On July 31, 2020 the United States Institute of Peace convened a book launch event for Jonathan Pinckney’s new book From Dissent to Democracy, which examines the dynamics of democratic transitions driven by civil resistance movements. Research for the book was supported in part by ICNC.
Event panelists included Hardy Merriman, Erica Chenoweth, Jonathan Pinckney, Huda Shafiq, Zachariah Mamphilly, and Maria Stephan.
Radio hosts Jim Johnson and Jamie McMillin recently interviewed ICNC President and CEO Hardy Merriman about civil resistance, current events, international support to nonviolent movements, training, and other topics in two wide-ranging interviews on their “Solutions to Violence” radio show.
Listen to interview 1 (starts at 2:44):
Listen to interview 2 (starts at 3:03)
The program is a feature of FORward Radio, a community-based station sponsored by the Louisville Chapter of the Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR). It airs thrice weekly on WFMP-FM 106.5 in Louisville, Kentucky.
Introduction of Speaker: 0:00 – 6:12
Presentation: 6:13 – 39:56
Questions and Answers: 39:57 – 56:55
Performance “Un violador en tu camino” in Ecatepec, on the outskirts of Mexico City. Credit: Joss Medina.
Last August, during a press conference with Mexico City’s police chief, a group of young women were seen breaking windows and throwing pink glitter in the police chief’s face. This was to demand justice for a teenager allegedly raped by four police officers. The episode sparked what became known as the glitter revolution, a new wave of feminist activism in Mexico with connections to other feminist collectives worldwide.
This webinar addressed questions around the Mexican feminist movement, its radical actions, its use of the arts, symbols, its mobilization of broad coalitions and its relationship to a global fight against gender violence and the patriarchal system. Poncho Hernandez explored how this diverse and innovative movement uses civil resistance to denounce injustice, remember victims, and heal wounds.
Alfonso Poncho Hernández is a Mexico City–based activist, community organizer, philosopher, and anthropologist with more than 10 years of work in nonviolence and peacebuilding. An experienced trainer and conferencist, he has delivered workshops, seminars, and conferences in several universities in Mexico, and countries like India, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Honduras, and the USA. His academic work is focused on the use of arts in social responses to violence, including civil resistance and creative social movements in Latin America. He is specifically interested in peacebuilding through cultural practices in communities with high levels of violence in Mexico.
“The Arts and Symbolism in Mexico’s Feminist Movement” by Poncho Hernandez
“Mexico’s ‘glitter revolution’ targets violence against women” by The Guardian
“10 women are murdered in Mexico every day” by Alicia Pereda Martínez
“Women in Nonviolent Movements (USIP Special Report)” by Marie A. Principe
“Women’s Participation and the Fate 0f Nonviolent Campaigns” by Erica Chenoweth
“You Can’t Kill the Spirit: Women and Nonviolent Action” by Pam McAllister
Introduction of Speakers: 0:00 – 3:47
Presentation: 3:48 – 37:51
Questions and Answers: 37:53 – 1:01:34
This webinar explored what activists in the Global South are doing to navigate public health concerns and authoritarian conditions to advance their causes during the COVID-19 pandemic. Panelists based in the Global South discusses the challenges in their contexts and what their movements and networks are doing to seize the moment to build power for their progressive agendas. Ingabire Merab represented movements in Uganda under President Yoweri Museveni’s regime, Luke Espiritu represented movements in the Philippines under President Rodrigo Duterte, and Phil Wilmot addressed the North-South paradigm and how pop culture narratives influence resistance behavior.
Ingabire Merab is a trained journalist and the Head of Media and Communication at Solidarity Uganda, a progressive organization of activists and political education trainers based in Uganda. The organization focuses on training, coaching, and capacity-building for activists and organizers to boost their social and political effectiveness using civil resistance and nonviolence as a methodology.
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit the world, many countries put in place various measures to curb its spread through their populations. Shortly before Uganda registered its first COVID-19 cases, and before closing air transport, all airline passengers were vehemently placed under quarantine in a very expensive hotel which they were expected to pay over $100 per day for two weeks. Most of them couldn’t afford the high charges so they mostly went without food and decent lodging. Solidarity Uganda together with some friends decided to pull together resources to help cover a few basic needs and water. After this visit, together with those quarantined at the hotel, they published the inhuman conditions under which the state was subjecting those in quarantine and how they were being exploited. The state was forced into an urgent meeting with the Ministry of Health in which they were forced to step up their game by bettering the conditions under which they were quarantining people.
