World News

Revolutionary France. Civilians used community policing (backed by the threat of force) to force changes to the army uniform. There were activists in revolutionary cities openly confronting troops, checking their uniforms, and in some cases escalating to violence if soldiers didn’t display rhe blue/white/red cockade. Thy distributed pamphlets persuading people that wearing the revolutionary colors was a shorthand for allyship and after not too long the army basically had to adopt it as official or expect their troops to be harassed at best or attacked in the street at worst (Schama, 1989).

Other examples- civilian pressure successfully forcing the Iranian military to replace monarchist uniform insignia with Islamic iconography after the Shah fell in 1979, Chinese citizens physically attacking soldiers for displaying traditional insignia rather than (later-officially-adopted) Maoist symbols in the 1960s, civilian nationalist groups in Ghana forcing a redesign of military uniforms to remove British colonial styling….

Now move the goal posts. Do it.