INTRODUCTION
Taking seriously Isaiah’s words “Seek justice, correct oppression,” we become concerned about social evil or injustice and want to do something. What can we do? What steps can we take, using the method of nonviolent direct action?
The step-by-step approach outlined below has been found useful in a wide variety of situations. However, it doesn’t cover everything and shouldn’t be followed in a rigid fashion. Each situation will require a somewhat different approach, depending on the issue, the people involved, etc. Also, the steps below often overlap in practice. Training, for example, may need to start earlier than step 7; negotiation often needs to follow, as well as precede, demonstrations. (For more detailed readings on organizing for direct action, see the bibliography at the end.)
It has been the experience of direct action organizers that if they are really motivated by love for people, they’ll tend to come up with appropriate action. It’s important to think about strategy and theory, but more important is a heart filled with love and a spirit attuned to seeking God’s will. Plenty of flexibility, humility, and common sense is also needed.
Given these cautions, let’s look at the steps which organizers of nonviolent campaigns have found useful.
1. THINK THROUGH PERSONAL COMMITMENT
When we first become concerned about an issue of social justice, we need time for thought and prayer before rushing into action. Do I really know the facts? How does the time commitment required compare with my other responsibilities? Am I prepared to take the risks that nonviolent action may involve? Am I getting involved out of guilt or other bad motives? Is God leading me to become involved in this?
2. GET IN TOUCH WITH OTHERS: DEVELOP A CORE GROUP
If I become clear that this is something God wants me to work on, then I need to find others with a similar concern. At the center of the best nonviolent action is a core of people who are committed to one another and to overcoming the social evil in question. Perhaps a group committed to nonviolence is already in existence (e.g., a local United Farm Workers group doing grape and lettuce boycotts) and all I need do is join them. If not, I need to contact others, share my concern with them, and see if they would like to work together.
An initial group may only be three or four people. Rarely is it good to have more than ten or twelve in the early stages, since this is a time for searching together, developing group cohesion and purpose, defining the goals and strategies of the project. When clarity of direction is achieved, people can be drawn in.
3. INVESTIGATE
The first task of the core group is to make sure the facts are correct. Is it really true that
We can’t have all the facts before acting, but should be reasonably sure of an accurate account of the problem before tackling it. Interviews, observation, research, personal experience—all are ways to keep us from jumping into uninformed, ill-judged action.
Part of our investigation may also involve common study of some of the classic books on nonviolence. The writings of Gandhi and Martin Luther King are particularly inspiring and informative, with numerous ideas immediately applicable to our situation.
As Christians, we may also want to commit ourselves to a discipline of prayer and regular periods of group worship to seek God’s continued guidance for the project. We are seeking, not only for the facts, but for God’s imperatives and our individual responses.
4. NEGOTIATE
Often our study will reveal a specific individual or group who, if they were willing to change, could eliminate or substantially ameliorate the social evil in question. The manager of the supermarket chain could change policy and agree to carry United Farm Workers’ grapes and lettuce. The slumlord could agree to fix up the dilapidated apartment house. So attempt to meet with the key policy-makers and see if they can be persuaded to change.
Knowing our own sinfulness and how by God’s grace we have been able to change, we shouldn’t assume that the perpetuators of an injustice are beyond appeals to reason or morality. A firm, but loving, appeal may bring results, so that it will not be necessary to go further.
We have to be careful, though, not to be taken in by vague promises, friendly but evasive statements, or public relation “snow jobs”—government agencies and businesses are skilled at handling customer or citizen complaints. Many a negotiation team has imagined they made progress, when in reality they came away empty-handed. To avoid this:
1. Prepare ahead of time. A very useful device is the “role-play,” in which members of our group act out the expected negotiation session before it happens. Some of us take the role of the negotiators, others act as policy-makers. The latter use all their skills to defend their policy and to argue against the negotiators’ position. This gives us a realistic “run through” of the negotiation session prior to the real meeting.
2. Never send one person to negotiate. Always have a negotiation team of three or four.
3. Be sure to meet with someone who can actually make policy. Business and government tend to turn anyone over to the public relations people, who can defend the official policy, but who are powerless to change it. Insist on seeing the actual decision-makers.
4. Clearly define goals, proposals, or demands. Don’t be afraid to raise uncomfortable questions. Don’t get thrown off track. Be friendly, but insist that the real issues be dealt with: Will the policy or practice be changed or not? If they can’t give an immediate answer, set a deadline.
5. Don’t threaten, but explain the nature of our group and its commitment to seeing the problem overcome. Explain that, if the problem cannot be resolved through negotiations, we are committed to public education, and, if necessary, nonviolent direct action.
6. Be willing to tell any concerned and responsible person the nature and results of the negotiations. Be wary of “off-the-record” meetings. Don’t get drawn into a secret agreement.