Luke Espiritu is the national president of the Solidarity of Filipino Workers (Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino or BMP), a socialist labor center, and the Solidarity of Unions in the Philippines for Empowerment and Reforms (SUPER), a trade union federation.
Luke has an extensive experience in union organizing, which includes rights education, campaigns on democratic issues, and organizing strikes, direct action, and negotiation to win workers’ demands for regular jobs, union rights, and better wages. Under Luke’s leadership, BMP and SUPER have been involved in nine factory strikes from August 2018 to March 2020, a number of bus strikes, and numerous worker-led direct action events on various issues, ranging from workers’ issues to the climate change.
Luke is also a litigation lawyer and has represented workers, the urban poor, and activists. He was the lawyer who represented the citizens of Indang, a rural town south of Manila, in their fight against a large-scale water facility that has a destructive impact on the environment. They, with Luke as counsel, secured a court-ordered closure (known locally as Writ of Kalikasan) of the water facility–the first ever Writ of Kalikasan secured in the Philippines.
Phil Wilmot is a community organizer and founder of Solidarity Uganda, based in Kisubi, Uganda. He is a regular contributor to the ICNC blog and is a correspondent for Waging Nonviolence, writing extensively on civil resistance and movements in Africa. Phil is also an editorial member with activist extraordinaires Beautiful Trouble.
“Have Movements Disappeared during Lockdown?” by Geoffrey Pleyers
“How is the COVID-19 Crisis Changing the Global Movement Landscape?” by Amber French
“COVID-19: Harnessing the Obstructive Power of Constructive Program” by Phil Wilmot
“COVID-19 can trigger revolution—here’s how!” by Isa Benros, Phil Wilmot, and Søren Warburg
“Power-grabbing in Guise of Crisis Response: Lessons from the NATO Bombing of Serbia in 1999” by Ivan Marovic
Are there any other strategies and tactics that have arisen during the pandemic that we were not able to discuss? How do we bridge the gap created by social distancing?
There are many groups discussing creative tactics right now, including the Activist Tactic Exchange, and the webinar held between Nonviolence International and Beautiful Trouble.
Bridging the gap created by social distancing: We have to reframe in political but not esoteric terms, how solidarity and support to one another looks differently in this time. We have to create community around the needs that arise during quarantine and lockdown. This is a time to recruit members to our movements, because people are craving purpose, community, and answers.
How are your movements taking health precautions to minimize the risk of getting sick when doing face-to-face organizing?
Face-to-face organizing is extremely limited at the moment, and the proper distancing and mask precautions are advised. Some actions require many people to participate, and communication and preparation focuses on doing it safely.
With a greater dependence on telecommunications, how can movements meet the challenges of cyber surveillance and internet-empowered repression?
There is digital self-defense and then there is digital action (we have to take the principles of direct action to the digital terrain more frequently and at higher levels). It is best to always assume that we are surveilled. In Uganda specifically, the greatest threat to security of organizers is a human network of spies and saboteurs. Digital surveillance is concerning, but not to the same extent. This will vary context to context. Movements have to determine what/who is overt and covert and why.
Are your movements seeing an increase in arrests related to digital activism? And if so, how do you push back on this creatively?
Yes, there is severe repression of some Facebook users and journalists and writers. Here is an article I wrote that addresses how to start a rapid response system, without much (if any) money, to position your movement well to handle such repression.
Auteur: Ivan Marovic
Traducteur: JPD Systems LLC
ICNC Presse: Avril 2020
Télécharger: Français | Portugais (brésilien) | Anglais | Espagnol | Catalan
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La voie de la plus grande résistance: un guide étape par étape pour la planification des campagnes non violentes est destiné aux activistes et organisateurs de tous niveaux, qui souhaitent faire évoluer leurs activités de résistance non violente vers des campagnes plus stratégiques à durée déterminée. Il guide ses lecteurs à travers le processus de planification d’une campagne. Il en explique les différentes étapes et propose pour chacune d’elles des outils et des exercices. Au terme du Guide, les lecteurs auront acquis ce dont ils ont besoin pour conduire leurs pairs à travers le processus de planification d’une campagne. Tel qu’il est expliqué dans le guide, ce processus devrait prendre environ 12 heures du début à la fin.
