Nonviolent Action Network

Overcoming fear from different sources is a tough obstacle in a nonviolent action movements. Fear of change and fear of the regime are the two big ones.

Change could be perceived as a dangerous process. Political change by definition is a threat to the current state that people have become accustomed to and is generally feared . Not only this, but a promise of change is really just that, a promise. It could be looked at as a gamble, but instead of 20 dollars in a slot machine, it is a persons way of life that is on the table. The most important task of an activist should be to transform this hostile perception into active participation which is just as hard as it sounds. Although we are fortunate enough to be in an interesting that has brought to us interesting solutions to the roadblocks we face.

Activist on the ground, especially in my area of focus, the Arabic speaking world, face a large hurdle when mobilising their people against oppressive regimes. The activists are incapable of motivating the people (save the youth) to engage in many of the planned actions for several reasons, the first being the fear of change. Overcoming this fear, and also empowering the people is a complicated endeavor but could still be achieved. It requires the leaders of the movement to engage from the onset in a very important process of discovering what change the people want, what the concerns are with regards to change, but also consider the wants and needs of other opposition movements which might not have the same vision of the future but at this point are capable of finding a common ground which could form the bedrock of a coalition and an inclusive rallying call of change.

Developing a vision in the mind of the masses that helps breakdown fears and introduces a positive future  is essential. Spelling out the potential of the future is just as important as highlighting the obvious problems of the present and its connection with the current system of government. This should help motivate people across all lines to embrace change and hopefully support and work towards it. Linking the current ills of a nation with the current system is essential. Not only should basic political and economic failings be pointed out but also other social ills that exist which in some cases are more important to some people.

Creating a popular political platform which you hope will help the masses overcome the fear of change is very complicated and requires a lot of political skill. Overcoming the fear of the regime is another story. The display of power by the regime and its shadow of fear are two sides of the same coin. The ‘infallibility of the regime’ syndrome is a psychological state that is found in all oppressed people. It reminds me of the helplessness I would feel in my high school math classes, which I later linked to fear. You could point it out with two popular quotes: “no matter what we do, it is not in our hands” and when other nonviolent action movements are mentioned “our situation is much worse, you can not compare”. Like any other psychological illness, this could be cured but I am sad to say that I have not seen a commercial for a pill on television yet. Breaking the fear of the regime is the most dangerous stage of a nonviolent action. Taking part in actions that defy the regime, if seen by the public, could break the perceived power of the regime. At one point in time this ‘if’ was very hard to reach, today it is not so true.

Propagating the message of an organization and also its actions has never been easier. With the use of web 2.0, user driven content has added a new twist to activism. Social networking (www.Facebook.com), blogs (www.blogspot.com and the website you are viewing right now) and digital file sharing (www.youtube.com) are three programs that offer all the tools needed to organize any movement. Blogs are used by different types of people for different reasons. It is relevant for us today because activist across the world have started to utilize them to get their message out not only to their own people but also to people across the world. File sharing is also a powerful tool, it really simplifies the task of media hosting allowing users to upload videos, pictures and audio onto the internet. Its power has been proven when people use youtube viewing statistics as a measure of popularity. Social networking websites are probably a regimes worse enemy, it allows members to contact people from the same country, university and also provides groups based on comman interest. If the regimes in the past were scared of religion, websites like Facebook would be considered a nightmare. Not only do they provide a space for people to come together but it is also fun. The best thing about these three tools is that they are free, user friendly and already very popular in today’s world.