History has an eerie habit of **recycling** itself.

Across centuries, societies have repeatedly witnessed the same sequence:

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It can even change the course of politics.

**Every so many years, there is a group of frustrated people who are derided, dismissed, or given an insult. And then, in a twist of fate, they adopt the insult, create their community, and sometimes even change politics.**

This is why the birth of India's **Cockroach Janta Party (CJP)** is intriguing. **Whether it survives as a political force or not is irrelevant to the main point.**

This is how history repeats itself.

*In 1980s* ***Poland****, workers labelled as troublemakers created the* ***Solidarity movement*** *that brought down the communist regime. In* ***France****, the* ***fluorescent safety*** *vest became the symbol of the* ***Yellow Vest movement****.* ***German*** *Pirate Party started out as an internet meme before becoming members of parliament.* ***Occupy Wall Street*** *itself, although it never turned into a political party, permanently shifted* ***American*** *discussions on inequality by introducing the phrase "the 1%."*

>The specifics vary - The mechanism remains the same.  
**A shared grievance becomes a shared identity.**  
**A shared identity becomes a movement.**

The term "cockroach" is an unexpectedly potent symbol in this regard. It is durable, impossible to eliminate, survives under any circumstances whatsoever. **The fact of not denying the insulting label but embracing it means turning the tables around.**

This teaches us something about contemporary politics.

**Contemporary political movements do not always begin from manifestos and charismatic leaders. Sometimes they originate from memes, jokes and symbols that can travel faster than any rhetoric. Identity became a network effect because of social media.**

The first blunder that people usually make is to look at the symbolic element without considering the force driving it. Experience from history reveals that movements do not usually arise out of one event but out of frustration building over many years and finding its voice.

Although examples range from examination leaks in India to high fuel taxes in France and inequality in America, the spark will keep changing, but not the structure.

>**A historical experience that rings true across ages is that when people stop taking offense to an insult, then they are probably giving you another message.**

 

How India's "Cockroach Janta Party" Seem Unfamiliarly Familiar 🪳