Connected to a grant (and this book) I collected literature on forms of citizen and civil society action. Amongst the books that sat on the shelf for some years was "Nonviolent Social Movements: A Geographical Perspective", edited by Zunes, Kurtz and Asher. Published in 1999, this edited collection of geographical overviews if largely historical at this stage, some 25 years later. Nonetheless, a few quotes:
"Theorist gene sharp identifies three basic tactical categories of nonviolent action. The first is nonviolent protest and persuasion. These actions we name what we think is wrong, point our fingers added and try to help others understand. This category would include such tactics as petitioning, picketing, demonstrating, and lobbying. The second category is nonviolent noncooperation. With these actions we deliberately fold our hands and turn our backs, refusing to participate in the wrong we have named. This category would include such tactics as boycotts, strikes, and tax resistance. The third category is nonviolent intervention. With these actions we face the wrong we have named, the wrong we have refused to aid, and we step into the way, interfere, block. This category would include such tactics as physical obstruction, blockades, civil disobedience, and sit-ns." (p. 21)
"I am not particularly more interested in women's nonviolent actions than men's, but I am dismayed that so many wonderful stories have systematically been denied us and deemed less vital, less important than other stories simply because they are about actions taken by people who are not male. The denial and suppression of these stories is no accident given that we live on a planet which is overwhelmingly patriarchal. And if mere oversight accounts for their exclusion from history of, it is an oversight which both reflects and reinforces patriarchal ideology." (p. 24)
"A nonviolent opposition refuses to engage the state on their terms, i.e., with military confrontation in which the state has all the advantages. By doing so insurgents can choose their own "weapons systems," nonviolent struggle that utilizes the opposition's advantage by means of popular support and the ability to mobilize large numbers of people to a greater degree than in guerrilla warfare. It is easier to mobilize people to demonstrate nonviolently than to ask them to pick up a gun or a hand grenade. This mobilizing capacity results in a "disequilibrium within the dynamics of the conflict" that works to the advantage of the unarmed group" (p. 308)
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