Vincent Bevins

Feels more like a report than a book. The stories and interviews that Bevins brings to the table are interesting, but I feel like the thesis of the book is a little undercooked. The idea that the focus on nonhierarchical and “horizontal” organizing has been bad for the protest movements of the last 20 years is an interesting one, but Bevins is content to pack most of his opinions about this into the final chapter of the book. His journalist pedigree maybe made him feel uncomfortable with extemporizing too much and so he focused on sticking to the facts.… (more)

If We Burn: The Mass Protest Decade and the Missing Revolution, by Vincent Bevins, is a critical look back culminating in an optimistic but guarded look forward.

Through research, interviews, and his personal experience Bevins looks at the various protests that made the decade one of promise, though often promise unfulfilled. Why did so many (seven of the ten he analyzes here) result in situations worse than before? No one book and no single author can provide a complete answer, so read this book with the understanding it is trying to contribute to more successes in the future and not pretending to be the new gospel for protests moving forward. What Bevins does is highlight some of the factors that led to a poor success rate.

From organization to how the protests are situated are discussed, and mindset, especially for future activists, is emphasized. Taking the wins you might get and building on those is discussed, as well as understanding that even if one believes that success will eventually come you still have to take steps to get there and not think anything short of a complete win is a failure.

You'll see reviews from readers who think they know what is best and what is right, even one from a mediocre writer who borrows other's thoughts to publish a less than mediocre book. Fine, maybe these geniuses know it all, but if so, why haven't they spearheaded a movement utilizing their perfection? Oh yeah, never mind, I understand...

Highly recommended for those who want to better understand what went wrong as well as what lessons can be learned from a very dynamic decade to inform future activism.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.… (more)

Criticisms first: because it covers such a wide swathe of the world, it tends to kind of gloss over a lot of stuff or deal with it in a couple of sentences. Very understandable given the wide scope but I'd assumed there'd at least be more detail on the specific Indonesian massacres it's titled after (although admittedly I'm not sure if I'd have been able to read them - the bits it does detail are absolutely horrific) - it gives some specifics but then kind of cuts off. There's a few bits that are glossed over that seem materially important, or at least deserve care when talked about: notably West Papua and Indonesia's diplomatic campaign to annex it is talked about but as if Indonesia *deserved* to annex it, without considering the active struggle ever since for different status. He introduces "crony capitalism" as a term to describe the economic systems of the third world anti communist dictatorships, which I always think is pretty useless.

Nevertheless, I gave it 5 stars because it's incredibly readable, compelling and important, bringing the international, mass murderous parts of anti communism to the fore and striking a good balance between showing the "home grown" nature of the dictatorships while also emphasising how the USA co-ordinated and supported them, making them possible at all against popular leftist movements. The sheer evil of what the USA supported, the millions of human lives directly wiped out to prop up the global order, the possibility for something different snuffed out: it's a book that makes you really angry. This book would be great for someone who's just learning about capitalist, imperialist foreign policy but even for those familiar with the narrative it's focused and there were lots of details I was unaware of. I appreciated the political clarity offered, making clear just how awful what happened was and how much it determined what the world looks like now. Great book.… (more)