Revolutionary
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The term Revolutionary is some what vague and may be thought to be relative to the context it is used in. It is used to refer to diverse people from Che Guevara a Communist guerilla fighter to Nelson Mandela a nationalist and Gandhi a pacifist nationalist. A general definition might be any one who advocates and organises extreme change from the current status-quo i.e. a Revolution.
Taking Nelson Mandela's example, he was a man who opposed strongly the apartheid state of South Africa, thus making him revolutionary as a leading person. But revolutionaries are not only driven by political change, but also perhaps an ideal. In that case, we could mention Spike Lee as some sort of revolutionary movie director, just because of his unorthodox method of directing (compared to the "Conservative" - Which also is a reason why "Liberals" often are singled out as revolutionary), Ibn Rushd, a Medieval physician was a revolutionary in his field, he is known as the father or modern medicine for his revolutionary method of detailing the complex science of medicine.
Ibn Rushd's most famous medical text The Canon was widely used in Europe as the primary source in training doctors up to the middle of the 19th century. He wrote the text almost 800 years ago.
In the context of politics the term "revolutionary" is often used in contrast to the term reformist to indicate that sharp change is advocated rather then a gradual one.
The complexity of this term is so varied that it is hard to reduce it to a certain field, ideology or ethic, rather it used to describe certain people who are remembered for changing the prevailing orthodoxy in a said field.List of known revolutionaries
- Abimael Guzmán
- Alexander Berkman
- Andrés Bello
- Assata Shakur
- Augusto Sandino
- Aung San,
- Avram Iancu
- Ayatollah Khomeini
- Ben Bella
- Benjamin Franklin
- Bhagat Singh
- Che Guevara
- Emiliano Zapata
- Emma Goldman
- Farabundo Martí
- Fidel Castro
- Francisco de Miranda
- Francisco I. Madero
- Frantz Fanon
- Friedrich Engels
- George Danton
- George Washington
- Giuseppe Garibaldi
- Ho Chi Minh
- Huang Xing
- Jean Jacques Dessalines
- Jean-Paul Marat
- Jesus
- John Adams
- Jonas Savimbi
- José Martí
- Karl Marx
- Kossuth
- Kwame Ture
- Leila Khalid
- Leon Trotsky
- Li Dazhao
- Malcolm X
- Mao Zedong
- Marcus Garvey
- Martin Luther King Jr.
- Maurice Bishop
- Maximilien Robespierre
- Michael Collins
- Mikhail Bakunin
- Mirabal sisters
- Nat Turner
- Nelson Mandela
- Nicolae Bălcescu
- Pancho Villa
- Patrick Henry
- Pavel Axelrod
- Peter Kropotkin
- Phoolan Devi
- Qiu Jin
- Rosa Luxemburg
- Samuel Adams
- Simón Bolívar
- Simón Rodríguez
- Spartacus
- Sun Yatsen
- Tecumseh
- Thomas Jefferson
- Thomas Paine
- Thomas Sankara
- Toussaint L'Ouverture
- Tudor Vladimirescu
- Tupac Amaru
- The Unknown Rebel
- Vasil Levski
- Vladimir Ilich Lenin
- Walter (Wat) Tyler
- Zhou Enlai