It is a stretch, I know, but I am going to try to make a case for why our world is undergoing a quiet revolution as I write.    By ‘our world’, I mean what is commonly referred to as the First World.  Some of the Third and Second worlds are involved as well but they aren’t as quiet about it as we seem to be.  See:  Middle East.  See: Greece.   

‘The times, they are a’changin’.  Radically!

Generally speaking peasants don’t revolt.  They resist.  They run.  They avoid.  They hide.  Peasants are, historically, only driven to armed rebellion by starvation and, even at that, many millions accepted even that horrible fate passively .  See:  The Great Leap Forward (China).  See: Russia.  See: Ethiopia et al.

This ‘peasant peacefulness’ was especially true after the advent of the franchise. Since the vote any collective dissent has been ‘well-managed’ and, with our inherent sense of fairness at work, the results of the inevitably divided vote would be accepted by all and we’d all just ‘carry on’.

Can’t revolt in our system!  It is in the social contract.  That would not be fair!  It is hard to even complain when you and your neighbours had a chance to cast your ballot and the side you supported lost ‘fair and square’.  It is even harder to complain when the side you supported won!

But the parties and the system are corrupt.  That negates the contract.  And I don’t mean: crooked.  That is a sub-category.  I mean the democratic system.  None of us chooses the people who rule us.  Parties choose those people.  There is no democracy.  Not in the true sense of it, anyway.  This recognition of corruption-in-the-process hasn’t officially been stated by the majority of peasants yet in any cohesive or LOUD way.  But it will. Political polarization is a symptom of that.  The OCCUPY movement is yet another hint of it. We are beginning to collectively reject the system.

And I am making the argument that, even though they don’t know they are in resistance, the people are already quietly revolting in a number of ways.  That’s right.  The REVOLUTION is happening right under our very noses.  It is being conducted by us and we don’t even know it!!  Weird, eh?

“How is that possible?  I am a peasant.  Wouldn’t I hear something if all the other peasants were  revolting?”

Not necessarily.  It seems the peasants are revolting on a number of different fronts. None of it organized, little of it is even conscious.  Much of it is invisible.  Still, we are quietly fighting back in our own little ways.

Most of us don’t know that we are partaking in a revolution even though we are.  That is because most of our resistance is passive and benign.  Some of it is private and secret.  Much of it takes the form of apathy and depression.  It definitely takes the form of NOT voting.  But, if you look around, you’ll see more.  And what you’ll see is the peasants revolting in the manner they have always chosen: little steps, little acts, safe protests, quiet rejection, passive resistance.

We are dropping out, seeking alternatives, cheating the system, disregarding it, ignoring their messages.  We no longer believe their message.  We are revolting, resisting, rejecting, avoiding and not engaging in the system that is purported to be our own.  We are opting out of what they say we want.

Think about it…………

We’ve lost respect for our institutions, even the media

We’ve lost respect for our poiticians

We’ve even lost respect for the RCMP

We are angry.

For example: Referendums almost always result in rejection of the proposal.  See:  California.  See:  BC.  Is that because the proposals are always bad?  No!  Greece’s economic reform proposals are supposedly ‘good’ but their referendum will likely reject it.  The HST in BC was perceived by many ‘experts’ as better economically but we rejected it anyway.  Why?  Because we were mad at the government and wanted to tell them that we were mad.

Voting for the red party or the blue party just doesn’t do that for us.  So we reject referendums as a safe way to rebel.  It’s a protest.  These are not rejections of ‘political positions’, they are rejections of the government.

Wait!  There’s more.  People cheat on their taxes more than ever.  They try NOT to pay if they can avoid it.  Ask almost any citizen and they’ll say, “I pay taxes but I am not happy.  I’d stop paying if I could.  I am afraid to cheat but, if I could safely avoid paying tax, I would!”  That is an attitude of passive resistance.  But when they actually succeed in NOT paying a tax, that is active resistance.

People are buying local and organic.  Eating the 100 mile diet.  That is a passive way of rejecting the system – for whatever reason – health, supporting neighbours, saving the planet from oil consumption, sticking it to Monsanto……whatever…….it is resistance.

Many Americans are homeless.  Over one million are full-time homeless and two more million are estimated to be part-time homeless.  And that does not count those who walked away from their over-mortgaged homes.  These people are not system supporters.

And everyone hates the oil companies.

On the dark side there are a whole bunch of people who are full-time criminals.  And the USA has more people in prison (percentage) than any other country in the world.  That has to be some form of rebellion.

You’d be surprised to learn how many ex-pat Canadians and Americans there are living in other countries.

And so it goes………… rejection, tax evasion, quiet revolution, passive resistance, youth rebellion.  Even the buying of gold is a passive rejection of our currency!

And now – the OCCUPY movement.

“Something’s happening here and we don’t know what it is.  Do we, Mr.  Jones?” 

No.  No we don’t.  I don’t know either but I suspect that there will be more.