S. — 01. The means and steps of a nonviolent action campaign

The means and steps of a nonviolent

action campaign

Étienne Godinot

Translation : Claudia McKenny Engström 10.02.2015

These slides follow the structure and incorporate large extracts of a text by Jean-Marie Muller « Les différents moments d’une campagne d’action non-violente » (Dossier n°3 of Non-violence politique, 1985, and Alternatives non-violentes, n°132, third trimester 2004).

The slides add personal observations of the author and illustrates Jean-Marie Muller’s text with historical examples.

Photo : Jean-Marie Muller

Bibliographie : - Jean-Marie Muller, Stratégie de l’action non-violente, Seuil, 1981- Jean-Marie Muller, Dictionnaire de la non-violence, Le Relié Poche, 2005- Jean-Marie Muller, L’impératif de désobéissance - Fondements philosophiques

et stratégiques de la désobéissance civile, Le passager clandestin, 2011- Gene Sharp, The politics of nonviolent action - 1 : Power and struggle ; 2 : The

methods of nonviolent action ; 3 : The dynamics of nonviolent action., Boston, Extending horizons books, 1980, 902 p.

The means and steps of a nonviolent action campaign Contents

1 - Analysis of the situation2 - Choosing an objective3 - Choosing an organisation4 - First negotiations5 - Reach out to public opinion

6 - Give an ultimatum7 - Direct actions8 - A constructive programme9 - Playing with repression10 - Final negotiations11 - Exercising power at the basis12 - Exercising political power

Introduction

End and means

Nonviolence is an ethics of respect. It is both a respectful way of life between Man and nature, and a way of doing politics that respects the opponent. It is a way of doing and a way of being; an ethical requirement and a technique for action.

In terms of action, nonviolence is a good means for a good end. This needs to be underlined, because a nonviolent technique could be used to a bad end.

Ex.: - Boycott of Jewish shops by Nazis in 1933

- Truck-drivers’ strike in Chili in 1972 which contributed to the fall of the democratic regime led by Salvador Allende

- Moroccan “Green March” in 1975 to take over the Spanish Sahara…

Photos : Mohandas K. Gandhi and Martin Luther King

Introduction

Instinct and intelligence

It would be vain to try and predict the future, but it is precious, in order to act better in the present, to analyse the past.

When the time comes, it will be necessary to adapt according to largely unpredictable circumstances, combining instinct and intelligence for the action to be pertinent and adapted to the situation.

Although it is an important element, intelligence is not enough. It clarifies our conception of the action, brings precisions and reduces the marge of error.

1 – Analysis of the situation

The dynamic of an action is rooted in the awareness of an injustice, not necessarily a new one, but which becomes unbearable in this moment.

One shouldn’t exaggerate the facts and their seriousness, and even less so, caricature the position of our opponent.

Thorough knowledge of facts, their most rational and objective presentation, is a considerable advantage :

- Being able to justify, with proof, the affirmations stated, build up a complete case;

Analysis of situation

- Understanding facts in their historical, psychological, sociological, economic, political context : why and how did the injustice appear ? And then maintain itself ?

- Who are the actors, what are the social, economic, political (representatives, candidates, population, media, etc.) forces implicated in the situation, their attitudes, behaviour, theoretical justifications ?

- Which structures of power characterise this situation ? Where is the decision centre ?

- What is written in the law, what rights and legal procedures can we use or not use ?

- Who are our allies and enemies in this conflict ?

2 - Choosing an objective

It is a strategic necessity that the objective be clear, precise, limited and possible.

It is important not to choose and objective whose importance is disproportionate compared to the powers I can reasonably pretend to mobilise in order to lead an action.

It is important to situate : put in a perspective that in holds the political system as a whole, but tackling the problem from a precise point, thus being able to fully hold on to it and later be able to move and make it tip over, acting as a lever.

Ex.: In 1930, Gandhi chose to fight against the laws on salt

which were very hard on the Indian population.

