Isolate the Oppressor
What shall we do? We need to isolate the oppressor. The oppressor, at each and every level, must be isolated. This goes for the oppressors as a system, as a government, as units, and as individuals.
- Push for isolation of the autocratic government
- Isolate the bad police, military, and secret police from society
- Isolate each regime member from the rest of society
This is fundamentally reciprocating what the junta regime is very good at. The system thrives on isolating persons that spearhead the revolution and treating them badly, as an example for all to see, such that all remain fearful. Any journalist who digs into their dirty laundry is isolated from the rest by arresting him/her. Any villager who supports a different political party from the one approved by the village chief is isolated and penalized. The same goes for everything else. The regime finds a target and then isolates them from the rest.
The oppressed are the majority. Dictators don't rule alone. They don't exist in thin air. They and their minions live within the context of society. They actually feed on society. They are like a parasite the feeds on the host. They are fleas and ticks. They need to be identified and then isolated from the host such that they cannot easily feed on the host.
But how do we do that? It's easier said than done because the fleas and ticks have occupied parts of the body where our hands cannot easily reach. The cow (society) cannot easily shake off the parasitical feal from its body.
The cow (society) has to go through a dipping process, where it fully immerses itself in a liquid that contains a parasiticide. The liquid will isolate the parasite and remove it from the body of the cow. That is the process that the revolution has to lead society into. A process of isolating the parasites.
Several acts of isolation can be introduced. For isolation to work, it has to garner participation from the masses. Millions of people have to participate. This is difficult to achieve without some enforcers on the ground that enforce compliance from those that are not active members of the regime but are mere sympathizers.
Sympathizers of the regime, those who claim to be apolitical (especially Christians), and those that sit on the fence, must be compelled to choose which side they are on. They are either with us or against us. If they are against us, they effectively choose the side of the oppressor, which is antithetical to their beliefs. Cognitive dissonance will eat them alive. Besides cognitive dissonance, on-the-ground enforces must treat these so-called political players just as if they were a cog in the repressive junta machinery.
The belief is that, if everybody was forced to pick a side, millions will select the revolution. Millions sitting on the fence would lean on the revolution’s side. They just have to be pushed a little bit. Without that small push, many would remain sympathizers of the regime, even though they do not directly benefit from the regime. Without that slight push, many would remain inside the delusional bubble of being non-political. Without the slight push, many would not radicalize themselves into warriors of the revolution.
The push is needed to radicalize millions into rebels with a cause. People are afraid to stand for what they truly believe. Ideals such as equal rights and justice for all are attainable, as long as the masses rally behind the cause.
Acts of Isolation
- Boycotting their businesses
- looting and sabotaging their businesses
- Ostracizing their families, such that their families end up ostracizing those family members that belong to the regime
- Publishing a database of all regime members online, for all to see
- Pressuring the regime members into self-isolation
- divide and conquer type of isolation
- Offering Key Regime members Golden Parachute Exit Packages
- financial isolation, a.k.a weaponized finance
The last one deserves a special comment.
Weaponized Finance
Financial isolation is one of the most powerful tools in the toolbox. Most of the rogue persons who clamor around politicians are all in it for the money. Politicians themselves are just sadistic, narcissistic individuals who love power and control more than anything else. Political power and control of resources give them what they want.
If you had to give them a choice to take a billion dollars and retire from politics and go live on an island alone with domestic workers and friends, versus keeping their powerful political position for another 10 years even though it only generates $100m for them from salaries and bribes, they would always choose the latter, because it involves having a lot of power and control. The people who hang around politicians, who are not-so-much-sociopathic, just hang around for the resources and monetary benefits.
If you take away the money, the sociopathic politicians become very isolated. Civil disobedience is one way to deprive politicians of the loot they take from the public purse. Civilians have to choose not to throw more money into the public purse, as long as those funds are being diverted from the real purposes into the hands of the corrupt government officials.
The dictatorship thrives because it feeds on the public purse. It maintains its grip by isolating and punishing dissenters. For example, if one company submits but does not pay VAT, the Commissioner levies interests and penalties and garnishes the bank account of the company, if need be. That response works because it is an isolated case. If 70% of companies submit VAT returns and chose not to pay, the Commissioner has a problem that he cannot simply fix like he would fix a single occurrence. He has a real problem that needs to be fixed by engaging the protesting companies. It is the commissioner-general who is isolated. The non-paying companies are not the ones isolated in this case.
