An unprecedented wave of protests over police killings of unarmed black men and women, most recently George Floyd, have swept across the United States. Although there has been some looting, destruction, and violence associated with the protests and the police and National Guard responses, the protests have been overwhelmingly peaceful - an example of non-violent resistance. Nonviolent resistance is most commonly associated with Gandhi and with Martin Luther King, Jr., but it has a long pedigree around the world. Here are some resources that provide models and analysis of various nonviolent resistance movements around the world:
The Global Nonviolent Action Database from Swarthmore College, which provides short overviews of movements that can be searched by geography, technique, theme, and date. The overviews provide a narrative along with a list of the nonviolent techniques used, the groups leading the protest, the groups opposing the protest, and the outcome of the protests.
The Albert Einstein Institute was founded by Dr. Gene Sharp to promote nonviolent resistance around the world. It makes several useful resources available on its website:
- A short overview of nonviolent action
- A list of 198 methods of nonviolent resistance
- Publications, in English and other languages, about nonviolent theory and nonviolent movements around the world, especially in Eastern Europe and Latin America
Waging Nonviolence is a news organization that reports on nonviolent movements around the world. Their news and analysis pieces can be searched by topic and by region.
UM & Global blogmaster Dr. David W. Scott serves as Director of Mission Theology at the General Board of Global Ministries. The opinions and analysis expressed here are Dr. Scott's own and do not reflect in any way the official position of Global Ministries. This post is republished with permission from UM & Global, the collaborative blog of United Methodist Professors of Mission.