On the anniversary of the Jina uprising, during a season of recounting achievements and celebrating its unique features, it is necessary to think about the things we did not achieve. In this discussion with Vincent Bevins, we talked about the vacuum of leadership in protests and uprisings, about organizational structures and the pitfalls of horizontalism, about organizing that enables division of labor and discipline, about the impact of social networks and influencers in destroying opportunities and potential, about the neoliberal subject within the context of contemporary struggles, and about the necessity of a clear ideology and strategy for revolution. Vincent Bevins is not a revolutionary theorist, nor does he claim to be, so it’s only natural that we shouldn’t expect that from him. However, based on 200 to 250 interviews with activists in 12 countries where, over the past two decades, either protest movements and revolutions have failed or the ruling order was replaced by one worse than before, he has important things to say. Vincent Bevins is an American writer and journalist whose work assignments in Brazil and Indonesia have allowed him to closely observe many significant developments in these two countries.
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