Color Revolution is a term used to describe related movements comprised of nationwide protests, disruptions to daily life, sabotage and economic turmoil that were backed by Bush Administration during the tenure of George W. Bush to install Pro-American government or achieve a pro-American agenda in the respective countries. The trademark of Color Revolutions was either assassination or assassination attempt of one of the leading political figure of the respective country, which incidentally also marked the starting point of the revolution. These movements all adopted a specific color or flower as their symbol. The color revolutions are notable for the important role of American, Canadian and British non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and particularly local media.
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), in Lebanon Cedar Revolution (2005) and in Pakistan the colloquially called Lawyer Movement (2008). Each time massive street protests followed disputed elections or assassination of a major political figure and led to the instillation of a pro-American leader.
The Cedar Revolution in Lebanon, unlike the revolutions in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, followed not a disputed election, but rather the assassination of opposition leader Rafik Hariri in 2005. Also, instead of the annulment of an election, it demanded the withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon. Nonetheless, some of its elements and some of the methods used in the protests have been similar enough that it is often considered and treated by the press and commentators as one of the series of "color revolutions". The Cedar of Lebanon is the symbol of the country, and the revolution was named after it. The peaceful demonstrators used the colors white and red, which are found in the Lebanese flag. While it initially met with success, the July War destabilized the security situation and effectively put an end to the revolution.
"Blue Revolution" was a term used by some Kuwaitis to refer to demonstrations in Kuwait in support of women's suffrage beginning in March 2005; it was named after the color of the signs the protesters used. In May of that year the Kuwaiti government acceded to their demands, granting women the right to vote beginning in the 2007 parliamentary elections. Since there was no call for regime change, this cannot be categorized as a true color revolution.
Student Movement
The first of these 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. 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 (Gene Sharp) writings. The massive protests that they have organized, which were essential to the successes in Serbia, Georgia and Ukraine, have been notable for their colorfulness and use of ridiculing humor in opposing authoritarian leaders.
Lawyers Movement
In Pakistan the entire campaign was based on the Lawyers Movement. Early in 2007 President Pervez Musharraf had decided to clamp down on drug trade (through which Karzai family (of President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan) and few US officials were making billions) and wanted Unocal and Halliburton off the Central Asian pipeline. US Vice President Dick Cheney visited Pakistan the same month to change President Musharraf’s decision. However, President Musharraf made it clear that he wouldn’t oblige. After Dick Cheney’s return the plot was hatched to overthrow the Musharraf regime, with sitting Chief Justice Chaudhry Iftikhar Ahmad and barrister Aitzaz Ahsan and Munir A. Malik as the main conspirators, the former being promised the presidency. The movement last well into 2008 during which USA increased its air strikes from 7 in 2007 to nearly fifty in 2008.
American Role
The United States government supported the Color Revolutions, and according to some opponents even planned in order to serve Bush Administration's interests. The main entities involved in all of the Color Revolutions are: Soros Foundation; USAID; National Endowment for Democracy; the International Republican Institute; the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs; and Freedom House were directly involved. Many other organizations like Albert Einstein Institution were indirectly supporting by for example providing training to the activists and producing supportive publications.1
Western Role
Some organizations belonging to other western countries also directly or indirectly participated in the Color Revolutions. More prominent of these was Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).
United Nations Role
United Nations (UN), the international organization of countries created to promote world peace and cooperation also actively supported these revolutions. United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) indirectly provided support for the revolutions e.g. via Freenet2 or by supporting organizations like Center InterBilim3 through SDNP4 which provided free email services to the NGOs working to overthrow the Kyrgyz Government during the Tulip Revolution.
