"If I am not for myself, who will be
for me?
Yet if I am for myself only, who am
I?"
Hillel
This inscription located in the cover of the book The
Milagro Beanfield War correctly encompasses many of the
conditions that shape the life of most revolutionary leaders
which at the same time serve as combustible for their
quests.
It can in fact be compared to the differences expressed
between individual versus collective human rights.
For revolutions to take place an individual has to
become aware of the misjudgments being made by the higher power
of government.
This happens due to the difficulties raised whenever
trying to reach self development.
Once this occurs, the individual tries to illustrate
other people among the same society of this reality thus creating
a domino effect which little by little involves more people and
thus a movement is formed. Similarly, a person can not achieve
his or her collective human rights if his or her own individual
rights are not being accomplished.
From the experiences lived by Mao Zedong, Mohandas
Gandhi, Anne Moody, and Jose Mondragon, we can see how they first
needed to realize their own identity before being capable of
showing others the reality that collectively was being
suffered.
Even though these characters were different in the way
in which their revolutions took place and in their cultural
background, it is obvious that they had to promote actions
sometimes based on violent or nonviolent protest in order to gain
the mobilization and support of the people.
Before any revolutionary leader becomes what he or she
is destined to be, there is a period of character formation which
takes place in the early life, especially during childhood.
Perhaps the most evident feature that characterized the lives of
Mao, Gandhi, Moody, and Mondragon was their relationship with
family. With a few differences, we can establish a general rule
based on the fact that their rapport with their parents was not
very good.
As we recall in Mao’s life, he was forced by his
father to attend school in order to gain a superior class status
that would lead to an increase in their lands.
Anne Moody’s parents were slaves in a farm where
they were mistreated and her mother seemed to live for the only
reason of procreating.
Gandhi constantly challenged his family by escaping from
school in order to attain a feeling from the limitations of his
progenitors.
Jose Mondragon, under the same idea, lost respect for
his father after he left him and decided to go north to work for
landowners instead of overcoming the obstacles and working his
own field.
As we can see, these leaders might have fought for
completely different reasons and concerns, but their identity
formation definitely occurred due to the events suffered in their
childhood.
Resisting powerful authorities and challenging the laws
that were naturally being imposed in their lives due to the
empirical regulations of their governments or societies where a
common theme in these people’s quest for
revolution.
Furthermore, the cultural environment where the
revolutionary leader grows up is definitely bound to affect the
general rules under which the identity of the person will
develop. Mao Zedong came from a conservative Chinese tradition
surrounded with a very intense meaning of communal living. At
this point the importance of Confucianism was paramount in his
society and as the mandate from heaven it was not up to him to
challenge it.
This made his revolutionary thoughts even more engaging.
Similarly Anne Moody lived in a historic period of the United
States when people of color where not
consider equal in society.
We can consider this as the stone in Anne’s way
and with her personal
characteristics we see how she transforms this "negative" quality
of her life into the gasoline that sparks her revolutionary
movement.
Mohandas Gandhi as a person who lived in to a similar
society as Mao in the sense of its conservative attitudes towards
values and traditions was also challenged after seeing the
injustices that his own people and other societies suffered under
the rule of colonists from the west.
It was his cultural background what made him realize
that people had lived peacefully in their land for centuries and
therefore explorer authority was not supposed to impose new
divisions and regulations upon them.
Even Jose Mondragon who did not seem to have a very
strong cultural attachment to his people’s Catholic beliefs
shows his connection with the land that saw him grow after being
challenged by his own contradictions.
The attitudes and wisdoms that a person learns
throughout the early years of his or her life are much stronger
than many innate characteristics.
This is the reason why these leaders were capable not
only of convincing themselves of the bad situations that were
occurring around them but also of persuading others to understand
how they were being affected by these issues.
Maybe the case of Mondragon varies up to some level with
this common characteristic but he has a very loyal supporter
named Ruby who strengthens his will and his commitment for the
preservation of his people’s values.
Because of this identity formation that occurs in front
of the eyes of the leader’s societies, the followers see
the mistakes and successes thus becoming more engaged into the
whole movement that is instantly formed after the consolidation
of a group’s ideology.
As we have discussed earlier in ponderings from
Hunington and Tilly, there are commonalities in the manner by
which revolutions are predetermined.
The fact that the revolutionary leaders studied this
semester share many characteristic in their identity formation
can be considered as another precondition for revolutionary
activity.
Knowing that modernization leads to revolution there
must be people who are willing to risk their freedoms and rights
in carrying on with this modernization and thus Mao, Gandhi,
Moody, and Mondragon are pioneers in their societies thanks to
taking that first step towards a more sustainable environment for
all.
Another factor that compares the lives of these leaders
is the way in which their attitudes changed from simply
individuals revolting against a law or mandate to becoming the
heart of the revolutionary ideologies among their
societies.
When Jose wanted to find a job he never thought about
revolting against the northern landowners who were taking away
all job opportunities in his area. He simply kicked a water meter
and began irrigating his own field.
Even though he knew this was illegal he was accidentally
taking a stance against the situation that had been happening in
his own life. This action became the heart of his uprising and
helped fellow citizens feel identified and do something to
support him.
Similar conditions occurred in the lives of Moody, Mao
and Gandhi. I do not believe they were born knowing that when
they reached a certain age they had to make people support them
and revolt against their governments or societies.
It seems as if they simply lived more outspokenly and
thus became the heart of the movements which surrounded
them.
After all one person is not capable of overthrowing a
government, gain rights for a racial group or disrupt a
developer’s construction. It is the basic idea collectively
with the support of a discontent group of people who are capable
of finally reaching those resolutions.
In conclusion, even though we can see how revolutionary
leaders are not born but instead they are raised, we now have the
capacity to generally agree on the fact that some preconditions
do exist during the childhood period of the four revolutionaries
analyzed.
Similarly as Tilly expresses that there are
preconditions for revolutions to occur such as the tolerability
gap in a J-curve, I believe that some events that occur during
the early years of a person can shape his or her attitudes
towards a more challenging personality which is prone to adopting
revolutionary approaches in the future.
The meaning of meaning it for this kind of people relies
on the fact that they are not trying to gain power in order to
satisfy the needs of others including his people.
What makes them successful in meaning it is being part
of the marginalized group who is also looking for
self-development and incidentally is supporting others reach the
same success.
Bibliography
– Goldstone, Jack Ed. (Hunington).
Revolutions: Theoretical, Comparative and Historical
Studies.
Boulder: Westview Press, 1991.
Goldstone, Jack Ed. (Tilly).
Revolutions: Theoretical, Comparative and Historical
Studies.
Boulder: Westview Press, 1991.
. – Goldstone, Jack Ed. (Maslow).
Revolutions: Theoretical, Comparative and Historical
Studies.
Boulder: Westview Press, 1991.
Fabio Fermi
December 10th 2004