Making Nonviolence Work
by Starhawk An ecological understanding of violence sees it as a pattern of relationships that underlies all systems of domination and control. Such systems are characterized by: –the concentration of resources and the fruits of labor to benefit the few. –top-down decision making. Bosses who give orders and issue directives that others must obey. Violence underlies these systems. Violence is : –the capacity to inflict physical pain, harm or death. –the capacity to punish by restricting freedom and limiting choices. –the capacity to withhold vital resources or rewards. –the capacity to inflict emotional and psychological damage and to shame and humiliate. Systems of domination, no matter how powerful they seem, are unstable. They are inherently unsustainable, because to...
Strategy Resources
From Dictatorship to Democracy, PDF Version: Albert Einstein Institute Centre for Applied Nonviolent Action & Strategies, Manual from the folks who help create Otpur, the people power movement that overthrew Slobadan Milosevic, the brutal Serbian dictator. History is a Weapon by Bill Moyer Eight Stages of Movement Development – PDF Version Movement Stages 5 Stages of Social Movements, by George Lakey, Training for Change Strategy Questions for Each Stage of a Movement, by George Lakey, Training for Change Handbook for Nonviolent Campaigns, War Resistors League International, excellent online manual Strategic Resistance: Historical and Theoretical Overview of Nonviolent Social Change Six Important Points About Nonviolent Resistance, based on writings by Martin Luther King Jr. The Triple Evils of Poverty, Racism, and War, from the...
What a Direct Action Campaign Can Do
What a DA Campaign can do 2 main ways DA works Key Concepts Point a Spotlight Raise public awareness about an institution, program or injustice. Bring hidden wrongs to light. Example: Campaigns against WTO, IMF/World Bank; genetically engineered foods. Delegitimize Organizations, Institutions and Programs Withdraw consent from the functioning of unjust bodies, laws, programs. Interfere with their operations. Raise their social costs Examples: U.S. Civil Rights Movement, antinuclear activism, etc. Build a Movement Provide opportunities for people to engage in action, experience solidarity and support, take greater risks, deepen commitment. Examples: almost any powerful action. Educate and Inform: Both those in the movement and those who hear of actions: Almost every good action. Strengthen Voices of Reform It...
Strategy & Campaigns
Strategy is your plan to win. Strategy is choosing the ground on which to engage the enemy Strategy means: Looking at the big picture Knowing who has the power to make the decision. Concentrating the right resources in the right place(s) at the right time(s) In Ancient Greece… Strategos = General Tacticas = Foot Soldiers Strategic campaigns are an important part of building a movement. They focus our energy on the forces that need to be changed, and can often result in some victory (big or small) or mitigation of damage. These efforts require participation and creativity. As we build power through campaigns, we model what can happen when we work together inspiring others and igniting imaginations that...
Strategy Resources & Nonviolence
Strategy WHAT IS PEOPLE POWER? From winning concrete improvements in people’s lives to toppling dictators, people power is a method that works. Every successful social change movement in US history has had a key element of people power and mass direct action; abolition, women’s suffrage, workers, civil rights, anti-Viet Nam war, anti-nuclear, Central America solidarity, global justice, and other recent movements. It was in the heat of struggle by communities of color and poor and working white communities that people-power methods were developed in the US. But people power is more than just a set of civil-disobedience and direct-action tactics. It is a different understanding of power and a wide range of organizing and tactics based on that...