Nonviolent resistance

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Nonviolent resistance (or nonviolent action) comprises the practice of applying power to achieve socio-political goals through symbolic protests, economic or political noncooperation, civil disobedience and other methods, without the use of physical violence. It has the guiding principle of nonviolence.

Like other strategies for social change, nonviolent action can appear in various forms and degrees. It may include, for example, such varied forms as information wars, protest art, lobbying, tax refusal, boycotts or sanctions, legal/diplomatic wrestling, material sabotage, underground railroads, principled refusal of awards/honours, picketing, vigiling, leafletting, and/or general strikes.

Some scholars of nonviolence, arguing that many movements have pragmatically adopted the methods of nonviolent action as an effective way to achieve social or political goals, distinguish the methods of nonviolent action from the moral stance of nonviolence or non-harm towards others.

Gene Sharp has identified 198 methods of nonviolent action which practitioners may use to defend against invasions, undermine dictatorships, block coups d'état or challenge unjust social systems. They include:

Contents

[edit] Examples of nonviolent resistance

[edit] A list of current and recent nonviolent resistance organizations

[edit] Early nonviolent resistance

One of the earliest incidents of nonviolent resistance known to history is found in the works of Flavius Josephus, who relates in both The Wars of the Jews and Antiquities of the Jews (book 18, chapter 3) how Jews demonstrated in Caesarea to try to convince Pilate not to set up Roman standards, with images of the emperor and the eagle of Jupiter, in Jerusalem (both images would be considered idolatrous by religious Jews). Pilate surrounded the Jewish protesters with soldiers and threatened them with death. They replied that they were quite willing to die rather than see the laws of the Torah violated. This protest action was successful in its immediate goal. There is a mystery as to who was the leader of this nonviolent resistance action. Josephus mentions no one, but he does go on to mention that Pilate had Jesus crucified shortly afterwards. This passage of Josephus is controversial, but an Arabic translation omits all the portions that seem to be Christian interpolations, while still asserting that it was Pilate who ordered the Crucifixion of Jesus.


Chapter 24 of the Book of Alma, in the Book of Mormon, contains the story of the Anti-Nephi-Lehi people, who had forsworn idolatry and violence. Sometime between 90 BC and 77 BC, people known as Anti-Nephi-Lehi allowed themselves to be slaughtered by their attackers rather than do violence even in self-defense. According to the Book, many of the attackers were moved so strongly by the example of these peaceful people that they threw down their weapons and became pacifists themselves.

[edit] Nonviolent resistance in the first stage of the American Revolution

Before the War for Independence started with the Battles of Lexington and Concord, the American Revolution was mostly nonviolent. There were a few instances of violence against persons (e.g. The Boston Massacre) and against property (e.g. The Boston Tea Party), but for the most part, revolutionary actions during the first ten years (1765 to early 1775) of the Revolution included:

  • Tax Resistance.
  • Boycotts of British imports.
  • Organization of Committees of Correspondence.
  • Petitions to the King and Parliament.
  • Publication of Pamphlets and Newspapers.

[edit] Nonviolent resistance in nineteenth-century Trinidad

Trinidad, in the West Indies, was the site of successful nonviolent protest and resistance that accelerated the liberation of slaves there. The United Kingdom, then the colonial power in Trinidad, first announced in 1833 the impending total liberation of slaves by 1840. In the meantime the authorities expected slaves on plantations to remain in situ and work as "apprentices" for the next six years.

On 1 August 1834, at an address by the Governor at Government House about the new laws, an unarmed group of mainly elderly negroes began chanting: Pas de six ans. Point de six ans ("Not six years. No six years"), drowning out the voice of the Governor. Peaceful protests continued until the passing of a resolution to abolish apprenticeship and the achievement of de facto freedom. The authorities finally legally granted full emancipation for all - ahead of schedule - on 1 August 1838.

