Mad Kings & Queens, Week V [Monday, Period 4]

[atreideslioness]

"Today might seem familiar to some of my previous students, and for that I apologize. I had to re-arrange our syllabus slightly."

"Over the last few weeks, I have given you some examples of rulers gone mad," Ghanima stated. "To be honest, the best way to survive such a monarch is to quite simply keep your head down. If you don't make waves, you'll probably survive the experience. Some may call this cowardly, but it is common sense. Unless you have some way to change the status quo, your best option is to try and wait it out."



"There are many ways to remove someone from power." Hopping off the recreation of her desk, Ghanima picked up a marker and twirled it between her fingers. "Assassination, a military coup, a legalized change in the laws of succession, a conspiracy by other family members, bribery, kidnapping, the list goes on and on."

"Today we are discussing how to be a successful revolutionary, as well as how to keep and hold power. For those of you who favor the democratic methods, I’m going to ask you to set aside your personal feelings for the time being. Our focus today is on the various ways to overthrow a government. I’m not interested in hearing about the right or wrong just yet, that’s up to each of you as private individuals."

"We're going to discuss what revolutions can be used for, how they can be put together, and why a failed revolution can be just as effective."

"Weapons. Organization. Tactics. Propaganda. Intelligence." Ghanima turned to the wipe-board at the front of the room and began writing as she spoke. "These are some of the basic resources on both sides of the divide. However, these alone are not enough to overcome a government. It requires teamwork, coordination, a willingness to make hard choices, determination, and passion. Despite what romantics and poets may think," she said, turning back to the class, "there is no such thing as a one man revolution. While one person can start the ball rolling, they most assuredly will not win without an organization backing them."

"What is the difference between a revolution and a rebellion?" Setting down her marker, Ghanima grabbed some handouts from her desk and began distributing them. "Is it simply the matter of selecting an adjective, or is there a fundamental, underlying difference between the two? How do you decide if you are rebelling, or beginning a revolution? If you are an emperor, how would you portray such an insurgency? To the ruling faction, is there a difference, or is the only distinction in the eyes of the opposition?" She asked, smiling quietly at each of the students. "These are difficult questions, and I do not expect you to have conclusive answers already prepared."

"Now, how is the battle fought?" More handouts were passed around the class. "Guerilla warfare, the army, irregular soldiers, special forces, spies, propagandists, strategists, tacticians, all of these people are employed by both sides of a revolt. You don’t just need to win a fight on a physical battlefield, half the battle in a revolution is spiritual. You need to win the hearts and minds of the people. No matter which side you’re on, if you do not gain the support of public, you will never win. Never. You might win a reprieve today, or tomorrow, or for a week or a year or ten years, or ten thousand years, but you. Will. Lose."

"As the ruler of a country, what would you do when faced with a revolution? Don’t say 'negotiate', or 'listen to their grievances,' because realistically that is not what’s going to happen," she said, stalking down the rows of desks. "You are the God King of the Universe, born, bred, and trained to the position, and you have some nobody telling you that you’re not doing your job properly? Are you actually going to listen to these people? No, you are not."


"Remember – sometimes a failed revolution can do just as much good as a successful one, if you play your cards right. However, is a dead revolutionary really a successful one, even if his or her cause succeeds?" Ghanima leaned back against her desk, neon eyes swirling. "I will leave that up for you to decide."

[OOC: Plz wait for the OCD to go up!]

Comments

Sign-In #5

[atreideslioness]

Viva la revolution!

Re: Sign-In #5

[walks-two-paths.livejournal.com]

Savannah Levine

Listen to the Lecture

[atreideslioness]

Or be a rebel and ignore the ruling elite. Just don't be surprised if your head rolls.

Re: Listen to the Lecture

[walks-two-paths.livejournal.com]

Savannah is taking notes.

Re: Listen to the Lecture

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

Liir took notes, but it might as well have been another hand writing on the page for his attention was so riveted to her. There was, in fact, no doubt that he would be visiting her office hours this week or the next.

It was just a matter of when he'd figure out what he wanted to ask.

Re: Listen to the Lecture

[weetuskenraider]

Tahiri got more interested in this class every week, and was taking notes on the lecture with the kind of rapt attention she used to pay to Master Skywalker's lessons back on Yavin 4.

She'd heard plenty about the history of the Rebel Alliance -- it was kind of hard not to, considering how many of its heroes and their children she'd come into contact with over the past few years -- but that was different from what Professor Atreides was talking about, and who knew? It could come in handy someday. Governments in her galaxy seemed to have a limited shelf life anyway.

Re: Listen to the Lecture

[momslilassassin]

Ben's hand was in danger of cramping with the sheer volume of notes he was taking.

He decided to write the class up as a report and send it back to his father. Not that he thought Luke needed insights on revolution...

