Sep 14, 2016

198 Methods of Nonviolent Action

By Gene Sharp / aeinstein.org
198 Methods of Nonviolent Action

Practitioners of nonviolent struggle have an entire arsenal of “nonviolent weapons” at their disposal. Far too often people struggling for democratic rights and justice are not aware of the full range of methods of nonviolent action.

Wise strategy, attention to the dynamics of nonviolent struggle, and careful selection of methods can increase a group’s chances of success. Gene Sharp researched and cataloged these 198 methods, classified into three broad categories: nonviolent protest and persuasion, noncooperation (social, economic, and political), and nonviolent intervention. Sharp provided a rich selection of historical examples in his seminal work, The Politics of Nonviolent Action (3 Vols.) (1973).

THE METHODS OF NONVIOLENT PROTEST AND PERSUASION
Formal Statements
                    1. Public Speeches
                    2. Letters of opposition or support
                    3. Declarations by organizations and institutions
                    4. Signed public statements
                    5. Declarations of indictment and intention
                    6. Group or mass petitions

Communications with a Wider Audience
                    7. Slogans, caricatures, and symbols
                    8. Banners, posters, and displayed communications
                    9. Leaflets, pamphlets, and books
                    10. Newspapers and journals
                    11. Records, radio, and television
                    12. Skywriting and earthwriting

Group Representations
                    13. Deputations
                    14. Mock awards
                    15. Group lobbying
                    16. Picketing
                    17. Mock elections

Symbolic Public Acts
                    18. Displays of flags and symbolic colors
                    19. Wearing of symbols
                    20. Prayer and worship
                    21. Delivering symbolic objects
                    22. Protest disrobings
                    23. Destruction of own property
                    24. Symbolic lights
                    25. Displays of portraits
                    26. Paint as protest
                    27. New signs and names
                    28. Symbolic sounds
                    29. Symbolic reclamations
                    30. Rude gestures

Pressures on Individuals
                    31. “Haunting” officials
                    32. Taunting officials
                    33. Fraternization
                    34. Vigils

Drama and Music
                    35. Humorous skits and pranks
                    36. Performances of plays and music
                    37. Singing

Processions
                    38. Marches
                    39. Parades
                    40. Religious processions
                    41. Pilgrimages
                    42. Motorcades

Honoring the Dead
                    43. Political mourning
                    44. Mock funerals
                    45. Demonstrative funerals
                    46. Homage at burial places

Public Assemblies
                    47. Assemblies of protest or support
                    48. Protest meetings
                    49. Camouflaged meetings of protest
                    50. Teach-ins

Withdrawal and Renunciation
                    51. Walk-outs
                    52. Silence
                    53. Renouncing honors
                    54. Turning one’s back

 

THE METHODS OF SOCIAL NONCOOPERATION

 

Ostracism of Persons
                    55. Social boycott
                    56. Selective social boycott
                    57. Lysistratic nonaction
                    58. Excommunication
                    59. Interdict

Noncooperation with Social Events, Customs, and Institutions
                    60. Suspension of social and sports activities
                    61. Boycott of social affairs
                    62. Student strike
                    63. Social disobedience
                    64. Withdrawal from social institutions

Withdrawal from the Social System
                    65. Stay-at-home
                    66. Total personal noncooperation
                    67. “Flight” of workers
                    68. Sanctuary
                    69. Collective disappearance
                    70. Protest emigration (hijrat)

 

THE METHODS OF ECONOMIC NONCOOPERATION: ECONOMIC BOYCOTTS

 
Actions by Consumers
                    71. Consumers’ boycott
                    72. Nonconsumption of boycotted goods
                    73. Policy of austerity
                    74. Rent withholding
                    75. Refusal to rent
                    76. National consumers’ boycott
                    77. International consumers’ boycott

Action by Workers and Producers
                    78. Workmen’s boycott
                    79. Producers’ boycott

Action by Middlemen
                    80. Suppliers’ and handlers’ boycott

Action by Owners and Management
                    81. Traders’ boycott
                    82. Refusal to let or sell property
                    83. Lockout
                    84. Refusal of industrial assistance
                    85. Merchants’ “general strike”

Action by Holders of Financial Resources
                    86. Withdrawal of bank deposits
                    87. Refusal to pay fees, dues, and assessments
                    88. Refusal to pay debts or interest
                    89. Severance of funds and credit
                    90. Revenue refusal
                    91. Refusal of a government’s money

Action by Governments
                    92. Domestic embargo
                    93. Blacklisting of traders
                    94. International sellers’ embargo
                    95. International buyers’ embargo
                    96. International trade embargo

 

THE METHODS OF ECONOMIC NONCOOPERATION: THE STRIKE

 
Symbolic Strikes
                    97. Protest strike
                    98. Quickie walkout (lightning strike)

