What is Micah White's theory of revolution?
Micah White argues that revolution is an alchemy of collective epiphany, tactical novelty and institutional breakdown. Crowds alone are theatre: fifteen million marched against the Iraq war and governments shrugged. Real breakthroughs surface when a surprising gesture appears inside kairos, the ripe moment when contradictions are undeniable, and spreads faster than authorities can adapt. That gesture must carry a believable story of future sovereignty; otherwise it evaporates as spectacle. Think of Occupy’s encampments: the tents embodied an embryonic republic and the meme leapt borders overnight, temporarily suspending the legitimacy of finance capitalism.
Revolution therefore unfolds in two phases: an explosive crisis of legitimacy followed by the construction of alternative authority. Protest dissolves obedience; the harder task is crystallising new governance before repression or exhaustion close the window. White urges organisers to treat movements like chemistry experiments, mixing mass, narrative, timing and spiritual depth, iterating until the reaction sustains itself without permission from the old regime.
Which familiar tactic are you willing to retire so space opens for the sovereign institutions your community will need the morning after victory?