cont... Understanding the role of NGOs in all of this is crucial—NGOs provide a way for U.S. taxpayer dollars to fund foreign policy actions that are difficult to track and often run counter to the intent of a majority of American voters. These NGOs all have one thing in common—they are all vocally dedicated to “protecting democracy.” However, when examining their track record of fomenting revolution, it’s arguable that many of the regimes they overthrew were, in fact, democratically elected (at least to standards no more corrupt than America’s 2020 Presidential election). This is particularly true with respect to the Revolution of Dignity and the overthrow of Ukraine’s democratically-elected President, Viktor Yanukovych. Far be it for me to uphold ex-Soviet oligarchs, but it appears that the devotion of these NGOs to “democracy” is actually to “democracies we approve of.” We will come back to the NGOs.
How Do Color Revolutions Work? There are numerous academic treatises on the features of color revolutions, but my personal research suggests that they rely upon six lines of attack:
1. Funding. Those U.S. NGOs you see listed above operate by funding other NGOs and individuals inside the targeted nation. Dark U.S. money becomes even darker money inside the targeted nation. These organizations build parallel structures that can operate outside national control and coordinate/sustain protest capacity at a tightly-organized, high level.
2. Training. The well-funded NGOs and individuals then engage in highly structured activist training programs. Often pyramidal in nature (i.e., “train the trainers”), these programs cover branding, the processing of parallel vote counts, actions that erode the legitimacy of existing governmental institutions and maintaining ostensibly nonviolent discipline to maximize activist legitimacy.
3. Narrative and Symbolism. The narrative of government illegitimacy must be pushed and repeated over and over and over. Complicit media sources are essential to creating and sustaining this narrative (often with cash changing hands to publish a particular story). Very basic symbolism is also vital. The name “color revolution” itself refers to the use of an inspiring color to unify the activists and present a constant reminder of the surge of activism engulfing the country via clothing, signs and banners—the “Orange Revolution” is a perfect example. Logos, slogans, hashtags and similarly pithy symbolic expressions are essential in delegitimizing the targeted regime and present regime change as the only “democratic” outcome.