Like Saturn, the Revolution Will Eat its Children

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By Jean-Pierre Brown

APMCP Year 15 Online

  Was the Tiananmen Square Massacre typical of the Chinese response to dissent?  Are there parallels to be drawn to heavy handed counter-revolutionary measures adopted by political institutions world wide? Why is it that dissenting movements calling for the advancement of democracy regardless of their locale find themselves systemically crushed under the heel of governments that claim to represent the good of their culture?

From the global crack down on dissenting organizations in the name of the war on terrorism to the suppression of anti-globalization movements and to the genocidal destruction of populaces seeking autonomy from autocratic leaders, institutional responses to counter cultures have developed in a tradition of seemingly justifiable blood and terror

Contemporary counter revolutionary practices draw a great deal of perspective from the results of the French revolution of 1789. The French Revolution, though it seemed a failure in 1799 and appeared nullified by 1815, had far-reaching results. The guillotine was used busily during the Reign of  Terror that followed the revolution that had brought the people of France the inalienable rights of the individual. When the guillotine could not work fast enough, new methods of expedient execution were invented such as mass drownings, burnings, and cannonades.

The Reign of Terror can be seen as an ominous precursor of modern totalitarianism. Contemporary governments learned from the French revolution that forced egalitarianism leads to an opportune oppression of the masses. Autocratic leaders extract from the French revolutionary leaders that the adoption of voices of virtue can justify the extraction of wealth and civil liberties from the people.

 

French Revolutionary Pierre Victurnien Vergniaud (1753-1793) stated "There was a reason to fear that the Revolution, like Saturn, might devour every one of her children." It is this gruesome vision that we have come to expect at the crux of cultural change. The French revolution unified the hegemony and enhanced the power of the national state. Whether it is the Chinese or American governments, the assertion of equality of men and the sovereignty of the people will always be met with an iron fist justified by historic misconceptions of democracy and decentralization of power.

Jean-Pierre Brown