How do you get the nation into such a quandary? The repressive regime has gotten the nation to a state where it is by leveraging on fear, legalizing looting, and thwarting off any demonstrations. Those who prepare, load, submit VAT returns, as well as those who release the payments say they are just doing their jobs, and it is indeed true that they are just doing their jobs. By doing their jobs, they make sure their businesses are compliant (can be overstood as being complicit). This also means that they make sure that Commissioner has all the money he needs to give the oppressive regime so that they can pay the army, which they can use to repress the nation.
Notice the funds flow, keep your eyes on the money. We pay business (in exchange for goods and services), these businesses pay tax to the taxman, who then pushes the funds to the government, that then pays soldiers and instructs them to beat up people. Weaponizing finance means you have to interject the funds flow at some points. Preventing the people from buying goods and services from these compliant and complicit businesses works but it's too much of a hassle to implement because it inconveniences the masses. Stopping the commissioner from collecting revenue is deemed to be treasonous and is an act of war. It is too extreme. Civil disobedience in the form of companies submitting but not settling their taxes is a better form of protest.
This can be done by mobilizing all those responsible for the payment of taxes to delay the action, as a form of protest. This isolates the Commissioner, the government, and the soldiers, from the money. It is isolation from the public purse. Let us just delay funding the hand that’s stealing. We will pay up when the hand that steals commits to service delivery and ending corruption.
Those who release VAT payments will largely not participate in such a protest, because the state security agents will catch them and victimize them. That is where the revolutionary enforcers have to step in offering the same awkward incentive. They should offer slightly more punishment for releasing VAT payments (against the spirit of the revolution). The guy who releases VAT payments will be forced to select the side that he or she wants to be on.
At some point, things have to get to this point. It has to get that dark before the break of dawn, the dawn of a new era. Isolating the oppressor could take a radical chaotic format, and that is alright. It is part of the struggle. The weaponization of finance is powerful but needs to be enforced. Once finance is weaponized, everyone will be able to see that the emperor has no clothes.
Divide and Conquer type of Isolation
The biggest threat to a dictatorship comes from within. It can be argued that the number of people that have been killed or disappeared due to Zanu PF’s internal squabbles over the years is more than the number of those in the opposition parties that have been killed or disappeared due to political violence. What does this tell us regarding a bloody political party?
There is a high level of distrust within the regime. They do not trust each other. These seeming divisions can be exploited in order to isolate members between and within factions. The more divided they are, the more each and every member is isolated.
The democratic revolution, on numerous occasions, has been infiltrated by the ruling regime agents. These planted agents capture information and pass it on to the other side. They also mislead the revolution and betray the revolution when their own time is right. The revolution has to have the same type of capacity, and the high-level secrecy needed in infiltrating the regime and sowing divisions therein. It's the art of outmaneuvering your opponents at their own game.
When each regime member is isolated, the regime becomes weak. A high level of distrust means the regime cannot be highly effective in handling the brothers and sisters who push for democracy, economic progress, and human rights. The regime must be given many internal problems to sort out that eat away time. When their own house is burning from within, they won't have as much time to fix external issues or to unite under one banner against the outsiders. This is a form of isolation on its own.
Offering Key Regime members Golden Parachute Exit Packages
This idea sounds silly but it can work. There are some key regime members that are so crucial to the regime. They are the glue that sticks everything together behind the scenes. These can be offered golden parachutes for simply walking away from the regime. This will isolate the regime’s leaders. Without their keyman, they will not be able to effectively stabilize their systems. They will not be able to function, without these efficient yes-men. They will be alone and isolated.
The resources for such luxurious golden parachutes can be crowdfunded. It is in the best interest of the crowd to commit resources to a move that lets some of the key persons in the oppressive machinery go away peacefully. Somebody has to pay the price for a peaceful revolution. The price is literally a monetary price for defecting and walking away.
The end result is the isolation of the top oppressors, who will be deprived of access to their usual henchmen and enforcers.
Isolated and Dangerous
When isolated, the repressive regime will be more dangerous. They will get angry and violent. Isolation will make them paranoid.
That it is not the time for the revolution to take the foot off the gas. It is time to increase the isolation. The regime’s efforts at retaliation will result in further isolation from society instead of being integrated back into society. This time, the isolation would result without the active role of revolutionary enforces on the ground. Thus, those in favor of the revolution just need to ensure that the initial round of isolation works and that it is maintained. The next rounds and levels of isolation will be self-inflicted by the regime. It is like giving the regime a rope to hang itself.
Role of Technology
Technology has a role to play in all of this. Technology will allow the masses and the revolutionary brothers and sisters to be informed at all times. Used correctly, technology will allow the people to have live geo-location or close approximate location of the regime’s maggots.
Technological isolation is key in both the metaverses and the real world.
Ciao!
