Years of Turmoil
In 1177 B.C.E., civilization collapsed. There is evidence of some ecological drought There is a good possibility the drought might have at least partially been due to over-farming, and too much irrigation which can reduce rainfall. But we also know the sea people didn’t come from places unknown, but from the very regions of civilization that were then under control of five or six large empires who used all of their great wealth for themselves.
Egypt, alone survived–barely it is said But it gave rise to an eternal struggle and dynastic change and the loss of a great deal of territory, including, at least temporarily of much of the Upper Nile; they were forced into sharing power with the Nubians whom they had suppressed and within a couple of centuries, as Egypt one again rose to power it was the Nubians who had consumed the Egyptian power structure. This also gave rise to the Aryans from the Steppes to move into Afghanistan, the Indus Valley, and most of what was the Hittite kingdom, now Turkey. Some also settled along the coast in the region that is now the Trans Jordan and would become the Philistines.
There are other years in history, maybe not specific years, and 1177 was probably not that specific.
But shortly after the American and French Revolutions and as Napoleon began to make his move in Europe, there was a decade of near collapse of the world order as it was then. I say near collapse, because most of the revolutions failed—other than the American. I suppose Haiti succeeded but then was more or less starved by its northern neighbor, afraid of its own slave rebellions.
American did not go unscathed, however. At the tail end of the decade of revolt, in 1800, Gabriel initiated his attack on Richmond. Well publicized among the slave class, but somehow mostly hidden from the planters, over 1000 slaves were expected to join. The march to Richmond, where they planned to capture the armory and hold the governor of the state (James Monroe) captive until all slaves were granted “Liberty or Death”, brazenly echoing the words of Patrick Henry.
The slaves were prepared to join Gabriel on a plantation only a few miles south of Richmond on August 30, 1800. And then on the night of August 29, the worst thunderstorm in anyone’s memory of the time, washed out the roads, collapsed the bridges, and flooded the fields, and his planned-for army couldn’t travel to meet up with Gabriel. So he set off with only twenty-five followers, but they were soon caught and executed.
Gabriel, however, was an unusual black slave for his time. He was educated and had been keeping himself informed of what had been happening in the world. He certainly knew of the Haitian revolution, but Gabriel had also been aware of the revolt in the British Virgin Islands, and the slave rebellions across the Caribbean in 1795, Jamaica. Dominica, St. Lucia, Saint Vincent, Curacao, Grenada, and Barbados had all revolted, as did the slaves in Venezuela, and the Demerara revolt had occurred in Guyana.
Jamaica had also erupted in 1791 with the Ponte Coupe Revolt, and Cuba saw slave uprisings not only in 1797, but again 1798.
Gabriel had been watching aloof these uprisings. But whether he had also been watching the rest of the world, probably not.
Because it was not just in the Americas where people were tired of being controlled by a small ruling class. In Japan we would see the Menashi-Kunashir revolt in Ainu; China would find two rebellions against the existing powers in the decade, the White Lotus Rebellion in 1793 and the Miao rebellion that would begin in 1795. There was also the Dundiya rebellion in Borphukan that began in 1792; the Jamila revolt in 1794 in Nepal; the Benares uprising in India that began in 1799.
Africa would see a rebellion against Napoleonic rule in 1798 Cairo and the Second Maroon War began in 1795.
In Europe, the Koziuszko led uprising in Poland began in 1794 and the Verona Easter V uprising occurred n 1797. The decade began with yet another Saxon Peasant Revolt in 1790; followed by the Sans-Culotte peasants revolting against the French Revolutionary intellectuals during their reign of terror after deposing Louis XVI.
Even in Sweden the Ebel revolt led to a group of peasants temporarily occupying the palace
In Malta after Napoleon allied himself with some of the nobles, saw the peasants rise up and surround the three major cities until Napoleon surrendered the island to Britain.
And while busy fighting Napoleon, the Irish would attempt another rebellion in 1798– but this time the protestants in the North led a second revolt for freedom from England, only a year after England had been forced to subdue the Scottish Rebellion in the north.
But even the whites here at home, were not at all not peaceful with the Whiskey Rebellion and Fries Rebellion most notoriously. During our first decade under the constitution they were more than fifty “mob” revolts against oppressive merchants and renewed revolts by white poor against the slave owning class in both North and South Carolina as renewed interest in the Regulator revolts some sixty years earlier were revived.
America had one war between states who tried to divide into a separate nation, but for every one of our two hundred forty-eight we have had rebellions against authorities; and purges by authorities against some citizens (blacks, immigrants, catholics, jews, sectarian cults, laborers,farmers etc.)
And of course the continuous breaking of treaties with Natives,
It is not that the last decade has seen democracies backsliding–it is democracies have never been democratic enough to look to the needs of all of its citizens. It has favored some to the detriment of others.
But a democracy must that has been at war with its citizens might examine that before they can say there is no reason to say it has backslid. You cannot slide backwards when only some have been permitted to slide forward. Don’t say everyone has the same opportunity… that has never been true…unless we could wave a magic wand and create a Utopian existence in all democracies.
The problem is a skewed and distorted view of opportunity and participation that pits people against each other when the government presents a notion of equality that suggests people are automatons. People are different with different skill levels, different ways to contribute to society but if they are forced to “succeed” in only one manner, that very manner limits opportunity because the very manner cannot grant success to everyone.
This is why if everyone gets a higher education everyone doesn’t become a professor, many are still going to be left out. If we only achieve my being no. 1, the number two is left out and number one millionth revolts against the system.
We achieve democracy not by equal opportunity to obtain power, but by being granted power without needing to achieve someone else’s ideas of success. That is the tricky part, and I can’t find a “universal” answer.
But I know one thing from history, societies collapse for two reasons. Too few control too much of the resources and use their control of the resources to leave others feeling powerless.
Well my wife has a different view of history. She says that history is those days and these days is all that matters. And these days she feels left out, she feels she doesn’t have any time, or enough money, for ‘fun”; she feels very strongly the government is not responding these days.
These days are way we reside. Those days only illustrate we’ve resided in the same hoods for many centuries.
To defeat Trumpism must take more than defeating one man. It must defeat the system that makes people feel defeated, unappreciated and powerless. It must defeat the system that gives everyone an opportunity to follow the system, and recognizes that everyone has an individual contribution to make.
These days can no longer be those days, because those days have not measured up to continuous survival—eventually the power structure collapses. The trick must be not to replace the existing power structure with new faces in control of the same house of cards.
Perhaps we need to look for those days when there were
fewer revolts and we might find models that might be more fitting for these days.