Agricultural Strikes
                    99. Peasant strike
                    100. Farm Workers’ strike

Strikes by Special Groups
                    101. Refusal of impressed labor
                    102. Prisoners’ strike
                    103. Craft strike
                    104. Professional strike

Ordinary Industrial Strikes
                    105. Establishment strike
                    106. Industry strike
                    107. Sympathetic strike

Restricted Strikes
                    108. Detailed strike
                    109. Bumper strike
                    110. Slowdown strike
                    111. Working-to-rule strike
                    112. Reporting “sick” (sick-in)
                    113. Strike by resignation
                    114. Limited strike
                    115. Selective strike

Multi-Industry Strikes

                    116. Generalized strike

                    117. General strike

Combination of Strikes and Economic Closures

                    118. Hartal

                    119. Economic shutdown

 

THE METHODS OF POLITICAL NONCOOPERATION

 
Rejection of Authority
                    120. Withholding or withdrawal of allegiance
                    121. Refusal of public support
                    122. Literature and speeches advocating resistance

Citizens’ Noncooperation with Government
                    123. Boycott of legislative bodies
                    124. Boycott of elections
                    125. Boycott of government employment and positions
                    126. Boycott of government depts., agencies, and other bodies
                    127. Withdrawal from government educational institutions
                    128. Boycott of government-supported organizations
                    129. Refusal of assistance to enforcement agents
                    130. Removal of own signs and placemarks
                    131. Refusal to accept appointed officials
                    132. Refusal to dissolve existing institutions

Citizens’ Alternatives to Obedience
                    133. Reluctant and slow compliance
                    134. Nonobedience in absence of direct supervision
                    135. Popular nonobedience
                    136. Disguised disobedience
                    137. Refusal of an assemblage or meeting to disperse
                    138. Sitdown
                    139. Noncooperation with conscription and deportation
                    140. Hiding, escape, and false identities
                    141. Civil disobedience of “illegitimate” laws

Action by Government Personnel
                    142. Selective refusal of assistance by government aides
                    143. Blocking of lines of command and information
                    144. Stalling and obstruction
                    145. General administrative noncooperation

                    146. Judicial noncooperation
                    147. Deliberate inefficiency and selective noncooperation by enforcement agents
                    148. Mutiny
Domestic Governmental Action
                    149. Quasi-legal evasions and delays
                    150. Noncooperation by constituent governmental units

International Governmental Action
                    151. Changes in diplomatic and other representations
                    152. Delay and cancellation of diplomatic events
                    153. Withholding of diplomatic recognition
                    154. Severance of diplomatic relations
                    155. Withdrawal from international organizations
                    156. Refusal of membership in international bodies
                    157. Expulsion from international organizations

 

THE METHODS OF NONVIOLENT INTERVENTION

 
Psychological Intervention
                    158. Self-exposure to the elements
                    159. The fast
                                        a) Fast of moral pressure
                                        b) Hunger strike
                                        c) Satyagrahic fast
                    160. Reverse trial
                    161. Nonviolent harassment

Physical Intervention
                    162. Sit-in
                    163. Stand-in
                    164. Ride-in
                    165. Wade-in
                    166. Mill-in
                    167. Pray-in
                    168. Nonviolent raids
                    169. Nonviolent air raids
                    170. Nonviolent invasion
                    171. Nonviolent interjection
                    172. Nonviolent obstruction
                    173. Nonviolent occupation

Social Intervention
                    174. Establishing new social patterns
                    175. Overloading of facilities
                    176. Stall-in
                    177. Speak-in
                    178. Guerrilla theater
                    179. Alternative social institutions
                    180. Alternative communication system

Economic Intervention
                    181. Reverse strike
                    182. Stay-in strike
                    183. Nonviolent land seizure
                    184. Defiance of blockades
                    185. Politically motivated counterfeiting
                    186. Preclusive purchasing
                    187. Seizure of assets
                    188. Dumping
                    189. Selective patronage
                    190. Alternative markets
                    191. Alternative transportation systems
                    192. Alternative economic institutions

Political Intervention
                    193. Overloading of administrative systems
                    194. Disclosing identities of secret agents
                    195. Seeking imprisonment
                    196. Civil disobedience of “neutral” laws
                    197. Work-on without collaboration
                    198. Dual sovereignty and parallel government

 

Without doubt, a large number of additional methods have already been used but have not been classified, and a multitude of additional methods will be invented in the future that have the characteristics of the three classes of methods: nonviolent protest and persuasion, noncooperation and nonviolent intervention.

It must be clearly understood that the greatest effectiveness is possible when individual methods to be used are selected to implement the previously adopted strategy. It is necessary to know what kind of pressures are to be used before one chooses the precise forms of action that will best apply those pressures.

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