Publications > Nonviolent Sanctions
vol. 3, no. 1
Summer 1991

Nonviolent Sanctions
vol. 3, no. 1
Summer 1991

No PDF of this newsletter available. Contents South Africa strategy workshop People Power foils Soviet coup Nonviolence trainers meet in Holland AEI awards grant to Lithuanian center South Africa Program update Misconceptions of nonviolent action Historical examples of nonviolent action Nonviolent sanctions in the news South Africa Scholars/Activists Focus on Strategy at AEI Workshop Sound strategic planning is one of the most critical tools of political struggle. Yet virtually all movements engaged in nonviolent direct action exhibit a curious paucity of strategic thinking. Among the many, often complex obstacles to developing well-constructed strategies are pressures for constant tactical innovation, organizational difficulties, and sheer survival. What also appears singularly problematic for those involved in political struggle is the difficulty of transforming their commitment to a just cause into confidence in ultimate victory. Frequently, however, cadres of liberation movements simply lack the space and time for serious and unhampered strategic thinking. In May this year, a small group of activists and scholars from South Africa had a unique opportunity to focus exclusively on issues of strategy. At the first workshop of the Albert Einstein Institution’s South Africa Program, participants concentrated on the challenges brought about by the current transition in South Africa. The South African government’s recent policy shifts have confronted the democratic movement with a changed scenario and a new set of demands. How the movement should maximize its options, regain the initiative, even redefine its objectives were among the topics discussed during the intensive two-day workshop. Sponsored by the Albert Einstein Institution and by Harvard University’s Program on Nonviolent Sanctions, the workshop—held at Harvard—drew participants from a wide variety of political and professional backgrounds. Among them was Murphy Morobe, a leader of the United Democratic Front (UDF), currently spending a year at Princeton University, and three visiting fellows at Yale University’s Southern Africa Research Program. These were Dr. Neville Alexander, a leading political activist and theoretician, author and educator, and also a former Robbin Island prisoner; Professor Mala Singh, chair of the Philosophy Department of the University of Durban-Westville and former president of the Union of Democratic University Staff Associations (UDUSA); and Professor Philip Bonner of the University of the Witwatersrand’s History Department and former staffer at the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU). Mbulelo Mzamane, a professor of African Studies at the University of Vermont and a member of the African National Congress; Gail Gerhart, author of Black Power in South Africa, and Gillian Hart, an economist at MIT, also participated. A key feature of the workshop was the opportunity it provided for South African activists and scholars to discuss the strategic and tactical implications of the present situation in South Africa with experts on nonviolent direct action. Christopher Kruegler, president of the Albert Einstein Institution, and Ronald McCarthy, director of the Institution’s Fellows Program, both attended the workshop, providing insights and suggestions from their respective areas of expertise. Dr. Kruegler opened the workshop by introducing participants to the basic underlying propositions of the 'technique' approach to nonviolent direct action. Dr. McCarthy emphasized the importance to the approach of an historical and comparative framework, offering both traditions and case-specific innovations for practitioners in differing arenas to draw upon. Barbara Harmel, director of the Institution’s South Africa Program, chaired the workshop. Starting from the premise that sound strategy proceeds from an accurate analysis of the situation at hand, the first session of the workshop was devoted to an examination of the nature of the present conjuncture in South Africa. Dr. Alexander offered two starkly opposing views: either the changes taking place in South Africa signal the advent of an authentically democratic society, or they are nothing but an array of maneuvers designed by the government to obviate majority rule. Participants generally agreed that the government has indeed seized the initiative in South Africa. Through its systematic removal of all apartheid laws, its highly limited accommodation of the liberation movement's demands, and its failure to quell—if not in fact its covert support of—the violence in black townships, the government is attempting at once to retain power and fracture the liberation movement. The present conjuncture can therefore