Thoughts on "What can one person do?"

@nonzerosumjames.bsky.social just published What can one person do? It's a good article and questions what we should do when faced with the challenge of tyranny, of an oppressive state. Do we put ourselves immediately in harms way? Is death the only outcome? Is there any point?

This is a quick post in response (it's late and I don't want to be dealing with multiple message BlueSky thread).

My thinking has shifted significantly since reading "From Dictatorship to Democracy" by Gene Sharp. There's so much good stuff in there but central theme is: be smart, if your enemy is a police state with guns and prisons, don't fight that directly by protesting on the streets and throwing rocks. You're trying to confront the strongest part of the regime using your weakest part, instead "fight" it indirectly. Or rather we should not say fight at all, but subvert, redirect.

Subvert: the regime will have various elements that they focus on to support them. Which of these can you subvert. Or which elements are they forced to ignore that you can leverage? The book has so many great examples but civil society clubs from gardening allotments to sport to sewing etc is a powerful one... we're just growing vegetables, but whilst weeding we're planning and talking, forming bonds, and we share our food with others less fortunate, they help us in different ways.

Redirect: In Tai Chi and various martial arts you don't directly confront your attackers momentum but instead you use your attackers momentum against them by deftly redirecting it and shifting them off balance. I can't give you an example for a country like Russia but they will exist.

You might like to check out the Albert Einstein Institution that Gene Sharp set up led by the amazing @jamilaraqib.bsky.social.

FYI Russia is doing a great job of finding our weak points (wealth inequality, globalisation, elitism) and pressing on them via misdirection (migration, corruption, cost of living) using the tools of our tech overlords (advertising, echo chambers, vitriol).

There's a lot each one of us can do to improve ourselves, make better sense of our complex world and act better together for everyone's happiness. Let's be smart.