From the reviewers:

“Close your eyes and imagine the force of the people and the power of love overcoming the force of greed and the love of power. Then read The Dandelion Insurrection. In a world where despair has deep roots, The Dandelion Insurrection bursts forth with joyful abandon.”-- Medea Benjamin, co-founder of CodePink

“I love this book! It beautifully captures the revolution of love that is sweeping the globe, told as an epic novel that will set your heart on fire. A rare gem of a book, a must read, it charts the way forward in this time of turmoil and transformation,…you will love The Dandelion Insurrection!”-- Velcrow Ripper, Canadian Academy Award (Genie) winner, director of Occupy Love

“This novel will not only make you want to change the world, it will remind you that you can.”-- Gayle Brandeis, author of The Book of Dead Birds, winner of the Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction

“THE handbook for the coming revolution!”-- Lo Daniels, Editor of Dandelion Salad

“The Dandelion Insurrection is an updated, more accurate, less fantastical Brave New World or 1984.”-- David Swanson, journalist, author, peace activist

“The Dandelion Insurrection is a prayer seven billion hearts strong and counting.”-- Megan Hollingsworth, Founder of Extinction Witness

“Rivera Sun's The Dandelion Insurrection takes place in a dystopia just a hop, skip and jump away from today's society. A fundamentally political book with vivid characters and heart stopping action. It's a must and a great read.”-- Judy Rebick, activist and author of Occupy This!

“…a beautifully written book just like the dandelion plant itself, punching holes through the concert of corporate terror, and inviting all to join in the insurrection.”-- Keith McHenry, co-founder of the Food Not Bombs Movement

Special thanks to Angela Parker for the following gem of a review! 

This brilliant and instructional novel is prophetic in its story line. With stunning parallels to today’s corporate dictatorship, this novel begins at the American-Canadian border with Zadie and Charlie, the primary, but not only heroines of the Dandelion Insurrection. This novel takes place in a dark time where the politicians are cowardly corporate minions, and the military and police are brutalizing anyone who dares to stand up to the endless extraction of earth. Death to wildlife and mass poverty are regular business casualties imposed on all people and living things. Social services have been slashed and 70% of the government budget goes to the military that exists only for corporate power. Mass surveillance keeps everyone in constant fear, brutal repression and hopelessness. The faux Christians are beating the drums of war, propaganda rules the corporate news and journalists who tell the truth disappear under the martial law which has been imposed on our country.

“Terrorism. The family groaned in collective exasperation. Everything was because of terrorism these days, the unending wars overseas, the soldiers on the streets at home, the restrictions on gatherings, the censoring of newspapers, the police checkpoints, the ballooning military budgets, searches without warrants, and now, the closure of a peaceful border after hundreds of years of open travel.”  – The Dandelion Insurrection, page 4.

Through their strategized peaceful resistance, courage, love, kindness, hope, and beautiful inspiration, the Dandelion Insurrection turns the tide from a hopeless and demoralized citizenry to a hopeful, informed, loving, organized and empowered people.

We, Charlie realized. It is always we who are ultimately culpable. He thought about the subtle shift that was occurring. Thousands of people had recognized their complicity in destruction, and were now taking a stand for life. Ah, Charlie thought when we stop blaming Them and take responsibility for our actions… when we consciously withdraw our cooperation from injustice… that is when real change begins to occur. Not from the top and not just from the bottom, but from all sides at once as every person wakes up and makes a conscious choice to preserve the goodness of life on this earth.” – The Dandelion Insurrection, page 260-261.

As a result of the courageous efforts taken against our tyrannical and corporate militarized government, Zadie and Charlie are detained and a trial begins wherein they are ultimately found Not Guilty. After the verdict, Zadie and Charlie walk to our nation’s capital, followed by antagonizing drones of fear and throngs of revolutionary nonviolent insurrectionists of love. The Dandelion Insurrectionists of love and revolution save the day and capture the hearts of the previously hopeless people, as a direct result of their vision, dedication to act only in love, and clever strategy.

“We are one people, indivisible, not by allegiance or by force, but entwined through the love in our hearts. Through our pulse, and our breath, and our frail human skins, the body of the people stands immortal. We rise and we fall; we sweep by in waves of faces; we roll in the rushing tide of life. We are foolish, we are proud, we are loving, we are tired; we weep for beauty, laugh in sorrow, cry out lonely in the night; we hurt and cause harm; we are lovers and beloveds; we shall live, we shall die, we shall pass, and still remain; for the body of the people lives forever.” – The Dandelion Insurrection, page 345.

