Nonviolent revolutions
Revolutions that relay mostly on campaigns of civil resistance, including various form of nonviolent protests, are normally referred to as nonviolent revolutions. Revolutions that obtain support, or at least benevolent neutrality, from armed forces can be considered nonviolent revolutions even when the underlying threat of deadly force may be an integral part of their success.
Examples of revolutions widely recognized as nonviolent revolutions
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The overthrow of British colonial rule in India during the first half of the 20th century.
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The Carnation Revolution in Portugal in 1974.
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The Iranian Revolution in Iran in 1979.
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The People Power Revolution (Yellow Revolution) in the Philippines in 1986.
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The Solidarity movement in Poland 1980-1989.
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The Singing Revolution and the Baltic Way in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania in 1987-1989.
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The Peaceful Revolution in the DDR, leading to the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.
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The Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia in 1989.
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The Bloodless Revolution in Bulgaria in 1989.
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The EDSA Revolution (EDSA II) in the Philippines in 2001.
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The Rose Revolution in Georgia in 2003.
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The Orange Revolution in Ukraine in 2004.
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The Cedar Revolution in Lebanon in 2005.
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The Quito Revolution in Ecuador in 2005.
Color revolutions
Color revolutions was a term coined by media to describe related revolutionary movements in the former USSR states and in Balkan states during the early 2000s. Since then, the term has also been used for similar revolutions in other parts of the world, notably the Middle East. The revolutionary movements have adopted a specific color, flower or three as their symbol, e.g. the Orange Revolution in Ukraine in 2004 and the Jasmine Revolution in Tunisia in 2010-2011.
Participants in the color revolutions have chiefly used nonviolent resistance to achieve their goals and emphasize has been put on demonstrations, strikes and interventions. The movements have advocated democracy and created a strong pressure for change. Non-governmental organization (NGOs) and student activists have been imperative in organizing nonviolent actions.
Advocates of nonviolent revolutions
Some leaders have stressed the ethical reasons for nonviolent rather than violent revolutions while others have emphasized practical and tactical considerations. There are also plenty of leaders and political thinkers who argue that both sides should be taken into account and that they necessarily overlap.
In one of ther BBC Reith Lectures, Burmese democracy advocate Aung San Suu Kyi explained how she was attracted to nonviolence for practical reasons rather than moral ones.
“Gandhi’s teachings on non-violent civil resistance and the way in which he had put his theories into practice have become part of the working manual of those who would change authoritarian administrations through peaceful means,” she said. “I was attracted to the way of non-violence, but not on moral grounds, as some believe. Only on practical political grounds.”