Nonviolent Research Articles

The role and significance of Bishop Volodymyr Sternyuk in the activities of the underground Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church

In 2019, the thirtieth anniversary of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church coming out of the underground will pass. The twentieth century does not know many examples of successful illegal activities of a public institution, such as the Greek Catholic Church, which has retained all its functions, continuity of existence and proved to be an example of nonviolent resistance under total prohibition and repression. Bishop Volodymyr Sternyuk played one of the leading roles. His role as the pastor of the Lord, who preserved the flock of his Church and led it to restoration, is awaiting further and varied study. This is the relevance of our study.

Working together to survive and thrive: The struggle for Black lives past and present

This article examines Black leadership through the generations as a multifaceted struggle for Black lives led by ordinary Black people working together to end anti-Black violence and systemic racism for the affirmation of their humanity. At the center of this examination is the latest phase in a long struggle for Black lives, which has been branded as a Black Lives Matter movement. This new movement for social justice developed from past struggles and during the aftermath of the 2012 murder of Trayvon Martin, 2014 Ferguson uprising, and 2020 George Floyd uprising. For the author, this new struggle is Black Americans most recent “walk of life” that stretches back to the movements for self-determination, anti-enslavement, and civil rights during the American Revolutionary period (1764–1789). Central to this new struggle is the blending of nonviolent direct action tactics with the use of digital technology and the inclusion of people who previously functioned on the margins of the civil rights agenda. This struggle is addressed, first through an exploration of where Black-led community organizations have been since Trayvon’s death, and second, by examining what is currently being done during the aftermath of the death of Breonna Taylor up to mid-September 2020.

State Disengagement: Evidence from Former French West Africa

How do states respond to political resistance? The standard repression or concession logic presumes that the state is strong enough to punish or co-opt dissent effectively. Instead, we argue that the state may disengage when it is weak. We show that colonial governments in French West Africa reduced public investments in districts where chiefs engaged in largely non-violent disobedience. However, we also show that chieftain disobedience reduced government taxes and fees on Africans, rather than increased them as punishment. Because the state was too weak to punish with higher taxation or to concede by increasing investments, the state disengaged in hard-to-rule districts. Our findings show that chieftain resistance helps explain why subnational development was so unequal during colonialism. Low-level and non-violent resistance, often overlooked in the conflict literature, also affect state-society relations and state formation.

"We Were Getting Close to God, Not Deportees": The Expulsion to Marj al-Zuhur in 1992 as a Milestone in the Rise of Hamas

In December 1992, Israel deported hundreds of Hamas activists to Lebanon. The deportees ensconced themselves at a camp near the village of Marj al-Zuhur, close to the Israeli border. Their sojourn there bolstered Hamas and became a milestone in its development. This article shows how the deportees' success in running the camp as an exemplary Islamic society turned the deportation into a foundational myth for the movement, one centered on nonviolent resistance in the spirit of Islamic values.

The politics of nonviolent mobilization: Campaigns, competition, and social movement resources

Nonviolent resistance is considered one of the most effective methods of bringing about political change. Yet empirical research on how nonviolent campaigns emerge is limited. This article considers two sets of considerations which influence the strategic decision of a campaign to use nonviolent or violent methods: interactions with the state and campaign resources. Campaigns are concerned about the risk of repression from the state and are more likely to choose nonviolence when they believe the state will accommodate their demands. Open political competition signals likely accommodation. Campaigns’ nonviolent tactics are more effective when they possess social movement resources, though high levels of movement resources threaten the state. The argument implies political competition and social movement resources are associated with a higher likelihood of a campaign using nonviolence, though the relationship with social movement resources diminishes at high levels. Implications of the argument are tested on a sample of contentious campaigns from 1945 to 2006. Political competition and social movement resources are related as expected to the use of nonviolence. However, an extension shows these factors do not account for the advantage of nonviolent methods, particularly in triggering backlash protests, once a campaign is under way. An original ordinal measurement strategy for campaign methods suggests the intensity of violence and nonviolence are likewise unrelated to competition and resources.

