only sung to express their anger and complaints towards the way the three countries were being controlled unfairly. They did not have huge instants besides the Baltic Chain which happened later on. The revolution was like a jumble; messing up the format. For example, none of the symptoms match up with Phase 1: Symptoms, in which it says that the citizens rise up against the government. In our revolution, the citizens do rise up against the government but not in the way they described it.  Also, in phase 2: The Rising Fever, it states that a lot of tension was built up and that a rebellious group formed a new government. None of this has happened in the singing revolution. The singing revolution is also famous for its non-violence which opposes the statements in phase 3: Crises. The last phase though, does fit in with Crane Brinton’s Stages of a Revolution. Freedom and life returned to normal in the three nations; maybe even better than what they anticipated. Therefore, the revolution has not followed most of Crane Brinton’s anatomy. 

1)       What methods did the groups use to express their frustrations and ultimately lead to a revolution?  

In August 1980, thousands of workers in the Lenin Shipyard in Gdansk went on strike due to a rising of food prices. This was lead by Lech Walesa, who was among them and later won the Nobel Peace Prize for what he did. They listed down 21 demands, which were called 21 Postulates. They locked themselves in the yards and by September formed the Independent Self-Governing Trade Union Solidarity. Factories were shut down all over Poland. Martial Law was soon declared, Walesa and the rest of the Solidarity Leaders were arrested. 8 years later they were released and started negotiations again.  

2)       How is your revolution similar and/or different to one of the revolutions previously studied?    This revolution has a lot of things similar to the revolutions that we have studied before. For, example, compared to the Filipino people power revolution, this revolution involved minimum violence. The Polish Solidarity movement was to drive their communist leaders. Just like the French Revolution, this was a revolution to drive out their leader(King in the case of France). It is also similar to the French and the Filipino people power revolution, because it had popular support of people. The Polish Solidarity movement is a revolution, compared to other revolutions; it was not that similar with many of today’s revolutions  

3)       What was the eventual outcome of the revolution, and did the nation/people become better due to the revolution?  

The Solidarity finally won and formed a non-communist government. They successfully overthrew the government and elected Lech Walesa president. He was the first president in Poland history who was elected by popular vote. The fall of communism in this country led to the fall of communism in other regions in Europe. The people became better after the revolution. Since a non-communist government was formed, the people were more free and got what they wanted.  

4)       Was the revolution justified? Would other methods have worked?  

The people of the Solidarity movement could have resolved to violence. If the people turned to People Power rather than negotiations, the people of Poland couldn’t have changed the government, because they would have been suppressed by the military and the government and brutally murdered like the eighty workers who were killed by the Polish government. If the people used violence against their government, they would have gave a communist response to the solidarity and brutally suppress it.    The Polish Solidarity Movement was a justified revolution. It was first of all an anti-communist social movement, which is anti-dictatorship. The Solidarity movement was a movement against the Polish communist government. The Solidarity Movement was also considered justified because it involved minimum violence. The leader of the movement, Lech Wałęsa has won a Nobel Peace Prize from what he did. The Polish Solidarity movement was a justified movement since it was settled with roundtable talks.  

5)       Briefly state whether or not your revolution follows Crane Brinton’s Stages of Revolution.  

This revolution does follow Crane Brinton’s Stages of a Revolution. Just like the first stage, the middle class loudly expresses their anger towards the government. The Polish workers went on strike. In the second phase, the moderates form a government which is similar to the Solidarity movement they started, with Lech Walesa as their leader. In the third phase, a lot of violence happens to spread the ideals of the revolution. Less than a hundred workers were brutally killed. And in the fourth phase, a new ruler comes to power. Lech Walesa is elected as the president and forms a non-communist government.

-         What methods did the groups use to express their frustration and ultimately lead to a revolution? The protest started with a march of students in memory of Hu Yaobang who died weeks before the protest. In China the people did not use violence, they tried to make it a non-violence protest but as days went by the government couldn’t take the people protesting against the government  so the army killed and arrested most of them. They lost the fight for freedom and democracy. Demonstrators, mainly students, had occupied Tiananmen Square for seven weeks, refusing to move until their demands for democratic reform were not met. Although about 3,000 students and participants were killed and around 1,500 were injured.