This novel is brilliant, inspirational and instructive in its clear strategic vision of what it will take to return democracy to the people of America, using the tenants of nonviolence in the task of healing our democracy, trust, hope and country. There is also an optional study guide for nonviolent strategy and organization that accompanies The Dandelion Insurrection novel.   The Study Guide has clear and simple instructions to assist with any nonviolent effort and mobilization. The Dandelion Insurrection novel and Study Guide will provide both hope and skill to the many, many nonviolent mobilizations occurring in our country at this very time. In addition, Rivera Sun often offers an online workshop for anyone interested in strategizing/organizing a local nonviolent mobilization.

Excerpts:

The City

Loving the World 

The Sheeple

Everything Insha'Allah

The City

“The City” – An Excerpt From The Dandelion Insurrection
© 2013 Rivera Sun

Just past the Portsmouth Bridge, the river of humanity began to swell, growling and growing with every mile. The scattered houses of Maine gave way to a mountain range of urban buildings; rising slopes of suburbs, foothills of concrete industrial buildings, peaks of coastal districts, and finally, the summit of New York City.

Zadie tucked the car away and pulled Charlie down the city blocks. He tried not to gawk as he hustled after her, half-running to keep up with her longer strides. The buildings towered over them more densely shadowed than the pine forests up north. The roar of traffic flooded his ears. Zadie grabbed him by the elbow and hauled him behind her like a trout on a fisherman’s hook. He hesitated on the street corner. She plunged into traffic. The lifeline of her grip snapped loose. Charlie floundered in the stream of people, bumped and pummeled without a word of apology. The current of the city throbbed and ached like a churning snowmelt flood, dark with dissatisfaction, ripping at the shores, pulling the muck of the river’s underbelly to the surface. Swift-flowing bodies rushed past Charlie. Their unspoken roar deafened him. Desperation stung the whites of their eyes. Hunger gnawed gaunt hollows into their cheeks. Anger tightened lips and tensed shoulders. Hands begged like barren tree branches, uprooted and clawing for a foothold.

Charlie drowned in the river of humanity.

The city heaved ceaselessly, throbbing and clattering. The air tasted like bitter anxiety. A sharp yearning burned, the scent of souls longing for escape as the city tore itself apart in its frantic self-devouring. The urban behemoth ripped itself to shreds, pounded itself into pulp, smashed itself into paper, wrote down its story, incinerated every word, swept up the ashes, tossed them in the howling winds, and lodged the seed of its own fertility back into concrete cracks.

Somewhere in this madness, dandelions grew.

Loving The World

“Loving the World” – An Excerpt From The Dandelion Insurrection
© 2013 Rivera Sun

I hear your despairing rain of cries, Charlie wrote. I sense the burning fury in you, that lustful ache for retaliating lightning strikes. In the distance, I hear the thunder rolls of violence. Remember; weapons never built a house, fed a child, or planted fields. We must turn to tools of nonviolence to build a chance for life.

“Times are changing,” the old men of the valley muttered as they watched rural people in other parts of the country get forced off their land by tax increases, mortgage failures, and denials of farm loans for seed and tractor repairs. Agribusiness took up residence, owned by the Banker, dependent on the Butcher’s surplus chemicals from the war industry, and fueled by the Candlestick Maker’s cheap oil. Out moneyed, out subsidized, out gunned in the courts and Congress, the local farmers despaired.

On top of it all, the weather defied everyone’s predictions. Early frosts threatened the late summer crops. A heat snap surged for a week before giving way to pouring rain. Fall floods turned fields to mud. Rot and blight proliferated. Charlie’s grandfather and granduncles slid deeper in their chairs, depressed as only old farmers can be as the earth turned wild against their claims of wisdom. As the winter whipped from blizzards to heat waves, they burned their old almanacs, solemnly feeding the pages into their woodstoves, conceding to a changing climate that the National Weather Service refused to report on.

Times are changing, Charlie wrote for the Dandelion Insurrection, and we must change faster, growing in our hearts and souls, embracing our diversity as our saving grace as we work to stop our corporate politicians from waging this destructive war upon humanity and the earth.

