In this guide, you will learn what nonviolent resistance is and how to organise a nonviolent action.

What is nonviolent resistance? #

Nonviolent resistance (NVR), or nonviolent action, sometimes called civil resistance, is the practice of achieving goals such as social change through symbolic protests, civil disobedience, economic or political noncooperation, satyagraha, constructive program, or other methods, while refraining from violence and the threat of violence. This type of action highlights the desires of an individual or group that feels that something needs to change to improve the current condition of the resisting person or group.

Nonviolent resistance is often but wrongly taken as synonymous with civil disobedience. Each of these terms—nonviolent resistance and civil disobedience—has different connotations and commitments. Berel Lang argues against the conflation of nonviolent resistance and civil disobedience on the grounds that the necessary conditions for an act instancing civil disobedience are: (1) that the act violates the law, (2) that the act is performed intentionally, and (3) that the actor anticipates and willingly accepts punitive measures made on the part of the state against him in retaliation for the act. Since acts of nonviolent political resistance need not satisfy any of these criteria, Lang argues that the two categories of action cannot be identified with one another. Furthermore, civil disobedience is a form of political action which necessarily aims at reform, rather than revolution. Its efforts are typically directed at the disputing of particular laws or groups of laws while conceding the authority of the government responsible for them. In contrast, political acts of nonviolent resistance can have revolutionary ends. According to Lang, civil disobedience need not be nonviolent, although the extent and intensity of the violence is limited by the non-revolutionary intentions of the persons engaging in civil disobedience. Lang argues the violent resistance by citizens being forcibly relocated to detentions, short of the use of lethal violence against representatives of the state, could plausibly count as civil disobedience but could not count as nonviolent resistance.

Improve this page #

You can make this page better! Here are some suggestions:

• Turn it into a 'how to guide': Currently, this page focusses on defining nonviolent resistance. It would be great if we could add a few more practical tips on how to get started with nonviolent resistance. Since it is a broad topic, make sure to link to other articles on Activist Handbook, instead of creating duplicate content.

• Move the external resources to more relevant articles: The external resources list below contains lots of valuable information. However, not all of it is directly relevant to nonviolent resistance. We have more specific pages that those guides would fit better on.

(Non-)violence in activism #

Satyagraha; 'holding firmly to truth' / moral or ‘principled’ non-violence. #

Satyagraha is a form of non-violent resistance that was conceptualised and practised by Gandhi. Please add links.

Non-violent property destruction and sabotage / the Shambala Warrior prophesy. #

Is it possible to cause property destruction and / or sabotage from a deep place of peace and compassion for those that would benefit from the damage?

Here is one perspective: the Shambala Warrior prophesy. The essence of this Tibetan Buddhist prophesy is that deeply compassionate and well-trained people will enter the centres of power and dismantle the ‘weapons’ that are destroying the planet (these don't have to be literal weapons; they could be destructive machines related to fossil fuels).

External resources #

The Case for NVDA #

• The success of nonviolent civil resistance: Erica Chenoweth at TEDxBoulder

• Breaking bad laws is how good laws get made: Amanda Tattersall

Theory and Philosophy of NVDA #

• A collection of nonviolence quotes

• Gene Sharp’s 198 Methods of Nonviolent Action

• Book review of This is an Uprising: How Nonviolent Revolt Is Shaping the Twenty-First Century

Guides and Tips #

• The Path of Most Resistance: A Step-by-Step Guide to Planning Nonviolent Campaigns

• Make Change: How-To’s for Effective Peaceful Protest

• How to start a direct action group to make Martin Luther King proud

• Affinity Groups for Non-Violent Direct Action

• Check list for affinity groups

• Media Checklist for Actions

• Preparing for a Community Blockade

• Beginners guide to a blockade camp

• Nonviolent Campaigning, Organising and Wellbeing Resources | Şiddetsiz Kampanya, Örgütlenme ve Esenlik Kaynakları (Turkish – Türkçe)

Resources for NVDA Training #

• Nonviolence Trainer’s Resource Manual

• Checklist for Non-violent Direct Action trainings

Legal Rights #

• Community Activism in Victoria: The right to protest and other legal issues

• Legal Handbook for the Victorian Coal and Gas Movement

• What is this thing called Activist Legal Support?

• Your Activist Speech in Court

• Crowdfunding to Cover Fines

Please make sure to check the legal situation in the place you are taking action. Legal information may date and is never a substitute for legal advice.

Safety and Resilience #

• Staying safe: Protective strategies for activists

• A Resource for Activists Working Through Trauma

Case Studies #

• Enabling Emergence: The Bentley Blockade and the Struggle for a Gasfield Free Northern Rivers

• Jabiluka: Fight for Country

• James Price Point/Walmadan – A Huge Win

• Environmental Blockading in Australia and Around the World – Timeline 1974-1997

• Lessons from the Greensboro Student Sit-ins

• The creativity fuelling the struggle to defund the police

• How defeating Keystone XL built a bolder, savvier climate movement

• Many more case studies.

Want a break from reading? #

• Watch these TED Talks.

• Listen to Treesits, Lock-ons and Barricades: Environmental Blockading in the 1980s.

• Listen to Acting Up! 45 Years of Friends of the Earth.

• Listen to these ChangeMakers podcasts.

• Listen and watch 40 years of Australian blockading songs.

Attribution #

• Nonviolent resistance by Wikipedia

• Nonviolent Direct Action (NVDA) by Commons Library