People Power via Non-Violent Action and Peaceful Civil Disobedience

From Jesus to Gandhi, and Martin Luther King and Chavez to the people of Egypt today, nonviolent action campaigns have been a part of political life for millennia, challenging abuses by authorities, spearheading social reforms, demanding an end to colonial rule, or protesting militarism and discrimination.

Famous nonviolent protest leaders such as India’s Mohandas Gandhi and the United States’ Martin Luther King Jr., were committed to nonviolent action as the most effective means of waging their respective struggles. As Gandhi said "I would die for my cause but never will I kill for it".

In recent decades there has been a major upsurge in organized nonviolent insurrections against autocratic governments, many of which have achieved significant political and social reforms and even toppled repressive regimes from power.

Why Nonviolence Works

Nonviolent action can actually be more powerful than violence. A recent academic study of 323 major insurrections revealed that major nonviolent campaigns were successful 53 percent of the time, whereas primarily violent resistance campaigns were successful only 26 percent of the time.

Armed resistance tends to upset undecided elements of the population, who then seek security in the government and also gives the government easy justification for violent suppression. Conversely, force used against unarmed peaceful protesters engenders greater sympathy and may encourage formerly undecided elements of the community to side with the protesters.

Unarmed movements also increase the likelihood of defections and noncooperation by unmotivated police and military personnel.

Tactics of nonviolent campaigns may include strikes, boycotts, mass demonstrations, the popular contestation of public space, refusal to pay taxes, destruction of symbols of government authority (such as official identification cards), refusal to obey official orders (such as curfew restrictions), and the creation of alternative institutions for political legitimacy and social organization.