3 - Choosing an organisation

Nonviolent action bets on personal responsibility. But to become efficient, it must be collective and organised. The organisation itself must be nonviolent : all must be allowed to participate in decision-making, be made responsible, tasks must be shared, activities coordinated.

The organisation must endow itself with an organ of decision, in order to react fast if necessary.

In all collective actions, one or several leaders emerge. These must not end up taking a prominent, immoderate position. It is important to avoid that the unity, power and cohesion of the movement rest solely upon the shoulders of the leader, and hence, strengthen democracy within the organisation.

Photos : - Vote by a show of hands;

- Cesar Chavez, leader of the United Farm Workers (USA, 1970’), organising a boycott of grapes.

Choosing an organisation

An action is generally carried by an already existing organisation (political party, trade union, movement, NGO) or by a collective of organisations. Sometimes, a specific organisation needs to be created.

One of the tasks the organisation takes on is to train (in theory and practice) its activists in nonviolent action.

The movement will be strong if it benefits from the support of local relays (inside or outside de country) who will transmit the information and guidelines for action to the population.

Photo below : role play, simulating an assault and reaction to it.

4 - First negotiations

It is important to start negotiations as soon as possible and directly with the opponent, before taking the disagreement public, in order to suggest a negotiated solution rather than a show of strength.

If the opponents accepts to meet with us, it is rare an agreement can be concluded immediately, but these first negotiations allow to test our interlocutor’s intentions.

It is important to avoid all attitudes that would put the conflict under extra tension or reinforce the blockages.

However, it is important to be firm and determined.

First negotiations

Making decisions is a requirement, promises are not good enough.

When negotiations find themselves in a dead end, they must suspended, but not definitely stopped, since the goal of direct action is to reopen negotiations.

It might be useful to uphold certain contacts with the adversary all along the conflict, namely via intermediaries.

The time for these first negotiations must also be a time of preparation to a struggle of strengths;

Photo : Maintaining the pressure

5 - Reaching out to public opinion

1) Informing

After the failure of the first negotiations, injustice must be showed publically using all means possible of communication, information, awareness-raising or popularisation :

- Press reports handed over to journalists; press conferences

- Flyers, petitions, posters, wall inscriptions (easily erasable) etc.

Refuse caricatures, outrages, invectives, insult. The power of words comes from their accuracy, not their violence.

Reaching out to public opinion

It is important to use humour, a weapon with an unmatchable power of conviction. What’s more, humour is one of the best shields against hatred and violence. If we laughed more, we would fight less often…

Furthermore, adversaries are generally incapable of humour, which puts us in a favourable position.

2) Direct interventions

During public interventions, the corporal attitude of demonstrators is an essential means of expression and communication.

Photo below : Indian women marching for the right to natural resources (earth, water, seeds, forests) at the initiative of the Ekta Parishad Movement.

Reaching out to public opinion Direct interventions

■ Demonstrations : marching to a symbolic location

Sympathisers are invited to join the demonstrators.

Even if it silent – which is actually often more efficient than any words, slogans, chants or music – the demonstration must “say” something to its spectators, thanks to banners or signs, at the same time as flyers are being distributed to passers-by.

Photos :

– Demonstrations against the dictatorship in Burma– Demonstration on the Bellecour Square in Lyon, supporting the

Burman democrats (2007)


■ March : demonstrators walk long distances, from town to town, to raise awareness in the regions they cross, talking with the people they meet and with the press about the injustice they denounce and their aims.

Meetings can be organised at each stop.

Local committees prepare the route for the walkers and greet them at their pass through towns.

-March for equality and against racism, a.k.a “Marche des Beurs”, 1993;

- Janadesh March from Gwalior to Dehli, India, organised in 2007 by the Ekta Parishad Movement and claiming the right to land;

- Le Croisic-Paris March against misery and for food sovereignty (21 September-17 October 2012), supporting the Indian JanSatyagraha March (3-11 October 1012).


