Topic

Nonviolent Direct Action

Strategic nonviolence is a rich tradition within social change movements, generating theoretical exploration, research, different group formations and tactical innovation. In this topic you’ll find case studies, manuals, inspiring quotes, training materials, and practical how-to-guides.

Title reads The trifecta of civil resistance. A yellow triangle with a photo of protesting in side. Each side of the triangle has a word - Unity, planning, discipline.

The Trifecta of Civil Resistance: Unity, Planning, Discipline

3 attributes can make the difference between success and failure for nonviolent movements around the world: unity, planning, & nonviolence.

Nonviolent Action and Pro-Democracy Struggles

The main issue is that the US government’s “democracy promotion” agenda has provided repressive regimes with an excuse to label popular pro-democracy movements challenging them as foreign agents, even when led by independent grassroots nonviolent activists.

SNAP: Synergizing Nonviolent Action and Peacebuilding: An Action Guide

A strategic framework for activists, peacebuilders, and organizers working to transform violent conflict and advance a just peace.

Violence and the Backfire Effect

There are ways that social movements and organizers can handle violence to their advantage and why violence can backfire.

Beautiful Action Trainer Modules (BATMo): Resources for Nonviolent Action Trainers

People Power, Civil Resistance and Nonviolent Action NVA Trainers and Facilitators – Lists of training activities from Beautiful Trouble.

Get in Formation: A Community Safety Toolkit

Security & safety practices, Verbal De-escalation, Office and Organizational Safety, and Security for events and actions by Vision Change Win.

A woman standing in front of large crowd giving a speech. She has one hand pointing up to the sky. Many in the crowd are filming her on their mobile phones. The picture on the cover was taken during the nonviolent conflict that ended Sudan’s reign of terror under Omar al-Bashir.

Protected: The Checklist to End Tyranny: How Dissidents will Win 21st Century Civil Resistance Campaigns

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Flyer advertising rally for Saturday July 15th Rally 10 am Martin Place. Title reads Gay Rights Now! Overlaying image of people protesting with banners.

Revolution Is For Us: Gay Liberation, Unions and the Left in the 1970s

Two pivotal events that set the platform for contemporary campaigning by Australian LGBTQI+ movements: union bans and 1978 Mardi Gras protest.

Illustration representing goal bars that become the shape of keys at the bottom. The title reads Less Locks More Keys

Understanding and Responding to Repression: Lessons from Peace Brigades International

Lessons from Peace Brigades International and how it can be applied to understanding and resisting repression in an Australian context.

A group of protestors with large banner that reads Keep Uranium in the ground, Socialist Youth Alliance.

Leave it in the Ground: Union Bans and Uranium Exports in the 1970s

Read about the history of opposition to uranium mining in Australia in the 1970s and early 1980s regarding union bans and uranium exports.

a large crowd gathered for protest. Many are holding colourful signs.

Protest Movements: How Effective are They?

What makes a protest movement successful? Nonviolence and numbers matter. See the research from the Social Change Lab.

$a group of people standing outside a large building with a metal gate holding a banner that reads Ireland bans fracking.$

How to Beat the ‘Fracking Frenzy’: Lessons from the Campaign that ended Fracking in Ireland

The successful Irish anti-fracking struggle offers key insights on community power building for anti-extraction movements all over the world.

Lessons from Campaigning for AIDs Activism with Sarah Schulman

Introduction This episode features an interview by Commons Librarian Holly Hammond with novelist, playwright, screenwriter, and historian Sarah Schulman. They discuss the nature of effective coalitions, the challenges of accurately documenting social movements, and lessons from campaigns led by the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) during the 1980s and 1990s. A participant in […]

Bryan Law wearing a white hat and suit in his theatre costume of 'peace preacher' being interviewed by a news reporter. A cameraman is filming him. There is a van in the background with anti-war slogan.

The Peace Preacher as Anti-War Organiser in Regional Australia

A personal account of Australian activist, Bryan Law, the ‘Peace Preacher’. Learn about his anti-war campaign and its execution.

What is the Difference between Advocacy and Activism?

Find out the difference between advocacy and activism in this book chapter published in 2022 by Jane Johnston and Robyn Gulliver.

Book cover for Iron Will: Global Extractivism and Mining Resistance in Brazil and India

Mining Resistance in India

Community resistance has been astonishingly effective at stopping mining in India. This article draws from the book Iron Will.

Mining Resistance in Brazil

Community resistance has been astonishingly effective at stopping mining in Brazil. This article draws from the book Iron Will.

Street Medic Pro-Tips: Medical and First Aid Support at Protests and Direct Actions

Introduction Street medicine has its origins in the civil rights movements in the US in the late 1960s. Over the years Street Medics have evolved into an international informal community of people who provide medical and first aid support at protests and direct actions. The Melbourne Street Medic Collective (formerly MelbFACT) came together through the Occupy […]

Against Fascism and War: Pig Iron Bob and the Dalfram Dispute, Port Kembla 1938

The 1938 Dalfram dispute involved workers at Port Kembla in Australia striking and refusing to load iron on a ship bound for Japan in 1938.

Two protestors have chained themselves to the railway line.

Frontline Action on Coal FLAC: Ten Years on the Climate Frontline

Frontline Action on Coal (FLAC) have used blockades and non-violent direct action to oppose new fossil fuel projects in Australia.