7. Be willing to engage in a series of meetings if they really seem to be moving
things forward and concrete changes are occurring. But don’t get drawn into negotiations which are an excuse for inaction. Often one or two sessions will tell whether the meetings will be fruitful or whether moving to the next step is needed.
Negotiations, even if they do not achieve immediate goals, can be valuable in clearing up misunderstandings and helping parties to see each other as human beings. If our goals are not achieved in a negotiation session, we should make clear that we are always available for further substantive discussions and that we ourselves will continuously attempt to find a resolution through negotiation.
5. EDUCATE
If initial negotiations fail, we take our case to the general public. A variety of means can be used—public meetings, door-to-door visits, teach-ins, home meetings, letters to the editor, newspaper articles, sermons, leafleting, street speaking, radio or TV interviews, circulating petitions, prayer meetings, seeking statements by key people, etc. Our goal here is make others aware of what we have learned and done so far. We want the broader public to get concerned and press for change.
The period of public education may be long or short, depending on the situation. We should avoid the temptation to drag it out forever. There are many situations, in fact, where the most effective public education takes place through the kind of nonviolent demonstration described below.
6. ORGANIZE
Clearly, a lot of organization has taken place in the steps above. Our core group has probably expanded to draw in at least a few other people who share our concern. If negotiation and education fail, however, it is now necessary to build a strong group committed to nonviolent struggle to challenge the evil. Here are some steps to take:
1. Expand our base of support and involvement. Call up friends, others who might want to join us. Hold a public meeting to explain what we’re about. Build a list with names, addresses, phones.
2. Choose a name for the group. Get an office (maybe just a room in someone’s home) and a phone. Begin to raise funds.
3. Get group consensus on the goals of the effort. When the “People’s Blockade” attempted to nonviolently block ammunition ships and trains carrying weapons to Vietnam by holding worship services on the tracks and paddling canoes in front of ships, we set as our goals: (a) Trying to slow or stop ammunition shipments; (b) Helping soldiers and sailors opposed to the war; (c) Putting a public spotlight on the shipments; and (d) Inspiring similar actions around the country. Having clear goals was very helpful in explaining the project to new people, keeping our action focused, and evaluating what we were accomplishing as the project unfolded.
4. Think through the strategies that will most effectively reach our goals. Gene Sharp’s monumental book (see bibliography) lists 198 different kinds of nonviolent action. Some might be effective in our situation. A free-floating brainstorming session often generates good ideas for direct action. The strategy game, described in Training For Nonviolent Action (see bibliography), is an excellent way to think through strategy. Force-Field Analysis helps us see what we’re up against and what forces we need to rally to succeed. Scenario-writing (writing down a fictional account of how a project might unfold in the future) helps us to think realistically about what steps give hope of reaching our goals.
5. Agree upon and write down the nonviolent discipline that will guide the group. It is crucial that those who join the action know that there is a clear commitment to nonviolence. The People’s Blockade had the following simple discipline:
We are here to urge everyone, including the police and those in the military, to join us in our attempt to stop the killing. Therefore, we will not provoke the police or military by hostile words or name-calling. Nor will we respond violently to acts directed against us by those who oppose us. In all of our actions we will express the love and humanity that is so lacking in this place of death.
6. Decide upon the tasks (responsibilities) that must be undertaken to carry through the direct action strategy. The following are key tasks which must be covered in most direct action campaigns. Usually they are best carried out by a small group or team, though some may be performed by an individual.
a. Coordination: To give overall guidance to the project, call meetings, give on-going thought to strategy.
b. Recruitment: To draw in allies and supporters—“warm bodies” for demonstrations and needed tasks—through such means as a phone tree, mailings, publicity, leaflets, meetings, etc. Everyone should recruit, but the recruitment team takes special responsibility.
c. Press: The reason we work with press, radio, and TV is that want to reach as many people as possible so that they too will become concerned about overcoming this evil. If one of our demonstrations gets on the national TV evening news, we reach as many people as if we spoke to a meeting of 100 people every night for 100 years. A press team, therefore, makes up a press list, phone numbers of sympathetic reporters, a press clippings file, and mimeographed press releases to hand out at demonstrations.
d. Signs and Leaflets: A team to paint (waterproof) signs with brief (not over 6 words) slogans and statements to be carried by demonstrators. Someone to write a brief, clear, factual, neatly printed leaflet to be given out to the public at the demonstration.
e. Police: To contact appropriate law enforcement authorities ahead of time and inform them of our purpose, nonviolent spirit, and where and how we’ll be demonstrating. This may also be the team that relates to the police on the day of the demonstration.
f. Legal: To contact sympathetic lawyers and find out the legal situation. Do we need a permit to demonstrate? What local ordinances apply? What are the possible penalties if we engage in nonviolent civil disobedience and break the law? Will the attorney help provide legal counsel if there are arrests?
