Rebellious voices matter historically even when they fail to achieve their goals

Evidence

People rebel, that is a fact. In this way subjectivity (and not just that of great men but of any given person) enters into history and breathes life into it. A prisoner sets her life against excessive punishment. A mentally ill person does not want to be incarcerated and robbed of rights. A people sets itself against a regime that oppresses it. In this way, the prisoner does not become innocent, the mentally ill person does not become healthy, and the people do not take part in the promised future. And no one must show solidarity with them. No one must believe that these voices might sing more beautifully than others and pronounce the final truth. It is enough that they are there and that everything attempts to silence them in order that it becomes meaningful to want to listen to them and understand what they say … Because such voices exist, the era of humans does not have the form of evolution, but of history. — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 286

Categorization

• QUESTION: Whose voice is being channeled here — Foucault? The passage has a post-structural tone that the next paragraph attributes to Foucault.
• XREF: Connects to the idea of resistance without utopian promise; echoes the ‘history not evolution’ distinction familiar from Walter Benjamin and Marxist historiography. — connects to: Defeated revolutionary movements often self-destruct rather than self-correct; Tactically skilled rebels without strategic command were defeated piecemeal — L. P. Harvey, Muslims in Spain, 1500 to 1614, 207; Premature uprisings limited the revolt’s potential final success (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Tactically skilled rebels without strategic command were defeated piecemeal #exemplifies (0.85) — L. P. Harvey, Muslims in Spain, 1500 to 1614, 207
• Premature uprisings limited the revolt’s potential final success #exemplifies (0.85)
• Defeated revolutionary movements often self-destruct rather than self-correct #qualifies (0.80)