[edit] Nonviolent resistance in colonial India

The story of nonviolent resistance in colonial India is synonymous with the story of the Non-Cooperation Movement and Mahatma Gandhi. Gandhi saw Jesus as one of his main teachers and inspirations. Besides bringing about Independence, Gandhi's nonviolence also helped to improve the status of Untouchables in Indian religion and society. In the conflicts that ensued from Independence and Partition, Gandhi is credited with keeping Calcutta and the whole eastern border of India peaceful.

[edit] Nonviolent resistance in communist Poland

to be written: see Waldemar Frydrych (Orange Alternative), Solidarity

[edit] Nonviolent resistance in the United States

to be written see also American Civil Rights Movement

[edit] Nonviolent resistance in segregated South Africa

The ANC and allied anti-apartheid groups initially carried out non-violent resistance against pro-segregation and apartheid governments in South Africa, see Defiance Campaign. However, events such as the Sharpeville Massacre (21 March 1960) led ANC activists like Nelson Mandela to believe in the necessity of violent (or armed) resistance. Mandela founded Umkhonto we Sizwe (the Spear of the Nation). It initially carried out acts of sabotage but later expanded to guerrilla warfare against the South African security forces, including the use of car bombs. The Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) and other groups carried out violent acts against the government. The South African Truth and Reconcilation Commission accused all anti-apartheid groups of killing civilians in violent acts. The PAC's armed wing faced accusations of deliberately killing white civilians and blacks who co-operated with the government. The apartheid government regarded all violent acts by anti-apartheid groups as acts of terrorism.


[edit] Nonviolent resistance in Israel and the Palestinian Territories

While Palestinians have often used stone-throwing, armed action and suicide bombings against Israel, including attacks on civilian targets, non-violent methods have also been used. Palestinian groups have worked with Israelis and foreign citizens to organise civilian monitors of Israel military activity in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The best-known of these initiatives is perhaps the International Solidarity Movement. Peace camps and non-violent resistance to Israeli construction of settlements and of the West Bank Barrier have also been consistently adopted as tactics by Palestinians. Citizens of the Palestinian village of Beit Sahour also engaged in a tax strike during the First Intifada.

see also: Mubarak Awad

In Israel, protestors against Israel's unilateral disengagement plan of 2004 used nonviolent resistance against the impending evacuation of Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip and some settlements in the West Bank. On May 16, 2005, protesters blocked many traffic intersections at 5:00pm, leading to massive traffic jams and delays throughout the country. Although the police had received advance notification of the action, they had much difficulty in opening the intersections to vehicles, eventually arresting over 400 protesters, many of them juveniles. Organizers of the protests regarded this deed only as an opening volley, with the large protests planned to begin when the Israeli authorities cut off entry into the Gaza Strip in preparation of the disengagement. In the event, large-scale civil disobedience did not occur in Israel proper, although some settlers and their supporters resisted the evacuation non-violently.

see also: Moshe Feiglin

[edit] Nonviolent resistance in Denmark during World War II

When the Wehrmacht invaded Denmark in 1940, the Danes soon saw that military confrontation would change little except the number of surviving Danes. The Danish government therefore adopted a policy of official co-operation (and unofficial obstruction) which they called "negotiation under protest."

On the industrial front, Danish workers subtly slowed all production that might feed the German war machine, sometimes to a perfect standstill. On the cultural front, Danes engaged in symbolic defiance by organizing mass celebrations of their own history and traditions.

On the legislative front, the Danish government insisted that since they officially co-operated with Germany, they had an ally's right to negotiate with Germany, and then proceeded to create bureaucratic quagmires which stalled or blocked German orders without having to refuse them outright. Danish authorities also proved conveniently inept at controlling the underground Danish resistance press, which at one point reached circulation numbers equivalent to the entire adult population.

The Danish government also gave room (and even secret assistance) to underground groups involved in sabotage of machinery and railway lines needed to extract Danish resources or to supply the Wehmacht. The classification of this kind of resistance as "nonviolent" remains debatable, but it certainly proved less "violent" than engaging in or supporting terrorism directed at taking life or health from the occupiers.

