Brainstorm: Nonviolent but Actually Effective Dissent Ideas

[FourthBase]

Oh, and...

Original.

Brainstorm:
Non-violent but Actually-effective and Not-totally-derivative Ideas for Dissent

Self-explanatory. Have at it.
Come up with them. Wish ourselves luck!

[Luther Blissett]

I've heard others say this before, and I tend to agree, that satire is the most dangerous form of dissent.

I don't want to post any specific ideas in case I actually follow through with them, but: a three act, satirical play a la Dr. Strangelove that follows young marginalized people as they uncover a conspiracy revealed to be perpetrated by increasingly powerful forces as each act progresses.

[Luther Blissett]

There always seem to be promises of powerful pieces of fictional cinema that capture the global public consciousness, entering the cultural lexicon and ultimately posing a threat to traditional hegemonies of power, but they always fail to materialize (see the preemptively neutered Gary Webb biopic, or David Simon's history of the CIA).

I don't think it's hard to imagine crafting a story that's both paradigm-busting and entertaining. I have numerous stories like this in my head as I'm sure many of you do. It's just a question of maintaining the project's integrity throughout the process. That's where most creative dissident films or programs fall down.

[Luther Blissett]

— free cold fusion

[Joe Hillshoist]

Getting the entire community onside is important.

Here's a quick wrap up of a successful anti coal seam gas campaign from my part of the world.

http://csgfreenorthernrivers.org/about- ... -campaign/

It was non violent, engaged the community and involved more than just blockades. There were people all over the place contacting government reps, educating the population, and getting the support of local arts and entertainment community.

That link mentions the first person arrested in a community blockade at Shannonbrook.

Here's the guy:



Honestly without community engagement and sympathetic local support it wouldn't have worked out that way, even with massive amounts of the community rejecting CSG mining. It also wouldn't have worked as easily without modern communication tools (ie the internet and mobile phones, with cameras and video) and without living in a place where the rule of law successfully protects us from violence by the likes of security guards trained or employed by companies like craft international.

[Wombaticus Rex]

CAN I QUIBBLE, DAUG?

Hmmm....Equally as Effective as violence? So...clicking "like" on Facebook? Participating in online debate @ Reddit? Because I don't really think of violence as a particularly effective means of dissent.

Are there examples of violence working that don't end in Mao-tastic nightmares?

[General Patton]

http://www.aforcemorepowerful.org/resou ... ethods.php
http://cryptome.org/0002/ja-conspiracies.pdf



http://www.usma.edu/wpnp/SiteAssets/Sit ... tworks.pdf

LaMagna’s three prongs – enforcement, education, and prevention – along with Godson’s three types of institutions – civic and school based education, centers for moral authority, and the media – all have different leaders at their helm and different methods and pathways for bringing about change most effectively. Using social network analysis, the key players and pathways within the prongs and institutions can be identified, thereby providing negotiators with the decision makers they must influence in order to be successful. Identifying and then surgically targeting these people will likely allow for a more efficient means of combating corruption because negotiators will have to influence fewer people, leaving the indigenous decision makers to deal with the rest of the population with whom they wield more influence.
...
The seven-element model defines every
type of negotiation as the combination (or absence) of seven different characteristics: interests,
alternatives, options, legitimacy, commitments, communication, and relationships.
18 This framework enables the negotiator with a simple yet robust framework to define and measure success, prepare, consider choices during a negotiation, and review negotiations. The systematic negotiator will recognize that the key to choosing the most effective manner in which to negotiate depends upon the circumstances surrounding the negotiation as well as the desired outcome.

[FourthBase]

CAN I QUIBBLE, DAUG?

Hmmm....Equally as Effective as violence? So...clicking "like" on Facebook? Participating in online debate @ Reddit? Because I don't really think of violence as a particularly effective means of dissent.

Are there examples of violence working that don't end in Mao-tastic nightmares?

D'oh! Good call.

Edit: CORRECTED.

[Joe Hillshoist]

Are there examples of violence working that don't end in Mao-tastic nightmares?

The "Eureka rebellion" might be considered such a thing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eureka_Reb ... orm_League

It could be debatable tho, and I don't have time right now, but will over the next few days, so read up about it and give us your take on it.

[FourthBase]

Are there examples of violence working that don't end in Mao-tastic nightmares?

The "Eureka rebellion" might be considered such a thing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eureka_Reb ... orm_League

It could be debatable tho, and I don't have time right now, but will over the next few days, so read up about it and give us your take on it.

Yeah, that's kind of why I initially chose the word "Equally-effective", to bypass any need to debate when or if violence has ever been effective. This isn't the thread for that debate.

[Luther Blissett]

I thought that all revolutions happen twice: first as tragedy, then as farce?

[FourthBase]

Not so original, and actually quite ancient, but still rare:

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines02/0731-08.htm

Hundreds of unarmed women from local tribes in the oil-rich but desperately poor Niger Delta region brought production to a halt recently at pipeline facilities owned by ChevronTexaco by merely occupying the sites. Several dozen village women are still holed-up today.

