We Have More Power Than We Think
Nonviolent action works.
Five Concrete Nonviolent Actions You Can Take Today
- 1
Don’t go it alone! Join a local group to take action in your community: that could be a PTA, congregation, bar association, Indivisible chapter, or other neighborhood group.
- 2
Participate in the next boycott against companies that support authoritarianism or join the next walkout, shutdown, or noncooperation campaign like ICE Out of Minnesota on January 23rd.
- 3
Take a training on Know Your Rights, de-escalation, nonviolent resistance, or making political violence and repression backfire.
- 4
Contact your elected representatives and ask them to stop ICE’s aggressive tactics against immigrants and citizens alike and to support a War Powers Resolution to block any further military intervention without congressional approval.
- 5
Check out these documentaries on nonviolent resistance and these inspirational case studies of how key pillars have pushed back against authoritarianism in the US and globally.
Why Nonviolent Action?
Because violence is accelerating, dividing communities, and eroding human dignity. Nonviolence is not passive. It is a courageous and effective way to confront injustice, protect life, and build peace rooted in justice.
Nonviolent movements are statistically more effective at combatting authoritarianism than violent resistance.
Anyone can engage in nonviolent action: from quiet acts of disruption to consumer boycotts to walkouts to large-scale protests. When you get large numbers of people engaged in these acts of defiance and building of alternatives, they can take power back from a repressive regime.
Nonviolent resistance makes repression backfire. When governments use violence against nonviolent movements, it tends to backfire as more people condemn the government’s use of force and shift their support away from the regime.
Nonviolent tactics attract people and lead to “defections” within institutions sustaining authoritarian regimes—think military, civil service, businesses, faith communities, media, unions, or the judiciary. We’re already seeing these acts of defiance tick up, and when one person takes a public stand, the momentum starts to build.
Resources
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Nonviolent Action News and Resources
Who We Are
Who We Are
Sign the Petition
I SUPPORT nonviolent action as a powerful and effective response to injustice and authoritarianism.
I DEMAND THAT all government officials—including elected leaders, agency heads, law enforcement, military and security forces, and members of the judiciary—uphold the right to peaceful assembly and the full exercise of constitutional, civil, and political rights.
I PLEDGE TO engage with and support local or national efforts that work to prevent abuses of power, end violence and war, and protect human dignity, including by contacting my elected representatives.
I COMMIT TO learning more about nonviolence, participating in training or formation when possible, and moving toward adopting nonviolence as a way of life in my community and the world.
