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Old February 15th, 2008 #3
Hugh
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Default 2) Pillars Of Support

2) PILLARS OF SUPPORT

http://www.canvasopedia.org/content/...ia/pillars.htm

"By themselves, rulers cannot collect taxes, enforce repressive laws and regulations, keep trains running on time, prepare national budgets, direct traffic, manage ports, print money, repair roads, keep food supplied to the markets, make steel, build rockets, train the police and army, issue postage stamps or even milk a cow. People provide these services to the ruler though a variety of organizations and institutions. If the people stop providing these skills, the ruler cannot rule."

Once we understand the nature of power, we must understand how they function in the society, which mean bringing them to gather into institutions.

Those institutions holding up the building of power are called Pillars of the support.

As well, if you withdraw the sources of power, if you withdraw the institutional support/the government will collapse.

Pillars of the support are functioning and operating through different institutions and organizations.

Example of those Institutions, holding castle call government are the following:

Police (Law Enforcement)
Bureaucracy (Civil Servants)
Educational System (Teachers and students)
Organized Religion (Church and Tsonga)

THE POLICE
http://www.canvasopedia.org/content/...ars/police.htm
Police - important source of power in the society controlled by government. They maintain law and order, they protect the government as well as the people, they are securing that system stays stable.

Within police department you can track all different sources of power:

1. Authority - because police has a right to do what they are doing, given to them by the law.

2. Human Resources - large numbers, thousands and thousands of the policemen

3. Skills and Knowledge - those people bring their various skills and knowledge to this institution - how to investigate, how to break up the demonstrations, how to put you under police surveillance without you can notice that, how to beat you for hours without making your injuries visible after that.

4. Material resources - from weapons and radios, through enormous budget to the police cars with fancy lights and sirens, equipment for break-up demonstrations, teargas.

5. Sanctions - if you not obey the police, you are going to be punished, and if you are resisting their orders, for example running away once they want to stop you, you can count that your punishment will even became worse

6. Intangible factor - you are used to obey the police, you even obey when the police is not present, you are obeying even the symbols of police authority.

(Example: Stopping your car on red traffic light at 3 in the morning without anybody present miles around / because you have the habit of obeying that symbol of police authority!)

BUREAUCRACY (Civil servants)

http://www.canvasopedia.org/content/...ars/bureau.htm

Civil servants make this huge administrative monster called state moving away, maybe a little slow, but MOVING. Slow, inefficient and corrupted bureaucracies are trade mark of 90% non democratic countries.

(Example: if you want to attack this pillar by slowing it so the whole system constipating you can watch through how Serbian administration was functioning, even regularly> they couldn't do it slower because they were doing noting/ come up 10 o clock, morning coffee, looking the phone calls, having papers,then breakfast, then lunch, long one, because they were they were doing their side business, and corruption, than came back, and if the boss didn't called they went back home.)

Except making the decisions brought by the authorities really happen , which bring them authority, bureaucracy is also huge in numbers (HR) bureaucracy has a huge repertoire of skills and knowledge how to make easy things in life complicated.

They can also perform sanctions , because they can stop any part of almost all society processes (for getting passport to start building your house for which you need at least 10 different permissions issued by various departments of state bureaucracies.

At the end, they are paid by the state; their huge budget (material resources) is always coming from the taxpayer's money-from the people.

They can also be used by dictators for different purposes.

But do not forget:

If the bureaucracy withdraws the support, everything stops .

EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM
http://www.canvasopedia.org/content/.../education.htm

Teachers and students are primarily pillar of support in many societies. Teachers form the mind of young children, teachers help older students to think, and learn rational thinking. During mentorship they are giving you advices, and you hear them.

Every government depending very much on teachers, because through teachers young generations accept the rules and values governments want them to accept. Another reason is because they keep students quiet and in line. If the teachers start encouraging university students to speak mind in class, or show at the demonstrations, they are supporting the revolutionaries.

Students, throughout the history, not only Eastern Europe were on avant-garde of revolutionary movements throughout world. Students by themselves do not make revolutions happen .

They are too small in numbers (2-3% of the society)but they serve the function of awakening the people, pointing to problem, and providing to the people the vision of tomorrow (democracy, rule of law) and they can shame out elder people to the action.

They are not stand by themselves; they stand together with their family. Whether your parents would disagree, and primarily because they love you so much, and afraid that something will happen to you on the demonstrations they will stand for you - because it is their parents obligation.

They are also considered being immortal - bad things are not going happen to them, but to somebody else. They have nothing to lose - careers, jobs, month salaries, women and children, because they normally don't have all of them yet. If they have problem with the parents, their commitment to the democratic struggle is too strong they are going to participate.

ORGANIZED RELIGION (Church or Tsonga)
http://www.canvasopedia.org/content/...s/religion.htm

Generally conservative and supportive on the current regime, because they have more influence, and more freedom to operate.

But you can find individuals and local organizations inside this pillar in almost every example of pro democratic struggle that those individuals were supporting the pro democracy movements.

Sources of power:

1. Authority of being between you and the supreme being,

2. Enormous human resources not only priest, but the believers, ready to act and support Church decisions,

3. Skills and knowledge to perform all those religious rituals,

4. Huge material resources, buildings, real estate, gold..

5. Damning sanctions (excommunication), and of course

6. Intangible factor of obeying the Church obligations and rules.
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Secede. Control taxbases/municipalities. Use boycotts, divestment, sanctions, strikes.
http://www.aeinstein.org/wp-content/...d-Jan-2015.pdf
https://canvasopedia.org/wp-content/...Points-web.pdf