Avoiding violence: Eleven ways activists can confine violence in civil resistance campaigns

Abstract

Nonviolent resistance is a powerful tool but can also turn into civil war when repressed. Based on interviews with activists from Bahrain, Tunisia, and Syria and experts on nonviolent resistance, this article investigates how activists can reduce violence in demonstrations. Five approaches to countering regime violence are proposed: (a) disrupting violent action, (b) constructing dilemma situations, (c) avoiding direct confrontation, (d) inviting civilian peacekeepers, and (d) respecting the opponent's traditions, as well as six ways of reducing activist violence: (a) delegitimizing violence, (b) managing material availability, (c) managing emotions, (d) providing alternatives, (e) changing practices of violence, and (f) enhancing cohesion.

Enhancing intergroup dialogues through art and art therapy

“…To reach this level of engagement, King believed that individuals must first commit to self-analysis of one's values, motivations, and biases. These teachings mirror Bramsen's (2019) observation that nonviolent protest strategies are more likely to succeed when activists are afforded opportunities to manage emotions, identify alternatives, and enhance cohesion. Political psychologist Nesbitt-Larking (2016) advocates for therapists to contribute to intergroup dialogue by committing to both a psychology of encounter and politics of engagement.…”

Peace Teams in the Protest-Repression Nexus: A Sociomaterial Perspective of De-escalatory Tactics

“…Scholars with connections to on-the-ground experiences of Peace Teams provide organizational and tactical surveys of their practices, forming the foundations for empirical research on Peace Teams and extending argumentative cases. The tactics of both mitigating state-sponsored violence and violent flanks within a movement are goals that Peace Teams support, integrating their own tactics and practices in support of broader activist movements who are developing their own tactics of violence management [21]. Schweitzer [22] and Julian and Schweitzer [12] covered this ground in identifying Peace Teams worldwide and the various definitions of unarmed civilian peacekeeping that lead to different de-escalatory practices.…”