■ Theatre-tract : the idea is to play a theatre scene during a few minutes on the streets, a scene that sends out a simple, condensed and clear message, the same one as the one written on the tracts distributed at the same time.

■ Sit-in, die-in : demonstrators are sitting or lying down in a symbolic location (ex.: sitting waiting for the return of a delegate gone to present a demand; lying down simulating the consequences of a nuclear explosion)

■ Marching dressed up as sandwiches at peak hour. On chasubles are written the appropriate messages.


■ Hours or circles of silence. People gather in a symbolic place, stand in silence, forwarding their message only via signs and banners. Others can distribute tracts and exchange with passers-by.

■ Forming a chain. Demonstrators with chasubles chain up to the barriers of a public building. They are generally detached from it by the police. The press photo will provoke the best impact.

Photos :

- Circle of Silence in Toulouse demonstrating against retention conditions of immigrants;

- Nonviolent Civic Action Chain during the war in Algeria.


■ Limited Hunger strikes : the principle is to stop eating (but it is important to drink water) between 3 to 20 days, in order to capture the attention of the ones responsible for the injustice and public opinion. The personality of the striker(s) plays an important role in the impact the strike will have.

Ex.: hunger strike of men and women in Bolivia in 1978, which destabilised the regime led by General Banzer.

“It would be wrong to believe that the solely through ethics and persuasion can we obtain justice. It is not that moral is useless, but we need to support ourselves with the power of real coercion.” Martin Luther King

6 – Give an ultimatum

If negotiations to end the conflict hit refusal, it becomes necessary to set a last deadline beyond which the movement will launch its actions.

When persuasion is insufficient, other means of pressure and constraint – albeit respectful of the opponent – must be implemented.

The ultimatum, last phase of the negotiations and beginning of the struggle, will often be rejected as “inadmissible blackmailing”.

7 – Direct actions

1. Direct actions of Noncooperation

This type of action aims at drying up the adversary’s sources of power and depriving him from what maintains his position.

It is essential that the attitudes of non-cooperation suggested by the movement be carried by the biggest number, and watch out not to keep them in the hands of an elite.

■ Dismissal of titles and decorations : symbols have less or more importance, but the impact of such dismissals can be very strong on public opinion.

Photo : General Jacques de Bollardière sent back his medal of Grand Officer of the Légion d’Honneur to the President of the Republic in 1973 as sign of protest against France’s nuclear strategy and practices in the Pacific.

7- Direct actions1) Direct actions of Noncooperation

■ Operation “Stay at home” : the population is asked to cease all activity during a whole day, half a day, a few hours… Streets are deserted, shops closed.

■ Strike : collectively, workers decide to stop their activity in order to obtain from their employer the satisfaction of a demand of theirs. For decades, striking was a necessary and efficient means at the service of the less fortunate socio-professional workers of a company, but due to certain perversions of trade union movements, its legitimacy has suffered.

Photos :

- Rowlatt Act, repressive legislation voted by the English and against which Gandhi organised, on 6th April 1919 a national hartal (stay at home operation);

- 1936 strikes in France

7- Direct actions1) Direct actions of Noncooperation : Strikes

What’s more, the accuracy of a strike is often questioned today. When railway workers, to defend the SNCF (French Railroad Company) go on strike that discredits railroad transport with regard to the company and passengers, they actually contribute to reinforcing the use of cars and trucks…

Other means must therefore be found, that pressure employers without sanctioning users or threaten the company itself. For instance, not controlling tickets.

7- Direct actions1) Direct actions of Noncooperation : Boycotts

■ Boycott : refusal to buy a product or use a service, in order to deprive the producer or service provider of his or her financial compensation (non-cooperation of consumers).

It is not necessary for the boycott to be total to be useful. Boycotters place themselves near vending places to explain what’s at stake to consumers.