Midwinter, when the high school band kicked off the basketball season, Charlie discovered the national anthem now made him queasy. He could no longer believe his country was the greatest nation in the world. He could not wave the flag or sing along with its slogans. Yet, as he watched the students trumpeting out the anthem with heartfelt effort, he loved them all. They were lambs on the way to the slaughterhouse, playing homage to a government that cared nothing about them.

His heart broke a thousand times a day.

He took long walks over the hard cold earth as the clouds spit out flakes of snow. Charlie felt stretched across two realities; the beautiful curves of his valley and the starkly brutal landscape of his nation. He paused on the crests of rolling hills, patched with fields both fertile and fallow, and let sorrow and love sit quietly together as he watched the snow tremble earthward.

It is our love that calls us into action now, he wrote. Our respect for life and our compassion for creation require us to stand up to the forces that cause oppression, suffering, and destruction.

Everything mattered, not just this valley, but every nook and cranny of the earth; every stand of trees; every cluster of children in the school yard; each block of the teeming cities; every language that cried out on the tongues of immigrants; every joy; every sorrow; everything mattered. Charlie knew the heartbreak of his grandfather’s God, watching over the preciousness of all creation and weeping at its suffering. He felt the apathy his own pain sometimes drove him to, and the coldness with which he silenced his compassion when it became too much to bear. But, he also sensed, before long, the tenderness of love reaching out to him again.

Each day, this love penetrated further into his bloodstream, pulsed in his veins, rewrote his cells, his muscles, even his genetic coding. In the heat of writing, he would look up in wonderment, feeling tears prickling the corners of his eyes. It was all precious; the snowflakes, the deep night, his grand-père’s snoring in the room next door, Zadie’s voice long distant on the telephone, the scrawl of ink running across the page, the people waiting for his articles; everything. It had been a lonely winter full of the heartache that comes from loving the world too much.

The Sheeple

“The Sheeple” – An Excerpt From The Dandelion Insurrection
© 2013 Rivera Sun

Author’s Note: there has been a lot talk about ‘sheeple’ lately. For many years, I have found this term to be quite insulting, frankly. It is also divisive. So, I tackled it in my novel, pulling apart the layers of meaning and metaphor to find the hidden beauty of sheep. As a youngster, I had two sheep, which I never ate, but used the wool for spinning and weaving. So, enjoy this ‘sheeple’ excerpt for the layers of understanding it might open up for you.

“The Sheeple”

Crawling across the American landscape were thousands of people who went about their business, swallowed the television’s lies without blinking, and showed up to work day after day. Jesus called them lambs; the anarchists labeled them sheeple; both terms described the great flock of followers that huddled in a frightened cluster while the wolves picked off the sick, the oddballs, and the weak. Charlie felt such frustrated affection for them. On their plump and wooly backs grew the comforts of society. They fed the nation. They clothed the people. They were kind to their own. They respected their leaders, maintained order, and brought up wonderful children.
For the Man From the North, they were more dangerous than wolves.
They were so frightened of stepping out of line that they would trot to the slaughterhouse with a self-satisfied baaahh. If you tried to warn them, they kicked with their hooves and butted their stubborn heads. They feared the unusual more than familiar tyranny. Charlie shook his head at such folly. Couldn’t they see that the shepherds trained the dogs that nipped them into line? Couldn’t they understand that the wolves were at the door because the shepherds let them in the gate? Charlie sighed. Couldn’t they see that shepherds raised sheep for the butchers?
Come on, he urged silently to the invisible masses. Before fences and shepherds, leaders of flocks came from the flock. They led toward better pastures, toward safety, toward life. Even the tender shepherds want to eat you, he told the people silently, and the cruel ones abuse you until you are roasted.
Charlie laid his forehead on the truck window and tried to picture this unimaginable flock as a collection of distinct human beings. He had seen them in the supermarket, at the bank, the gas station. He could picture them, one by one; the fat man on the treadmill, the pair of bony legs at the coffee shop, a sweating brow under a hardhat, that pudgy baby clutching his mother, the teenager with acne . . . one of them would be the death of him.

Everything Insha’Allah

“Everything Insha’Allah” – An Excerpt From The Dandelion Insurrection
© 2013 Rivera Sun

Author’s note: In light of all the posts and comments around Islam and Muslims, I thought I would share a phrase I learned that has been a balm to my soul for many years. I put it in the Dandelion Insurrection to honor the uncertainty of our times and the faith that we all live on, no matter what religion or philosophic belief we call our Faith. Special thank you to my friend who introduced me to this term … you know who you are.

