Starting in 2000, a wave of “people power” revolutions - spearheaded by vibrant youth movements - toppled governments in Serbia, Georgia and Ukraine.
Each involved an unpopular government with authoritarian tendencies, a rigged election, an explicit commitment on the part of the “revolutionaries” (crucial to their success) to use only nonviolent tactics and, most controversially, financial support from Western governments and “democracy” foundations.
According to the Financial Times, Serbian opposition groups received “around $40m of US assistance” in the two years running up to Milosevic's overthrow, while the Soros Foundation-backed “Rose Revolution” in Georgia has been described as “a coup, masked by the biggest street party that Tbilisi has ever seen.” Yet in reality, Collin argues, these events were considerably more complex than either their supporters or detractors have allowed.
Nonetheless, whilst he-who-pays-the-piper may not necessarily call the tune, he undoubtedly has a major role in determining where and under what circumstances a tune gets played. Thus, activists in Azerbaijan (whose failure Collin also documents), begged the US for financial support to help oust corrupt autocrat - and Washington ally - Ilham Aliyev. Unsurprisingly, they were left to swing in the wind.
Though clearly inspired by the people involved, Collin is quick to highlight the many shortcomings of these “revolutions” e.g. the far-from-revolutionary demands (e.g. anyone-but-Milosevic) around which they coalesced and their tendency to lose their way, or evaporate, once these had been achieved. He also describes the informal network of itinerant “people power” experts that has formed in their wake, travelling the world to spread their hard-won knowledge.
Self-confessedly though, this is not a work of “deep political analysis.”
Instead, we have an inspiring book of stories, suffused with what Collin terms `the illumination of the personal and the minutiae of lives lived in the intoxication of the moment': the young Otpor activist threatened by the chainsaw wielding “Sheriff” of Po arevac; headscarved babushkas taking pots of borscht, black bread and pickled cucumbers to the tent city in Kiev's Independence Square; a young Belarussian woman trying to hold back her tears as she realises that she has crossed a line and must now wait for the police to move in and arrest her.
Yet for PN readers the most important thing about this book is probably its timely reminder that “people power” is alive and well in the 21st century, and capable of effecting major political change. The challenge, of course, is to harness this latent power to address the political and environmental crises we now face.