be characterized as one in which legislated racism is being scrapped without any accompanying policies to eradicate racial discrimination and institute social, political, and eco-nomic democracy. Barbara Harmel pointed to the fact that this is also a time of considerable upheaval for the liberation movement. Numerous challenges face the movement in the wake of its unbanning. The metamorphosis from an underground organization to an openly functioning political party is a formidable task. Adjustments and accommodations will be necessary following the release of hundreds of political prisoners and the return of thousands of exiles, including many senior leaders. They return to a greatly changed environment that includes a whole generation of new leaders and activists. Different experiences and different organizational and participatory styles can be expected to create some friction. These and other difficulties will undoubtedly have an impact on the movement’s capacity to evolve effective strategies for dealing with the government during this critical period. The nature of the movement's resources and handicaps was the topic of the workshop's second session. Murphy Morobe, a leader in the Black Consciousness Movement of the 1970s before he became publicity secretary of the UDF in the '80s, began the discussion by pointing to some of the principal characteristics of the UDF. Able to galvanize a variety of opposition forces under its umbrella, the UDF during the 1980s used all possible political space, demonstrating impressive tactical creativity. These assets, together with a continuing militancy in the face of increasing state repression, ultimately forced the government to shift its policy. However, at the same time the UDF lacked the resources to organize and discipline fully the fervor unleashed by the apartheid system. In some cases, mostly among the youth, there had been occasional outbreaks of violence, incidents for which Morobe felt the UDF bore some responsibility. Dr. Bonner suggested that the re-emergence of the black trade union movement had had a considerable influence on political organizations within the UDP. It had helped re-establish a long tradition of nonviolent struggle, broken in the 1960s by the ANC's adoption of guerrilla warfare. It had also greatly contributed to the inculcation of democratic practices and accountability of leadership within those organizations. He noted that ultimately the UDF leadership had ailed to define their long-term objectives beyond that of making South Africa "ungovernable" and had not developed a clear national strategy. Dr. Mala Singh led the third session of the workshop which focused on appropriate strategies for the national democratic movement of South Africa in the 1990s. She identified and elaborated several elements she regarded as key in conceptualizing future strategies. Drawing on the earlier sessions, she noted that proper analysis of the present conjuncture is imperative, as is a careful reevaluation of the current objectives of the national-democratic movement. The government is offering a resolution that falls far short of the movement's original goals. The longer-term implications of accepting their resolution as a basis for negotiations require extremely thorough assessment. In particular, the movement needs to give closer attention to the regime's objectives and strategies than it has in the past. Moreover, sound judgements will have to be made about the strengths and weaknesses both of the movement and of the state. The movement should also review past strategies and weigh their current utility. Finally, constituencies for targeting must be taken into account. Dr. Singh closed her remarks by proposing the creation of a united front against violence by the national democratic movement. She noted that this would have the advantages of both re-establishing unity among opposition forces—a unity that the government was clearly intent on fracturing—and of marshalling people to counter the government’s strategy of violence. Dr. Singh pointed out that a united front of this nature might also have important spin-off effects, including strengthening the movement's negotiating hand with the government and of establishing closer ties between the movement's leadership and the grass-roots. Discussion on and support for Dr. Singh's proposal concluded the workshop. The South African participants said that the workshop was an important and extremely positive experience. Many had been engaged in political struggle in various parts of South Africa during the 1980s without having had the opportunity to meet before. None had had the opportunity that the workshop provided of focusing exclusively on strategic planning particularly in the absence of urgent intervening demands. This was one of the most