To resist corporate power and form “a more perfect Union,” we should study nonviolent lessons and strategies of pro-democracy movements worldwide. Meet Dr. Gene Sharp.
My last Evening Focus I spoke of Gandhian philosophy and technique . Afterward, I “got it” – the same colonial powers who had ruled India and ruled us before the American Revolution are at it again, with new tricks … dressed in suits and ties, and yes, even powdered wigs. It takes my breath away to think of it.
Republican strategists, well-paid agents of corporate colonialism, have working for 30 years to gain control of all the mechanisms of governance – from the school board to state and local boards and commissions, to the means of communication, to the mechanisms of elections, to the judiciary. And for 80 years they have ached to go back to the good old days, days before FDR.
Cross-posted from BPI Campus - Evening Focus
We were so confident that our basic rights and our democracy were secure, that we have been baffled and confused to see we really could lose everything we have fought for. Sometimes since "Citizens United," I feel as though we are living the Avatar movie.
Meet Gene Sharp.
Dr. Gene Sharp researched and wrote about how other peoples have freed themselves from oppression through nonviolent social action. His work has been translated into 31 languages and is used worldwide as a “how-to” for pro-democracy resistances. Dr. Sharp is an unassuming 83 year old (Quaker) sociologist who has devoted his entire life to researching and teaching the (secular) use of nonviolent action in conflicts worldwide. Today’s piece is taken from my notes on Dr. Sharp’s “From Dictatorship to Democracy,” which can be downloaded free. Since I can use only a few paragraphs here, please do read it yourself!.
It's A Question of Power.
Who has it – and do they really? Very simply :
Power, even in the most closed and brutal dictatorship, depends on consent. Ordinary people can band together to withdraw their consent. And movements succeed when they refuse to resort to violence, since the regime always possesses superior instruments of violence. Ergo, the future of democracy and freedom depends on nonviolence.
What mechanisms of power does a proverbial monkey master use to keep the monkeys enslaved? Since they depend on the cooperation of the monkeys and the institutions of the society, this is where the regime is vulnerable.
Authority – the common belief that the regime is legitimate, and there is a moral duty to obey it;
Human resources – the number, motives, and importance of the persons and groups who obey, stand with, benefit from, or assist the rulers;
Skills and knowledge – which are needed by the regime and supplied by the cooperating persons and groups;
Intangibles – psychological and ideological factors that may induce people to obey and assist the rulers;
Material resources – the degree to which the power elite control or have access to property, natural and financial resources, the economic system, and means of communication and transportation;
Sanctions – punishments, threatened or applied, against the disobedient and non-cooperative to ensure the submission and cooperation that are needed for the regime to exist and carry out its policies.
Yes We Can, Sever the Supply Lines of Bully Power
Yes they did, quietly work to nail down every supply line to their warriors and to cut ours, and, yes, they did sow discord among the people, but yes, class warfare in America is now officially and publicly on, and it is clear to everyone who started it.
Despite the strengths of the opposition and the appearances of strength, all systems have weaknesses, personal or group rivalries and corruption, inefficiencies, communication challenges. Good detective work identifying them would be good strategy, so effective plans can be made.
Yes we can, find and disarm every one of their initiatives, if we work together and plan carefully. Here are some thoughts to consider in planning.
Successful pro-democracy defiance:
* empowers and unites people who formerly felt helpless and alone to end the domination of the few. First fear must be overcome, as in any battle, and a well-defined mission becomes uppermost.
* rejects the means of fighting chosen by the dictator or those who profit most from the dictatorship, though that may mean sacrifices or casualties, and chooses its own. I remember once thousands of us sitting down quietly at once and linking arms as lines of police approached on horses. Turns out we were safe – the horses would not injure us.
* must in some way be difficult for the regime to combat or control, i.e.: unexpected, or massive, dramatic, disruptive, anonymous, ethereal, international, and/or televised.
finds and aggravates systemic weaknesses, prompting errors of judgment and action by the regime and loss of legitimacy and support.
* severs the regime’s supply lines of power by challenging, disabling, co-opting, or otherwise weakening the master’s mechanisms or resources for oppressive control.
Overall Strategic Plans, then Plans for Individual Campaigns
Dr. Sharp is very clear about one thing above all others – the need for strategic planning. I was intrigued to learn a small group of Egyptian youth in the April 6 movement had been planning for three years. There was even an Egyptian training video modeled after this one by Dr. Sharp .
We probably won’t win over the power elite by shouting “Unfair.” Loyalty to (our) lofty ideals may be admirable but is insufficient to end oppression by the few – the multinational giants and their agents – over the many. And there has been a long-term concerted attack on the language of liberalism, so whatever we shouted out would just be ridiculed anyway outside of our own circles. The multinational corporations and those who stand with them don’t care about ideals, corporations aren’t actually even people and last forever, they simply set folks to fighting about social values as a distracting strategy while they rake in the dough. See the current Rolling Stone if you don’t believe me.
Often, people simply react to the actions of the oppressors. If we do that we will always be defensively trying to hold onto ever more limited freedoms. Collective bargaining and women’s health come to mind this week, after we have had creeping strategic losses on jobs & wages, health care, housing, revenue deficits (yup, that’s a re-frame), abortion rights, immigrant human rights, campaign finance, etc, etc. And of course, center stage, Citizens United.
Instead, we should be crafting a fresh and creative pro-democracy campaign with actions of OUR choosing most likely to diminish their strengths or enhance ours, and undermine them where they are weak. For that, we urgently need a select group of strategic thinkers to create an overall long-term plan, with shorter term achievable goals for campaigns along the way. I promise, the opposition has done this already and are well-resourced and practiced in carrying out their plans.
There is so much more to say, and I have had to leave so very much out, so please read Dr. Sharp’s free literature for yourself. Tomorrow we’ll continue our strategy discussion using Dr. Sharp’s list of 198 defined methods of nonviolent protest.