Minds of the Movement

An ICNC blog on the people and power of civil resistance

Ideas & Trends

Articles

Los Movimientos Latinoamericanos Comprometidos con la Disciplina Noviolenta, Desplazándose a Canales Institucionales

La pandemia de este año no ha impedido a la gente en América Latina agruparse y empujar por sus agendas de derechos, justicia y democracia. En algunos casos, el mal manejo o la inacción con relación al COVID-19 incluso provocó demostraciones masivas, como fue el caso de Brasil. Pero esta no es la única tendencia en términos de resistencia civil que se puede identificar en la región este año. Aunque la violencia permanece como el instrument a elegir por muchos grupos no estatales, por amplio margen, el estereotipo del guerrillero con un fusil como símbolo del luchador por la libertad, el cual ha plagado la conciencia colectiva de Latinoamérica por décadas,[…]

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Ideas & Trends

Movement Magic? How Movements Mobilize Material Resources

While movements initially have few resources, and nearly no cash, many thrive and often succeed in achieving their goals. How do they mobilize resources to achieve their objectives? What sort of strategies do they use to generate material resources needed in their campaigns? To answer these questions, we studied three movements from northwest Mexico. In all three cases, we found that the key to mobilizing material resources was that movement leaders focused on communicating powerful messages and building public trust, which encouraged volunteers to join them. […]

 

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Ideas & Trends

New Shields, New Swords: The Autocrat Learning Curve

Those of us who study and practice civil resistance need to know that the Academy for Autocrats is also busy learning—in many cases, from us. We share our knowledge in the spirit of offering tools for nonviolent liberation to all, everywhere. There are strengths in our transparency and open approach, but autocrats also try to use this to their advantage, seeking to think several moves ahead of activists. […]

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Ideas & Trends

Start Where You Are: Addressing Four Common Questions about Civil Resistance Training

Training activists is now widely considered a foundational movement activity. But what about implementation? If you don’t yet have a movement, or your movement lacks the capacity to hold workshops, where and how do you start to apply this insight?

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Ideas & Trends

We Know We Need Civil Resistance Training. Now Where Do We Start?

“In the face of rising authoritarianism, people worldwide are increasingly turning to civil resistance to fight for their rights. This is an empowering choice, but it can also feel overwhelming for those involved. When people who seek to build or maintain a movement, the first big question is often: Where and how should we start? […]”

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Ideas & Trends

Interpreting a Garden of Wildflowers: The Glossary of Civil Resistance

English language terminology in the field of civil resistance is like a garden of wildflowers, shaped by sometimes competing forces. On the one hand, the garden reflects locally rooted ideas and cultures: vibrant, natural, and defying simple efforts to constrain it. It’s an outgrowth of various micro-climates. Over time, some flowers (key terms) get more sunlight than others. New flowers also emerge, brought in on the wind from elsewhere. The garden evolves, as does the soil from which it grows. […]

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Ideas & Trends

#2: “Bending the Arc of the Universe:” The Salience of Democratic Forces against Autocratization in 2020-21

In the past two decades, autocracies have been on the rise and aspiring autocrats in democracies have been gaining in numbers and strength. The 2020 democracy report by the V-Dem (Varieties of Democracy) Institute noted that by 2020, autocracies have formed a clear majority for the first time since the beginning of 2000, constituting 92 countries with 54% of the global population or 4.2 billion people. Furthermore, 35% of the world’s population, an additional 2.7 billion people, live today in countries that are experiencing a significant decline in their democracy index and that are often headed by elected anti-democratic demagogues. This is colloquially known as the third wave of authoritarianism, or “autocratization” […]

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Ideas & Trends

How Democratic States Can Effectively Support Pro-Democracy Movements

“It took more than a month of nonviolent pro-democracy protests by Belarusians—met consistently with vicious repression by the Lukashenko government—before some democratic countries selectively imposed sanctions on key perpetrators of the regime. Democracies can and must do better in providing support and concrete assistance to pro-democracy movements and thus mitigate violence against unarmed people and, in the long run, help increase the chances of success for the pro-democracy resistance. […]”

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Ideas & Trends

دستورالعملی برای نیروهای امنیتی برای حمایت ازجنبشهای دمکراسیخواه

ماچه بارتکوفسکی مینویسد: “بگذارید بگویم که شما دارید درنیروی پلیس، امنیت داخلی، سرویسهای اطلاعاتی ویا درارتش خدمت میکنید. مافوق شما دستورمیدهد که جنبش دموکراسی خواه و مردم غیرمسلح که به عنوان اعتراض بیرون آمدهاند را سرکوب کنید. شما با آنچه حاکمیت وجیرهخواران اطرافش میخواهند بکنند، موافق نیستید و با تمام وجود میدانید اگرازاین دستورات پیروی کنید، دیگر به مردم خدمت نمیکنید. شما دنبال راههایی هستید که سرکوب را به تاخیر انداخته وازمسیرخود خارج کنید و یا درمقابل دستورات حاکمیت برای سرکوب جنبش بیخشونت بایستید.
“[…]شما تنها نیستید

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Ideas & Trends

为安保部队成员提供的 支持民主运动指南

当公民用民主运动反抗独裁统治的时候,安保部队(警察、内部安全机构、情报部门和军队)的成员  可以提供什么帮助?[…]

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