To make their point, the women threatened to disrobe — a strong local shaming symbol — and managed to strike a deal with ChevronTexaco that will bring jobs and funding for schools, hospitals and other services into their struggling community.

In the past, local actions against oil and gas companies have come from armed gangs who frequently take to kidnapping and sabotage to demand jobs or money.

But experts say ChevronTexaco's peaceful negotiations with the local women highlights the strengthened bargaining power villagers wield and how multinational corporations, under significant international pressure, are increasingly bowing to local demands.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anasyrma

[FourthBase]

Another oldie-but-goodie:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lysistrata

Note that in the "Influence and Legacy" section, it's all art.
Have there really been no attempts at a real-life version anywhere?
Oh, no, wait, missed one, the last item:

http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2 ... -togo.html

Isabelle Ameganvi, a prominent civil-rights lawyer, has sown consternation among the menfolk of her country by calling on her fellow Togolese women to withhold conjugal sex for a week. The object of her scorn is one man in particular, President Faure Gnassingbé, who took power in a fraud-ridden election in 2005 after the death of his father (who had ruled the country for nearly four decades). Ameganvi has said that an end to the sex strike is conditional on Togo’s men launching protests in demand of the president’s resignation. Ominously, she told a rally of many thousands of women that “if men refuse to hear our cries we will hold other demos that will be more powerful than a sex strike.” Not everyone in Togo is impressed. A local journalist told the Associated Press that Ameganvi’s rallying cry was “not serious at all. It is easy for her to say because she is not married herself. She does not live with a man at home.

A week? That's it???

(I could've sworn some ladies in high-crime gang-dominated areas had posed the idea?)

[FourthBase]

Here's an original one, I think.

Everybody sensible (no hoaxers, antisemites, etc.) write a synopsis of various apparent misdeeds by the national security complex and include intuitive and/or well-researched tips on "unlikely" suspects in the marathon bombing like the Chechen-terrorism-enabling American Committee for Peace in Chechnya or the Guard/Craft dudes, and then send that as a genuinely concerned and helpful citizen to, say, the FBI. Under the pretense that someone good in the FBI might happen upon your letter/email and take it seriously enough to do some digging-with-actual-power. At the exact same time, one should also post what you sent verbatim to this board and/or some other online reservoir, so as to have a backup copy and to let the world know that you did your civic duty as you saw fit, as much as you could, the facts as you saw them, just trying to assist the investigation. Seriously, though, a real sense of helping. Authentic, not snide sarcasm or whatever. Certainly no unearned certainty. No assumptions. No huge scheme imagined, just specific questions, unloaded questions, fact-based, as we've been given the facts. How much you wanna bet that would become a notable meme? Perhaps an internet sensation? "Conspiracy Theorists En Masse Send Helpful Questions and Tips to FBI", and...not The Onion? What would happen? What could happen? If we are just citizens genuinely trying to help our government solve the case, and that's what we would be, then could they really charge us with anything? Just because some agents might subjectively feel like the leads and information and connections we alert them to are not worthwhile? What if some others don't feel that way? Is it entirely the discretion of some higher-up whether we would be guilty of...what...obstruction? For genuinely trying to help, in good faith? Would we have any 1st Amendment right to do so? Could it be argued that we actually have a duty to do so, if we as citizens perceive true leads and suspects being overlooked by the FBI? Even if one of the suspects might be the FBI itself, or factions within? Is this the craziest idea ever? Top 10 crazy? Crazy, but it-just-might-work crazy? Ingenious? Reckless? Fearless? Ballsy? Brainless? What are the downsides? I'm sure they're numerous. What are the upsides? Also, numerous? What is the worst case scenario, within reason? What is the best case scenario? Is this a good idea? An idea with some potential, but also potentially disastrous? Is it just fear-disabling toxoplasma speaking? Or is this a legitimately potent strategy? Let's help the FBI (and whomever else, local PD, the president, your congressional representatives, the Pentagon, et. al.) identify and apprehend the marathon bombing masterminds, and any other unsolved case they might need our help with. Don't laugh, lol! Has this been attempted before? What if it could actually somehow work, but we're all just too shitlessly scared or too dismayed to try? Good? Bad? Ugly?

[Spiro C. Thiery]

The ultimate non-violent dissent involves anything you can do that severs the chain of currency dictating your relationship with everyone else in your community and the world at large:

- time banking (there is likely a community in your area) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_banking
- community-based bartering of goods and services
- tax evasion (proceed with caution)
- share for jeebus' sake!
- and when you must pass that filthy bill on to someone else, make sure you are as acutely aware where else it flows

btw: as soon as I clicked in this text window to type my response, <i>The Big Money</i> began to play (out of 149 possibilities, not astonishing, but cool)