“There is an arc of spontaneous revolts, beautiful in their creative beginnings, which traverses boundaries and borders and creates new solidarities and imaginations but which under the whip of the forces of order and strategies to buy-off sectors of the revolt becomes fragmented.” BeautifulOrderForceImaginationCreativeStrategyBoundariesBordersSolidaritySpontaneousRevoltWhipsArcsFragmentedTraverse Author:Nigel Gibson
“Rotten travesty. Yeah. Send me to jail for contempt. Try that. Go ahead.” TryingYeahJailContemptRottenTravesty Author:Jack Kevorkian
“The grand schemes of liberation, however indistinct and amorphous, can quickly be compromised, consumed by petty disputes and local hatreds.” HatredLocalsLiberationSchemesPettyDisputesConsumed Author:Nigel Gibson
“What is interesting about the revolts is that they show that there is never anything purely spontaneous, and there is always some thinking and discussion, and thus some kind of organization involved in it.” ThinkingKindShowsInterestingInvolvedOrganizationDiscussionSpontaneousRevolt Author:Nigel Gibson
“Organization has to come from an agreement about principles, rather than just the need to coordinate: so as much as we must all act today in a concerted manner, that should not be the ground of an organization.” NeedsShouldTodayPrinciplesOrganizationAgreementCoordinates Author:Nigel Gibson
“Manicheanism is like a vacuum, it is an either or situation that curtails or destroys the development of liberatory thought.” SituationDevelopmentVacuumsEither Or Author:Nigel Gibson
“The colonial power tended to be France or Britain, and the Soviets were proclaimed as anti-imperialists. So, if you align yourself with the Soviets, it fits nicely with that kind of rhetorical division, but in reality it does not get you anywhere.” IfsKindDoeRealityFitFranceBritainDivisionRhetorical Author:Nigel Gibson
“The colonial regime makes sure, often with the help of surrogates, that radical leaders and those honest principled intellectuals and activists who refuse to compromise their principles of independence are eliminated, so that the postcolonial regime (and especially its resources) remains accessible. The result has been a disaster for the (post)colonial world.” WorldHas BeensHelpingResultsLeaderPrinciplesHonestResourcesIndependenceRemainsRefuseDisasterCompromiseRadicalPostsActivistRegimesPrincipledSurrogates Author:Nigel Gibson
“The Syrian people do not recognize themselves in the elite politics of the Muslim Brotherhood or the left, each of which is looking for an external power rather than the people's own self-activity.” PeopleSelfLeftActivityBrotherhoodElitesMuslim Brotherhood Author:Nigel Gibson
“The military defeat of an oppressive regime is important, but it does not answer our problems. It is where our problems begin, since social change cannot be reduced to a military solution.” DoeImportantProblemSocialAnswersMilitarySolutionsDefeatRegimesSocial Change Author:Nigel Gibson