The Pillars and the Protest
by Michael Nagler
GENE SHARP, the pioneer of nonviolence research who founded the Albert Einstein Institution while at Harvard is well-known among nonviolence advocates and scholars today for, among other things, gifting us with a number of useful images, perhaps most oft-cited being his observation that tyrannical, authoritarian regimes, which are rarely popular with a wide segment of the population, rest on “pillars of support”: the military, police, media, etc.
That image occurred to me as I watched the “Hands Off” protests unfold on April 5th. A bit of background: decades ago, I marched for some peace issue or other in San Francisco. It was a good turnout, and my first demonstration since arriving out here in 1966. The march ended in a rally where Robert Scheer, not yet famous as the author of With Enough Shovels, but getting there, startled me with his opening remark: “I hope you realize the ‘powers that be’ are delighted that we’re having a protest march. It’s useless and a waste of energy!” One of the reasons I was so startled, I’m pretty sure, was that I’d suspected as much but was loath to face it. After all, what else do we have?
That is what I want to address.
The urgency, of the situation, the sheer destructive violence of the Administration tearing down the resources of life itself, has roused people. One could wish we were better prepared 𑁋 that’s the most important takeaway; this must never happen again 𑁋 but 5.2 million people + the numerous supporters who didn’t actually come out (like myself) looks like amply more than the magic number of 3.5% of a population that many researchers feel is an auspicious threshold necessary to replace a regime. In any case, this is a substantial pool of resisters, and much depends on the degree to which they can network, form organizations, and remain mobilized (not often achieved by protests).
We have some sophistication. Nonviolence and protest 𑁋 and the awareness that nonviolence is much more than protest 𑁋 are no longer known only to a few specialists. In addition to Sharp’s catalogue of tactics there are libraries of information on nonviolent strategy, the accumulated wisdom of sometimes bitter, sometimes uplifting experience, codified by Erica Chenoweth and Maria Stephan in Why Civil Resistance Works, archived in the vast Global Nonviolent Action Database (1,200 campaigns and counting), and taught in dedicated college programs. There are media outlets like our own Nonviolence Radio, and then Waging Nonviolence, Nonviolence News, and others online. And (this does help), nonviolence is now a recognized subject of study in academic settings. One example that I think is extremely helpful in providing continuity between the sporadic protests and a sustainable, positive tone, is the growing awareness of what Gandhi called Constructive Programme: build the institutions you want and make oppressive systems irrelevant (and easier to dislodge).
One example that’s particularly encouraging among other new institutions is Unarmed Civilian Protection (UCP) which has been sending trained actors into situations of conflict for fourty or so years, and here again there is a pool of trained and experienced persons who have intervened in domestic and cross-border conflicts (200 are standing by as we speak for work in the West Bank and hopefully Gaza).
And we have a lot to protect.
So, set aside some time to learn about the theory, history, and science of nonviolence (it’s inspiring!). We’re in a very demoralizing, very dangerous time; but we’re also in a very hopeful and uplifting time, and we should be aware of that, and support it.