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What Scott taught
Nonviolent direct action
Nonviolent methods have been used by throughout history and right across the world to challenge injustice. Dictators have been toppled, environmental values protected, rights won for women, workers and indigenous people and wars resisted, all without the use of weapons or violence. So widespread is its use that some describe nonviolence as "the politics of ordinary people".
Most people associate nonviolence with the movements led by Gandhi and Martin Luther King. More recent examples of successful, large-scale nonviolent action include:
- The Filipino "people power" revolution, which toppled dictator Ferdinand Marcos following the assassination of Benito Aquino
- The Serbian youth movement , Otpor!, which undermined the regime of convicted war criminal Slobodan Milosovic
- The "Orange Revolution" in the Ukraine, which forced a new presidential election following allegations of widespread electoral fraud
According to political scientist Gene Sharp, there are at least 198 distinct methods - marches, vigils, strikes, boycotts, sit-ins and occupations, to name just a handful - that people have used to nonviolently resist injustice.
There is nothing passive about nonviolence. As part of a carefully planned strategy, nonviolent methods have the power to challenge the ability of even the most powerful rulers to carry out acts considered unjust by the people they rule.
Nonviolent direct action is charactised by a willingness to act directly to challenge an injustice, whilst refusing to engage in any form of violent or abusive behaviour.
To minimise the risk of violent behaviour or infiltration by violent agents provocateur, some groups ask people to abide by agreements or guidelines and/or take part in nonviolence training.
Nonviolence training can range in from a few hours to several days in length and typically provides a mixture of nonviolent political theory, trust-building exercises and practical techniques for staying calm in the face of conflict or violence.
"We who engage in nonviolent direct action are not the creators of tension. We merely bring to the surface the hidden tension that is already alive. We bring it out in the open, where it can be seen and dealt with. Injustice must be exposed, with all the tension its exposure creates, to the light of human conscience, before it can be cured."
- Martin Luther King Jr.
"Without a direct action expression of it, nonviolence, to my mind, is meaningless."
- Gandhi