Gandhi and the Parable of the Prodigal Son

Abstract This essay seeks to emphasize the important bearing which multiple and quotidian, personal contexts have on the biblical exegesis of Mohandas K. Gandhi. The essay focuses on Gandhi’s interpretation of the parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11–32), asking in particular why Gandhi’s reading departs from the parable’s literal sense. While the most evident reason for Gandhi’s distinctive interpretation is his philosophy of satyagraha or non-violent resistance, there emerge behind this appeal, several more precise contexts that plausibly contributed to Gandhi conceiving of satyagraha as the parable’s interpretive key. These contexts included political exigencies that Gandhi faced in mid-1920; his relationship with his son Harilal; and the profile of one of his interlocutors, Sir Narayan Chandavarkar. This essay emphasizes the importance of such varied and personal contexts that merge to help shape Gandhi’s interpretation, and closes with implications for further study of biblical exegesis by Gandhi and more generally in the global south.

When Words become too Violent: Silence as a Form of Nonviolent Resistance in the Book of Jeremiah

Abstract Throughout the Book of Jeremiah, the prophet is depicted as a victim of verbal and physical violence to which he often responds with fierce imprecations. My study articulates a basic framework in which these troubling passages can be understood and used responsibly by contemporary readers (“Speech as a Response to Violence”) but then argues that Jeremiah’s prayer in Jer 18 violates the balance and boundaries of this framework (“Speech as a Response too Violent”). Inasmuch as this discussion reveals the problems and potential dangers of speech, I offer a reading of Jer 15–16, 26, and 28 that highlights the prophet’s silence as an alternative response to violence. This silence, I argue, is not a form of submissive suffering but an act of public critique and strategic disengagement. Jeremiah’s silence speaks powerfully and peacefully in his own violent context and, by extension, may speak so also in ours.

The Role of Bedouin Youth and Women in Resistance to the Israeli Prawer Plans in the Naqab

Naqab Bedouin resistance and political activism against the Israeli Prawer plans attracted attention in many local and international contexts and became a symbol of sumud [steadfastness] among Palestinians in Israel. In fact, the Bedouin, led at this time by motivated youth and women activists, showed greater creative, tactical and strategic agency and skills than politicians and scholars acknowledged in the past, and they actively contributed to shaping aspects of their own destiny within the state structure. We argue that creative, nonviolent, everyday and political resistance and activism, led by the young Bedouin [al-hirak al-shababi], succeeded in modifying and mitigating the Israeli Prawer Plan policies and strategies to relocate and expel the Bedouin from their historical villages. This study draws on a number of in-depth interviews in the Naqab with male and female youth, activists, and politicians. Specifically, it shows how Bedouin women and youth were key actors in resisting the Prawer Plan using social media tactics, which later led to Israeli withdrawal and freezing of the plan in 2013. The evolution of Bedouin resistance and the prevailing misrepresentation of the Bedouin is identified and tested through the case study of the anti-Prawer campaign and the Naqab Bedouin villagers’ on-going resistance to being forcibly relocated from their historical land in the Naqab.

No Laughing Matter? The Potential of Political Humor as a Means of Nonviolent Resistance

The manifold functions of humor to generate relief, superiority and incongruity have been extensively studied. Building on this, the article is dedicated to exploring the role of humor as a means of nonviolent resistance. In a case study on Syria, it traces the evolution of the forms and functions of humorous production, following the stages of Bakhtin’s medieval carnival: from the pre-revolutionary “gallows humor”, over increasingly biting attacks against the Assad regime after the 2011 uprising, to the symbolic “de-crowning of the dictator”. Examples of cartoons, songs and sketches illustrate the role of humor as a resistance tool, across the four dimensions of non-violence by Vinthagen: dialogue facilitation, power breaking, normative regulation and utopian enactment. Despite the escalation and looming failure of the Syrian uprising, the article finds that humor has maintained its importance as a means of nonviolent resistance.

