（Source of picture: http://www.deviantart.com）
Revolution came from the Latin root Revolutio which means to turn direction or to change fundamentally.
Looking at uprisings from across nations in 2011, from Tunisian Revolution in North Africa, Egyptian Revolution to American citizens occupying Wall Street, the word “Revolution” is happening in all corners of the world.
Towards the end of this revolution year, G!VOICE deconstructed various meanings and aspects of revolution, taking Gamanians to learn the Spirit of Revolution that is ever relevant and innovative!
Speaking of revolution, the first thing that comes in mind is usually the image of political uprising which involves sacrifice and violence. Greek philosopher Aristotle interpreted the word, “Revolution means a political organization or structure undergoes total transition or correction of its existing structure in a very short amount of time.”
Looking closely at a few political revolutions in year 2011, we may even say that the ways in which revolution takes place even has a revolution in itself. Internet plays the key role in all of this. Take Egyptian Revolution as example, the cause of the incident started from a Facebook page created by the marketing manager of Google, Wael Ghonim. This page incited the protest and dissatisfaction the Egyptian people have for their government and hence resulted in the surge of Revolution that eventually swept former President of Egypt Hosni Mubarak away and forced him to step down.
（Source of picture: http://www.deviantart.com/）
Facebook Enables Speedy Spreading of Message on Egyptian Revolution
Ghonim used “Revolution 2.0” to describe this civic movement, “Our revolution is like Wikipedia, isn’t it? Every person contributes to the content but you don’t know the name of the contributor. This is identical to the situation in Egypt and the Revolution 2.0. Each person more or less gives their contribution to draft a comprehensive blueprint for the revolution, but in this blueprint, no one is hero.”
However, the author of The Tipping Point−How little things can make a big difference , Malcolm Gladwell reminds us that the real revolution does not solely result from social networking tools such as Twitter. He thinks that people overrate the role that Twitter or Facebook plays in the recent social movement. Without a doubt, social networking media enables fast message exchange and spread. You can even pass on the information to an acquaintance (weak link). But the real revolution involves real action, such as walking onto the street.
Indeed, when supporting certain social issue, sitting in front of the laptop, clicking “like” on Facebook can only make yourself feel better at best. In reality, you haven’t done anything. Social networking media are wonderful communication tools but the power of change that carries with revolution needs to start from each individual’s “actual participation.”
However, applying the word, Revolution only in political field is a relatively narrow interpretation. In a broader sense, culture, commerce or life style are all changing and shifting fundamentally. The process of transforming from old to new is also called revolution. This viewpoint is similar to our founding father, Dr. Sun Yat-Sen’s view on Revolution of 1911(a.k.a Xinhai Revolution), “Revolution means exactly the same thing as reformation. You need to have a constructive plan then do some damage. That’s what revolution means.”
Revolutions such as Industrial Revolution, the Gutenberg Revolution and Internet Revolution etc all required some form of destruction to the old production, communication mode and created something new to present to the world. Even though it is just a mini revolution that takes place in life, could well be the first step to changing the world. Revolutions of different size and range brought forth the progress we enjoy today. Viva la revolución!
Revolution Class
1. Revolution in the East
It was first seen in I Ching, “TungWu revolution is the inevitable trend that ties in with fate and people, it was the right time to do it.” Its original meaning focused more on re-organization than actual change. It indicated to eradicate the “fate” that destroy the harmony and let it go back on track.
2. Revolution in the West
During the Renaissance, Revolution means recurring circulation. People at the time thought that Europe should go back to the humanistic time in ancient Greek and Rome
3. Revolution after 16th Century
Westerners refer to Revolution as significant political change, often through extreme means.
4. Post French Revolution
The meaning of Revolution was extended from political aspect to social, economical aspect. Any significant change would be refer to revolution.
5. Contemporary Revolution
Whether it’s within single range or speedy, extreme reformation in all levels, violent or otherwise, they can all be called revolution.