The action should be long term.

Photos : - Charles Cunningham Boycott (1832-1897), English land owner against whom was launched, in 1879 and by farmers of the Farming League, a blockade that sacrificed a crop.

To be precise, the blockage is the producer’s refusal to supply, erecting a barrier (terrestrial, maritime, areal) against the introduction of goods in a town or country. The boycott is the consumer’s refusal to buy.

- Boycott of Montgomery (Alabama) bus services at the initiative of Martin Luther King from 5th December 1955 to 21st December 1956. After over a year, the company almost went bankrupt and Blacks obtained the same rights as Whites.

7- Direct actions1) Direct actions of Noncooperation : Civil disobedience

No society can spare itself from installing rules and laws to organise life between Men. But laws are not carved in marble. They are the result of the evolution of morals, mentalities, of debate and democratic struggles.

When the law authorises injustices in an established disorder, it is not only a right to disobey but even a duty.

It is because citizens believe in law and justice that they must denounce unjust laws and orders. They must take action against unjust laws, be it through civil disobedience, in order to promote justice.

Photos : Étienne de la Boétie and his Discourse on Voluntary Servitude (Discours

sur la Servitude Volontaire), circa 1548.


What makes an injustice is not the unjust law, but the obedience to it. The best way to fight against injustice is therefore to disobey it.

Civil disobedience is a “public, nonviolent, consciously decided and political act, done against the law and most often realised to foster a change of law or government policy. By acting this way, it is those who act call for citizens’ sense of justice” (John Rawls).

Photos : - Henry David Thoreau, author of an essay on Civil Disobedience

- John Rawls (1921-2002), American political theorist

See the three slides specific to Civil Disobedience


This political act calls for actors to develop a political thought, competence and consciousness.

The ones who choose to disobey, while denouncing the unjust law, ask for a more just one.

Often, they make real suggestions prepared by lawyers.

“We have an obligation, not only legal but also moral, to obey just laws, but we have the moral and legal obligation to disobey unjust ones.” Martin Luther King

Photo : GMO reapers do not contest research on GMO but their harvesting.


■ Rent withholding : for instance, while waiting for restorations to be made in a building. The rent is paid by tenants but blocked on an account.

■ Auto-reduction : either because we believe certain prices are excessively high, or because we believe the policy of a State or company to be noxious, and reduce ourselves the price asked for this or that service, in the frame of an organisation bringing together large numbers of users.


■ Tax refusal: the idea is not to contest the principle of taxes per se, real solidarity practice which unites all members of a community. But when taxes fuel injustices, the duty of solidarity with the victims can mean not paying them.

Paying taxes is not merely an administrative formality, it is a political act. Defending one’s right as taxpayer is not only done by refusing to pay : it can also be reached by redistributing the tax money and granting it to projects which contribute to building social justice.

Photo below : the sheep pen in La Blaquière on the Larzac, built in the 1970’ thanks to redistributed money taxpayers refused to pay the State.


■ Unlimited hunger strike : death threat on oneself to present a demand in exceptional circumstances, when stakes are high.

The chosen objective must be reasonable enough to be reached in the period of time a person can effectively not eat. If this were not the case, the action would be desperate and hopeless, but would not be a nonviolent action.

Photos :

- On 13th January 1948, Gandhi starts his last hunger strike in Dehli and obtains the end of inter-religious confrontations.

- Louis Lecoin (1888-1971) obtained from French President Charles de Gaulle, in 1962 at the age of 74, a status for conscientious objectors after a hunger strike that lasted 22 days.

Direct actions2) Direct actions of Intervention

They aim to provoke a change by intervening directly or against one’s interests.

■ Occupation: occupying the opponent’s buildings and act as if they were one’s own. I.e., no degradation, avoid any kind of physical or verbal violence. This does not forbid consulting or borrowing (and returning after having photocopied…) documents concerning the ongoing conflict.

