I will give you an example of supposedly revolutionary rhetoric that is so vapid and simplistic that it actually amounts to being counter-revolutionary because it is so hopelessly banal..
For instance, “whoever gains power by force can only be removed from power by force”. Various demagogues have offered their own variations of this “slogan-as-theory”, such as “whomever attained power by the appearance of tanks will not be removed except under the treads of resistance tanks” and so on.
Of course this is supposed to be “tough talk”, and we are all supposes to be impressed at the speaker’s manly wisdom; but if you scrutinize it just slightly more deeply, it is essentially telling you that you cannot bring down the coup;. Or anyway, you cannot bring it down unless and until you have a sponsor who is willing to arm you better than the Egyptian army.
Power cannot be removed except by a more powerful entity. That is the concept. And by “power” they mean weapons. So, to follow this schoolyard logic, the revolution stands no chance of defeating the coup until rebels have access to tanks and heavy artillery.
This is not only an invitation to civil war, it is an invitation to rebel dependence on foreign sponsorship, weapons and training.
This is not the thinking of anyone who has ever been in a fight. If you are fighting an opponent who has a strong left hook punch, and your coach tells you that the only way to win is to walk into his left hook and to try to develop a stronger left hook of your own. ..you need a new coach.
No. The reality is, power will not be overcome so long as you fail to identify its vulnerabilities, and as long as you continue to define force the same way that the enemy defines force.
Whoever comes to power by the appearance of tanks, is obviously extremely insecure and weak and can only stabilize his authority through violence. If you, therefore, pursue his removal through the methods by which he secures his power, you will certainly fail.
You do not target the enemy’s strengths, you target his weaknesses; that is how you win.