page_title: Direct action
section_title: Nonviolent action
hierarchical_section_title: Direct action / Nonviolent action
caption_attribution_description: English: Gandhi during the Salt March, March-April 1930.
context_page_description: Direct action originated as a political activist term for economic and political acts in which the actors use their power to directly reach certain goals of interest; in contrast to those actions that appeal to others; by, for example, revealing an existing problem, using physical violence, highlighting an alternative, or demonstrating a possible solution.
  Both direct action and actions appealing to others can include nonviolent and violent activities which target persons, groups, or property deemed offensive to the action participants. Examples of nonviolent direct action can include sit-ins, strikes, workplace occupations, street blockades, hacktivism or counter-economics. Violent direct action may include political violence, assault, sabotage, arson and property destruction.
  By contrast, electoral politics, diplomacy, negotiation, protests and arbitration are not usually described as direct action, as they are electorally mediated.
context_section_description: "Nonviolent action refers to those methods of protest, resistance, and intervention without physical violence in which the members of the nonviolent group do, or refuse to do, certain things. They may commit acts of omission – refuse to perform acts which they usually perform, are expected by custom to perform, or are required by law or regulation to perform; or acts of commission – perform acts which they usually do not perform, are not expected by custom to perform, or are forbidden by law or regulation from performing; or a combination of both." —Gene Sharp
  Other terms for nonviolent direct action include civil resistance, people power, satyagraha, nonviolent resistance, and positive action.
  Martin Luther King Jr. advised that before taking steps of direct action that you first ensure there is an issue, educate others about the issue, negotiate with your opponent in a way to elicit their cooperation rather than turning them into an enemy, and then take direct action if no change is forthcoming. His proposed direct actions included boycotts, marches, letter writing campaigns, voting, and public art and performance.
  Mahatma Gandhi's methods did not involve any direct confrontation and could be described as 'removal of support' with no breaking of laws. Largely symbolic and peaceful, his preferred actions might include "withdrawing membership, participation or attendance in government-operated schools, courts, and all official agencies."
  George Lakey, who has been involved in nonviolent direct action for over six decades, has written numerous books on the subject. His basics include "realisable goals, nonviolent protests, targeted campaigns, and remaining true to your values". In 2018 he updated his 1965 book A Manual for Direct Action into How We Win: A Guide to Nonviolent Direct Action Campaigning. In a 2019 interview Lakey said "I just was so driven by not only a heart that said killing another person is just plain, fundamentally wrong, but also the pragmatic arguments that came about from the extraordinary successes that I found in history when people boldly tried nonviolence and it worked."
caption: Gandhi, Salt March 1930
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