-
What's New
Announcing a New ICNC Webinar – October 29
‘Ekta Parishad: Practices and Insights from One of the Largest Social Movements in the World’
For 30 years, Ekta Parishad (“Unity Forum”) has engaged in a combination of community organizing, empowerment programs, and nonviolent civil resistance to improve the lives of rural poor people in India. As a movement, it comprises of 300,000 families in 15 provinces throughout the country. As an organization, it is an umbrella that includes over 2,000 trade unions, cooperatives, and social organizations.
Join a conversation with Ekta Parishad National Coordinator Ramesh Sharma and colleagues Ankush Vengurlekar and Isha Chitnis, followed by a panel discussion with activists Valerie Traore (Burkina Faso) and Somboon Chungprampree “Moo” (Thailand).
Presenter: Ramesh Sharma, Ekta Parishad’s National Coordinator.
Thursday, October 29, 2020
9:30-10:30am EDT
Learn More and Register! -
PANELISTS SHARE THOUGHTS ON SUSTAINING NONVIOLENT STRATEGIES IN ‘EXTRAORDINARY TIMES’
The Rumi Forum and the M.K. Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence recently hosted a virtual public discussion aimed at shoring up commitment to civil resistance in the wake of multiple new or exacerbated challenges.
ICNC President and CEO Hardy Merriman was among the leading scholars, strategists and activists who presented “Nonviolence: A Strategic and Moral Compass in Extraordinary Times” on October 2. Drawing from quantitative research, Merriman explained the power and effectiveness of nonviolent strategies, and stressed the importance of greater investment in civil resistance education.
Other panelists were Dr. Mary Elizabeth King, director of the James Lawson Institute, and Rivera Sun, a noted activist and editor of Nonviolence News.
The Gandhi Institute and Rumi Forum sponsored the program in celebration of the United Nations’ International Day of Nonviolence on October 2, the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi, the legendary 20th Century progenitor of nonviolent resistance philosophy and methods.
-
Three Chosen for 2020 ICNC Research Fellowships
Two PhD candidates and one post-doctoral scholar have been selected for ICNC’s 2020 Research Fellowships for doctoral, post-doctoral and junior faculty researchers.
Contributing to the growing scholarship on civil resistance topics, the new fellows are:
Ratanak Khun, a PhD student in political science at Northern Illinois University.His research topic is “Civil Resistance against Land Grabs and Forced Evictions: Cambodia’s Landless People Movements in Comparative Perspective.”
Sooyeon Kang, a PhD candidate at the Josef Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver. She is researching “From Reform to Resignation: Explaining Why Some Protest Movements Escalate Their Demands (Demand Escalation Database).”
John J. Chin, PhD, a fellow with the Institute for Politics and Strategy at Carnegie Mellon University. John’s topic is “Why Anti-Coup Civil Resistance Works.”Read more about the new Research Fellows, including abstracts of their projects, here.
Read more about the Doctoral, Post-Doctoral and Junior Faculty Research Fellowships here.
Learn more about other research and learning opportunities for scholars and students here.
-
New Blog Post
Minds of the Movement editor and author Amber French writes:
When I first spotted the words “International Center on Nonviolent Conflict” on a job announcement in 2014, I admit, I was intrigued but confused. Conflict is violent by definition, I thought.
Through education and pop culture, I had heard about Gandhi and the Indian struggle for independence. Having grown up in the U.S. South, I of course knew about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the civil rights movement as well. But I hadn’t considered either of these cases as “conflicts.”
And yet, they absolutely were—a collision of ideas, of powers, of practices, of behaviors, but one side did not use violence. The people who entered into conflict used nonviolent action like sit-ins, boycotts, noncooperation, and marches as their means of struggle. I started thinking through all the possible reasons for such a choice—was it a strategic choice, or a moral one, or maybe both? Why didn’t they just pick up a gun? It turns out that ICNC’s work was entirely devoted to these very questions! […]
Read More!
-
For Activists & Organizers
ICNC provides practical, relevant information and educational opportunities about civil resistance to activists and organizers around the world.
Our view is that nonviolent struggle is a social science that can be studied and understood. Practitioners can increase their chances of success by learning lessons from each other as well as from cutting edge academic scholarship on this topic.
Learn More -
New from ICNC Press
The Path of Most Resistance: A Step-by-Step Guide to Planning Nonviolent Campaigns by Ivan Marovic, is a practical guide for activists and organizers of all levels, who wish to grow their resistance activities into a more strategic, fixed-term campaign. It guides readers through the campaign planning process, breaking it down into several steps and providing tools and exercises for each step. Upon finishing the book, readers will have what they need to guide their peers through the process of planning a campaign. This process, as laid out in the guide, is estimated to take about 12 hours from start to finish.It is available for purchase or free download in English, Spanish, Catalan and Portuguese (Brazilian).
Learn More -
Visit our full resource library to find hundreds of resources on civil resistance in English and over 70 languages.
Or, if you are interested in civil resistance and don’t know where to start, we’ve made a list of general introductory resources–many of them short articles–to introduce you to the field. See our list of ten key resources for activists and organizers.
Visit the Resource Library -
ICNC Translations Program
Translating civil resistance literature into diverse languages is one of the most powerful ways to spread knowledge and increase the effectiveness of nonviolent movements struggling for rights, freedom, and justice. Learn more about our translations program.
We also currently host resources on civil resistance in over 70 languages and dialects on our website.