Ce guide comprend deux parties. La première présente et contextualise les outils de planification d’une campagne et leurs objectifs. Elle explique également la logique qui sous-tend ces outils et la manière dont on peut les modifier pour les adapter au contexte d’un groupe particulier. La seconde partie fournit des fiches pédagogiques faciles à reproduire et à partager pour utiliser chacun de ces outils, et explique comment intégrer ces outils dans le processus de planification.
Cassie Parkin, an ICNC High School Curriculum Fellow, developed, offered and moderated a course on the introduction to civil resistance in 2019 as part of the ICNC High School Curriculum Fellowship. As the results from course evaluations show, students found the course to be extremely beneficial and valuable for their education.
The information featured below was submitted as part of the fellowship requirement that, among others, included creating a detailed course proposal, developing curriculum content, designing evaluation tools, selecting participants and extensive moderation throughout the course.
Learn more by clicking on the topic links:
About the Curriculum Fellow
Course Abstract
Cassie Parkin is a teacher specializing in senior English and social science. She graduated from York University in Toronto, Canada, with an honours degree in English and a concurrent Bachelors of Education. She has a strong background in gender, sexuality, and equity studies that she applies within her teaching practice. She has spent her teaching career, both abroad and in Canada, focusing on using education to interrogate systems of power that negatively impact student success and wellbeing. Cassie has been employed at The Linden School for three years, bringing her feminist pedagogy and social reconstructionist critical theory to both middle and high school students. The Linden School is a not-for-profit, all girls, social-justice, school that gives space for Cassie to empower her students to make a positive change within society.
Course Title: Challenge & Change in Society: Nonviolent Resistance, Change, and movements.
Term: Winter 2020
High School: The Linden School, Toronto, Canada
Abstract: Students will gain an understanding of the ethics of nonviolent movements, analyze the history of nonviolent disobedience, and reflect on its use in todays society. Through philosophical texts, case studies, documentaries, and peer-reviewed social scientific studies, students will gain valuable insight into the history, function, and future of nonviolent civil resistance. This course will prepare students for entering the public sphere and becoming active citizens within their society.
Autor: Ivan Marovic
Tradutor: João Vicente de Paulo Júnior, Abril 2020
Editora: Maíra Irigaray
Cata da publicação: Abril 2020
Baixar: Português (brasileiro) | Inglês | Espanhol | Catalão | Francês | Urdu
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O Caminho da Maior Resistência: Um Guia Passo a Passo para o Planejamento de Campanhas Não-Violentas é um guia prático para ativistas e organizadores em todos os níveis que desejam transformar suas atividades de resistência não-violenta em uma campanha mais estratégica, com prazo fixo. Orienta os leitores através do processo de planejamento da campanha, dividindo-o em várias etapas e fornecendo ferramentas e exercícios para cada etapa. Ao terminar o livro, os leitores dispõem do que precisam para orientar seus pares no processo de planejamento de uma campanha. Estima-se que esse processo, conforme descrito no guia, leve cerca de 12 horas do início ao fim.
