History is littered with revolutions, and with the heartbreak that follows them. Crowds fill streets, slogans shake capitals, and for a moment it seems that the old order will finally give way. Yet when the dust settles, people discover that what they overthrew outside still lives within. Systems fall, rulers change, but the conditions of life remain largely the same.

This is the tragedy of outer revolutions: they promise new beginnings, yet too often deliver repetition. The more things change, the more they remain the same.

The Forgotten Lesson of History

Europe rose in several great revolts, and America fought a mammoth civil war. Russia removed a Tsar only to enthrone a series of autocrats. The Arab world had its spring. Bangladesh recently toppled a government, yet disillusionment soon returned. China crushed its protests in Tiananmen or Hong Kong, and we can only imagine if revolution would have saved its people. Revolts do sometimes seem to succeed to an extent, yet the question remains: what has really changed?

India has seen civil movements before and after independence. Civil Disobedience to Quit India to Sampoorna Kranti — the list is impressive. Jayaprakash Narayan’s call in the 1970s shook Delhi, and so did Anna Hazare more recently, yet the inner regime of greed and fear remained untouched.

Nepal today provides another mirror. Time and again its youth have poured into the streets demanding change: against monarchy, against corruption, against restrictions. Each time there has been sacrifice. But each time, beneath the new veneer, fundamental change remained elusive. I heard a young man from Nepal recall decades of protest, summing it up starkly: “We keep beginning, but nothing begins.”

Why Revolutions........

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