valuable aspects of the workshop. Further, for most of the participants, the workshop provided their first exposure to a strategic-analytical approach to problems of nonviolent direct action which is intrinsic to the work of the Albert Einstein Institution. The South Africa Program is planning to hold its second workshop in Spring 1992. People Power Foils Soviet Coup The Soviet people's dramatic defeat of the August coup demonstrates once again the great power inherent in nonviolent struggle. Through street blockades, massive demonstrations, and strikes, the Soviet people withheld their consent and cooperation from the coup leaders, denying the junta’s legitimacy and authority, thereby undermining its power to rule. The foiling of the Soviet Coup was clearly a function of "people power," not simply the result of a failure of will or competence on the part of the coup's leaders. Nonviolent resistance by thousands of unarmed Soviet citizens caused deep divisions within the army and the KGB, making it difficult, if not impossible, for the coup leaders to crush the resistance. While the right-wing coup attempt caught the whole world off guard, the possibility of such a coup and of nonviolent resistance defeating it should not have come as a complete surprise. Gene Sharp raised the possibility a year ago in his book, Civilian-Based Defense: A Post- Military Weapons System (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1990), p.143. "The Soviet Union, as most states, is vulnerable to internal usurpations, especially because of the high degree of centralization of the present system. This type of attack might be launched by neo-Stalinists opposed to glasnost and perestroika and intent on restoring strong central controls, or by military or political groups wishing to reimpose an authoritarian system of some other type. In case of a coup, a civilian-based defense capacity could be the only effective deterrence and defense that a democratized Soviet Union would have." Nonviolence Trainers Meet in Holland Nonviolence trainers from twenty-five countries gathered in July for a week-long series of presentations, workshops, and discussions on nonviolence training in cross-cultural contexts. Roger Powers, coordinator of publications and special projects for the Einstein Institution, attended the gathering as an observer. The meeting was held in the small Dutch village of Handel at a former monastery, "De Weyst," which now houses a branch of the Community of the Ark, an intentional community based on Gandhian principles. The gathering was cosponsored by the International Fellowship of Reconciliation (IFOR), War Resisters International (WRI), Peace Brigades International (PBI), and the International Network of Engaged Bud-dhists (INEB). AEI Awards grant to Lithuanian Center The Einstein Institution has awarded a $1,000 planning grant to help establish a new research and education center in Lithuania. The Lithuanian Center for the Study of Nonviolent Action is being organized by Grazina Miniotaité, a member of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences. It is slated to open this fall. The Center's main activities will be public education, translation of works on nonviolent action, scientific research, and the organization of conferences and seminars on nonviolent action. South Africa Program Update Barbara Harmel, director of the South Africa Program, recently paid a week-long visit to South Africa after chairing a panel on "Current Political Struggles in South Africa" at the Social Science Research Council's MacArthur Fellows' conference in Zimbabwe. While in South Africa, she met with various African National Congress (ANC) members, both senior leaders and others, and found the organization under enormous pressure. Having seized the initiative, the state was dictating the agenda to an ANC which seemed unable to move beyond its reactive stance. The increasing outbreaks of violence, now revealed as government-supported, seriously hampered ANC organizational work. There were growing demands on the ANC leadership for greater consultation with and participation from its rank and file members. Nevertheless, she noted, while government strategy had certainly taken its toll in introducing a degree of divisiveness among ANC cadres, her overall impression was one of remarkable unity. General optimism was widely expressed with regard to the ANC's upcoming conference in July—the first to be held inside the country since the organization was banned in 1960—and the opportunity it would provide for rank and file members to express their views and gain fuller representation on the organization's National Executive Committee. Dr. Harmel will be leaving for South Africa in January to lay the groundwork for future South Africa Program projects, including research