From Gene Sharp’s From Dictatorship to Democracy:
The Methods of Nonviolent Protest and Persuasion
Formal Statements
- public speeches
- letters of opposition or support
- declarations by organizations and institutions
- signed public statements
- declarations of indictment and intention
- group or mass petitions
Communications with a Wider Audience
- slogans, caricatures, and symbols
- banners, posters, and displayed communications
- leaflets, pamphlets, and books
- newspapers and journals
- records, radio, and television
- skywriting and earthwriting
Group Representations
- deputations
- mock awards
- group lobbying
- picketing
- mock elections
Symbolic Public Acts
- display of flags and symbolic colors
- wearing of symbols
- prayer and worship
- delivering symbolic objects
- protest disrobings
- destruction of own property
- symbolic lights
- displays of portraits
- paint as protest
- new signs and names
- symbolic sounds
- symbolic reclamations
- rude gestures
Pressures on Individuals
- “haunting” officials
- taunting officials
- fraternization
- vigils
Drama and Music
- humorous skits and pranks
- performance of plays and music
- singing
Processions
- marches
- parades
- religious processions
- pilgrimages
- motorcades
Honoring the Dead
- political mourning
- mock funerals
- demonstrative funerals
- homage at burial places
Public Assemblies
- assemblies of protest or support
- protest meetings
- camouflaged meetings of protest
- teach-ins
Withdrawal and Renunciation
- walk-outs
- silence
- renouncing honors
- turning one’s back
The Methods of Social Noncooperation
Ostracism of Persons
- social boycott
- selective social boycott
- Lysistratic nonaction
- excommunication
- interdict
Noncooperation with Social Events, Customs, and Institutions
- suspension of social and sports activities
- boycott of social affairs
- student strike
- social disobedience
- withdrawal from social institutions
Withdrawal from the Social System
- stay-at-home
- total personal noncooperation
- flight of workers
- sanctuary
- collective disappearance
- protest emigration (hijrat)
The Methods of Economic Noncooperation
Economic Boycotts
Action by Consumers
- consumers’ boycott
- nonconsumption of boycotted goods
- policy of austerity
- rent withholding
- refusal to rent
- national consumers’ boycott
- international consumers’ boycott
Action by Workers and Producers
- workmen’s boycott
- producers’ boycott
Action by Middlemen
- suppliers’ and handlers’ boycott
Action by Owners and Management
- traders’ boycott
- refusal to let or sell property
- lockout
- refusal of industrial assistance
- merchants’ “general strike”
Action by Holders of Financial Resources
- withdrawal of bank deposits
- refusal to pay fees, dues, and assessments
- refusal to pay debts or interest
- severance of funds and credit
- revenue refusal
- refusal of a government’s money
Action by Governments
- domestic embargo
- blacklisting of traders
- international sellers’ embargo
- international buyers’ embargo
- international trade embargo
The Strike
Symbolic Strikes
- protest strike
- quickie walkout (lightning strike)
Agricultural Strikes
- peasant strike
- farm workers’ strike
Strikes by Special Groups
- refusal of impressed labor
- prisoners’ strike
- craft strike
- professional strike
Ordinary Industrial Strikes
- establishment strike
- industry strike
- sympathetic strike
Restricted Strikes
- detailed strike
- bumper strike
- slowdown strike
- working-to-rule strike
- reporting “sick” (sick-in)
- strike by resignation
- limited strike
- selective strike
Multi-Industry Strikes
- generalized strike
- general strike
Combinations of Strikes and Economic Closures
- Hartal
- economic shutdown
The Methods of Political Noncooperation
Rejection of Authority
- withholding or withdrawal of allegiance
- refusal of public support
- literature and speeches advocating resistance
Citizens’ Noncooperation with Government
- boycott of legislative bodies
- boycott of elections
- boycott of government employment and positions
- boycott of government departments, agencies and other bodies
- withdrawal from government educational institutions
- boycott of government-supported organizations
- refusal of assistance to enforcement agents
- removal of own signs and placemarks
- refusal to accept appointed officials
- refusal to dissolve existing institutions
Citizens’ Alternatives to Obedience
- reluctant and slow compliance
- nonobedience in absence of direct supervision
- popular nonobedience
- disguised disobedience
- refusal of an assemblage or meeting to disperse
- sitdown
- noncooperation with conscription and deportation
- hiding, escape and false identities
- civil disobedience of “illegitimate” laws
Action by Government Personnel
- selective refusal of assistance by government aides
- blocking of lines of command and information
- stalling and obstruction
- general administrative noncooperation
- judicial noncooperation
- deliberate inefficiency and selective noncooperation by enforcement agents
- mutiny
Domestic Governmental Action
- quasi-legal evasions and delays
- noncooperation by constituent governmental units
International Governmental Action
- changes in diplomatic and other representation
- delay and cancellation of diplomatic events
- withholding of diplomatic recognition
- severance of diplomatic relations
- withdrawal from international organizations
- refusal of membership in international bodies
- expulsion from international organizations
The Methods of Nonviolent Intervention
Psychological Intervention
- self-exposure to the elements
- the fast
- fast of moral pressure
- hunger strike
- Satyagrahic fast
- reverse trial
- nonviolent harassment
Physical Intervention
- sit-in
- stand-in
- ride-in
- wade-in
- mill-in
- pray-in
- nonviolent raids
- nonviolent air raids
- nonviolent invasion
- nonviolent interjection
- nonviolent obstruction
- nonviolent occupation
Social Intervention
- establishing new social patterns
- overloading of facilities
- stall-in
- speak-in
- guerrilla theater
- alternative social institutions
- alternative communication system
Economic Intervention
- reverse strike
- stay-in strike
- nonviolent land seizure
- defiance of blockades
- politically motivated counterfeiting
- preclusive purchasing
- seizure of assets
- dumping
- selective patronage
- alternative markets
- alternative transportation systems
- alternative economic institutions
Political Intervention
- overloading of administrative systems
- disclosing identities of secret agents
- seeking imprisonment
- civil disobedience of “neutral” laws
- work-on without collaboration
- dual sovereignty and parallel government