One has led a successful non-violent revolution, the other is still trying.
In How To Accumulate (Non-Coercive) Power, Part I, I wrote about how individuals can become more powerful. In this post I’ll write about how communities can become more powerful (including how communities can escape from the tyrannical, coercive control of oppressors).
A different kind of power grid.
When I write “accumulating power,” I’m referring to non-coercive, non-zero-sum power (which I explained in detail in my earlier post The Four Types of Power). Non-coercive power allows us to do more; it increases our scope of action. Coercive power, are on the other hand, is derived from controlling others, either through violence, the threat of violence, or withholding resources necessary for survival (like food or shelter). I’m not interested in this kind of power — I don’t want to control others. I would prefer to live in a world in which everyone who is capable of free choice can exercise it.