Glimmers of A Real Social Movement in the Making

Okay....I think there's a real movement brewing.  The purpose of nonviolent direct action is to dramatize the injustice so as to attract the sympathy of a wider audience.  Those thus attracted then need to be recruited into action.  (Thanks Traber, Chris and Andrea for these)

1. Attract the sympathy of a wider audience  (and create a vision)

2. then give people something to do



And NEVER forget that, singing is better than chanting:

• The songs.
        The songs elevated our courage,
             The songs bonded us together,
                  The songs forged our discipline,
                       The songs shielded us from hate,
                             The songs protected us from danger,
                                And the songs kept us sane. In terms of political and moral effectiveness, group singing is to group chanting, as an elephant is to a mouse. But songs have to be learned. Moreover, the kind of singing that (trained) protesters do as an act of solidarity in the face of hatred and danger is very different from performance singing done on stage or in school. And just as a choir has to practice, so too do demonstrators. One of the reasons that the singing on modern mass marches is so pathetic and demoralizing is that no one's been doing any training or practice. (from NONVIOLENT TRAINING, by Bruce Hartford)

Key Components for a social movement to happen- build infrastructure, local leadership development, identify the problem, do your homework, coalition building, developing personal relationships, community building, strategic use of nonviolent resistance, strategic use of the arts, dealing with the contradictions within the movement, right historical moment.