Before April 23rd, it seemed impossible to stop Serzh Sargsyan, Armenia’s president of 10 years, from becoming a lifetime prime minister. But thanks to the pressure of continuous mass protests—first in the capital of Yerevan then throughout the country leading up to this historic date—Prime Minister Sargsyan resigned, after being in office for only six days.

There’s a growing effort among human rights funders and organizations to focus on supporting grassroots movements around the world. This trend is rooted in recognition that movements often play an essential role in making social, political, and economic change; that traditional models of funding and support are coming under greater pressure by governments; and that alternative models of change and support are needed.

In early May 2017, in a small bookstore in Caracas, people from all walks of life and ages gathered to talk about protesting the Venezuelan government’s kidnapping of human rights and democracy. Within days, the Civic Laboratory for Active Nonviolence was founded—a space for ordinary people to express their disapproval, not through violence and destruction but through creative, innovative, nonviolent civil resistance. […]

A year before he was assassinated, Dr. King delved into the highly charged debate over the Vietnam War, taking a firm and unequivocal stance in opposition. Many supporters, including some of his closest advisors, had practically begged him not to speak out against the war and risk alienating President Lyndon Johnson, who had ushered the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts through a fitful Congress. The press weighed in too. But Dr. King took care to protect the integrity of the movement, even if it entailed risk and cost. […]

King had never imagined himself as a prominent civil resistance leader in Montgomery, let alone the U.S. Yes, he had experienced racism, and hated it, but all black folks in the country had experienced racism and hated it. He had also read a bit of Gandhi and Marx at Boston University and written several thoughtful papers about social gospel movement theologians who challenged the Church to take up the fight for social justice. Yet, in December 1955, all these ideas were mostly academic concerns for King. […]

As governments and communities seek the right combination of methods to halt terrorism, one that we too often miss is nonviolent resistance. It’s not that we haven’t seen the power of protest movements that use mass marches, sit-ins, boycotts and other forceful but nonviolent tactics. To the contrary, people worldwide have been moved by watching such movements sweep aside the walls of apartheid, the tanks of dictators or the impunity of kleptocracies. […]

Since 1992, Ekta Parishad has organized marches totalling 20,000 km as part of our struggle to keep land rights for marginalized populations on the Indian government’s agenda. Why marches? Because they serve as constant headaches for the government while simultaneously strengthening solidarity and re-energizing people suffering from landlessness and homelessness. Every action is a step on the ladder toward a just society, where recognized inclusiveness brings change first within us and ultimately beyond us, in the society and nation.

Most activists and other practitioners of civil resistance realize that governments can use various methods of digital surveillance to find and silence dissenters. The question of how to protect ourselves can seem overwhelming. Wherever you look there are different and often contradictory recommendations. It can all seem too complicated, just impossible to keep up with. What you need is a framework to help you make good security decisions […]

“The place doesn’t matter. Nor the food, nor the rain. What matters is that we have made ourselves heard. The revolution doesn’t happen in 5-star hotels with buffets of food and it doesn’t happen in the springtime when everything is beautiful. It happens in the moments of crisis,” said 15-year old Alfredo Turqui about demonstrations in La Paz, Bolivia. […]