Revolutions here and there
August 10 2019 By Abiodun Kareem Giwa
One of the displays of Hong Kong protesters at the airport
The Hong Kong protesters have refused to give up. And the question has begun to pop about what the protesters really want to achieve amid continuing protests. A news report in a major newspaper describe the protests as illegal. The police and protesters struggle for space. As the police dislodge protesters from some areas, protesters regroup to challenge the police in other areas. The protest has moved to the airport for the second day running. The South China Morning Post reports that hundreds of protesters occupy the airport for second day. Hundreds of protesters have been arrested and detained. There does not appear to be an end to what has begun with a fierce opposition of an extradition bill requiring offenders to be extradited to China.
"Is the occurrence in Hong Kong a protest or revolution?" Many people have begun to ask the question. Some of the protesters tend to want the protest as a revolution, but what has happened so far is a fight between the police and the protesters. Although, the protesters have smashed government buildings, They have hardly achieve the type of change that would qualify events in Hong Kong as a revolution. However, judged by the popular French revolution, the definition of revolution takes a different form.
The French revolution went for about ten years before it reached a tipping point. It is possible that the Hong Kong is going through the same development and that it may eventually reach a tipping point when everything goes out of control and the country is forced into undertaking a drastic change beyond human imagination. When the French revolution reached a tipping point, there were social issues that helped it reached the point and not just that some politicians gathered together and said they wanted a forceful change to remove their leaders from office. Recent events in Sudan also shows how a revolution can be effected when a situation has degenerated and the leader has lost control.
A struggle for office between different classes of politicians like being witnessed in the United States between the Democratic Party politicians and the Republican politicians cannot be termed a revolution. It is a struggle for power. a change to achieve more effective ways of tackling the nation's problems as promised like president Barack Obama prior to his election, but which he could not fulfill due to the Republican Party's control of the Congress. And we are witnesses to series of changes that Democratic Party's presidential candidates are promising to make - if they succeed in defeating President Donald Trump in the forthcoming election.There is no serious social issue present in the U.S. that demand for a drastic change on which a demand for revolution can be anchored. The cost of bread or food generally is not inaccessible for people,and the economy is doing well. Unlike Nigeria, where the struggle to survive economically due to bad economic situation is almost nearing a situation to call for a drastic change .
The Nigerian situation is pathetic like the Venezuelan situation, still the situation in Nigeria, unlike the situation in Venezuela, has not reached the tipping point, and it is why very few people in Nigeria are reacting to the arrest of a politician who has called for a revolution to remove the incumbent president from office with passivity. It is at most a risk of a political confrontation that can go either in favor of the leader of the group that has called for a revolution or in favor of government that thinks it is its responsibility to enforce the law. Even in Venezuela, where the economic situation has reached a tipping point, the well healed opposition has not succeeded in efforts to remove the sitting president. if the economic situation has completely broken, the government would have lost control because a large number of people would have been on the streets to favor the callers for a revolution.
It thus mean that if a politician is not ready to allow a natural development capable of triggering a revolution to take shape, but prefers to call for one, such a politician must be ready to face the consequence of breaking the law, the consequence of treason for calling out for the overthrow of an incumbent leader. For Christ sake, no leader wants to hear that he or she is being called out to be overthrown. It is why journalists and writers are perpetually in trouble for calling out a leader against the situation present in a society based on truth and professional calling. it is a moral equivalent of war for a leader to be called out to be overthrown.
Anyone who calls for a revolution against a sitting government automatically becomes an enemy of the government, if his or her enemies manage to convince a government that the person is planning a revolution or that the person desires to overthrow a government, the enemies have succeeded in hanging the person. The situation will naturally lead to loggerheads between the government and the person named as a planner of revolution. The enemies can pounce on the person and then put the responsibility on government, and it is why the government often use the ploy of arresting a revolution planner not only to safe the government, but also to save the planner. because if anything happens to the planner, the government may be held responsible.
