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Nonviolent discipline & inoculating against violent flanks
The researchers showed people a video of a ‘moderate’ anti-Trump protest, in which protesters held signs and chanted, as well as a news report about an ‘extreme’ protest, in which protestors caused a traffic jam and blocked Trump supporters from reaching a Trump rally. People shown the extreme anti-Trump protests actually supported Trump more—an effect that occurred, to varying degrees, among liberals and conservatives alike.[1]
--Olga Khazan, The psychology of effective protest
When the people come together in a demonstration of our political force—then those in power fight back. Their resistance is our confirmation that we are gaining ground. When they stop laughing and start fighting, you can be sure they are worried that you are winning.
--Reverend Barber[2]
A long line of conflict analysts from Carl von Clausewitz down to Jonathan Schell have understood that only when resilience is lost is there a moral defeat that permanentizes a loss and truly ends a struggle.[3]
Nonviolent discipline is the strongest bulwark against that moral defeat. It is strengthened in many ways, including by education, training, and drills. This is what Reverend Lawson achieved in the Civil Rights movement by his workshops, resulting in students who were highly disciplined and able to not only remain strong and calm even when abused, but were resilient and returned after insults, came back after beatings, engaged further after arrest and jailing, and avoided moral defeat until they achieved all of the announced goals.
It was by no means inevitable that the Indian struggle would be nonviolent, and there are strong indications that in the absence of Gandhi’s alternative grand strategy the terrorists would probably have carried the day.
--Gene Sharp[4]
From tossing a brick through the plate glass window to throwing bottles at cops or “punching a Nazi,” violent flanks have been harming movements for a long time. The results are predictable; they are disastrous for campaigns. As with all movement decisions, your first filter inquiry toward a decision is How will this affect recruitment? After all, numbers of participants remain the greatest predictor of success or failure of any social movement.
Your campaign can inoculate itself against these damages. Here is a punchlist for your consideration:
1. Decide firmly on a nonviolent code of conduct and publicize it relentlessly. That code is optimal if it says: Each event should be nonviolent and nonviolent conduct is expected of all participants, including no physical violence even in self-defense, no weapons, no screaming, no throwing, no disrespectful gestures, no masks,[5]no expressions of hate, no property damage.
2. Develop a nonviolent safekeeping force to help your own people maintain nonviolent discipline. They may wear armbands of a chosen color, bright caps, or special vests so that they can be easily seen.
3. Hold frequent preparation sessions for the nonviolent security team, for anyone contemplating civil resistance, and for general participants in street actions.
4. Establish relationships with the security apparatus of the state—police, soldiers, or any armed agents who may be present at your events. Make it clear to them that you are not their agents in any way and that you are trained to handle most situations so they should stay back.
5. Outreach to violent flanks with respect and an expectation of their reciprocal respect for you. Explain to them that you are putting in a great deal of work and organizing effort to pull off the event you want, and they are welcome if they can comport themselves in line with your coalitional code of conduct. Let them know you will never denounce them unless they violate your code of conduct while involved in your event, and that if they do, they will be publicly denounced, but you will also respect their organizing and never interfere with their independent events. Acknowledge that if the oppressor visits your town, that time and place belong to everyone and your people will maintain nonviolent discipline under all circumstances. Be aware that the violent flank will be where most or all of the agents provocateursare, whether they are actual police or a part of the “rat system” (convicted or charged with crimes and can earn reduced consequences for their infiltration work to push a group toward violence).[6]
6. Make outreach [clearer than using the word as verb?] and continually engage with media outlets to create and defend the image of your campaign or movement as nonviolent, intentionally, even in the face of repressive brutality. Follow up any reportage that smears violent flank activity onto your nonviolent movement or uses ambiguous phrasing such as “the demonstration turned violent.” Remind reporters to factcheck and refer them to the media packets you send them, which clearly state the nonviolent nature of your association, coalition, campaign, or movement.
“Upheaval after upheaval has reminded us that modern man is traveling along a road called hate, in a journey that will bring us to destruction and damnation.”
Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.[7]
Stress openness and transparency. At every turn, avoid the creation of a “security culture” that casts suspicion on your fellow movement members. Having clandestine actions should only be reserved for the most extreme circumstances (as for example in hiding Jews in attics in Nazi Germany, helping slaves escape on the Underground Railroad, dismantling your own country’s WMD). Seeming stealthy is corrosive and invites repression; it also can besmirch the reputation of your movement.
[1]Khazan, Olga (24 February 2017). The psychology of effective protest. The Atlantic.
[2] Barber (p. 65)
[3] Schell, Jonathan (2003). The unconquerable world: Power, nonviolence, and the will of the people.New York, NY: Metropolitan Books.
[4] Sharp, Gene (1973). The politics of nonviolent action: Part one: power and struggle. Boston, MA: Porter Sargent (p. 85).
[5] As a footnote only, rare exceptions are certainly in order for those who are undocumented and fearful of ICE (although they might be wiser to make a clear choice between publicly accountable or completely discreet), or for some whose religion might require face covering (e.g., some Muslim women and some Jain men).
[6] Do not be concerned about potential infiltrators who are there to spy on you. Who cares? As A. J. Muste told them 100 years ago in a speech to a hall of union members the night before a strike and demonstration, “I know agents of the owners are amongst us tonight. I expect you to do your duty and report to the police and the owners that we are strictly nonviolent.” Only be worried about those who advocate violence, even in “self-defense.”
[7] King, Jr., Martin Luther (1957). “Loving your enemies.” Sermon written in jail for nonviolent civil disobedience in Montgomery bus boycott.
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