November 27, 2009

Reasons To Be Jeerful

Old Holborn was recently asking for ideas to fight back at the broken machine we call government.

He (and you, dear reader) may be delighted to learn that I have stumbled across 198 methods of non-violent protest and persuasion.

Tip of the beret to a poster on the FMOTL forum and the website embedded in my title*.

*(Which I am secretly pleased with).

Some of these methods are quite groovy. There's something to suit all tastes!

Look:

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 declarations
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 colours
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. Humourous skits and pranks
36. Performances of plays and music
37. Singing

PROCESSIONS
38. Marches
39. Parades
40. Religious processions
41. Pilgrimages
42. Motorcades

HONOURING 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 honours
54. Turning one's 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

ACTION 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. Workers' 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 government's 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 NONCOOOPERATION: 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 labour
102. Prisoners' strike
103. Craft strike
104. Professional strike

ORDINARY INDUSTRIAL STRIKES
105. Establishment strike
106. Industry strike
107. Sympathy 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. Generalised 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 departments, agencies, and other bodies
127. Withdrawal from governmental educational institutions
128. Boycott of government-supported institutions
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 representation
152. Delay and cancellation of diplomatic events
153. Withholding of diplomatic recognition
154. Severance of diplomatic relations
155. Withdrawal from international organisations
156. Refusal of membership in international bodies
157. Expulsion from international organisations

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 theatre
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

Pick one and get on with it. I am using at least 30 of the methods listed above. Yes, it surprised me too.



And remember to have some fun while you're at it. Nowhere does it state that you have to be miserable when engaging in non-violent action.



CR.

15 comments:

Captain Ranty said...

I had a feeling you would like this one..:)

CR.

Gobshite said...

Unfortunately, the average man on the street is a fuckwit.

If enough people did it, we would not be in this mess to begin with.

We have the government that we deserve.

How do you fix that?

The only way things will improve, is if Mr & Mrs Moron are deprived of their creature comforts and forced to think for once.

And even then, I think that the Soviet model has long way to go to really hit the bottom.

Anonymous said...

There's something for everyone here; we can wear them down with this list!

Great find, Ranty.

Pesky Anonymous said...

Forgive me Captain, but I must take my opportunity to say this once in my life:

I get my kicks on route 66.

banned said...

Does self immolation ( setting yourself on fire ) count as violent ?
And what does "57. Lysistratic nonaction" mean ?

Anonymous said...

If they did it in Poland and other former Soviet bloc countries and it worked there, then basically it should work here - because it's the same Soviet system that's been rammed down everyone's throat and that needs the overthrowing.

Captain Ranty said...

Banned,

I didn't like what I found.

Lysistrata [(leye-sis-truh-tuh, lis-uh-strah-tuh)]

An ancient Greek comedy by Aristophanes. The title character persuades the women of Athens and Sparta, which are at war, to refuse sexual contact with their husbands until the two cities make peace.

And yes, the petrol can option would be violent. Don't do that.

CR.

Captain Ranty said...

Pesky,

I like that one too.

Mix & match. It's like Woolies.

CR.

Anonymous said...

Many thanks for the brilliant list.

I may have missed it in your list but if I may suggest, the main asset of The Project is their control of the broadcast media - and it is therefore also their achilles heel.

The Project is succeeding because they control broadcast media.

The present day broadcast media is the most powerful mind-bending power in the history of Humanity.

Their power is used to promote the Project in the following ways

1. Deliberate manipulation of the news

2. Deliberate suppression of information

3. Deliberate attacks on opponents of the Project.

4. Deliberating giving favourable coverage to Project supporters.

5. Keeping millions and millions people blindly ignorant of what is going on by filling their minds full of game shows, sport etc and the general feeling that everything is fine. Crisis, what crisis?

Every effort should be targeted at destroying the power of the broadcast media, including of course in particular the BBC news and current affairs department.

Captain Ranty said...

Thanks Marcellus.

The trouble is, of course, that we now have hundreds of channels to choose from. I wonder what the viewer split is between all those channels?

It would (I'm guessing) greatly reduce the number of sheeple being misinformed by the Beeb, no?

Maybe I am assuming that most people have satellite telly. They may not.

That leaves the newspapers as a source for the garbage that passes for news these days, but aren't they also losing readers to the interweb?

That leaves word of mouth (and the radio of course), so just exactly where is all the nonsense coming from? And with over 53 pubs a week closing, where is all the "word of mouth" stuff being transmitted and received?

Is it pure ignorance, or apathy maybe?

I haven't help there, have I? I asked more bloody questions than you did...:)

CR.

Captain Ranty said...

Oops!

Typo-I haven't helped-is what I meant to write.

Anonymous said...

Marcellus wrote: "... the main asset of The Project is their control of the broadcast media ..."

It is their fear of losing that advantage that is leading to some pretty heavy handed control of the internet coming our way any day now. The excuse in this case is "intellectual property" if that is what you call the drivel that passes for mass entertainment these days. You will have noticed that all the major economies have recently transferred copyright matters from being a civil action against the infringer to being a criminal offence. I wonder why?

Pesky Anonymous said...

Yokel wrote: "It is their fear of losing that advantage ......."

Exactly. Like any business, they fear the opposition and the threat to their monopoly.

And it *is* a business.

Media is a double edged sword. We are aware of their attempts to control the news and opinion, but the other edge is the advertising. Advertising the consumer lifestyle. The "drivel that passes for mass entertainment these days" is not exactly drivel, but more subliminal selling of the lifestyle. A lifestyle which, if we buy into, makes us easier to control, and more productive to fleece.

One big business.
The whole idea of their little game is so that a handful of people get incredibly rich.

Some insight about this: "The Century of The Self" by Adam Curtis. (4 x 1hr on google).

banned said...

Done my bit to do in the Beeb, stopped paying telly-tax years ago. Mind you, even if enough of us did that they would just lob them bundles of cash from general taxation ( or the lottery fund coz it's culture, innit ).

Captain Ranty said...

Banned,

I suspect that from midnight onwards the Propaganda Unit in the living room will be working overtime to convince us that Europe is all things to all men.

I almost never watch it. All I hear is spin, bullshit, one-sided debates and lies.

CR.