“Everything Insha’Allah”

She laid her head on his shoulder and tried to tell his heart all the myriad emotions that suddenly flooded through her: love, sorrow, longing, loss, excitement. She felt the aching pulse of his heart.

“It’s not forever, Charlie,” she murmured.

Charlie shook his head.

“Don’t make promises, Zadie.”

Uncertainty had become a way of life. Charlie would rather live by that truth than believe in a lie. Anything could happen to Zadie, to him, to the world. It was better to accept the unknown.

“Just love me now,” Charlie told her. “If there is meant to be a later, it will come.”

“Everything Insha’Allah,” she replied. “It means if God wills. The Muslims use it to take the sting of arrogance out of making plans, such as, I will see you tomorrow, Insha’Allah.”

“I’ll stand here all night with you, Insha’Allah, if God wills?”

“Exactly. That’s how it is with everything; you, me, the Dandelion Insurrection. Everything Insha’Allah.”

Charlie stroked the bright curve of moonlight on her cheekbone then kissed her, hard, heartbreakingly, longing to capture the taste of her before she was gone. She matched his hunger, devouring the sensations of the touch of his hands, the press of his mouth, his scent, the way his body fit against hers, tucking the memories away to savor during the separation that lay ahead.

Please God, if you will, let this night last forever, Charlie prayed.

“Remember when you asked me how to write about the Dandelion Insurrection?” Zadie whispered.

His lips parted against hers, smiling as he remembered. A cool strand of air slid between their bodies. There’s only one way to write about it, she had said. Write like you’re on fire. I am, his body had answered. Write like the love of your life is on the horizon and every word hurtles you toward her. I’m coming, his thoughts had cried out. Find your passion, Charlie, Zadie had urged him. I’m looking at it, he had silently replied. Build a fire of it, she had told him. I’m incinerating in it, he thought. Write from there, she had said.

He had written a million words since that day. He had hurtled across the horizon toward her and, still, words could not help them now. In his mind, he tore up every page he had ever written. He tore up his past. He ripped apart the future. He set his memories on fire, his triumphs and failures, his pinpricks of heartaches, losses, and joys. This moment was burning like there was no tomorrow. Everything Insha’Allah. His lips were inches from hers. The scalp of his hair was running with fire. Their bodies blazed like a pair of human torches against the dark coolness of night. He leaned. Their torsos brushed.

“Zadie?” he croaked.

“Yes.”

He froze. It was not a question. It was a command. He shut up, crossed the last half-inch of separation, and ignited the bonfires within them.

 We have our bodies and our hearts and nothing else, but all across the world, that is what has pushed for change.

 Ask yourself the soul-shattering question; do you have the courage for revolutionary change?

 One man's treasure is another man's hunger.

 Hidden within our greed is our longing for something greater; something money cannot buy & products cannot deliver.

 It takes courage for dandelions to dare to grow in the concrete cracks. The seed of this courage lies in each of us.

 When fear is used to control, love is how we rebel.

 Be like the dandelion, stand up among the grasses, thrive in adversity, shine with revolution.

 The Dandelion Insurrection is as small as baking bread in the oven and as large as bringing down dictators.  

 Everywhere the concrete of control paves over the goodness of the heart, the Dandelion Insurrection springs up through the cracks.

 Remember; weapons never built a house, fed a child, or planted fields. We must turn to tools of nonviolence to build a chance for life.

 Soldiers and guns are part of the problem, not the solution.

 There are three hundred million hearts beating out there. Let's go rally the dandelions of the soul and stop this madness before it begins!

 You've got to admire the audacity of those poor little men and women trying to destroy the world. They're doing a tremendous job in the face of overwhelming opposition.

 Life has triumphed every single day and it's triumphing still.

 Fighting destruction with destruction leaves the whole world destroyed. Resisting destruction with vitality is the most powerful and natural process on Earth.

 Violence is the weapon of cowards.

 Love is just hippie bullshit until the day the cops lay down their guns because they're tired of hurting people who love them.

 Our fear and hatred isn't going to create a better world than the one their greed is working on right now.

 Do you want to do something truly radical? Be kind. Be connected. Be unafraid.

 The greatest radicals are all revolutionaries of the heart.

 The mind was the first defense against tyranny.

 Peace will never be found through celebrating militarism and idolizing the wealth of the war industry.

 Without love, life is not worth the pain.