g. Communications: To get together any communications equipment needed in the action—e.g., bullhorns, a public address system.
h. Finances: To raise needed funds (e.g., for office rental, phone), to allocate them, to keep accurate books, and to make financial reports.
i. Training: To give nonviolent training to potential participants in the action. (See following section on Training.)
j. Demonstration Information: To help draw up and circulate the nonviolent discipline. At the time of the demonstration to remind people of the discipline, to give demonstrators needed information, to keep cool and think quickly if there’s trouble, to intervene nonviolently to handle any disturbances. This group should have special training and may want to wear armbands for identification at the action.
k. Medical: To handle any medical emergencies, from simple blisters to major injuries.
l. Demonstration Facilitation: To take responsibility for a particular demonstration, seeing that it’s running smoothly, spotting and helping overcome problems, making needed on-the-spot decisions if any changes in plans are called for.
Here are some other tasks which are sometimes needed to support nonviolent direct action:
a. Someone to scout a route of march or picketing site well before demonstrators arrive.
b. On-going research and fact-finding.
c. Setting up transportation to and from the demonstration.
d. Taking photos or films of the action for the press or our own evaluation.
e. Arranging for special equipment (e.g., canoes for a ship blockade).
f. Developing a song list. Leading songs at the demonstration. This can be an excellent way to keep up morale and a good spirit.
g. Setting up an office with typewriters, a mimeograph, supplies, files, and a mailing list.
h. Arranging for housing and food during a protracted demonstration.
i. Supporting family members who cannot participate in the action and the less dramatic job of holding down the home front.
j. Relating to and helping people who go to court or jail.
k. Raising bail money for people in jail.
7. TRAIN FOR NONVIOLENT ACTION
Many people will say, “I admire nonviolence, but I know I’d hit back if someone hit me.” Training helps us to think through creative nonviolent solutions to tense situations and to develop our confidence to act with love in conflict situations. It helps us prepare for the action we’re planning. Much has been written on nonviolent training and the American Friends Service Committee and Friends Peace Committee (both at
Some of the most useful training techniques are:
1. The Role-Play: We simulate an expected situation by having different people act out the roles of groups such as demonstrators, police, on-lookers, hecklers.
2. Quick-Decision: We quickly give our answer to what we’d do in a crisis situation which the group leader presents, e.g., someone faints on a march.
3. Situation Analysis: We look at a situation drawn on a blackboard or flipchart and have a discussion on how to handle it. For example, we’re having a vigil outside the Brazilian Embassy, and a group rushes to jump the fence.
8. APPEAL
At this point we appeal (directly to policy-makers or through the mass media) for a just resolution of the situation. We urge that serious negotiations be undertaken. We reiterate our proposals, our attempts to negotiate, and the suffering that will go on if the problem isn’t resolved. We make clear that, if no positive steps are taken in the very near future (we may want to set a deadline), we will initiate direct action.
9. SPIRITUAL PREPARATION
We will soon be putting our bodies on the line and facing at least criticism and controversy and perhaps even physical injury or jail. Our ability to hold firm and to keep on loving will be severely tested.
We need to center ourselves, to examine our motives and inner resources. This might be a time for a group retreat, one or more days of fasting, a special worship service. Certainly it is a time for each of us to pray for strength and guidance.
10. DEMONSTRATE
Verbal and written statements have their uses, but can be too easily ignored. Nonviolence assumes that some evils and injustices require a stronger approach in which people’s actual bodies enter the dynamic. Jesus’ teachings would only have been wonderful words if he had not “put his body on the line”—a line which led finally to
Demonstrations can take many forms—a prayer vigil, a march, a picket line, a fast, entering a forbidden area—Gene Sharp’s book lists dozens of forms. The most effective demonstrations paint a clear picture of the injustice we are concerned about. They expose the rationale used to justify the injustice, express a spirit by which a solution can be found, and point toward a just solution. When black demonstrators marched on courthouses to vote in the 1960’s, newspaper photo and TV shots told the whole story. Everyone could see the injustice of being denied the Constitutionally-guaranteed right to vote, and being harassed and beaten instead. The myth that “Blacks just aren’t interested in voting” was exposed and demolished. The nonviolent response of the marchers—kneeling and praying for their tormentors—showed the courage and love required for a solution. The solution itself was also clear: Let black people vote like anyone else.
Here are a few suggestions for organizing demonstrations. Again, see the reading list for more extensive discussions.
a. The Day Before the Demonstration
1. The press team contacts newspapers, radio and TV, mimeographs press releases, makes sure that spokespeople are chosen to speak to the press.
2. Final work is done on signs and leaflets. People are picked to take them to the demonstration site and leafleters are chosen to hand out the statement.