into the black trade union and civic movements and the Program's first conference. Correcting Common Misconceptions about Nonviolent Action What nonviolent action is Nonviolent action is a generic term covering dozens of specific methods of protest, noncooperation, and intervention, in all of which the actionists conduct the conflict by doing—or refusing to do—certain things without using physical violence. As a technique, therefore, nonviolent action is not passive. It is not inaction. It is action that is nonviolent. The issue at stake will vary. Frequently it may be a political one—between political groups, for or against a government, or, on rare occasions, between governments (as in imposition of embargoes or resistance to occupation). It may also be economic or social or religious. The scale and level of the conflict will also vary. It may be limited to a neighborhood, a city, or a particular section of the society; it may at other times range over a large area of a country or convulse a whole nation. Less often, more than one country and government may be involved. Whatever the issue, however, and whatever the scale of the conflict, nonviolent action is a technique by which people who reject passivity and submission, and who see struggle as essential, can wage their conflict without violence. Nonviolent action is not an attempt to avoid or ignore conflict. It is one response to the problem of how to act in politics, especially how to wield power effectively. What nonviolent action isn't 1) Nonviolent action has nothing to do with passivity, submissiveness, and cowardice; just as in violent action, these must first be rejected and overcome. 2) Nonviolent action is not to be equated with verbal or purely psychological persuasion, although it may use action to induce psychological pressures for attitude change; nonviolent action, instead of words, is a sanction and a technique of struggle involving the use of social, economic, and political power, and the matching of forces in conflict. 3) Nonviolent action does not depend on the assumption that people are inherently "good"; the potentialities of people for both "good" and "evil" are recognized, including the extremes of cruelty and inhumanity. 4) People using nonviolent action do not have to be pacifists or saints; nonviolent action has been predominantly and successfully practiced by "ordinary" people. 5) Success with nonviolent action does not require (though it may be helped by) shared standards and principles, a high degree of community of interest, or a high degree of psychological closeness between the contending groups; this is because when efforts to produce voluntary change fail, coercive nonviolent measures may be employed. 6) Nonviolent action is at least as much of a Western phenomenon as an Eastern one; indeed, it is probably more Western, if one takes into account the widespread use of strikes and boycotts in the labor movement and the noncooperation struggles of subordinated nationalities. 7) In nonviolent action there is no assumption that the opponent will refrain from using violence against nonviolent actionists; the technique is designed to operate against violence when necessary. 8) There is nothing in nonviolent action to prevent it from being used for both "good" and "bad" causes, although the social consequences of its use for a "bad" cause may differ considerably from the consequences of violence used for the same cause. 9) Nonviolent action is not limited to domestic conflicts within a democratic system; it has been widely used against dictatorial regimes, foreign occupations, and even against totalitarian systems. 10) Nonviolent action does not always take longer to produce victory than violent struggle would. In a variety of cases nonviolent struggle has won objectives in a very short time—in as little as a few days. The time taken to achieve victory depends on diverse factors—primarily on the strength of the nonviolent actionists. Source: Gene Sharp, The Politics of Nonviolent Action (3 Vols.), Boston: Porter Sargent, 1973. Historical Examples of Nonviolent Action 494 B.C. The plebeians of Rome withdrew from the city and refused to work for days in order to correct grievances they had against the Roman consuls. 1765-1775 A.D. The American colonists mounted three major nonviolent resistance campaigns against British rule (against the Stamp Acts of 1765, the Townshend Acts of 1767, and the Coercive Acts of 1774) resulting in de facto independence for nine colonies by 1775. 1850-1867 Hungarian nationalists, led by Francis Deak, engaged in nonviolent resistance to Austrian rule, eventually regaining self-governance for Hungary as part of an Austro-Hungarian federation. 1905-1906 In Russia, peasants, workers, students, and the intelligentsia engaged in major strikes and other forms of nonviolent action, forcing the Czar to accept the creation of an elected legislature. 