This article collects examples of tactics that work during Covid-19 physical distancing. Some examples are from recent campaigning, while other examples are less recent but provide a model for healthy actions during the pandemic. For more ideas see
- Tactics in a time of physical distancing: Examples from Australia’s progressive past
- Methods of Dissent & Collective Action Under COVID: A Crowdsourced List (Compiled by Erica Chenoweth, et al.)
Frameworks and tactic lists
Collect Action and Dissent Under COVID: Crowd Counting Consortium (led by Erica Chenoweth and Jeremy Pressman) are crowdsourcing methods of dissent and collective action during the COVID-19 pandemic. Submit methods and examples and view the full crowdsourced list.
The global pandemic has spawned new forms of activism – and they’re flourishing: We’ve identified nearly 100 distinct methods of nonviolent action that include physical, virtual and hybrid actions, The Guardian, 204/2020
Beautiful Trouble’s Guide to Activism During the Coronavirus Pandemic, Nadine Bloch and Rae Abileah
Don’t give up the fight – Digital activism in times of COVID19, SOGI Campaigns
Locked down? Try organizing, 350.org
4 tips for digital organizing when our communities are physically isolating, Rachel Phan, New/Mode
Tactics in a time of physical distancing: Examples from Australia’s progressive past, Iain McIntyre, Commons Library
Civil Resistance 2.0: 198 Nonviolent Methods Upgraded. This crowd-sourced spreadsheet is somewhat dated (reflecting the state of digital campaigning in 2012) but the application of Gene Sharp’s 198 Methods of Nonviolent Action is very helpful.
How is the Covid-19 Crisis Changing the Global Movement Landscape? Amber French, ICNC
Social Movements as Essential Services, [COVID era movements: four models], OpenDemocracy
Banners, Posters and Murals
Protesters paint mural on Jeff Bezos’s doorstep, demanding health protections for essential workers, The Washington Post, April 2020
Coronavirus: Window protests over PPE for front-line workers begin in Bristol, Bristol News, Apr 2020
See Coronavirus Related Art to Use for Your Campaigns for examples of posters.
Car Based Actions
May Day car convoy calls for no worker to be left behind, Green Left, May 2020
Activists Are Still Taking to the Streets—in Cars: Anti-ICE protesters and others are finding ways to show up in the era of social distancing, Mother Jones, 3/4/2020
To maintain social distancing, immigrant rights groups use creative ‘drive-by protests’. The undocumented community is turning to innovative new tactics and mutual aid because they have learned that no one else will come to their rescue. Waging Nonviolence, 9/04/2020
Virtual Civil Disobedience, Gaming and Maps
#SavePeopleNotPlanes – Occupation of a virtual airport
Virtual map protest in Russia – The Coronavirus Killed The Mass Protest So They’ve Gone Online. But They’ll Be Back, BuzzFeed, April 2020
Holograms, Projections & Skywriting
Projections – US – 2020 – An Artist Is Projecting Giant Memorials to Covid-19 Victims on Walls All Over DC: The nocturnal images are poignant and moving, Washingtonian, April 2020
Seize the moment to deliver a green economic transformation, says Greenpeace – First hologram march in the European Capital, Greenpeace, Apr 2020. More photos and videos
How to Join the Light and Shadow Climate Strike, Greenpeace, Apr 2020
How Serbian activists started a nationwide anti-authoritarian protest during COVID-19 lockdown, Waging Nonviolence, May 2020
Projections – UK – 2020 – NHS staff plea for PPE in video projected onto Palace of Westminster, The London Economic, April 2020
Projections – Chile – 2020 – How quarantined Chileans are keeping their protest movement alive, April 2020
Hologram protest – Spain 2015 – Anti-gagging
Digital Rallies, Strikes, Picket Lines and Forums
#WageSubsidyForAll Online Picket Line, Victorian Trades Hall Council VTHC, March 2020
Student activists from around the world hold 24hr live stream strike, Fridays for the Future, Apr 2020
Virtual rally to save Tasmania’s Forests, Bob Brown Foundation, Apr 2020
Friends of the Earth (Australia) – Digital rally against fossil fuels in Victoria, March 2020
Digital Rally, Leadnow.ca – 960 people joined a first-of-its-kind digital rally calling on PM Trudeau to stop the bailout to Big Oil executives and invest in workers instead, March 2020
Can you keep an activist campaign running during a pandemic? March For Our Lives is trying, FastCompany, Apr 2020
Earth Day live-streamed digital march over 3 days, Apr 2020
Live streaming event for Labor Day in Switzerland by The Swiss Federation of Trade Unions, May 2020
Bodies on the Line
Screen grab from blankebedenken.org
German doctors pose naked in protest at PPE shortages, The Guardian, 28/4/2020
US medical workers stand up to anti-lockdown protesters
Strikes – Workers and Renters
Amanda Priebe, Just Seeds.
Strike Resource Guide, Bright Green
Strikes during the COVID-19 pandemic – Wikipedia. Includes references to prison system strikes, rent strikes, university strikes, workers strikes, predominantly in Unites States but some mentions of Australia and United Kingdom.
Essential Workers Unite for a May Day Strike. Is It Enough?, Wired, 1/05/2020
‘This is about survival’: The students and tenants going on rent strike during coronavirus lockdown, The Independent (UK), 5/05/2020
With Millions Unable to Pay for Housing Next Month, Organizers Plan the Largest Rent Strike in Nearly a Century, The Intercept, 25/04/2020
Thousands Pledge To ‘Rent Strike’ After Struggling Tenants ‘Served Illegal Evictions’, 10 daily, 23/04/2020
Objects Representing People
When people can’t attend in person campaigns can still find creative ways to represent those people who are affected or concerned about issues. ANTaR’s Sea of Hands from the 1990s is a powerful example included in Tactics that work with physical distancing: examples from Australia’s progressive past.
Aprons
Put your apron out, Hospo Voice, 2020
Why people are putting out their aprons, The Shout, 8/4/2020
Art Installations
March For Our Lives Art Installation Calls Out Congress’ Inaction on Gun Violence, Now This, Jan 2020
Shoes
Awareness of Chronic Fatigue #millions missing – What Is Myalgic Encephalomyelitis? The “Millions Missing” Hashtag Is Raising Awareness Of The Chronic Illness Through Social Media, March 2018
COP21 Paris 10,000 shoes – 10,000 Empty Shoes And A Mist Of Pepper Spray Open Paris Climate Talks, New Matilda, 2015
Noise Making
How Serbian activists started a nationwide anti-authoritarian protest during COVID-19 lockdown, Waging Nonviolence, May 2020
Of course, there are many more campaign tactics that work during physical distancing. See Digital Campaigning: Start Here, the Tactics Topic, or Browse the Commons.
This article will be added to as more examples emerge. Thanks to the participants in the Activist Tactics Exchange Facebook group for their contributions.
Attribution CC BY