 Everyday, the people rise up to go to work, but someday soon, they must rise up to restore their country to the people!

 This nation can break free of the cage of fear and find its freedom through kindness.

 When a crisis arrives on one's doorstep, fear gets kicked off the couch.

 "Hell no, I won't mow! I'm gonna let the dandelions grow!" -The Lawnmower Liberation Front

 Plant a Victory Garden, not for soldiers at war, but for people at peace.

 One day soon, Charlie knew, the switch of the heart would be thrown, and the country would rise up with power.

 Conspiracy theory is a neat little label that the government uses to fool people into discounting the truth.

 This is the final showdown between the force of greed and the power of love. Either we're going to stop it or we are going to perish.

 Life wants to live, but, more than that, it wants to love. It must love. Survival is not enough.

 Despair and hatred, loneliness and cruelty; those are the calling cards of death. Life turns tenderly toward itself, embracing and enveloping.

 Kindness is the Dandelion Insurrection's greatest strength. It can erase divisions that are being used against us.

The economy is a living system, like our bodies, and like the earth. It works best when we support each other.

 We are the ink scrawling across this country, the story of its revival or demise.

 Government by the people, for the people won't just fall from the sky. We have to reach for it and pull it into reality.

 We are human beings, each unique and fully capable of governing wisely, especially if we bring life, liberty, and love to the center of our politics.

 You are stardust, not from the distant past, but right now, as it enters and becomes you.

 Moms can make a child's secrets wriggle like night crawlers on hot cement.

 Fate's humor is blacker than the night. Irony is a bitter companion.

 A whole new way of life just waiting to be born. It is standing on the threshold of reality, begging for a mother.

 This country is ready to be reborn. Something fresh and new is fomenting in the fertile crumbling of the old.

 Ellen read her daughter like a book; corners turned down and favorite passages underlined with the pencil marks of memory.

 Great Love tears open the body of reality, splitting the pumping heart of blood and aortas and vascular chambers like an obstacle to truth.

 I was here before the Universe. I will remain when all is gone. I am coming to walk the Earth again . . . inside every human form.

 Mainstream media reports on violent protests, riots, tear gassings, and even beatings, not to inform people, but to scare them into submission

 Truth is a mighty deep river. Don't get stuck on the surface.

 Pour your hearts and souls into this moment of human history. It will either be the beginning of a new world . . . or our last days on earth.

 Let's release a stream of hope like a fire hydrant uncorked in the inner city on a scorching day.

 No ounce of beauty is too small to share.

 The country spread out around them in a compass rose. North, south, east, and west, change pulsed against the surface of reality.

 Write like the love of your life is on the horizon and every word hurtles you toward her.

  American people deserve political partners who will treat them with respect.

 I'll vote for anyone who can honestly say, I love you . . . and then act like it."

 The indiscriminate use of the terrorist label is a clear violation of human rights and a flagrant affront to justice.

 A vanished person is a sign of your vanishing freedom.

 You have no freedom until all are free.

 Leaders reflect the courage or the fear that already lies inside us.

 The heart of love never promotes violence. Honesty is a sharp enough tool for us.

 Get used to it . . . maybe getting used to things was a substitute for love, but it sure wasn't the same thing.

 The deeper you look, the more They becomes a pronoun with a billion faces, one of which might be your own.

 The Garden of Eden is a place within our hearts beyond good and evil, a sanctuary from the storm of judgments where we dwell in our own innocence.

 We stand as much chance of surviving as a peanut in an elephant farm!

 Make a wish, the dandelion says, and this lowly weed will do its best to carry your seed-borne hope to fertile ground.

 I'm the umpire, coach, and water boy all rolled into one, just trying to get the whole world to play nicely.

 I don't care if you worship frozen pizza so long as you're working for peace, equality, and love.

 I ain't keen on discriminating 'tween religions when there ain't enough angels to go around already.

 Love is as great a motivator as fear.

 Revolutions don't happen because we wake up bored in the morning. They happen because people get tired of abuse and injustice.

 Revolutions happen because your heart throws down the gauntlet of its love.

 We must show them that the greatest force on earth not the military . . . it is the love of the people for each other!

 Fools like us have shaped history more than once.

 Self-governance and sincere leadership, together, will be the foundation that resurrects the nation.

 The opposition has been pitching hardballs at me so fast I started praying to Jackie Robinson instead of Jesus!

 Without life, liberty, and love, the whole world becomes a prison. Humans are all inmates on death row, hoping for parole.