1917 The February 1917 Russian Revolution, despite some limited violence, was also predominantly nonviolent and led to the collapse of the czarist system. 1913-1919 Demonstrations for woman's suffrage in the United States led to the passage and ratification of the Constitutional amendment guaranteeing women the right to vote. 1920 An attempted coup d'état, led by Wolfgang Kapp against the Weimar Republic of Germany failed when the population went on a general strike, refusing to give its consent and cooperation to the new government. 1923 Despite severe repression, Germans resisted the French and Belgian occupation of the Ruhr, making the occupation so costly politically and economically that the French and Belgian forces finally withdrew. 1920s-1947 The Indian independence movement led by Mohandas Gandhi is one of the best known examples of nonviolent struggle. 1940-1945 There are many examples of nonviolent resistance to Nazi occupation during World War II, especially in Norway, Denmark, and the Netherlands . 1944 Two Central American dictators, Maximiliano Hernández Martínez (El Salvador) and Jorge Ubico (Guatemala), were ousted as a result of nonviolent civilian insurrections. 1953 A wave of strikes in Soviet prison labor camps led to some limited improvements in living conditions of political prisoners. 1955-1968 Using a variety of nonviolent methods, including bus boycotts, economic boycotts, massive demonstrations, marches, sit-ins, and freedom rides, the U.S. civil rights movement won passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. 1968-69 Nonviolent resistance to the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia enabled the Dubcek regime to stay in power for eight months, far longer than would have been possible with military resistance. 1986 The Philippines "people power"movement brought down the oppressive Marcos dictatorship. Nonviolent Sanctions in the News TANANARIVE, Madagascar, July 24 (AP) — Opponents of President Didier Ratsiraka occupied two more Government ministries today without resistance from security forces and filled the streets of the capital in defiance of a decree banning public gatherings. Opposition politicians have peacefully taken over six Government offices this week. Mr. Ratsiraka issued the emergency decree on Tuesday in hopes of holding onto power, but the army has appeared reluctant to confront the tens of thousands of protesters who have gathered almost daily since June 10 to call for his ouster. (NYT) SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic, Aug. 2 (Reuters) — About 8,000 doctors at public hospitals returned to work yesterday after a 4-month-old strike for higher wages. (The Boston Globe) UNITED NATIONS, Aug. 7—The five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council have decided to continue sanctions against Iraq, but agreed today to allow Baghdad a one-time exception to sell up to $1.6 billion worth of petroleum, with part of the money to be used to buy food and medical supplies. (NYT) DOUALA, Cameroon, Aug. 8— The commercial life of this once-thriving city has largely stopped since an anti-Govern-ment coalition called a general strike in late June. (NYT) WICHITA. Kansas, Aug.10 (AP) —After more than three weeks of sit-ins outside two other women's clinics, anti-abortion protesters shifted their demonstration today to a clinic that is not covered by a Federal judge's anti-blockade order. The Wichita police arrested 76 people who blockaded a back door at the third clinic, the Wichita Women's Center, where about 250 demonstrators gathered and refused to move. The authorities have made more than 2,000 arrests here since the militant anti-abortion group Operation Rescue began a campaign on July 15 intended to shut down Wichita abortion clinics. (NYT) VILNIUS, Lithuania, Aug.12— Thousands of Lithuanian demonstrators in Vilnius picketed the local headquarters of Soviet "black beret" special forces troops for the third day yesterday, calling for their withdrawal from the secessionist republic. The units are believed to have carried out several attacks on republic border posts, which are considered illegal by Moscow. (NYT) ANTANANARIVO, Madagascar, Aug. 14 (AP) — Tens of thousands of people gathered here today to mourn demonstrators killed in clashes with the security forces. A general strike called on Sunday by opposition leaders was largely observed, with most banks, businesses and shops closed as part of a campaign to oust President Didier Ratsiraka. (NYT) BEIJING, Aug.15 — Two leading Chinese dissidents, each serving a 13-year jail term for his role in the Tiananmen Square democracy movement, have started hunger strikes to protest poor prison conditions, relatives and