Welcome to this episode of the award-winning Best of the Left podcast. Today we examine what separates successful revolutions from failed ones. Ask why so many revolutions from the 2010s fell short, understand how revolutionary energy gets neutralized, and explore the strategic case for nonviolent resistance.

For those looking for a quick overview, the sources providing our top takes in about 50

minutes today include The Inquiry, The Politics Show, Leija Miller, Dan Harumi, and Degenerate

Art.

Then in the additional deeper dives half of the show, there will be more in four sections.

Section A, anatomy of failure, section B, revisiting the record, section C, the current moment, and section B, strategy and practice.

And now, on to the show.

Milosevic took control of Serbia security services in state media and started brutal wars with its neighbours.

Serge's brother fled the country to avoid the military draft,

and his parents, once prominent journalists, now made a living by selling smuggled petrol.

Within this environment, we had only took choices. We could either fight or flee.

And Serger chose to fight. But not through violent street protests. He and his student friends had

tried that in the 90s. They still had the scars. The new plan was more civilized to bring down Milosevic

at the next election. They created a movement called Othpoor or Resistance. Their aim

to get the whole country behind them. Not only political players, but people across urban

rural lines, people across the educational lines, and bring all of these grievances to the mass of people that participated in the elections in 2000.

They spread through the country, and soon tens of thousands of people had joined the movement.

The training was intense.

They learnt how to hide from the police and survive violent interrogations without fighting back.

When Milosevic called elections in 2000, they knew this was their big moment.

All they had to do now was decide which opposition candidate to back.

There were quite a few.

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