Globally throughout history, men have kept women subordinated as a class with the use, or even just the threat, of violence. Men have positioned themselves as the rulers of every political and economic institution that wields any real power. Men, or male-dominated groups, make all of the decisions that affect our lives in ways that reinforce and sustain their position of power. Women are systematically excluded from the power that men enjoy as a sex class. This has been the case for so long that many assume it is natural and inevitable. Women have been effectively relegated to the status of servants to men, first by the average superior physical strength of men, which limits women’s abilities to defend ourselves effectively from their violence; and second by the structural impositions of male-dominated households and political organizations.
Because women are kept comparatively powerless, we cannot depend on men’s oppressive methods to liberate ourselves. We need to use tactics specifically designed for those who do not have the political, economic, or social advantage. Our best hope is a strategy that turns our powerlessness itself into a mighty weapon. Nonviolent Direct Action (NVDA) is such a strategy.
A great example of the use of NVDA was carried out by the suffragists. Starting in 1909, when incarcerated for picketing, women refused to eat. They knew this would draw urgent attention to their movement, and they were willing to starve themselves to death, if necessary. The authorities could not risk the women dying of starvation on their watch, so they force-fed them, causing serious pain, injury, and disease to the women, which drew even more attention and sympathy to their struggle. NVDA is how women won our right to political participation. Decades of advocacy and lobbying was not enough.
NVDA works by creating a dilemma for the authorities: Any action they take will demonstrate the violence their position depends on. When the oppressed withdraw their obedience, the oppressors must either choose to resort to violence, or concede to the activists’ demands. When the activists stand their ground and refuse to submit, they force the oppressors to commit physical violations to maintain “order.” Then the world sees the oppression in clear and shocking terms.
The lunch counter sit-ins in Greensboro, North Carolina are another example of the effective use of NVDA. Black students and their allies simply sat at white-only lunch counters and ordered coffee. The resulting violence against them horrified crowds of onlookers, and gained national attention.
The Freedom Riders of the American Civil Rights Movement also used NVDA with consistent discipline. They rode public transit buses and attended white establishments in defiance of Jim Crow laws. The violence inflicted on them and other NVDA demonstrators (such as the Children’s Crusaders in Birmingham) became so severe that it could no longer be ignored or tolerated, and only then was President John F. Kennedy compelled to support federal civil rights legislation. All of the young people who participated in these organized civil rights actions were trained in the use of NVDA tactics.
“Power concedes nothing without a demand,” said Frederick Douglass. Nonviolent direct action is not pacifist. It is a civilian demand–the withdrawal of consent its only weapon–to force those in power to address an issue. And it works. However, NVDA is not for everyone. No one should engage in this type of activism if she or he is not prepared for the risks, or doesn’t feel that the risks are worth the benefits. There are many other valuable ways to take action and support the movement that do not carry the severe risks of NVDA.
Women should also be trained to defend ourselves individually from attackers; however, an individual woman’s interactions with others are a different situation from a political movement. In coordinated nonviolent actions having a political goal, it is advantageous to plan with that political goal in mind. A powerless group cannot gain any ground toward liberation by using violence, or even by reacting to violence with violence. Messaging that can outrage the general public is effectively conveyed by exposing the oppressor’s reliance on violence. This messaging can only be accomplished if members of the powerless group put themselves in danger of attack, and endure that attack without submitting. For nonviolent action to work, it must be shown that even sustained violent repression cannot compel submission. For this reason, nonviolent activists should be selected, trained, informed, and prepared for the actions they are undertaking, and they must be ready to subject themselves to the oppressor’s brutality in order to reveal the injustice.
WDI USA stands with the nonviolent activists throughout history who have been mainly responsible for the political gains of oppressed classes of people. If you would like to join our NVDA efforts, please volunteer with us. You are also welcome to join our free NVDA training sessions, even if you are not participating in this type of action. If you are not interested in participating in NVDA events, but would like to support us in this form of activism, please donate to our gift-matched NVDA fund.
We who engage in nonviolent direct action are not the creators of tension. We merely bring to the surface the hidden tension that is already alive.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., 1963
Laudible and noble.