Find Translated Resources
-
For Scholars & Students
The discipline of civil resistance has developed enormously in recent years, driven by new quantitative and qualitative scholarly research, as well as by numerous nonviolent movements around the world.
ICNC runs a number of grant-supported academic and educational programs to meet the growing demand for cutting edge research, applied knowledge and practical skills in this field. Look at our research, writing, teaching and other educational offerings and review current calls for proposals or applications.
Learn More -
Academic Online Curriculum
ICNC’s Academic Online Curriculum on Civil Resistance (AOC) is an online resource to advance curriculum development, teaching, and research on civil resistance. It offers an extensive and regularly updated set of resources in this field, organized into clearly structured topics and case studies, and drawn in part from content that we and various academic collaborators developed for the ICNC university seminars we’ve led since 2009.Anyone can register to use the AOC at any time and it is free to use.
Topics on the AOC include:
– Civil Resistance: Nature, Ideas and History
– Strategic Considerations in Civil Resistance Struggles
– Types of Civil Resistance StrugglesAnd more!
Register now! -
Calls from ICNC Academic Initiatives
Throughout the year, ICNC is offering a number of academic opportunities, resources, and support that it makes available to scholars and students. The field of civil resistance has grown immensely and these academic programs aim to respond to the growing demand for knowledge and skills and contribute to expanding the quality of education, research, and curriculum related to civil resistance. This page includes the current and past calls for the ICNC’s educational and research programs, such as learning opportunities, curriculum support, and research grants.One of our calls, the Rapid Field Research and Data Collection Program, accepts applications on a rolling basis and interested applicants can apply for the program throughout the year.
Learn More -
New from ICNC Press:
Preventing Mass Atrocities: From a Responsibility to Protect (RtoP) to a Right to Assist (RtoA) Campaigns of Civil Resistance
by Peter Ackerman and Hardy Merriman
Available in: English, Arabic, and SpanishEvents of the last decade demand new approaches to atrocity prevention that are adaptable, innovative and independent of a state-centered doctrine. With the aim of reducing risk factors such as civil war, we argue for a new normative framework called The Right to Assist (RtoA)….
See ICNC Press Publications
-
For the Policy Community
Civil resistance movements have a proven role in advancing human rights, democratic governance, and curtailing corruption. They are a critical factor in addressing root causes of human suffering and reducing deadly violence in the world.
It is incumbent for members of the policy community who care about these issues to understand how movements work; their historic record of making change; and when, how, and under what circumstances external actors can take actions that are helpful to movements.
Learn More -
New From ICNC Press:
Preventing Mass Atrocities: From a Responsbility to Protect (RtoP) to a Right to Assist (RtoA) Campaigns of Civil Resistance
by Peter Ackerman and Hardy Merriman
Available in: English, Arabic, and SpanishEvents of the last decade demand new approaches to atrocity prevention that are adaptable, innovative and independent of a state-centered doctrine. With the aim of reducing risk factors such as civil war, we argue for a new normative framework called The Right to Assist (RtoA)….
Read More -
Powering to Peace: Integrated Civil Resistance and Peacebuilding Strategies
by Veronique Dudouet
Learn More
This report explores the complementary ideas and practices that civil resistance and peacebuilding approaches present, each from different points along the conflict transformation spectrum. Both strategies oppose violence in all its forms, and seek to pursue just peace by peaceful means. However, they take different approaches to conflict transformation, in particular how they analyze primary causes of violence and how they respond to conflict. Drawing on a number of case studies, this report aims to help practitioners and scholars understand how integrating these strategies can help establish a path for “powering to peace.” -
A Movement-centered Support Model: Consideration for Human Rights Funders and Organizations
ICNC President Hardy Merriman writes: “What makes civil resistance movements effective? If funders and human rights organizations can identify key factors that answer this question, then their efforts can be oriented towards trying to support the development and growth of those factors. […]”
Learn More
-
Minds of the Movement Blog
Minds of the Movement is a blog for those interested in the ideas and experiences of people on the front line of civil resistance, and those who seek to understand the art and science of nonviolent struggle.
Learn More -
New post
Stephen Zunes writes: “Discussion has grown for months about how the upcoming U.S. election results could be contested and possibly subverted. No one knows for certain what will happen, but there are precedents we can learn from about how attempts to overturn election results have been stopped. Four cases in recent decades—one in Southeast Asia, one in Africa and the other two in Eastern Europe—involved an incumbent president or party attempting to steal an election only to have it reversed through large-scale nonviolent direct action. This article looks at these cases, and identifies key lessons. […]”
Read now! -
Joe Macaron writes: “Exactly one year ago, Lebanese took to the streets in massive rallies under the renowned slogan kilon yaani kilon (“all means all”), denouncing the country’s corrupt oligarchy. These unprecedented protests were leaderless and decentralized, both in urban and rural areas, and carried a message of hope and unity that condemned the sectarian and divisive agenda of the ruling class. […]”
Read now! -
Abdourahman Mohamed Guelleh, “TX” writes: “In our culture, when a coffin is carried down the street, pedestrians and vehicles must come to a halt to observe a moment of silence in memory of the deceased being carried. In this case, it was our coffin. In the middle of a large, motionless crowd, our activists laid down the coffin and then dispersed in a flash. The street erupted in turmoil! No one had never seen anything like it before! Had a crime been committed? Why would a coffin be placed in the middle of the street? […]”
Read now!