Forms of Nonviolent Protest & Persuasion

When people think of nonviolent protest, most of us think about civil disobedience and specifically, the direct actions of the civil rights movement of the sixties.  This is a crucial piece of nonviolent action, but it is far from the only one.  Many of the Occupy Movements are re-discovering several different types of non-violent protest and persuasion.  Occupy movements in London and DC are establishing their own newspapers as a way to spread the message.  Occupy Wall Street and many other Occupy sites have used Guerrilla Theatre to get their point across.  Occupy Wall Street is also encouraging folks to transfer their personal bank accounts from banks to credit unions.  All of these are useful tools, and, in act, sometimes the unexpected tactics can have the biggest impact.  To get you thinking about the many ways you can take non-violent action, keep reading...



In The Methods of Nonviolent Action (Boston 1973), author Gene Sharp documents 198 methods of nonviolent protest and persuasion. Check out the complete list. Perhaps it will spark some ideas in your mind.

FORMAL STATEMENTS
Public speeches
Letters of opposition or support
Declarations by organizations and institutions
Signed public declarations
Declarations of indictment and intention
Group or mass petitions

COMMUNICATIONS WITH A WIDER AUDIENCE
Slogans, caricatures, and symbols
Banners, posters, and displayed communications
Leaflets, pamphlets, and books
Newspapers and journals
Records, radio, and television
Skywriting and earthwriting

GROUP REPRESENTATIONS
Deputations
Mock awards
Group lobbying
Picketing
Mock elections

SYMBOLIC PUBLIC ACTS
Displays of flags and symbolic colours
Wearing of symbols
Prayer and worship
Delivering symbolic objects
Protest disrobings
Destruction of own property
Symbolic lights
Displays of portraits
Paint as protest
New signs and names
Symbolic sounds
Symbolic reclamations
Rude gestures

PRESSURES ON INDIVIDUALS
“Haunting” officials
Taunting officials
Fraternization
Vigils

DRAMA AND MUSIC
Humourous skits and pranks
Performances of plays and music
Singing

PROCESSIONS
Marches
Parades
Religious processions
Pilgrimages
Motorcades

HONOURING THE DEAD
Political mourning
Mock funerals
Demonstrative funerals
Homage at burial places

PUBLIC ASSEMBLIES
Assemblies of protest or support
Protest meetings
Camouflaged meetings of protest
Teach-ins

WITHDRAWAL AND RENUNCIATION
Walk-outs
Silence
Renouncing honours
Turning one’s back

THE METHODS OF SOCIAL NONCOOPERATION

OSTRACISM OF PERSONS
Social boycott
Selective social boycott
Lysistratic nonaction
Excommunication
Interdict

NONCOOPERATION WITH SOCIAL EVENTS, CUSTOMS, AND INSTITUTIONS
Suspension of social and sports activities
Boycott of social affairs
Student strike
Social disobedience
Withdrawal from social institutions

WITHDRAWAL FROM THE SOCIAL SYSTEM
Stay-at-home
Total personal noncooperation
“Flight” of workers
Sanctuary
Collective disappearance
Protest emigration (hijrat)

THE METHODS OF ECONOMIC NONCOOPERATION: ECONOMIC BOYCOTTS
ACTION BY CONSUMERS
Consumers’ boycott
Nonconsumption of boycotted goods
Policy of austerity
Rent withholding
Refusal to rent
National consumers’ boycott
International consumers’ boycott

ACTION BY WORKERS AND PRODUCERS
Workers’ boycott
Producers’ boycott

ACTION BY MIDDLEMEN
Suppliers’ and handlers’ boycott

ACTION BY OWNERS AND MANAGEMENT
Traders’ boycott
Refusal to let or sell property
Lockout
Refusal of industrial assistance
Merchants’ “general strike”

ACTION BY HOLDERS OF FINANCIAL RESOURCES
Withdrawal of bank deposits
Refusal to pay fees, dues, and assessments
Refusal to pay debts or interest
Severance of funds and credit
Revenue refusal
Refusal of a government’s money

