Nonviolent Direct Actions

From WRIWiki

From "Preparing for Nonviolent Action", published in Britain in 1983 by Peace News and the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.

Nonviolent Direct Action

There is about the term "nonviolent direct action" a glamour, sense that this is a way of "really doing something" about the Bomb. This can be an illusion. Direct action should not be seen as the pinnacle of commitment, top of hierarchy of methods of campaigning. Like any other form of campaigning, direct action can achieve only limited objectives, and people considering direct action should decide what they might also use or which might prove even more effective.

The words "nonviolent direct action" conjure up pictures of people sitting in the road to blockade an airbase. Strictly speaking, however, direct action is any action where individuals or groups act directly themselves to try to bring about change rather than asking or expecting others to act on their behalf. Interrupting a pro-nuclear sermon in church would be direct action; writing to a vicar's bishop to complain would be indirect action - either could be an effective way of raising the issue.

Physical intervention, such as obstruction and blockades, is one form of direct action. So is refusal to co-operate, say through strikes, boycotts and "withholding" campaigns. Direct action can also be constructive - some anti-nuclear energy groups, for instance, initiated home insulation schemes as a form of direct action, reducing dependency on centralised energy supplies; workers formulating their own plan for converting their industry from military to socially useful production can also viewed as taking constructive direct action.

In short, direct action involves people in re-asserting control of their lives, whether by resisting a specific threat or seeking to re-shape or by-pass existing institutions in order to create something better. Instead of relying on the power of others, people try to find their own power through taking direct action. This can begin with exercising personal responsibility in a small way - say boycotting a product made by a particular firm - and extend through your community or workplace as part of a policy of escalating non-co-operation. On the strength of their own direct action, people may be in a position to approach others to take direct action - for instance, suggesting protest action for workers involved in nuclear-related corporations or solidarity gestures as the occasion arises.

Practical resources

Fences: The Definite Illustrated Guide - taken from Peace News 2435