How to start a revolution

Resource Information

The work How to start a revolution represents a distinct intellectual or artistic creation found in San Francisco Public Library. This resource is a combination of several types including: Work, Moving Image, Visual Materials.

Label

How to start a revolution

Statement of responsibility

a Big Indy production in association with Lion Television ; a film by Ruaridh Arrow ; directed [and written] by Ruaridh Arrow ; produced by Richard Shaw

Contributor

• Arrow, Ruaridh
• Bloom, Philip
• Braddick, Lorrin
• Crozier, Michael
• Mills, Jeremy
• Otis, James
• Shaw, Richard
• Kanopy (Firm)

Subject

• Documentary films
• Government, Resistance to
• Nonfiction films
• Nonviolence
• Passive resistance
• Power (Social sciences)
• Sharp, Gene
• Social action
• Social justice
• Social movements

Genre

• Nonfiction films
• Documentary films

Language

• eng
• eng

Summary

Gene Sharp hardly seems like one of the world's most dangerous men. White-haired and soft-spoken, the 83-year-old professor mostly keeps to himself, spending much of his time in his small Boston home reading, writing, and tending to his orchid garden. But to the world's most brutal dictators, Professor Sharp's ideas have proven catastrophic. In this fascinating new film, first-time director Ruaridh Arrow details how an obscure list of nonviolent actions authored by Sharp in 1973 has served as a blueprint for anti-authoritarian revolts everywhere from Eastern Europe and the Balkans to the Arab Spring uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia. Giving as much attention to the substance of Sharp's "198 Methods of Nonviolent Action" as it does to the democratic rebels who have courageously made these methods their own, How to Start a Revolution bears witness not only to the power of nonviolent struggle, but to how one person of conscience can quietly influence the lives of millions of people. Features commentary from Sharp's close ally Retired U.S. Army Colonel Robert Helvey, Sharp himself, and many of the revolutionary leaders his work has inspired

Is part of

• Media Education Foundation Collection

Cataloging source

MaNoMEF

Characteristic

videorecording

Credits note

Director of photography, Philip Bloom ; editors, Michael Crozier, Lorrin Braddick ; original music, John Keltonic

Date time place

Originally produced by Media Education Foundation in 2012

Intended audience

Higher education

PerformerNote

Narrator, Ruaridh Arrow

Runtime

82

Technique

live action