It is thus wiser to ensure the safety of the planner through arrest and detention, to ensure the government is not derailed and to ensure nothing happens to the planner, capable of giving the government a bad name. It is why a revolution is a serious business that the undertakers very well know the consequence of their acts hardly leads to a comfortable life for themselves with an incumbent leader alive.
"Is the occurrence in Hong Kong a protest or revolution?" Many people have begun to ask the question. Some of the protesters tend to want the protest as a revolution, but what has happened so far is a fight between the police and the protesters. Although, the protesters have smashed government buildings, They have hardly achieve the type of change that would qualify events in Hong Kong as a revolution. However, judged by the popular French revolution, the definition of revolution takes a different form.
The French revolution went for about ten years before it reached a tipping point. It is possible that the Hong Kong is going through the same development and that it may eventually reach a tipping point when everything goes out of control and the country is forced into undertaking a drastic change beyond human imagination. When the French revolution reached a tipping point, there were social issues that helped it reached the point and not just that some politicians gathered together and said they wanted a forceful change to remove their leaders from office. Recent events in Sudan also shows how a revolution can be effected when a situation has degenerated and the leader has lost control.
A struggle for office between different classes of politicians like being witnessed in the United States between the Democratic Party politicians and the Republican politicians cannot be termed a revolution. It is a struggle for power. a change to achieve more effective ways of tackling the nation's problems as promised like president Barack Obama prior to his election, but which he could not fulfill due to the Republican Party's control of the Congress. And we are witnesses to series of changes that Democratic Party's presidential candidates are promising to make - if they succeed in defeating President Donald Trump in the forthcoming election.There is no serious social issue present in the U.S. that demand for a drastic change on which a demand for revolution can be anchored. The cost of bread or food generally is not inaccessible for people,and the economy is doing well. Unlike Nigeria, where the struggle to survive economically due to bad economic situation is almost nearing a situation to call for a drastic change .
The Nigerian situation is pathetic like the Venezuelan situation, still the situation in Nigeria, unlike the situation in Venezuela, has not reached the tipping point, and it is why very few people in Nigeria are reacting to the arrest of a politician who has called for a revolution to remove the incumbent president from office with passivity. It is at most a risk of a political confrontation that can go either in favor of the leader of the group that has called for a revolution or in favor of government that thinks it is its responsibility to enforce the law. Even in Venezuela, where the economic situation has reached a tipping point, the well healed opposition has not succeeded in efforts to remove the sitting president. if the economic situation has completely broken, the government would have lost control because a large number of people would have been on the streets to favor the callers for a revolution.
It thus mean that if a politician is not ready to allow a natural development capable of triggering a revolution to take shape, but prefers to call for one, such a politician must be ready to face the consequence of breaking the law, the consequence of treason for calling out for the overthrow of an incumbent leader. For Christ sake, no leader wants to hear that he or she is being called out to be overthrown. It is why journalists and writers are perpetually in trouble for calling out a leader against the situation present in a society based on truth and professional calling. it is a moral equivalent of war for a leader to be called out to be overthrown.
Anyone who calls for a revolution against a sitting government automatically becomes an enemy of the government, if his or her enemies manage to convince a government that the person is planning a revolution or that the person desires to overthrow a government, the enemies have succeeded in hanging the person. The situation will naturally lead to loggerheads between the government and the person named as a planner of revolution. The enemies can pounce on the person and then put the responsibility on government, and it is why the government often use the ploy of arresting a revolution planner not only to safe the government, but also to save the planner. because if anything happens to the planner, the government may be held responsible.
It is thus wiser to ensure the safety of the planner through arrest and detention, to ensure the government is not derailed and to ensure nothing happens to the planner, capable of giving the government a bad name. It is why a revolution is a serious business that the undertakers very well know the consequence of their acts hardly leads to a comfortable life for themselves with an incumbent leader alive.
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