Combatting the zombie myths about nonviolent struggleby Ian SinclairMorning Star28 November 2023 There is widespread ignorance on the Left about what is called civil resistance (AKA nonviolent struggle). Let’s start with first principles. In her essential 2021 book Civil Resistance: What Everyone Needs To Know, Harvard University’s Professor Erica Chenoweth defines civil resistance as “a […]
Book review. Civil Resistance: What Everyone Needs to Know by Erica Chenowethby Ian SinclairPeace NewsFebruary-March 2022 Nonviolent resistance campaigns have been twice as successful as violent campaigns in achieving their objectives. That was the conclusion of Erica Chenoweth and Maria Stephan’s Why Civil Resistance Works: The Strategic Logic of Nonviolent Conflict, making it a seminal book […]
“There are things which are worth suffering for” wrote the Czech philosopher Jan Patočka shortly before his death which was caused, in part, by the treatment he received from the Czechoslovakian secret police in March 1977. My first admittedly cynical response to this rather Christian remark is: Really? What things exactly? And how much suffering? In Václav Havel’s famous essay of[Read More...]
The strategic and tactical genius of the US Civil Rights Movement
by Ian Sinclair
Morning Star
25 April 2018
The recent death of American nonviolence guru Gene Sharp and the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King provide a good opportunity to reflect on the key role nonviolent action has played in winning progressive change.
Why are we so ignorant about the rich history of nonviolent struggle?
by Ian Sinclair
Morning Star
26 April 2018
Writing about the recent death of Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, Guardian columnist Afua Hirsch made an extraordinary claim about the ending of Apartheid in South Africa in 1994.
