What is nonviolent action?
A. Nonviolent action (also sometimes referred to as people power, political defiance, and nonviolent struggle) is a technique of action for applying power in a conflict by using symbolic protests, noncooperation, and defiance, but not physical violence. Nonviolent action may involve: 1. Acts of omissionthat is, people may refuse to perform acts that they usually perform, are expected by custom to perform, or are required by law or regulation to perform; 2. Acts of commissionthat is, people may perform acts that they do not usually perform, are not expected by custom to perform, or are forbidden to perform; or 3. A combination of the two. As a technique, therefore, nonviolent action is not passive. It is not inaction. It is action that is nonviolent. Q.
Related Questions
- Does nonviolent action require a charismatic leader (like Mohandas Gandhi or Martin Luther King, Jr.) in order to be effective?
- Does nonviolent action only work in a democratic system? Can it be used and succeed against dictatorships?
- What is nonviolent direct action and what role does this play in a CPT delegation?
