What is Nonviolent Resistance?
Nonviolent resistance, broadly defined, is a form of embodied social change that actively and persistently challenges violent and unjust conditions, structures or policies through non-injurious means. It is the process in which “people power” — the power of ordinary people — is mobilized to withdraw support from unjust policies and to create the moral and political conditions for change by “leading the leaders.” The following recent example conveys the power and importance of such nonviolence in action. Nigeria is the world’s sixth largest oil producer and the United States’ fifth largest supplier, yet many Nigerians do not share in this teeming wealth. Intent on changing this disparity, this summer hundreds of unarmed Nigerian women of the Ugborodo and Arutan communities dramatically occupied ChevronTexaco’s key oil terminal in the country, bringing petroleum production to a sudden halt. After ten dramatic days, the women reached a landmark pact with the company to provide jobs, infra
