198 Methods of Nonviolent Action

198 METHODS OF NONVIOLENT ACTION

Practitioners of nonviolent struggle have an entire arsenal of nonviolent weapons at their
disposal. Listed below are 198 of them, classified into three broad categories: nonviolent
protest and persuasion, noncooperation (social, economic, and political), and nonviolent
intervention. A description and historical examples of each can be found in volume two of The
Politics of Nonviolent Action, by Gene Sharp.

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 ones 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. Workmens 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 governments 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.

[1] Boston: Porter Sargent, 1973 and later editions.

The Methods of Nonviolent Protest and

Persuasion
by Gene Sharp
Nonviolent protest and persuasion is a class which includes a large number of methods which are mainly
symbolic acts of peaceful opposition or of attempted persuasion, extending beyond verbal expressions but
stopping short of noncooperation or nonviolent intervention. Among these methods are parades, vigils,
picketing, posters, teach-ins, mourning, and protest meetings.
Their use may simply show that the actionists are against something; for example, picketing may express
opposition to a law which restricts dissemination of birth control information. The methods of this class may
also be applied for something; for example, group lobbying may support a clean-air bill pending in the
legislature or overseas aid. Nonviolent protest and persuasion also may express deep personal feelings or
moral condemnation on a social or political issue; for example, a vigil on Hiroshima Day may express penance
for the American atomic bombing of that Japanese city. The "something" with which the nonviolent protestors
may be concerned may be a particular deed, a law, a policy, a general condition, or a whole regime or system.
The act may be intended primarily to influence the opponent-by arousing attention and publicity for the issue
and thereby, it is hoped, support, which may convince him to accept the change; or by warning him of the
depth or extent of feeling on the issue which is likely to lead to more severe action if a change is not made. Or
the act may be intended primarily to communicate with the public, onlookers, or third parties, directly or
through publicity, in order to arouse, attention and support for the desired change. Or the act may by
intended primarily to influence the grievance group-the persons directly affected by the issue-to induce them
to do something themselves, such as participate in a strike or an economic boycott.
What, then, are the specific methods of nonviolent action which may be classified as nonviolent protest and
persuasion? This is a sampling.

Sit-ins
In a sit-in the interventionists occupy certain facilities by sitting on available chairs, stools, and occasionally
on the floor for a limited or unlimited period, either in a single act or in a series of acts, with the objective of
disrupting the normal pattern of activities. The purpose may be to establish a new pattern, such as opening
particular facilities to previously excluded persons, or to make a protest which may not be directly connected
with the facilities occupied. This method has often been used in the civil rights movement in the United States.

Student Strikes
Students and pupils of all types of schools, from elementary schools to universities, may as a means of protest
or resistance temporarily refuse to attend classes. Or they may refuse to cooperate in a related way-by
boycotting only some, not all, lectures, for example; or students may attend classes but refuse to pay
attention, as was done at the University of Madrid in 1965 as part of the campaign for an independent student
union. Possible variations are legion. It is more usual, however, for all classes to be boycotted. (Student
strikes are also called school boycotts or class boycotts.)
The student strike has long been widely used in China, Latin America, and to a lesser degree Africa; in 1970,
following the United States' invasion of Cambodia, it became a prominent part of university life in the United
States. The student strike is not a modern invention, as the Chinese examples show. Student strikes in China
have sometimes taken the form of refusal to take the examinations, sometimes in protest against the lack of
impartiality by the examiners.

Sit-downs
The sit-down is an act of noncooperation in which the participants actually sit down on the street, road,
ground, or floor and refuse to leave voluntarily, for either a limited or an indefinite period of time. The sitdown may be a spontaneous act, or a reaction decided on in advance, as a response to orders for a march or
other demonstration to disperse. Or it may be combined with civil disobedience to some regulatory law as a
serious type of symbolic resistance. The sit-down may also be used to halt ordinary traffic or tanks, or to
prevent workers or officials from carrying out their work. In these cases it becomes a method of nonviolent
intervention (either nonviolent interjection or nonviolent obstruction, which are described in the next
chapter). In recent years the sit-down appears to have been more widely used than previously.
Toward the end of April 1960, during the Algerian War, over 500 demonstrators protested the internment of
6,000 North Africans in France, without trial or hearing, by marching to the Centre de Tri de Vincennes (one
of the French reception centers for Arabs) and sitting down in front of it. New waves of demonstrators came
when the first persons were arrested and driven away in vehicles.

Turning One's Back

Silent disapproval may be emphasized by turning one's back (whether standing or sitting) to the person or
persons who are or represent the opponent. For example, when in his proclamation of a day of fasting and
prayer in 1771, Governor Hutchinson of Massachusetts Bay had included a call for thanks for the
"Continuance of our Privileges," the radicals took this as an open insult because of the implication of support
for British policies. The proclamation was to be read in the churches, but, Philip Davidson writes, "Dr.
Pemberton alone of the Boston pastors read the proclamation-and he did so simply because the Governor
was a member of his congregation-and he did so with evident embarrassment, for many of the members
turned their backs or left the building."
After the dramatic days of the June 16th-17th East German Rising, on June 18th, 1953, East Berlin strikers
returned to their factories but refused to work. "They squatted in front of their lathes and benches and turned
their backs on Party officials."

Vigils
A vigil is an appeal normally addressed not to one or a few persons, but to many people. Like picketing, a vigil
consists of people remaining at a particular place as a means of expressing a point of view. It differs from
picketing, however, in that it is frequently maintained over a longer period of time, sometimes around the
clock, and is associated with a more solemn attitude, often of a pleading or religious character. It often
involves late hours and loss of sleep.

"Haunting" Officials
As a means of reminding officials of the "immorality" of their behavior in repressing a nonviolent resistance
movement and of the determination and fearlessness of the population, volunteers may sometimes follow
and "haunt" officials everywhere they go, thus constantly reminding them of the population's determination.
For example, as Joan Bondurant has reported, during the 1928 Bardoli campaign in India: "Volunteers
followed officials everywhere, camping on roads outside official bungalows. When arrested, they were
replaced by others until authorities tired of the process."

Protest Disrobings
One of the rarer old-but newly reactivated- forms of nonviolent protest is the public removal of clothes as a
means of expressing one's religious disapproval or political protest. During the Quaker "invasion" of the
intolerant Massachusetts Bay Colony in the seventeenth century, Lydia Wardel entered Newbury Church

naked as a protest. Members of the Sons of Freedom sect of the Doukhobors in British Columbia, Canada, have
been credited with "uncounted nude parades" and in some cases individual women have disrobed in front of
their own burning homes, to which they set fire as a protest against alleged government interference or
prosecution of their husbands for resistance activities, including demolitions. When Prime Minister John
Diefenbaker was attending a political rally at Trail, British Columbia, on May 28, 1962, Doukhobor women
whose husbands were awaiting trial for terrorist acts interrupted the meeting, tearfully protesting "unfair
treatment" of their group, and took off their clothing as part of their protest.
One of several cases of protest disrobing in the United States in recent years by young people in the antiwar
and social protest movements took place at Grinnell College, in Grinnell, Iowa, on February 5, 1969. The
Students staged a "nude-in" during a speech by a representative of Playboy magazine, in protest of the
magazine's "sensationalism of sex."
From The Politics of Nonviolent Action