A tight sit-in in front of the door can help the interlocutor from running away and avoid dialogue…

Photo : Guy and Marisette Tarlier, peasants from the Larzac, judged in July 1976 by the Court in Millau for having stolen, along with 20 others, compromising documents from the military base Genie-Domaines in the Larzac on 28th June 1976.


■ Obstruction consists in hindering circulation on public roads or preventing the entrance to a building with an impassable obstacle for those who would want to enter.

It is best if the obstruction be realised by a large amount of people: the risks are then smaller and the action has a better chance of being understood by the population.

Photos :

- Czechoslovakia, 21-28th August 1968. The population blocked soviet tanks from entering Prague

- Philippines, 23rd February 1986. The crowd formed a human barricade in front of the tanks sent by Dictator Marcos to attack “rebel” democrats. Minister of Defence Ponce Enrile and Army Chief General Ramos, who had rallied to the cause defended by Cory Aquino, had taken refuge in Aguinaldo barracks in the centre of Manilla.


■ Civil usurpation consists, for civil servants, workers and citizens, to occupy their jobs in order to maintain the functioning of institutions, companies and other structures, against the power in lace and in favour of resistance.

Another form of civil usurpation would be for a large amount of people to use the name or quality of a prosecuted person or persecuted group in order to demand the same treatment

Photos :

- Albert Chambon (1909-2002), head of the Super-NAP Network (Noyautage des Administrations Publiques, in Enhglish “cleansing of public administration”) who infiltrated high administration during Nazi occupation.

-The Yellow Star worn by Danish Jewish population during the Second World War in solidarity with the Jewish community.

8 - A constructive Program

A constructive program consists in organising, in parallel with institutions and structures which are contested and with which we refuse to collaborate, new institutions and structures that bring a constructive solution to a give problem.

The realisation of the constructive program must help those until then kept in a precarious position within an economic system to take their own destiny in hand and participate directly in the management of the matters that concern them.

Without a constructive program, nonviolent action is kept prisoner of protest and refusal.

Photos:

- In Poland during Nazi occupation, the Komplety were secret schools and universities.

- Solar panels, an energy alternative

9 - Playing with repression

A nonviolent movement is in a better position than a violent one when it comes to facing repression by the power in place.

- If I use violence, I don’t create debate within public opinion on the injustice I fight, but on the violence I commit. I must then justify myself before the public opinion who accuses me.

- If I use nonviolence, I accuse the power to justify the repressive violence and brutality it uses.

A nonviolent campaign must count with as much as on repression.

Photos :

- Amritsar massacre perpetrated by the English on 13th April 1919, on command of General Dyer against Indian independents. 379 were killed and 1137 wounded.

- English repression against Indians wanting to take over Salt storages in 1930.

Playing with repression

It is essential not to provoke a repression that couldn’t later be handled or to take inconsiderate risks.

It is important to count on Courts where the accused can undergo trial.

Repression puts real figures and what’s at stake under the light.

The itinerary of a nonviolent activist often – if not always – includes jail time. That is also where he or she is most efficient, to the point that a government must resort to taking him or her out or not put him or her in in the first place.

Photos : Gandhi, M. L. King in prison; José Bové on his way to prison.

Playing with repression

The movement will only get stronger with a growing amount of people transgressing the norm : by acting for a just cause with just means, the people become stronger than government.

Activists are sanctioned (fines, unemployment, prison) and must count on active solidarity from the whole movement.

If repression doesn’t succeed in breaking the movement’s determination, the power in place has no other solution but to find a negotiated solution to the conflict.

Photos :

- During the Salt March in 1930, 60 000 nonviolent Indian activists were imprisoned.

- Amnesty International’s campaigns and advocating are indispensable to political prisoners all over the world..

10 - Final Negotiations

Negotiations, even if they start well, are yet another struggle and not a dialogue that will take place in a trusting atmosphere.