 We are not born to die; we are born to live. Our first breaths are an insurrection against destruction.

 The Dandelion Insurrection was old as time, older than human beings. It was a spark leaping from the dawn of creation.

 Anywhere that life reaches out with compassion, the Dandelion Insurrection endures.

 Not one effort toward love is ever lost in the records of the Universe.

 As long as life pulsed on the planet, as long as two hearts entwined, as long as a tendril of compassion continued, their legacy in this world was assured.

 Keep your eyes on the prize, kid, or you'll get stuck in the muck.

 A revolution was a wheel turning inexorably toward change.

 One moment could bring triumph, the next might bring disaster; strength lies in never giving up.

 We will not run. We will not hide. We will remain . . . and we will win!

 They may win for a moment, and that moment may last lifetimes, but in the end they will crumble; and we will rise.

 Death's shadow cannot darken the light of love.

 They would overcome, not through force, but through their indomitable will to live.

 We are one people, indivisible, not by allegiance or by force, but entwined through the love in our hearts.

The greatest force on earth is not the military ... it is the love of the people for each other!

Author's Note

 This book has been a journey into the shadow lands of truth. It walks with the unease that haunts me about the direction our country is headed. Heartbreakingly, my story turned prophetic as I wrote, and much of the injustice and cruelties I imagined have now come to pass.

But there is hope . . . the courage, love, and spirit that exemplifies the Dandelion Insurrection already blooms in many of us, and I see more of it erupting everyday. This book is an honoring of those who live the reality of persecution, suffering, and injustice, and also a tribute to those that know the truth of courageous struggle. It takes courage to defy cynicism and despair, to stand vulnerable in the harsh reality of this world. It takes the courage of the dandelion growing in the concrete cracks, and I believe the seed of this courage lies in each of us.

In French, there are two words for dandelions. One is dent-de-lion, tooth of the lion, a brave and tenacious term, that, sadly, has fallen out of use. The more modern phrase, pissenlit, piss-in-the-bed, now describes that scraggly-leafed plant.

My friends, by the time this novel is translated into French, I should hope there is no question about which term applies to the American people. We live in a pivotal juncture in time, a time when it is essential that we grow out of our adolescent, egotistical, and destructive ways, and blossom into the kind of people we have always yearned to be. 

I have great faith in you, and in our friends all over the world. This book is dedicated to them and to us, to those courageous souls already standing up, and to the rise of a new way of life.

 With love,

 Rivera Sun

Dandelion Insurrection Discussion Questions

(crowdsourced from readers like you)

 General Questions:

 Is there a character in the Dandelion Insurrection that you enjoy the most? Why?

 What was your favorite part(s) and why?

 What aspects of the Dandelion Insurrection, good or bad, parallel real-life experiences and events that have occurred?

 How do we make the Dandelion Insurrection real?

 How can we respond, like the characters in the Dandelion Insurrection often discuss, with love-based actions instead of being reactionary?

 How do we practice Zadie's notion of being a "midwife" to the nation's love in our own communities?

 Is it possible, conversely, to 'hospice' the systems and thought patterns that no longer serve?

 How can we bridge across political differences to recognize our need to act together in community and formulate practical ideas for action?

 Can tech whizzes save us or do we need 10 million active people or do we need both?

 In the Dandelion Insurrection, Charlie Rider uses the names, the Butcher, the Banker, and the Candlestick Maker to describe the heads of the military, the banks, and the fossil fuel industry, respectively. Who are the power holders in our own society? Do they wield as much power as the Three Men In The Tub do in the Dandelion Insurrection? 

 In the novel, the people involved in the Dandelion Insurrection make distinctions about what they consider nonviolent action. What are these distinctions and do you agree with them?

 The Dandelion Insurrection promotes a return to democracy, framing their actions as an effort to uphold the principles of the United States and restore the Constitution. In our own world, do you think the problems we face can be resolved through reforming our current Constitution, or by writing an entirely new Constitution?

 Is the military a poverty draft, and if so, how to work with or address this system?

 How do you define love and what does it look like in action?

 What does it mean to “create, copy, improve, share”?

 In the book, the characters describe the relationship between the rich & poor (and those in between) as parasitic. Do you agree? Where do observe these relationships in our world?

 What is control and how do you recognize its destructive force before it's too late?

 Could we really set up the network that a smile means "be kind", touch means "be connected", and eye contact means "be unafraid"?  How would we do this?

