Everyone is entitled to my opinion.

​Nonviolence
December 1, 2016

I’m not so naive as to believe that substantive change occurs without violence. 


But I believe that nonviolence is essential for building a broad-based movement. I learned about nonviolence when I was about 20. I had stumbled onto a peace march and had never seen such a thing. I joined in. As I walked with a group of elderly Quakers, some in wheelchairs, some with canes, they educated me.

They taught me that a successful movement needs the participation of people across the entire social spectrum. It needs elders and children, families and couples, college and high school students, laborers and professionals, former and current military, all races, all orientations, all religions. 

Violence During Peaceful Action is Instigated by the Opposition


When violence occurs during a demonstration, everyone flees the movement. No one wants to take their children or elderly parents to a demonstration where violence might erupt. Movements require numbers, thousands, millions, but violence keeps people away. 

Over time, I learned how violence is often started by a small group of people—often agent provocateurs, undercover police, or otherwise—perhaps paid thugs. 

One night I attended a peaceful march with thousands of people carrying candles. From the center of the crowd a youngish, scruffy-looking man shouted out that we should roll over the police car parked at the intersection. He put his hands on the car and began to rock it. The Quakers moved in quickly and surrounded this man, keeping others away from the car by standing silently together. Without touching him, they isolated him and the police car from the rest of the marchers. Someone took his picture, another found his name and photograph in a binder they had brought with them, called out his name and showed everyone around us that this man was an undercover police officer from a nearby city. They informed marchers who had stopped to watch the incident about this man’s purpose—to spark an act of violence and thereby discredit the event and chase law-abiding people away from the movement. The elders stepped back and allowed this undercover police officer to leave the march. The rest of the night everyone walked peacefully, spreading the word. 

Violence Is the Darling of the Media


Violence is good for profits. It draws readers, viewers, and clicks. It diverts the message of nonviolent creative action to one of destruction. It taints the efforts of millions and focuses on the efforts of a few. This is why media rarely covers such boring events as millions of people marching without one single incident of violence.


And yet, nonviolence is essential for building credible, long-term movements and substantive action. 

We can be sure that Trumpers' thugs, goons, bullies, and trolls will roam our cities, towns and websites and attempt to disrupt our peaceful actions. It is essential to stand firm and to slog forward despite threats or danger. 


Nonviolent Strategies and Guidelines

It's helpful to have a range of options. Check out the 198 strategies for non-violent action, provided by A Force More Powerful.  

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Be creative, inventive. Organize your friends, your church, temple, mosque, tribe, village or neighborhood. Have non-violent teach-ins. Train youth in your community on the power and purpose of civil disobedience, on standing together in peace. Connect with non-violent actors across the nation or internationally.

I’m sure that people have much more experience with nonviolence and have better guidelines that I can offer. Here are my observations for successful collective, nonviolent action:


  • Be specific about what you want to achieve. Vague objectives and goals fail. A demonstration to save the spotted owl is more effective than a demonstration to save the environment. 


  • To be effective, the pressure point has to be related directly to the issue. It does little good to stage a gas boycott to protect free speech. Better to develop a strategy to protest a website or news outlet for censorship or spreading fake news. 


  • Keep biting. Results take time.