3. Police are called and informed of our plans.
4. The recruitment team activates the phone tree and they urge everyone to call at least 5 or 10 others who might turn out.
5. Everyone meets to make final plans, to check on tasks, to make final decisions on when and where to meet, and to develop contingency plans.
b. Demonstration Day: A Pre-Action Planning Meeting
1. On the day of the action, everyone who is to be part of it gathers some distance from the site of the demonstration. Since some of the participants may be coming for the first time, we need to:
a. Review our demonstration plan and contingency plan.
b. Give last-minute instructions and answer questions. Update people with the most recent information.
c. Introduce key people: demonstration information people, facilitators, etc.
d. Review the nonviolent discipline, giving a talk on the importance of nonviolence and handing out the discipline sheet.
2. We also need to remind the group about what we’re doing and why. This might be a time for a brief inspirational talk, a song or two, group worship.
c. At the Demonstration
1. The press team looks for reporters, gives them our release, answers questions, directs them to spokespeople for interviews, does follow-up calls to the media.
2. Leafleters station themselves at key spots and pass out our statement. A smile and a friendly attitude is the best guarantee of someone taking and reading what we have to say.
3. Facilitators see that demonstrators position themselves effectively and that signs can be easily read. They keep demonstrators up to date on what’s happening, and, if the action is prolonged, rotate breaks, point out rest facilities, provide food and water.
4.. The information team answers questions, hands out the nonviolent discipline to any latecomers, talks to potential trouble-makers, and intervenes to resolve any disturbances. It is important that they act as servants of the group—friendly, warm and competent—not strutting or bossy.
5. Song leaders get some songs going.
6. The police group introduce themselves to the authorities, explain the purpose of the action and our nonviolent commitment, share our leaflet, and answer any questions. Pressure is sometimes put on police from higher-ups to prevent a demonstration or to change it to limit its effectiveness. We should be friendly, but clear and firm about our goals and our legal rights. Freedom of speech and assembly and petitioning for the redress of grievances are basic constitutional rights, and there is no reason to back down if we are committed to nonviolence and clear about the justice of our methods and our cause.
d. Dealing with Provocation or Violence
A variety of responses to various kinds of violence will have been covered in training sessions and the pre-demonstration meeting. The Demonstration Information Team has particular responsibility for dealing with violence in a nonviolent way. If violence comes in the form of provocation or harassment by police, military, or other outside people, remember that:
1. Police and others are beloved children of God—Christ died for us all.
2. Both nonviolence and Christian love mean taking suffering on oneself, not inflicting it on others. Unmerited suffering is redemptive.
3. Christ’s Spirit is here to help us love, even when our natural reaction may be anger or flight.
If physically attacked, here are some things to try:
1. Pray for strength; pray for any attackers.
2. Keep your hands at your sides, or open in front of you. Make clear that you have no weapons and no intention of hitting.
3. Keep group discipline. Sing a hymn or recite a prayer together. Hold hands and kneel.
4. Be creative. Let God guide you to “overcome evil with good” (Romans 12:21).
e. Ending the Demonstration
At the agreed-upon time, we come together for a brief meeting to thank people for coming and to announce plans for next steps—future meetings, the next demonstration. It might be good to hold a second meeting a bit away from the demonstration site for a longer evaluation—getting reactions from all participants on what was good about the action, how we could improve, etc.
f. Long-Term Struggle
People in the military have no illusions that one battle wins a war. Yet we hear people who’ve demonstrated say, “I went to some marches in
Major social evils and injustices will rarely, if ever, be overcome by one beautiful demonstration. If we hope to achieve success, we will have to organize long-term campaigns, with many demonstrations and much public education.
Success, of course, may not be possible. But our final criterion is not worldly success, but faithfulness to Jesus Christ who came—and still comes—“to set at liberty those who are oppressed” (Luke 4:18-19).
SUGGESTED
Joan V. Bondurant, Conquest of Violence (Berkeley, Calif.: U. of California Press, 1965)
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship (N.Y.: Macmillan, 1960)
Mohandas K. Gandhi, Nonviolent Resistance (N.Y.: Schocken Books, 1962)
Martin Luther King, Jr., Strength to Love (N.Y.: Harper, 1964)
Martin Luther King, Jr., Stride Toward Freedom (N.Y.: Harper, 1958)
William Robert Miller, Nonviolence: A Christian Interpretation (N.Y.: Association Press, 1964)
William Moyer, A Mini-Manual on Nonviolent Direct Action Campaigns (Phila.: Movement for a New Society, 4722 Baltimore Ave., Phila., 19143, dated 1974)
Theodore Olson and Lynne Shivers, Training for Nonviolent Action (London: Friends Peace Committee, 1970)
Gene Sharp. The Politics of Nonviolent Action (Boston: Porter Sargent, 1973)
Richard K. Taylor was experienced in nonviolent direct action, a member of the
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