people close to the families said today. (NYT) MOSCOW, Aug.16 (AP) — Soviet students said yesterday they will strike next month to protest a proposed law that would end their deferments from the military draft. Top generals want to expand the draft to make up for the shrinking number of conscripts from secessionist republics, where draft dodging has shot up. The student strike will begin Sept. 16, the opening day of the Supreme Soviet’s session, and will continue until legislators drop the military proposal, said Andrei Krymov, a member of the newly formed Student Strike Committee. (BG) MOSCOW, Aug.20 (AP) — Boris N. Yeltsin, president of the Russian Federation, scrambled atop a tank yesterday to make a fiery denunciation of the coup against President Mikhail S. Gorbachev and to appeal for a nationwide general strike. (BG) RIGA, USSR, Aug.20 (AP) — Soviet forces stormed television and radio stations, blocked harbors and seized key sites around the breakaway Baltic republics yesterday after Communist hard-liners took control in Moscow. Baltic officials called for a campaign of nonviolent resistance in the three republics, which began independence drives last year and have been a center of anti-Kremlin sentiment. (BG) SOFIA, Bulgaria, Aug.20 (AP) — The government yesterday said a six-day-old miners' strike that threatened to spread to other sectors of the economy could jeopardize reforms in Bulgaria. Following an emergency session, the government urged miners to halt their strike and said it would not pay those who are striking "illegally," the state BTA news agency reported. About 27,000 of the country's 75,000 miners had joined the strike called last Wednesday to demand higher pay and better working conditions. (BG) MOSCOW, Aug.20 — The Soviet military has been shaken by sporadic mutinies in the wake of the coup here on Monday, with individual servicemen and some entire units defecting to defend anti-coup forces rallying around President Boris N. Yeltsin of the Russian republic. (NYT) MOSCOW, Aug.21 — The first shots came just before midnight, the distant popping sound of tracer bullets. Suddenly, tens of thousands of people who had come from all parts of the city to protest Monday's military coup and to protect the Russian Republic's Parliament building on the banks of the Moscow River began their defiant chant: "Shame! Shame!" And then, "Russia! Russia!" (BG) LENINGRAD, Aug. 21 (AP) — The Soviet Union’s second-largest city appeared yesterday to be firmly behind the Russian Federation president, Boris N. Yeltsin. An estimated 200,000 people jammed the cobblestone square in front of the Winter Palace, a central point in revolutions of both 1905 and 1917, to cheer Mayor Anatoly Sobchak, a proponent of change, and show support for Yeltsin. Sobchak said the local military commander, Col. Gen. Viktor Samsonov, had refused to bring Soviet armor into the center of the city. (BG) ANTANANARIVO, Madagascar, Aug. 23 (AP) — Two hundred thousand people jammed a central square yesterday in one of the largest anti-govemment demonstrations against the longtime president, Didier Ratsiraka. The crowd protesting the 16-year rule of Ratsiraka was far larger than the tens of thousands who usually assemble at the square, which has served as the primary gathering place for the opposition on this island nation. (BG) MOSCOW, Aug.24— All day yesterday, hundreds of activists stood arm in arm surrounding the Central Committee of the Communist Party complex on Staraya Square to prevent anyone from escaping with incriminating documents. (BG) MOSCOW, Aug.25— Hours before Mikhail Gorbachev's dramatic resignation yesterday as head of the Soviet Communist Party, tens of thousands of silent, solemn marchers mourned the three young men whom Russia has proclaimed martyrs to its freedom. (BG) WICHITA, Kansas, Aug.25— Thousands of abortion-rights advocates gathered yesterday on the banks of the Arkansas River to decry six weeks of protests by a radical antiabortion group. (BG) OSIJEK, Yugoslavia, Aug.30 — More than 10,000 mothers, some of them weeping and many shaking fists, marched through the streets of this embattled Croatian city yesterday, surrounded a federal army barracks and demanded that their conscript sons be freed immediately from military service. (BG) WASHINGTON, Aug.31 — Hundreds of thousands of union members and civil rights advocates, carrying signs and banners and wearing T-shirts with pro-union messages, gathered here today to call attention to domestic needs and to urge the nation's political leaders to improve health care and education and support worker's rights. (NYT) JOHANNESBURG, Sept. 1 (AP) — Three right-wing extremists on hunger strikes for weeks have rejected a government attempt to grant them bail with restrictive conditions, their lawyer said yesterday. (BG)