198 Methods of Nonviolent Action - Albert Einstein Institution

Practitioners of nonviolent struggle have an entire arsenal of “nonviolent weapons” at their disposal. Listed below are 198 of them, classified into three broad categories: nonviolent protest and persuasion, noncooperation (social, economic, and political), and nonviolent intervention. A description and historical examples of each can be found in volume two of The Politics of Nonviolent Action, by Gene Sharp.

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 statements
• 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 colors
• 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. Humorous skits and pranks
• 36. Performances of plays and music
• 37. Singing

Processions

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

Honoring 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 honors
• 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

Actions 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. Workmen's 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 NONCOOPERATION: 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 labor
• 102. Prisoners' strike
• 103. Craft strike
• 104. Professional strike

Ordinary Industrial Strikes

• 105. Establishment strike
• 106. Industry strike
• 107. Sympathetic 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. Generalized 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 depts., agencies, and other bodies
• 127. Withdrawal from government educational institutions
• 128. Boycott of government-supported organizations
• 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 representations
• 152. Delay and cancellation of diplomatic events
• 153. Withholding of diplomatic recognition
• 154. Severance of diplomatic relations
• 155. Withdrawal from international organizations
• 156. Refusal of membership in international bodies
• 157. Expulsion from international organizations

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 theater
• 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