A Project of 649 Dayton Avenue  St. Paul, MN  USA T:  Websites:  Exploring Tactics to INTERVENE in Human Rights Abuses provided by Nancy L. Pearson, M.S.W., L.I.S.W. New Tactics in Human Rights Project Manager The Center for Victims of Torture A Tavaana Webinar

Today’s Webinar Outline: Brief overview and orientation to: o Using our on-line tools! oFoundation for Strategic Thinking & Tactical Innovation oKey Terms oSIX reasons for the need for “new” tactics Exploring INTERVENTION Tactics

Take a walk around the neighborhood – using the technology tools

Did you attend the 1 st webinar on 27 July on Prevention tactics? YES NO NO, but I did attend the New Tactics course offered by Tavaana NO, but I did attend a different course offered by Tavaana C  B A D

Foundations for Strategic Thinking and Tactical Innovation

Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Sun Tzu (over 2,000 years ago)

Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat. Sun Tzu (over 2,000 years ago)

Know Yourself Know From Sun Tzu— the Art of War

Know Yourself Know Your Opponent Know the Terrain From Sun Tzu— the Art of War

What is STRATEGY? A joining together of many decisions. A source of inspiration. A B 

Strategy requires the joining together of many decisions Strategy defines what is important to do.

Strategy requires… Decisions that include key steps and approaches in accomplishing the goal. Selection of key objectives Appropriate targets Understanding of needed constituencies Resources Decisions on which tactics to use and when

What is a TACTIC? The purpose toward which an effort is directed. The means by which a change is made. A B 

Tactics Tactics are the means through which a change is made. Tactics are the levers or mechanisms to carry out a strategy. –A tactic is a specific action or systematic combination of actions taken to affect a given situation. –Tactics are one of the key building blocks of strategy. –Tactics are about “the how,” while strategies are about “the what.”

Target The person, institution, group or segment of society where your tactical action is directed.

Target The person, institution, group or segment of society where your tactical action is directed. PERSON Parliamentarian Journalist Religious leader Teacher Employer INSTITUTION 

Target The person, institution, group or segment of society where your tactical action is directed. PERSON Parliamentarian Journalist Religious leader Teacher Employer INSTITUTION Parliament Newspaper Religious Institution School Business GROUP 

Target The person, institution, group or segment of society where your tactical action is directed. PERSON Parliamentarian Journalist Religious leader Teacher Employer INSTITUTION Parliament Newspaper Religious Institution School Business GROUP Policy makers Bloggers Council of Elders Students Businessmen

What is your vision?

When your only tool is a hammer, New Tactics in Human Rights –

every problem looks like a nail. New Tactics in Human Rights –

Why the need for 1.What we know how to do influences what we think is possible to do. Tactics help determine strategy. 2.Different tactics are effective against different targets. 3.Different tactics appeal to different constituencies. 4.Tactical flexibility is the source of surprise. 5.Tactics teach participants and observers how to engage in the world. 6.Tactics are the training systems for engaging participants and allies in the organization’s work.

Tactic ideas for hitting your “target”

What important considerations are needed in making tactical choices?

Important Considerations: Group’s capacities Tolerance for risk Analysis of the opponent Context in which the tactics will be used

INTERVENTION TACTICS Primary source for today’s examples: New Tactics in Human Rights: A Resource for Practitioners (The workbook is available in English, Farsi, Arabic & other languages) Additional sources from New Tactics website: – use quick link “Tactics” and “Workbook” See also Tavaana’s website for additional Case Study Examples:

Exploring FOUR kinds of INTERVENTION tactics: Resistance Disruption Persuasion Incentive

INTERVENTION tactics: Resistance Tactics – demonstrate opposition to on-going abuse or denial of rights. These tactics serve 2 important purposes…  Make abuse visible  Set the stage for future tactics that can effect change

Anonymous Resistance Turkey: With the Flick of a Switch (English page 53, Farsi, page 51) MAIN TARGET: General population of Turkey GOAL: Stop IMMUNITY for corruption MEANS: People turning off their lights Mobilization required: Media, NGO and Unions in alliance and a chain of Faxes (The technology available in 1997)

Anonymous Resistance Turkey: With the Flick of a Switch TIMELINE: –Started four weeks before “S-day” –On February 1, 1997, at precisely 9 p.m., the lights started to go out in Istanbul and other Turkish cities. –The same action was repeated again and again, only more houses participated and variations emerged (e.g., banging pots and pans). –By February 15, an estimated 30 million Turkish households throughout the country participated in the biggest public protest against corruption in Turkish history. RESULTS: Prosecution trials of prominent people (limited success) PLUS - unintended collapse of the ruling party Long term impacts on system (tactic adapted & used again)

Idea Shared in the Tavaana Forum Anonymous Resistance

Visible Resistance Estonia: Singing Revolution (English page 54, Farsi, page 52) MAIN TARGET: General Population in Estonia GOAL: Assert cultural identity to unite and express opposition to an oppressive regime MEANS: Collective Singing of Traditional (and banned) Songs Source:

Visible Resistance Estonia: Singing Revolution TIMELINE: 1987 – 1991 Summer ,000 people gathered in the Tallinn Song Festival Grounds. September ,000 Estonians gathered; first public demand for independence. RESULTS: Similar festivals took place in Latvia and Lithuania August 1989: Baltic Chain - approximately two million people joined their hands to form a human chain spanning over 600 kilometres. August 1991 – All three Baltic states moved toward independence from the Soviet Union Source:

Visible Resistance The Otpor! student movement in Serbia used humor to successfully spread its message of resistance. MAIN TARGET: General population – via YOUTH GOAL: Remove people’s fear to express their desire for an end to the Milošević regime MEANS: Otpor! countered a government initiative with its own satire on the “collection barrel” called “Dinar za Smenu” (Dinar for a Change). Source: Otpor! – A collection “BARREL” Posted in the New Tactics Searchable On- line Tactics Database Serbia: Using Humor and satire ( Website Tactic - Also see New Tactics on-line dialogue – Tactics that Tickle All the Way to the Win)

Visible Resistance Serbia: Using Humor and satire TIMELINE: 1998: Founding of the Otpor! Student Movement July 2000: Election rules for president changed July to October 2000: Otpor mobilizations including the "Dinar for a Change" barrels RESULTS: Helped population overcome their fear of expressing their dislike for the regime Culmination of MANY tactics and mobilizations - 5 October 2000: Overthrow of Milošević Source: Otpor! – A collection “BARREL” Posted in the New Tactics Searchable On- line Tactics Database

What observations do you have from these different examples?

INTERVENTION tactics: Disruption Tactics – that use direct action to influence a perpetrator to end the abuse.  Step in physically to end the abuse  Risk of physical danger

Disruption Tactics India: Throwing Open the Doors – Rescuing child laborers (English page 66, Farsi, page 64) MAIN TARGET: Specific identified business that tended to employ children GOAL: Free children held in bondage and provide them with opportunities for education and training Source: MEANS: Planned raids at business sites – which required extensive research and participation from organizations in the community

Disruption Tactics India: Throwing Open the Doors – Rescuing child laborers TIMELINE: –1989 began building a coalition made up of over 400 human rights groups and building allies within police –Raids continue to the present Source: RESULTS: (Note – there is direct danger to those conducting the raids) –Since 1989, the South Asian Coalition on Child Servitude (SACCS) has liberated over 65,000 children from slavery through “Direct Action Rescue” operations. –Once factories and businesses are exposed it is harder for the government to remain complicit in the slavery of children

What kinds of disruption tactics do you know about or have you used?

INTERVENTION tactics: Persuasion Tactics – that engage respected leaders or non-confrontational mechanisms.  Non-adversarial  Strive for collaboration

Persuasion Tactics Ghana: Enlisting Local Leaders to end harmful customs (English page 70, Farsi, page 67 ) MAIN TARGET: Community Leaders – particularly chiefs, queen mothers and temple priests GOAL: End the harmful customary practice of Trokosi (a system in which women and young girls are kept in fetish shrines without their consent) MEANS: Engage respected leaders in the communities where the practice is prevalent to persuade others to change their practice Source: New Tactics tactical notebook - Mama Adokua Asigble IV, Queen Mother from Tefle, and priests

Persuasion Tactics Ghana: Enlisting Local Leaders to end harmful customs TIMELINE and RESULTS: First consultation with chiefs and queen mothers deliberating and opposing the practice Committee of chiefs and priest create a report condemning the practice First national workshop on the practice First group of women liberated ,000 women liberated & passage of law prohibiting the practice ,000 women liberated and negotiations underway to liberate 20,000 women from 19 shrines Source: New Tactics tactical notebook - Mama Adokua Asigble IV, Queen Mother from Tefle, and priests

What is your vision? First consultation to raise the issue with leaders Committee of Leaders Condemn the practice First national workshop on the practice First group of women liberated 1998 – 1,000 women liberated & LAW preventing practice

INTERVENTION tactics: Incentive Tactics – that provide alternatives to human rights abuse.  Financial incentives  Other powerful motivators: recognition, prestige

Incentive Tactics REVERSE financial incentives – boycotts Example: Anti-Apartheid movement, South Africa MAIN TARGET: Black Consumers GOAL: Development of a national democratic struggle to end the system of apartheid MEANS: (0ne tactic used to build first-level grassroots organization) Leveraging black economic power through rent boycotts, consumer boycotts of businesses owned by whites or black apartheid collaborators Source: A Force More Powerful website:

Incentive Tactics REVERSE financial incentives – boycotts Example – Anti-Apartheid movement, South Africa TIMELINE: The case study on Tavaana's website provides a more comprehensive timeline and a variety of the tactics used. RESULTS: The consumer boycott was a particularly effective tactic. Decimated profits of businesses Drove a wedge between business and government as white store owners put pressure on the government to change policy Tactic was immune to government oppression – you cannot arrest people for not buying products Source: A Force More Powerful website:

What kinds of incentive tactics do you know about or have you used?

The Center for Victims of Torture – New Tactics in Human Rights Project 649 Dayton Avenue  St. Paul, MN  USA T:  Websites:  Attribution List “The Center for Victims of Torture - New Tactics in Human Rights Project” as the source for any information used in this document as well as any original attribution provided in this document. Noncommercial The information in this document is not to be used for profit. Share Alike If you alter, transform, or build upon this work, you may distribute the resulting work only under the same, similar or a compatible license. The Center for Victims of Torture—New Tactics in Human Rights project invites you to use, share and contribute to the further development of this information under the License: Creative Commons 2.0 The New Tactics in Human Rights project invites you to use and share this information with others. We ask only that you do so using the Creative Commons 2.0 License that is outlined below. A Project of

Upcoming Webinar Dates: Wednesday, 24 August – Restorative Tactics Wednesday, 14 September – Promotion Tactics (Building Human Rights Cultures and Institutions)