The Necessity of a Good Defense

For many years I was in the front lines of the most robust nonviolent resistance in America, the Plowshares movement. We went to weaponry and beat it into plowshares and stuck around to face the mu...

Addressing Aggression in the Residential Setting for Juveniles with Mild Intellectual Disability through Training in Non-Violent Resistance

BackgroundLevels of aggression are high in residential settings for juveniles with Mild Intellectual Disability (MID). As a result, treatment is less effective, aggression causes injury, traumatic experiences and longer inhabitation for juveniles. Additionally, inpatient aggression has been linked to burnout and stress among group workers, which has negative consequences such as less job satisfaction or poorer work performanceObjectiveTherefore, it is crucial to diminish aggressive incidents in these settings and to find a way for staff how to respond to aggression properly.MethodsAs there is no intervention method which tackles all of the referred problems efficiently, a new method Non-violent Resistance for MID was introduced into three residential settings for juveniles with MID, in a quasi-experimental stepped wedge design. Reports of aggressive incidents were assessed seven times before, during and after the training in NVR-MID on group level. Multilevel analyses were carried out in order to assess the development of the aggressive incidents over time.ResultsAggressive incidents decreased significantly in time during and after training in NVR-MID, this decrease is seen in all three institutions. Thus, regardless of resident’s age, gender or IQ, NVR-MID seemed successful in diminishing aggressive incidents. Furthermore, a significant interaction effect was found between institution and time, indicating that regardless if incidents of aggression were relatively high at baseline, decrease in incidents was similar to institutions where incidents were relatively low on baseline.ConclusionsImplementing NVR-MID into residential settings for juveniles with MID and comorbid behavioral problems might help to decrease aggressive incidents.

Palestinian Non-Violent Resistance and the Apartheid Analogy

Israel/Palestine is a context in which the term “apartheid” keeps reappearing. As a historical analogy and cultural shorthand, it functions as a powerful Palestinian weapon when used to describe Israeli policy and actions in what amounts to a battle of narratives in the international arena. For a long time, Palestinians have been known primarily for their violent struggle, but employing loaded vocabulary to depict their lives and experiences under Israeli control is more than just using a certain word, it is a strategic choice. The earliest uses of the apartheid analogy have long been placed in the 1970s, however, evidence of its use can already be found before the United Nation’s General Assembly declared apartheid a crime in 1973. The first instances happened simultaneously with the development of the organized Palestinian national movement in the 1960s. Focusing on Fayez Sayegh (1922–1980), an academic and UN special rapporteur to the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, I argue such historical analogies need to be read as a non-violent tactic of resistance within the Palestinian struggle. Sayegh was almost singlehandedly responsible for introducing the apartheid analogy at the United Nations – my primary contextual interest. His analyses of racial segregation, however, were thoroughly countered, making his engagement for Palestine seem like a failure. And yet his early attempts to bring the apartheid analogy into wide circulation, along with the increasingly more complicated situation on the ground, show results. Today, the term has become common usage in describing Israel and puts enormous pressure on the country. The spread of the apartheid analogy shows that non-violent forms of Palestinian resistance, which in the 1960s and 1970s were almost invisible internationally, long existed.

Defying Rules. Defying Gender?: Women’s Resistance to Islamic State

Through disproportionate restrictions placed on women’s movement and visualization within its “caliphate”, the Islamic State (IS) group enforced its policies of female domesticity and submission. Studies on IS governance of local Iraqi, Syrian and Kurdish women have focused overwhelmingly on their victimization, abuse, and restricted agency. By contrast, this paper uncovers the opportunities, activities, and impacts of individual and collective nonviolent resistance led by local Sunni and Yazidi women. Through endeavors such as personal resilience, individual confrontations, and even group protest, local female civilian women acted against the group’s policies, members, ideology, and expectations of female passivity.

"Dreaming Undreamt Dreams" in Psychological Counseling with Italian Women Who Experienced Intimate Partner Violence: A Phenomenological-Interpretative Analysis of the Psychologists' Experience.