Re: Listen to the Lecture

[lordofthecats.livejournal.com]

Lion-o took detailed notes, though he hoped he would never have to use these ideas.

Re: Listen to the Lecture

[solo_sword]

Jaina had by now been on several sides of revolutions and rebellions and seen people taken out of power- even unwillingly played a part in it. She was listening intently, thinking up answers even then.

Re: Listen to the Lecture

[cataclysmicluck.livejournal.com]

Zayne really needed to get a datapad with audio input. This class was ridiculous with notes. Very informative. But ridiculous.

Discussion: Rebellion or Revolution?

[atreideslioness]

What's the difference?

Re: Discussion: Rebellion or Revolution?

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

"Rebellion disagrees with who rules and how they rule and acts or fails to act against it. Revolution seeks to change who rules, and how.

"An act of revolution is an act of rebellion, but an act of rebellion is not necessarily an act of revolution."

Re: Discussion: Rebellion or Revolution?

[momslilassassin]

"If you're in charge, there's absolutely no difference between the two," Ben said, eyes completely devoid of emotion. "Either is a challenge to your power, and both must be quashed as ruthlessly as possible. A rebellion can grow into a revolution if it isn't nipped in the bud. If it's allowed to grow, it'll take destroying planets to get anyone's attention."

Not that he had immediate experience with this.

Re: Discussion: Rebellion or Revolution?

[solo_sword]

"A rebellion is an uprising against something, a revolution is turning that uprising into force," Jaina decided. Which, come to think of it, was probably a lot of the problem they'd been having been home. They were fighting a rebellion when they should have been aiming for revolution. "I want to say a revolution is the next step, what happens when you have to be offensive instead of defensive."

Discussion!: Tools of the Trade: "Weapons. Organization. Tactics. Propaganda. Intelligence."

[atreideslioness]

What would be your favorite tool for a revolution, and why?

Re: Discussion!: Tools of the Trade: "Weapons. Organization. Tactics. Propaganda. Intelligence."

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

"Intelligence," he said quietly.

"You can't keep yourself safe without it and you won't do much good rotting in a jail cell, obviously. If your intelligence is faulty, no amount of weapons or organization will be put in the right place. And without intelligence, your propaganda will ring false and be easily foiled.

"Knowledge, as always, is power, subtle power, and one of the hardest to act against or even know another possesses until they show their hand."

Re: Discussion!: Tools of the Trade: "Weapons. Organization. Tactics. Propaganda. Intelligence."

[momslilassassin]

Ben smiled humorlessly. "I'd choose a Jedi. For generations, Jedi have gone hand in hand with the legitimate government. If a Jedi is in charge, the people will believe that whatever they are doing--however horrifying--is legitimate, at least for a little while. And internal Jedi politics are so complicated that it would take months, even years, before they would deign to admit that they might've made a mistake about something. A Jedi with power can destroy a galaxy in an amazingly short period of time." He shrugged. "They've done it at least twice, after all."

Re: Discussion!: Tools of the Trade: "Weapons. Organization. Tactics. Propaganda. Intelligence."

[raspberryturk]

"The underground," Reno tossed in. "People use their armies and their terrorist tactics and their big, shiny weapons until nobody even notices 'em no more, but none of it does a lick of good if people don't bother gettin' in without bein' noticed, findin' out what's what, and knowin' where and when their propaganda is gonna work the best, or what factory has to blow up to get the most attention in the end. It ain't the work that makes the headlines, hell, it's best if that kinda thing stays outta the news. But nobody can deny that it makes a big difference in the end, yoto."

Re: Discussion!: Tools of the Trade: "Weapons. Organization. Tactics. Propaganda. Intelligence."

[solo_sword]

"Military," Jaina said, "but I'm biased. And probably cheating. Most of the higher-up military I know could probably do it all."

Re: Discussion!: Tools of the Trade: "Weapons. Organization. Tactics. Propaganda. Intelligence."

[cataclysmicluck.livejournal.com]

"I think some way of gathering intelligence would have to be mine," Zayne said. "Before you can really accomplish anything, you need to know what you're doing and how to do it. The only real way to be prepared is to get some kind of reliable intelligence."

Talk to the TAs

[atreideslioness]

Once they ping in!

Re: Talk to the TAs

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

There certainly was a Merlin there. A very thoughtful one at that.

You may not notice any difference in how he normally looked, but I can assure you... he was thoughtful.

Re: Talk to the TAs

[raspberryturk]

There was a Reno there, and, for a change of pace, he was looking thoughtful as well.

It was a topic that struck close to home, was all.

Talk to Ghanima

[atreideslioness]

Both before and after class!

Re: Talk to Ghanima

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

After class, Merlin waited to speak with the teacher alone. "Lady Ghanima?"

OOC

[atreideslioness]

Sorry for the repeat, ya'll. There will be an OOC post going up shortly regarding my availability.