By Tenzin Dorjee
ICNC Monograph Series, September 2015
Date of Tibetan publication: July 2016
ཕྱི་ལོ་༢༠༠༨ ལོའི་བོད་མིའི་སྒེར་ལངས་ཀྱི་སྐབས་སུ། བོད་མིའི་འཐབ་རྩོད་དེ་དྲག་ཕྱོགས་སུ་སྐྱོད་ཀྱི་ཡོད་ཚུལ་རྒྱ་ནག་དྲིལ་ བསྒྲགས་ཀྱིས་བསྐུལ་བའི་འདུ་ཤེས་དེ་ལས་ལ
ཕྱི་ལོ་༢༠༠༨ ལོའི་བོད་མིའི་སྒེར་ལངས་ཀྱི་སྐབས་སུ། བོད་མིའི་འཐབ་རྩོད་དེ་དྲག་ཕྱོགས་སུ་སྐྱོད་ཀྱི་ཡོད་ཚུལ་རྒྱ་ནག་དྲིལ་བསྒྲགས་ཀྱིས་བསྐུལ་བའི་འདུ་ཤེས་དེ་ལས་ལྡོག་སྟེ། དཔྱད་བརྗོད་འདིས་ཕྱི་ལོ་༡༩༥༠ ནས་བཟུང་། བོད་མིའི་ལས་འགུལ་དེ་འཚེ་མེད་ཞི་བའི་འགོག་རྒོལ་གྱི་ཕྱོགས་སུ་ཤུགས་ཆེར་ཕྱིན་ཡོད་པ་སྟོན་གྱི་ཡོད། ཆེད་རྩོམ་འདིས་གྲགས་ཆེ་བའི་བོད་མིའི་སྒེར་ལངསཀྱི་དུས་ཡུན་གསུམ་ལ་དཔྱད་ཞིབ་ཀྱིས་དེ་དག་གི་བརྗོད་གཞི་དང་། དགོས་དོན། ཀླན་ཀ། ཐབས་བྱུས། འཐབ་རྩལ། ཤུགས་རྐྱེན་བཅས་གཙོ་བོ་ཁག་ལ་དཔྱད་པ་བྱེད་ཀྱི་ཡོད།
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Por: Juan Masullo
Traducción: ICNC, November 2016
Volume editor: Amber French
Series editor: Maciej Bartkowski
Cuando los grupos armados llegan a sus territorios, la población civil por lo general colabora con el grupo armado más fuerte o se desplaza. Sin embargo, los civiles no están obligados a elegir entre estas dos opciones. Desafi ar a los grupos armados a través de auto-organización en formas noviolentas de no-cooperación es también una posibilidad. Esta monografía explora esta opción en el contexto del confl icto armado interno colombiano a través de la experiencia de resistencia civil de los campesinos de la Comunidad de San José de Apartadó.
Peter Ackerman y Hardy Merriman
Fecha de publicación: 2020
Descargar: español | inglés | arábica | francés
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Los eventos de la última década exigen nuevos enfoques para la prevención de atrocidades que sean adaptables, innovadores e independientes de una doctrina centrada en el estado. Con el objetivo de reducir los factores de riesgo como la guerra civil, abogamos por un nuevo marco normativo llamado El derecho a la asistencia (RtoA), que fortalecería la coordinación internacional y el apoyo a las campañas de resistencia civil no violentas que exigen derechos, libertad y justicia contra los no democráticos regla.
RtoA: 1) involucraría a una amplia gama de partes interesadas, como ONG, estados, instituciones multilaterales y otros; 2) reforzar varios factores de resistencia contra la fragilidad del estado; y 3) incentivar a los grupos de oposición a mantener el compromiso con las estrategias de cambio no violentas. La adopción de esta doctrina puede reducir la probabilidad de conflicto violento que aumenta significativamente el riesgo de atrocidad, al tiempo que aumenta las perspectivas de desarrollo humano constructivo.
Por: Ivan Marovic
Fecha de publicación: 2019
Descarregar: Català | Español | Portuguès (Brasiler) | Inglés | Francès | Urdu
El camí de la major resistència: Una guia per planificar campanyes noviolentes és una guia pràctica per activistes i organitzadors de tots els nivells que volen fer créixer les seves activitats de resistència noviolenta, amb unes Campanyes més estratègiques i de durada determinada. És una guia per als lectors a través del procés de planificació de les Campanyes, dividint-les en diversos passos i proporcionant eines i exercicis per a cada pas. A l’acabar el llibre, els lectors tindran el què necessiten per guiar els seus companys/es en el procés de planificació d’una Campanya. S’estima que aquest procés, tal com es descriu a la guia, dura unes 12 hores de principi a fi.
La guia està dividida en dues parts. La primera part, presenta i contextualitza les eines de planificació de Campanyes i els seus objectius. També explica la lògica darrere d’aquestes eines, i com poden ser modificades per adaptar-les millor al context d’un grup en particular. La segona part, proporciona plans de lliçons fàcilment reproduïbles i compartibles per a l’ús de cadascuna d’aquestes eines, i explora com integrar les eines en el més ampli procés de planificació.