In psychological consultations with women who survive Intimate Partner Violence, it is essential to work on elaboration of the trauma as a complex trauma within the context of a relationship. We consider dreams to be a symbolic-representative process, which requires the right psychic, relational and contextual conditions to occur, and that is hindered when trauma is present. The objective of the present study is to investigate the meanings that psychologists working at anti-violence centers attribute to the clinical intervention with women victims of IPV, with a focus on the area of sleep and dreaming in a traumatic experience, and in the clinical work on the trauma. Twelve female psychologists were interviewed using the Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis methodology. From the analysis of the interviews, three main themes emerged: (1) Day and night, neither awake nor asleep, (2) Anti Violence Centers: setting as a container of emotion? and (3) dreaming undreamt dreams. The study highlights the importance of dreams as an indicator not only of psychic and mental functioning but also of the psychological relationship within a specific context.

Protecting Women from Domestic Violence: Islam, Family Law, and the State in Indonesia

Despite the enactment of a specific law on domestic violence, the elimination of violence in the household is still an elusive target in Indonesia. For example, according to the National Commission on Anti Violence Against Women, a large number of Muslim divorces in the Religious Courts have involved domestic violence. This article discusses the opportunities and challenges for eliminating domestic violence in Indonesian Muslim society. Employing both normative and socio-legal analysis, it finds that the state is unable to resolve the existing conflict between the requirements of the Law – which oblige the state to amend conflicting legislation – and the provisions of both civil and Islamic marriage laws, which create the potential for violence against women in the household. These include gender role stereotypes, the fuzziness of the obedience concept (nushūz) and linking maintenance to a wife’s obedience, and the ambiguity of marriage validity. This necessitates the reformation of Indonesian marriage laws.

Non-Violent Resistance (NVR) for parents of adults with learning disability – A pilot group

▪ Non-violent resistance (called NVR for short) is a way of helping parents to look after their children.▪ We met with parents of adults with learning disability 8 times to do NVR.▪ Parents said NVR helped them.▪ We think more psychologists should try using NVR with parents of adults with learning disability.

Opposition from within – Israeli soldiers resist the occupation

ABSTRACT Protests in response to Israeli military action in the Occupied Territories have a long history in Israel. While such opposition movements in many countries are comprised of civil society activists, the dynamics of protest differ in Israel because of the country’s mandatory military service. From the 1980s to present day, former and current Israeli soldiers have used a wide range of methods, tactics, and strategies to challenge Israeli military actions. Using insights from nonviolent resistance theories, we examine how the approaches and goals of military opposition groups in Israel have changed over the past decades. Specifically, we develop a typology to explain why different types of protest arise from within the Israeli Defense Force that garner strong reactions – whether laudatory or derogatory – from the Israeli government and general public. The paper concludes with lessons learned for military opposition movements in the context of nonviolent resistance theory and practice.

The Imagination of a Dynamic Island -The Aspects of Violence and Antiviolence in Okinawa, Taiwan and Jeju Novels-

The Imagination of a Dynamic Island -The Aspects of Violence and Antiviolence in Okinawa, Taiwan and Jeju Novels-

The Force of Nonviolence

Reseña de: Butler, Judith. (2020). The Force of Nonviolence. Londres: Verso.

The Palestinian Resistance: Nonviolent Praxis in a Gramscian Paradigm

This article analyses the praxis of nonviolent resistance in Palestine through the lens of Gramsci. First, it begins with a historical inquiry into the major phenomena of the Palestinian resistance tradition. Its nonviolent expressions are highlighted in order to prove their continuity as well as their effectiveness, focusing on three uprisings of the national movement where this form of resistance was deployed: the Arab revolt, the First Intifada, and the Al Aqsa Intifada. Then, it presents the framework of the theoretical tradition of nonviolent struggle in order to interpret Palestinian popular resistance actions and strategies. Finally, these forms of resistance are embedded, and subsumed, in a Gramscian alternative hegemonic paradigm, so as to enhance the discussion around an organic nonviolent strategy of political resistance.