Even after the official dissolution of their government, the Danes managed to block German goals without resorting to bloodshed. Underground groups smuggled over 7000 of Denmark's 8000 Jews temporarily into Sweden, at great personal risk. Workers (and even entire cities like Copenhagen) went on mass strikes, refusing to work for the occupier's benefit on the occupier's terms. After an initial response of greatly increased repression, the war-distracted Germans abandoned strike-breaking efforts in exasperation.

The Danish resistance against the Nazis proved highly effective, but it raises characteristic questions about the efficacy of nonviolence. The Danes clearly lost very few lives, while annoying and draining their foreign occupiers. But some people wonder whether the Danish strategy might not have failed abysmally if applied in other countries occupied by Germany and where German forces ruled through naked terror.

It almost certainly would have proved a more painful strategy for Denmark in such a circumstance (as in the case of the successful but agonizing nonviolent resistance to apartheid in South Africa), but as in the case of the Gandhian solution of perfect global surrender to the Nazis followed by perfect global non-cooperation with them, many questions of efficacy remain in the realm of the hypothetical. And due to the decentralized and various nature of nonviolent advocacy, questions about possible compatibility with violent resistance, or even about precise definitions of "nonviolent tactics" have no categorical answers.

[edit] Nonviolent Resistance in Germany during World War II

Even in Berlin, capital of the Third Reich, Nonviolent Resistance was effectively used to save Jewish lives. In 1943, Frau Israel and other non-Jewish ("Aryan") women protested against the deportation of their Jewish husbands to Auschwitz. The women were in real danger of being massacred themselves. At one point, the SS set up machine guns on Rose Street where the protest was held. In the end, however, the deportattions were halted, and some men came back from Auschwitz with their numbers tattooed on their arms. The Nazis planned to exterminate both the Jewish men and their non-Jewish wives after the end of the War, but this was prevented by the victory of the Allies.

[edit] Nonviolent Resistance in Norway during World War II

Norway's teachers, in spite of great suffering, successfully prevented the Nazification of Norway's educational system and society attempted by collaborationist leader Vidkun Quisling.

[edit] Nonviolent Resistance in the British Mandate of Palestine

During the years 1936 to 1947, in spite of severe persecution and even extermination of the Jewish population of Europe, the British authorities severely restricted Jewish immigration to Palestine. Jewish resistance by a minority was violent, but for the most part it consisted of the smuggling of refugees into the land, evading the British blockade. The most famous incident of such resistance was the voyage of the Exodus 1947. The brave and nonviolent resistance of the Jewish refugees impressed world opinion so much that a majority of the United Nations shortly afterwards voted to establish a Jewish State in Palestine. In the next year, 1948, this became the Nation of Israel.


[edit] Nonviolent resistance of the farmers of Larzac (France)

In 1971, the French government announced their intention to extend the military camp on the Larzac plateau, an arid area in southern France where they claimed that "almost nobody lived". Local farmers strongly disagreed with this assessment and, inspired by the example of Lanza del Vasto (a philosopher and follower of Mahatma Gandhi who had gone on hunger strike for two weeks in their support), they embarked on a campaign of non-violent resistance.

In 1972 the farmers' struggle attracted world-wide media coverage when they brought 60 sheep to graze on the lawn under the Eiffel Tower in Paris. The issue became a famous cause among many groups, from ecologists to conscientious objectors, and in 1973 100,000 people attended a demonstration in Paris in support of the farmers of Larzac.

The fight lasted until 1981, when the newly-elected socialist French President François Mitterrand abandoned the project.

Now instead of a military camp they have the Millau Viaduct and the A75 autoroute.


[edit] Nonviolent resistance against nuclear weapons

to be written see also Mutlangen

[edit] Nonviolent resistance in the Pacific

[edit] Nonviolent resistance in the Middle-East

[edit] See also

[edit] Publications

[edit] External links

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