Revolution is a powerful word. It evokes vivid images, strong emotions. It contains a potent mixture of hopes, romance, excitement and terror. Small wonder then that so many great works of literature, art and cinema have been inspired by revolution. Everyone has their own image of revolution, whether it is a tumultuous scene of crowds swirling through the streets to storm a Bastille or a Winter Palace; the lonely figure of a dedicated revolutionary pursuing a vision of change regardless of danger to himself or anyone else; or perhaps a grimmer picture of the human cost of revolution. Like grand natural phenomena, revolutions demand our attention because they stand out from the usual run of events. They change the course of life just as earthquakes divert the coarse of rivers and shift the features of the landscape. Suddenly every aspect of the life is put into sharper focus. Politicians, ideologues, artists and ordinary people are swept up in the drama of rapid and fundamental change. One person’s popular revolution is another’s conspiratorial coup. A revolution is dramatic shift in power.
“The Revolution must be a deed beyond all measure, burning all things before it….If mankind is ever to escape from its misery, there is only one method: the destruction of everything in fire and blood….There is no other way, no other hope.”By Mark Almond Quoted by Che Guevara.
Could leaders, from Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez be the face of social, cultural, military movement or an abortive revolution vs. the west ?
Comment by Malvo.
