"Civil Resistance from Gandhi to Present Time" Some examples of movements and actions using nonviolent means in societal conflicts Jørgen Johansen johansen.jorgen@gmail.com

Struggle for Justice; some examples of successful movements for justice

The struggle to abolish slave trade

Movements against specific wars

Movements for multiparty system

Movements for independence

Movements against specific weapon-systems

Against occupation The Danish Resistance Movement in WWII smuggling Jews to Neutral Sweden

Against Segregation and other injustices

Against Dictatorships Alexander Lukashenko and Belarus

Nonviolent Political Revolution Changing the leadership of a state Not necessarily a social revolution Outside the constitutional frames Without the use of armed violence by those who want change The definition does not include anything about what sort of society we have before or get after the revolution

Solidarity in Poland opposing the Communist Regime 1980-89

Burma 2007

Regime change in Serbia 2000

Nonviolent revolution Benin 1989

People Power in the Philippines 1986

Egypt 2011

A Question of Power How to define Power? “Power over” and “Power to” “Power to prevent” and “Power to act” Main idea: Power being dependent on cooperation

Power Taxpaying Working Military Service Police doing their job Civil obedience Bureaucracy

Power Collapse Power Military Service Police doing their job

The Old and the New Revolutionaries

Six waves of Nonviolent Revolutions the last 30 years All of them are under-researched Wave One: Poland, Bolivia, Uruguay, and Philippines Wave two: Czechoslovakia, DDR, Hungary, Bulgaria, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Russia Wave three: Francophone Sub-Saharan Africa: Benin, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Senegal, Mali, Malawi, Madagascar Wave four: Serbia, Georgia, Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon Wave five: Iceland, Latvia, Hungary, Czech Republic,.... Wave six: Tunis, Egypt,...

Tunisia, Egypt… Will Yemen, Syria, Bahrain, and more follow? No guarantees for victory Just like in armed conflict the outcome is uncertain and difficult to predict What about Libya? No preparation for unarmed struggle Unlike Egypt we saw groups prepared to take up arms Missiles and bombs makes it more difficult to use civil resistance

So what? Most oppositional movements have little preparations for taking power Difficult enough to organise a movement In order to have a sustainable success you must prepare for being in position What about running a country? 24

Removing and building Obviously not enough to remove the old regime! How to build a better system? How to implement Human Rights at all levels in the society? How to teach Conflict Transformation? How to reduce corruption? How to secure a peaceful future? …………..

Conclusion Most successful revolutions carried out without weapons Easier to remove than to replace Lack of preparation for being in power No reason to believe you need less training and planning for nonviolent campaigns compared with armed struggle Nonviolence must be developed and improved 26

This was a short introduction to some of the basic experiences with civil resistance. And now we open up for questions and comments!