-         How your revolution is similar and or different to one of the revolutions previously studied? The Tiananmen protest was similar to the People Power protest in the Philippines because it was both a protest to change the government to Make the country better. The Tiananmen protest was not successful because the army reacted and took action although the People Power protest was a non-violent protest. The Tiananmen protest was to try to change the government into a democracy, although that task failed.

-What was the eventual outcome of the revolution, and did the nation people become better due to the revolution?    Today China hasn’t had a protest since 1989. Due to the strong Chinese government censorship including Internet censorship, the news media is forbidden to report anything related to this subject. That part of history disappeared in most of the Chinese media including the Internet. No one is allowed to make any web sites related to The Tiananmen Square Protest. -           Was the revolution justified? Would other methods have worked? The revolution was justified because it was for a good reason. If the revolution succeeded, then the results would be good for the whole country because all this revolution was asking for was a better government, meaning a better way of running the country.  The revolution wanted the government to give a little more freedom to the people of China. I think that the method of protesting on the main streets of China was very strong, even though it did not work. The people of China could have used a better method but those methods would not be right and would cause more death and injuries. Some of these methods could be bribing the government officials, protesting more until the government does give up, and maybe making a new government as suggested in Brinton cranes anatomy.

-           Does your revolution fit the Brinton Cranes Anatomy of a revolution framework? The Brinton cranes anatomy of a revolution framework does fit our revolution, but not perfectly.

Phase 1:  Symptoms

1. The middle class loudly expresses its anger over economic restraints placed upon it by the government. This is the escalation of the anger felt by the restrictions are not overbearing; they are enough to cause extreme anger.
2. The government is ineffective and can not is unable to effectively manage the country. This could be due to an inept leader or to a chronic money shortage within the government.
3. Eventually, the ruling party is deserted by the intellectuals, who also speak out against the government.

This begins in phase one, part two. The government is actually controlling the country. But who it cannot control are the students and other educated members of the country. The rest of phase one seems to fit into our revolution.  

Phase 2:  The Rising Fever

1. Middle class. The people rise up against the government.
2. The uprising culminates in a climatic battle, and the current governmental structure can not repress the rebellion.
3. The moderate, or political center, then forms a new government.
4. The new moderate government becomes overwhelmed with the challenges of managing the nation, raising money to support itself, and the drafting a new constitution.

At phase two of Brinton cranes anatomy, the first two stated points are similar with our revolution. But the last two points do not. It states that the moderates create a new government. The Tiananmen revolution does not have any new government created within the country.   

Phase 3: Crisis

1. The revolution reaches a head when the moderates, inept at the job of ruling a country, are forcibly and violently removed from power by the radicals, or the political left.
2. There is a lot of violence and efforts to spread the ideals of the revolution. Opposition is squashed.
3. The revolution is fragile because popular support is needed and economic conditions are poor.

Next is phase three. The last section of the phase states that the economic conditions are poor. China, is a well known to the country to economically very high throughout the years. So China does not face an economical down turn or face any economic problems, as mentioned in the anatomy. 

Phase 4: Convalescence

1. The revolution ends and the country enters a period of recovery.
2. A strong ruler comes to power and the new government begins the process of stabilizing the country.
3. The moderates are generally granted amnesty while the radicals are punished.
4. Life in the country begins to return to normal.

          Lastly, phase 4. This section is completely unfit for our revolution because the government refuses to recognize the revolution. Therefore, the revolution is a failure and the country goes back to normal.

Bibliography:

http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761573064/Tiananmen_Square_Protest.html http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/4/newsid_2496000/2496277.stm http://www-chaos.umd.edu/history/prc.html

http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB16/documents/index.html

2001 Edsa Revolution:

    -Mahek and Miwa-

   1.) What methods did the group(s) use to express their frustration and ultimately lead to a revolution?