It is important not to cry out victory too soon, but to stay on ones guards, to not stop the action, to not say anything that would destabilise activists and public opinion.

Maybe will it be necessary to accept a compromise, an honourable settlement that will help the adversary not “loose face”, but even then, no compromise should be made on what is essential. The agreement could not have for consequence to revive tensions between victims of the injustice and those who are responsible for it.

Because then, the party can begin…

Photos : - The Irwin-Gandhi Pact signed on 5th March 1931 after the Salt March.

- The agreement reached between Indian government and Ekta Parishad (Rajagopal P.V.) movement on 11th October 2012 after the JanSatyagraha which brought together over 50 000 Indian activists.

11- Exercising power at the grassroots

Once the objective has been reached, victory is enough to bring hope back to all those who, across the country or the world, are victims of similar injustices.

The example of such a nonviolent struggle can create a dynamic for popular struggles, where citizens learn self-confidence, citizenship and participative democracy.

Photo : the “Arab Spring”, which began in Dec. 2010, in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Bahrein, Yemen, Syria.

Exercising power at the grassroots

In order to do so, it is necessary to :

- Question the ideological pillars of society : competition as principle and way of governing society and the planet, greed and “always more”, the myth of unlimited growth (manipulative advertising, planned obsolescence, consumer credit, etc.)

- Imagine and implement in parallel alternatives to agriculture, industrial production, exchanges, consumerism, habitat, energy, transports, etc.

- Invent different ways of functioning in companies, local administration, education, experimenting complementary and alternative currencies, etc.

12 – Exercising political power

The rise of nonviolent struggles and alternative experimentations create the conditions that allow a population to gather forces in political organisation.

The aim is then no longer the fight against injustice and incoherence within society, but to exercise power democratically : with ethical and long term vision, in the name of the common good.

Indeed, “A well organised Revolution starts with oneself” *, but a well organised revolution stops with the exercise of political power…

*said Lanza del Vasto

Exercising political power

Indeed, nonviolence leads us to reject the State as institution that holds the monopoly of legitimate violence.

But a nonviolent struggle should not be envisaged as an unstoppable guerrilla against the abuses of political and economic power.

1. In a democratic society, elections are the path followed by an organisation which has been able to accede power thanks to the support of a majority.

If elections are not sufficient to change society, they are a necessary condition.


2. In a non-democratic society, the political movement that incarnates the people’s hope must organise civil disobedience and call the population to participate in pacific insurrection until the power in place yields.

Leaders of resistance movements then become the representatives of legitimate authority, and are therefore able to constitute a temporary and parallel government.

Photos:

- Cory Aquino (1933-2009), Opposition Leader in the Philippines under Marcos dictatorship, President from 1986 to 1992.

- Lech Walesa (born in 1943), Solidanosc leader in Poland under Soviet rule, President from 1990 to 1995.

- Vaclav Havel (1936-2011), Charter 77 Leader in Czechoslovakia under Soviet Rule, President from 1993 to 2003.

- Nelson Mandela (1918-2013), Apartheid Opposition leader in South Africa, President from 1994 to 1999.


History proves that deceptions can be great for those who awaited the arrival in power of democrats (or at least more than their predecessors) at the head of the State.

For instance, Lula Da Silva in Brazil or Barack Obama in the United States (photos)

The change launched by the men and women in power inspired by nonviolence would be considerable in itself. But reforms would be long and slow, and resistances numerous.

When talking about nonviolent management of society, it is important not to imagine an ideal society were the demons of violence would have been exorcised and where citizens lived in total harmony.


On the contrary, reality needs to be envisaged with all its weights and contradictions, the aim being to solve them.

The starting point should not be a nonviolent ideal and attempt to apply it to reality.

One should rather start from reality and strive to reach the ideal.

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S. — 01. The means and steps of a nonviolent action campaign

Education

Transcript of S. — 01. The means and steps of a nonviolent action campaign