Have you recently met or seen a youth activist in your village or town street, wearing a black T-shirt with the emblem OTNOP (phonetically pronounced OTPOR),- which means ‘Non Violent Resistance’ in Serbian - engaging grassroots folks on civic duty?




OTNOP-adorning Revolutionary Activists in Training at KICC



Have you heard or watched their videos 'teaching' voters not to vote for party waves, in three-piece fashion, or for money?

What are colour revolutions?

Colour revolution is a term used to describe Western-funded grassroots movements that developed in several societies in the former Soviet Union and Balkan states during the early 2000s.

The overall goal of the movements is often a popular and non-violent civilian uprising resulting in regime change or government overthrow.

Some observers have argued that while disguised as local popular uprising colour revolutions are external machinations, mostly American inspired by capitalist and liberal special interest groups and think tanks.

American interests have been noted to greatly benefit from new regimes formed in the aftermath of colour revolutions in former Soviet states.

Participants in colour revolutions have mostly used nonviolent resistance to protest against governments seen as corrupt and/or authoritarian, and to advocate democracy.

These movements all adopted a specific colour or flower as their symbol. (think about the black T-shirts and a black revolution)

The colour revolutions are notable for the important role of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and particularly student activists in organising creative nonviolent resistance.

So far these movements have been successful in Serbia (especially Serbia's Bulldozer Revolution of 2000), in Georgia's Rose Revolution (2003), in Ukraine's Orange Revolution (2004), and (though more violent than the previous ones) in Kyrgyzstan's Tulip Revolution (2005).


Involvement of outside forces

Many analysts believe the Ukranian Orange Revolution was American inspired and built on a pattern first developed in the ousting of Slobodan Milošević in Serbia four years earlier, and continuing with the Rose Revolution in Georgia.

Each of these victories, though apparently spontaneous, was the result of well funded and extensive grassroots campaigning coupled with coalition-building among the opposition that was waiting to govern.

Each of these social movements included extensive work by Western-trained student activists.

The most famous student activist movement of all these was Otpor, the youth movement that helped bring in Vojislav Koštunica. ( wait a minute - I've seen this OTNOP (OTPOR) logo on T-shirts worn by Kenyan Vijanas)




OTNOP-adorning 'black revolutionaries'
at Masinde Muliro University unwittingly
soldiering for 'change' to benefit hidden
Western capitalist and liberal interests


In Georgia the student movement was called Kmara. In Ukraine the movement has worked under the succinct slogan Pora ("It's Time").

Chair of Georgian Parliamentary Committee on Defense and Security Givi Targamadze, former member of the Georgian Liberty Institute, as well as some members of Kmara, were consulted by Ukrainian opposition leaders on techniques of nonviolent struggle.

Georgian rock bands Zumba, Soft Eject and Green Room, which earlier had supported the Rose Revolution, organized a solidarity concert in central Kiev to support Yushchenko’s cause in November 2004 in anticipation of the Orange revolution.

Activists in each of these movements were funded and trained in tactics of political organization and nonviolent resistance by a coalition of Western pollsters and professional consultants funded by a range of Western government and non-government agencies.

According to The Guardian, these include the U.S. State Department and USAID along with the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs, the International Republican Institute, the Bilderberg Group, the NGO Freedom House and George Soros's Open Society Institute.

The National Endowment for Democracy, a foundation supported by the U.S. government, has supported non-governmental democracy-building efforts in Ukraine since 1988.

Writings on nonviolent struggle by Gene Sharp formed the strategic basis of the student campaigns.


Use of youth and student movements:

The first active student movement in a colour revolution was Otpor ("Resistance") in Serbia, which was founded at Belgrade University in October 1998 and began protesting against Miloševic' during the Kosovo War.

Many of its members were arrested or beaten by the police. ( i think the Kenyan OTPOR founders (black revolution in waiting) have also been beaten and toured cells)

Despite this, during the presidential campaign in September 2000, Otpor launched its "Gotov je" (He's finished) campaign that galvanised Serbian discontent with Miloševic' and resulted in his defeat.

Members of Otpor have inspired and trained members of related student movements including Kmara in Georgia, Pora in Ukraine, Zubr in Belarus and MJAFT! in Albania.

These groups have been explicit and scrupulous in their practice of non-violent resistance as advocated and explained in Gene Sharp's writings.

The massive protests that they have organised, which were essential to the successes in Serbia, Georgia and Ukraine, have been notable for their colourfulness and use of ridiculing humor in opposing authoritarian regimes.