The house of representatives filed an impeachment case against the president, Estrada. Two days after the impeachment trial new evidence came that Estrada had many secret bank accounts keeping a huge amount of money and so all his persecutors in the Estrada impeachment resigned.    

• At that day a crowd numbering to 100,000 was at EDSA. Next day the crowd’s number triples, demanding Estrada’s resignation. ·     
• Next day the military and the president split and the military joined the crowd. Estrada appears on television two times saying he would not resign. The crowd said that if he insisted on staying they will march to Malacañang and force him out by 6:00 am.  ·     
• Still Estrada refused to listen, and one third of the crowd marched to Malcañang and occupied Mendiola The supreme court decided that vice president Arroyo would become the president · 
•      A message was sent to the people from Estrada saying that the new president was Arroyo ·     
• The people rejoiced and Estrada was officially impeached and put under house arrest      

2.) How is your revolution similar and/or different to one of the revolutions previously studied?  

This revolution is very similar to the People Power revolution and very different from it at the same time. One thing that makes it similar to the People Power revolution is that they both were staged to overthrow corrupt leaders. However, Marcos, who the People Power revolution aimed to overthrow, was a self-appointed dictator, while Estrada, the man who the 2nd EDSA revolution aimed to overthrow, was an elected president. In fact, Congress had actually considered impeaching Joseph “Erap” Estrada without resorting to a revolution, but the people who voted to examine the evidence of Estrada’s corruption were outnumbered by one vote. Another similarity to the first People Power revolution is that they both took place at EDSA and both involved the military turning on the president and masses of people gathering at EDSA. A difference is that Estrada left Malacañang Palace with his family, smiling and waving at the reporters present to cover the event, and ’shaking hands and kissing babies.’ He was placed under house arrest, eventually restricted to his rest home in Tanay, Rizal. Marcos, on the other hand, left as a sad old man, but lived out the rest of his life as a free man in Hawaii. The last difference that will be mentioned is that the first People Power revolution was met with general approval, while the second EDSA revolution was seen by some as illegitimate and a ‘mob rule.’    

3.) What was the eventual outcome of the revolution and did the nation/people become better due to the revolution?

The eventual outcome of the revolution was to take out Estrada. The people didn’t become better due to the revolution since the country is still under poverty, the authorities are corrupt, and people still do not trust their leaders. Also, Estrada was just pardoned for his crimes.  

4.) Was the revolution justified? Would other methods have worked? 

The revolution was completely justified. Estrada had stolen millions from the country for his own personal expenses. Not only is this illegal, but it is morally reprehensible as well. The attempt to impeach Estrada by using Congress had not worked, so the people were forced to resort to gathering at EDSA, in hope that history would repeat itself. It was better than allowing Estrada to continue stealing from the country, and it was also better than resorting to violence. No other methods would have worked. Another justification for this revolution was that most of the population was in favor of it, aside from the few supporters Estrada had, most of whom only supported him because he used to be a film star or because they had some personal gain in Estrada continuing to be president.  

5.) Briefly state whether or not your revolution follows Crane Briton’s Stages of Revolution.  

This revolution follows Crane Briton’s Stages of Revolution very well. The population loudly expressed its anger at Estrada’s corrupt ways and several people deserted or distanced themselves from Estrada. This fits the first stage of revolution perfectly. Next came the rising fever. There were several rallies to oust Estrada and the senate voted on whether or not to examine Estrada. However, the result was in Estrada’s favor. The government was then overwhelmed by the anger of the population. Phase three, the crisis, came when Estrada was finally ousted by the people, who rallied at EDSA for his impeachment. The radicals were the people who rallied at EDSA and those opposed to Estrada. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo was sworn in to be president. However, her position was fragile. There was an attempt to replace Estrada as president. The only way in which phase three did not apply was that the radicals weren’t beaten. Convalescence does not completely apply, because life hasn’t exactly been normal since the revolution. For instance, there have been quite a few coup attempts against Arroyo. However, the economy has improved since then - it went from almost sixty pesos to a dollar down to a little over forty pesos to a dollar. Overall, this revolution follows the Stages of Revolution quite well, except for a few small differences.