Taking Action

WHAT SORT OF ACTIONS WILL MAKE A REAL DIFFERENCE TO THE SITUATION?

Protest against snap-lockdown, Melbourne; 12 Feb 2021

Public protests where we show our discontent and connect with the many others who feel as we do are a first step in addressing the problem. But effectively undermining attempted global dictatorship requires more than this – we need to take actions of strategic significance that transfer power from the hands of the elite to ordinary people.

This requires understanding the Consent Theory of power. This shows that those at the top of any hierarchy are dependent upon the people lower down to implement their will. The power of those at the top is not ‘inherent’ in them, but derived from the willingness of their servants to obey them. When those servants refuse to obey around issues that are abhorrent to them, and clearly destructive of themselves and their communities, ordinary people have a chance to win back their freedoms through their own direct and powerful actions of choice.

This means that when we target a group that is supporting the Global Elite, we connect with the people at the lower levels in the hierarchy, asking them to withdraw their support for obeying orders, rather than targeting the people at the top who are giving the orders. It doesn’t matter what orders are given if no one is willing to obey them! So, for example, if the government is our target, rather than lobbying politicians, we talk to and work out actions designed to influence public servants so that they agree to refuse to take action on Elite directives which are clearly harmful to the community. For example, if public servants are ordered to cut off people’s government benefits (age, disability or child care pensions, or unemployment benefits) for not taking a vaccine, they can conscientiously refuse to take action on these cases, and stymie this attempt by the Elite to medically control the population.

Where the people lead, governments will be compelled to follow or simply be made redundant.

The Global Elite has many elements and industries involved in their attempted final coup against humanity. This makes our nonviolent campaign against them complex – there are many potential allies we need to mobilise, and many groups that are supporting the problem that we need to target, to get them to change sides, withdraw their consent, and act bravely to support our common humanity.

There are many things to do, but you are only one person, or one organising group. Does this campaign feel too overwhelming? If you think about what interests you the most and what particular skills you have when choosing a focus for your actions, you can trust that others will do the same, and together we will form a network of groups, focusing on different individual goals, but all working towards the same overall end.

Click to see key ‘Strategic Goals’ – that is, specific groups to mobilise, and specific actions to take that will undermine the power of the elite. Do any of these appeal to you? Can you think of your own examples that follow the same principle of getting ordinary people to noncooperate?

For a simple campaign strategy that is suitable for local organizers, with flyers that you can download, please see One-page Flyer.

A DIVERSE RANGE OF TACTICS

Nonviolent Campaigns use diverse tactics in three categories:

• Protest and Persuasion
• Noncooperation (including civil disobedience)
• Nonviolent Intervention

These categories are explained more fully on the page which also identifies 198 examples of different types of tactics. Choose tactics you think will work well in your circumstances, with your strategic goals in mind.

Choose messaging that clearly asks ordinary people to noncooperate in specific ways. For example ‘Choose Natural Health. Say No to Experimental Injections’; ‘Provide No Excuse for Lockdowns. Don’t Get Tested’; ‘Don’t Buy Censorship. Boycott Facebook’; ‘Use Your Own Eyes and Ears. Turn off Your TV’; ‘Don’t Buy 5G Upgrades’; ‘Don’t Feed the Monsters. Boycott Amazon’.

When asking people/groups to support the campaign, state your basic concern (briefly), your hope that they will wish to become part of a movement to defend everyone’s humanity, and what it is that you are asking them to do. Listen to them about their own experiences and concerns. If they are not currently interested, accept this and state your hope that they will become so in time.

If you are using nonviolent actions to apply pressure to particular organisations, speak with the management about what you intend to do beforehand. Ask them to make decisions that support people’s capacity to live decent, healthy lives with basic freedoms, and, if they are initially unwilling to do so, explain that you feel compelled to take nonviolent action in support of your request and tell them exactly what you are planning to do. If this involves the risk of arrest, state your intention to accept arrest as the price of acting according to your conscience on this issue.

IT’S ALL ABOUT COMMUNICATION: WHY SECRECY IS NOT USED IN THIS TYPE OF CAMPAIGN

Secrecy is appropriate and necessary in any campaign of military defence. This is because military campaigns generally depend on intimidation, demoralisation, surprise attacks and the securing of physical locations and logistical elements for their success. Nonviolent campaigns of mass civil resistance, on the other hand, seek to ‘remoralise’ those who have lost their courage to stand up for themselves and the rest of humanity. Secret actions increase the fear of both activists and opponents in a variety of ways, and there is no need for them strategically speaking.

While activists will no doubt balance conscience with practicality when deciding as individuals how much truth to tell in different situations in their lives, it is important that groups organising nonviolent public actions are completely open about their intentions, even (and especially) when their intention is to break the law for conscientious reasons. This reassures activists and police or other security forces that the organisers of the action are trustworthy, and that they can know what to expect from being involved.

Openness demonstrates the fearlessness of the activists in standing up for the truth and provides the trustworthy communication between parties necessary to convince supporters of the injustice to switch sides. We need to give the police and security forces every opportunity to use their discretion to our advantage. If we are honest with the police, and they trust us, even as we behave in ways that may lead to our arrest, they will have space to work out how they want to help demonstrate support for our cause. There are a number of initiatives already coming from within the lower ranks of police and security forces around the world that show that many of them are deeply disturbed by what they are being ordered to do in the current situation. We need to behave in ways that help them act according to their deeper convictions.

WILLINGNESS TO WITHSTAND VIOLENCE AND REPRESSION AND MINIMISING THE RISK

Standing up for freedom always has personal costs, whether these be physical, social, financial or emotional, and people will need courage and support to take risks they may never have imagined necessary simply to live their own ‘ordinary’ lives. We are hoping that more and more people will realise that remaining obedient to Elite directives will have a far higher cost for them in the end. Nonviolent resistance also has great positive benefits in terms of self-empowerment and the experience of social solidarity, to balance the difficulties we experience.

When nonviolent actions are organised well, it is possible to minimise the risk of violence aimed at the activists by security forces. While police may see it as their responsibility to control the lawlessness and potential violence of activists, it is the nonviolent activists’ responsibility to do everything we can to discourage violent, illegal and immoral behaviour in the police. [See this article for many ways to achieve this: ‘Nonviolent Action: Minimizing the Risk of Violent Repression’.]

However, we do not have total control, and our opponents (the Elite and their dedicated agents) are extremely violent people who will give orders to police and security forces to do activists great harm. It may be that you have already experienced police violence or that your efforts to minimize their violence will take time to have effect. Experiencing violence is physically and emotionally traumatic for activists (and often for police and security forces) and many people will need emotional support to deal with these issues.

What is most important to remember is that, whatever the provocation by the authorities, it is to our best advantage politically to experience our pain without reactively fighting back with aggression or violence (even though these are quite natural responses to being attacked). Find safe, private spaces to express your rage and it will be easier to come back stronger, and with the discipline and determination necessary to succeed in our campaign.

It is not easy, but we need to find the strength to stand up, again and again, until they realise that we will never allow them to control us against our conscience. They may hurt our physical bodies, but our minds and our souls will remain free.

For more information on the many aspects of strategic nonviolent campaigning, see:

Nonviolent Defense/Liberation Strategy.

As part of this, you may find the ‘Articles’ page useful, which includes articles such as these:

‘Nonviolent Activism and the Police’.

‘How to do Police Liaison’

‘Should I Be Arrested?’