ACTION BY GOVERNMENTS
Domestic embargo
Blacklisting of traders
International sellers’ embargo
International buyers’ embargo
International trade embargo

THE METHODS OF ECONOMIC NONCOOOPERATION: THE STRIKE

SYMBOLIC STRIKES
Protest strike
Quickie walkout (lightning strike)

AGRICULTURAL STRIKES
Peasant strike
Farm workers’ strike

STRIKES BY SPECIAL GROUPS
Refusal of impressed labour
Prisoners’ strike
Craft strike
Professional strike

ORDINARY INDUSTRIAL STRIKES
Establishment strike
Industry strike
Sympathy strike

RESTRICTED STRIKES
Detailed strike
Bumper strike
Slowdown strike
Working-to-rule strike
Reporting “sick” (sick-in)
Strike by resignation
Limited strike
Selective strike

MULTI-INDUSTRY STRIKES
Generalised strike
General strike

COMBINATION OF STRIKES AND ECONOMIC CLOSURES
Hartal
Economic shutdown

THE METHODS OF POLITICAL NONCOOPERATION

REJECTION OF AUTHORITY
Withholding or withdrawal of allegiance
Refusal of public support
Literature and speeches advocating resistance

CITIZENS’ NONCOOPERATION WITH GOVERNMENT
Boycott of legislative bodies
Boycott of elections
Boycott of government employment and positions
Boycott of government departments, agencies, and other bodies
Withdrawal from governmental educational institutions
Boycott of government-supported institutions
Refusal of assistance to enforcement agents
Removal of own signs and placemarks
Refusal to accept appointed officials
Refusal to dissolve existing institutions

CITIZENS’ ALTERNATIVES TO OBEDIENCE
Reluctant and slow compliance
Nonobedience in absence of direct supervision
Popular nonobedience
Disguised disobedience
Refusal of an assemblage or meeting to disperse
Sitdown
Noncooperation with conscription and deportation
Hiding, escape, and false identities
Civil disobedience of “illegitimate” laws

ACTION BY GOVERNMENT PERSONNEL
Selective refusal of assistance by government aides
Blocking of lines of command and information
Stalling and obstruction
General administrative noncooperation
Judicial noncooperation
Deliberate inefficiency and selective noncooperation by enforcement agents
Mutiny

DOMESTIC GOVERNMENTAL ACTION
Quasi-legal evasions and delays
Noncooperation by constituent governmental units

INTERNATIONAL GOVERNMENTAL ACTION
Changes in diplomatic and other representation
Delay and cancellation of diplomatic events
Withholding of diplomatic recognition
Severance of diplomatic relations
Withdrawal from international organisations
Refusal of membership in international bodies
Expulsion from international organisations

THE METHODS OF NONVIOLENT INTERVENTION

PSYCHOLOGICAL INTERVENTION
Self-exposure to the elements
The fast
Fast of moral pressure
Hunger strike
Satyagrahic fast
Reverse trial
Nonviolent harassment

PHYSICAL INTERVENTION
Sit-in
Stand-in
Ride-in
Wade-in
Mill-in
Pray-in
Nonviolent raids
Nonviolent air raids
Nonviolent invasion
Nonviolent interjection
Nonviolent obstruction
Nonviolent occupation

SOCIAL INTERVENTION
Establishing new social patterns
Overloading of facilities
Stall-in
Speak-in
Guerrilla theatre
Alternative social institutions
Alternative communication system

ECONOMIC INTERVENTION
Reverse strike
Stay-in strike
Nonviolent land seizure
Defiance of blockades
Politically motivated counterfeiting
Preclusive purchasing
Seizure of assets
Dumping
Selective patronage
Alternative markets
Alternative transportation systems
Alternative economic institutions

POLITICAL INTERVENTION
Overloading of administrative systems
Disclosing identities of secret agents
Seeking imprisonment
Civil disobedience of “neutral” laws
Work-on without collaboration
Dual sovereignty and parallel governmen