 What does it mean and look like, to “keep moving forward” as the book describes in the murmurations section?

 In the Dandelion Insurrection, people rallied around the cry of "life, liberty and love". In our real lives, what is that we want (vs. what we don't want)?

Questions for Chapters 1-7

How far from reality is the opening situation of the Dandelion Insurrection? What is similar/different about our real world? 

 The Dandelion Insurrection is a decentralized, leaderful movement. Do you think this would work in real life? Why or why not?

 In the book, Zadie says, “we’re not resisting them, they’re resisting us”. What does she mean by this?

 Charlie writes, “it is our love that calls us into action now”. What role do you feel love plays in social change?

 Spark Plug disagrees about the nonviolent approach of the Dandelion Insurrection. What critiques of violence/nonviolence resonate with you?

 The chef Aubrey Renault speaks about how the war on terror drove the rise of authoritarianism. How have you seen this in real life? 

 At the restaurant, Charlie sees “the Butcher” and comments to Zadie that he thought the man would be more monstrous and less ordinary looking. How does our society normalize the perpetrators of injustice?

 In the Dandelion Insurrection, propaganda plays a large role in keeping the populace complacent. What examples of propaganda can you think of in our real world?

Questions for Chapters 8-15

What role does the Suburban Renaissance play in building widespread resistance? How does it support broad-based change? 

 In the Dandelion Insurrection, how is the label of domestic terrorist used to suppress dissent? Does something parallel happen in real life? Are there other terms that are used similarly now?

 Rudy’s community passed a Rights of Nature ordinance, granting rights to the natural systems. In your view, should nature have rights? What should people do when those rights are violated?

 Do you think there’s a real life version of Operation American Extraction? (Consider the militarized police response to the Standing Rock protests in 2016, for example.)

 How do you feel about the Dandelion Insurrection’s strategy of loving the enemy, i.e. sharing cookies? Would it work? Would you do it?

 What was the impact of the signs that read “Your mother/your father”? Why do you think this approach was so effective?

 How does the cacerolazo start to shift the tide against the corporate dictatorship? What do acts of mass protest do for us?

 If a cacerolazo (pots and pans banging protest) was happening, would you join in?

 What are the dangers and potential of groups like Oath Guardians?

 Questions for Chapters 16-24

How could an Alternet be useful in our real world? 

 From Silas Black’s radio song to Tucker’s bumper stickers, what role to small acts of defiance play in emergent mass movements?

 Previously, we wondered how alternative institutions and networks like the Suburban Renaissance grow beyond “nice ideas” or “strategies of survival”. Does reading how Lupe also trained people in civil resistance as part of it help inform your ideas? 

 In our real world, we’re seeing the right-wing raise the claim of stolen elections. What impact, if any, do you think a real whistleblowing on rigged elections would have? 

 In the book, Zadie is galvanized by a powerful vision of love. What role do visions, prayers, and dreams play in transformative movements for change?

 At one point, Zadie and Charlie argue with the journalist team about messaging. Do you think decrying the wrongs is more important than lifting up a vision? Or vice versa?

 Why does Inez think it takes courage to add class to the Dandelion Insurrection’s critique of the system?

 The murmurations give the Dandelion Insurrection the ability to take action and not get arrested. Do you agree with the strategy? Why or why not?

 How could we use murmuration style protests today?

 How do the characters organize to counter the label of “terrorist” after it is slapped on Zadie?

 How does a commitment to nonviolence inoculate your movement against violent flanks and agents provocateurs? 

 What role can covert actions play in making change? When should an action be covert versus transparent?

 Questions for Chapters 25-33

Earlier, we discussed the idea of the Rights of Nature. Do you think that the Internet (or the Alternet in the book) is a being with rights? If so, what are those rights?

 In Charlie’s view, the trial in absentia shows the hollowness of justice. Should activists be fighting legal battles or not? When is it important? When is it not?

 On the tractor, Ellen reflects on what prompts revolutions. In your view, what catalyzes people to demand revolutionary change?

 What is the difference between revolutionary change and reformist campaigns? Are you in favor of one versus the other? Why?

 In what ways was the Big March to DC a good or bad strategy move? What did they gain through it? Was it too risky? What else could they have done?

 What makes Le Grande Menage so effective as a protest?

 Right at the end, what actions crumbled the hidden corporate dictatorship?

What do you think happens at the end of the book?