From South Korea to Serbia to the Philippines, people power uprisings have toppled authoritarian regimes — armed with nothing but conviction and solidarity.
This comprehensive video series by historian Jeremy Brecher examines how mass strikes, general strikes, and nonviolent people power uprisings have served as the ultimate check on tyranny throughout history — and what lessons they hold for Americans today.
The report covers:
How South Korean citizens broke through a military blockade to defeat a presidential coup in hours
How Serbia's Otpor movement united 18 squabbling opposition parties to bring down Milosevic
How nuns knelt before tanks and a million Filipinos ended the Marcos dictatorship
How Puerto Ricans ousted their governor in less than two weeks
It also digs into US history — from the 1886 eight-hour day strikes to how flight attendants' union president Sara Nelson effectively ended a government shutdown in 2019 with the threat of a general strike.
Labor historian and longtime organizer Jeremy Brecher has spent decades grappling with how people can challenge concentrated private and state power. In a recent report — translated here into this video series — he argues that large-scale noncooperation may be one of the few strategies capable of halting an authoritarian slide here in the United States.
Read the full report online. Download the full report PDF here: https://tinyurl.com/pa4hj6e2
Video Table of Contents
Introduction (Trailer)
Part 1:
Chapter 1: How People Power Has Defeated Authoritarian Regimes Around the World
– South Korea: “Our citizens, armed with nothing but conviction . . .”
– Serbia: Otpor
– Philippines: People power
– Puerto Rico: Rickyleaks
Part 2:
Chapter 2: Social Strikes in American History
– Social Strikes, Mass Strikes, and General Strikes
– General “Strikes” “Imagine the Power of Working People…”
Part 3:
Chapter 3: Social Strikes vs. MAGA Tyranny
Chapter 4: Laying the Groundwork for Social Strikes
Part 4:
Chapter 5: Timelines
Chapter 6: Organization
Part 5:
Chapter 7: Goals
Chapter 8: Tactics
[Videos for the final chapters coming soon:]
Chapter 9: Endgames
Conclusion: “The power is in our solidarity”
CREDITS:
Author:
Jeremy Brecher is a co-founder and senior strategic advisor for the Labor Network for Sustainability. He is the author of more than fifteen books on labor and social movements, including Strike! Common Preservation in a Time of Mutual Destruction, and The Green New Deal from Below.
Video production & narration:
Dominick Conidi is a recent graduate from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and is a contributor at ZNetwork.org. He has organized previously with the Sunrise Movement and is a current member of North Jersey DSA.
Publishers:
The mission of the Labor Network for Sustainability is to be a relentless force for urgent, science-based climate action by building a powerful labor-climate movement to secure an ecologically sustainable and economically just future where everyone can make a living on a living planet.
ZNetwork.org is an independent media platform dedicated to advancing vision and strategy for a better world. Since 1977, we’ve produced a series of projects that go beyond critique to explore and organize alternatives, including: ZMagazine, Z Media Institute, ZNetwork.org, & the AllofUSDirectory.org.