The success of nonviolent civil resistance: Erica Chenoweth at TEDxBoulder 

We, people of Myanmar are now using your method : Nonviolence. I'll come back when the result becomes more clear.

This is some of the most exciting work I've encountered in 45 years since becoming a nonviolence trainer.

I'm here because of class assignment. I absolutely loved this! The idea if Gandhi and King being taught first and not a after fact? Sheesh !!! & this video was 9 years ago? Where has this gem been?

For references and further resources, I link to a bunch of materials at my blog, Rational Insurgent.

Her book Why Civil Resistance Works changed my view on resistance, conflict, regime change, civil disobedience, and everything inbetween

She nails it on the head, our education system has failed us, as well as our parents. We need to start getting people to realize there's nothing super natural about not killing each other.

I have Why Civil Resistance Works in paperback and audiobook, and I recommend it almost daily. An incredibly important work, and a desperately needed counter to the increasingly violent narrative on all sides. I’m very glad to have this shorter presentation to post.

This knowledge and wisdom are needed now more than ever in our generation.

Pretty cool talk, but one problem with it is this binary between violent vs non violent resistance. In at least some important cases they are intertwined. For example, during the earlier days of the Syrian revolution, armed groups would prevent the army from entering the area that non violent protests were taking place. This after the Syrian army dealt with non violent protests by shooting demonstrators en masse.

we are doing exactly that in West Cameroons now. civil disobedience.

As we look at the social unrest we are facing today, this would be a wonderful time to bring back this Talk, to infuse it in the actions that we are taking. I believe that change needs action n order to occur - but I want that in a non-violent way.

Relevant today

Thank you for this beautiful talk

Awesome, thanks for this inspiring and wonderful talk. Peace is the way

Watching this in 2021America is interesting

I maybe buy the idea that non violence resistance is more effective in building better societies after the change but I would ask you to dig deep into the conditions and cultures that would leverage non-violence options to violent ones. In most african countries, the dictatorial leadership is inplanted and financed by Western "democratic" countries and therefore they are not answerable to their people in anyway. Any non violent action is met with state violence..... how do you promote non violence tactics in such an environment? Congo Kinshasa has not succeeded, SA did not succeed with Non violence alone, most French speaking African countries cannot succeed, Egypt did not succeed because the violent option overturned the non violent spring,...... we are really in a messy world.

Fabulous!! Extremely enlightening. Thank you

This really needs to go viral

I like your talk and thanks for all the research you have put in it! Let's pass on the message. Shared...

Unfortunately, some people never even entertain the thought that violence might not be a good solution to problems.

These are difficult issues and I certainly have no answers. For me though, the main takeaway from this Talk has to do with numbers, diffusion and penetration; i.e., as the numbers (of those involved in resistance) grow, they increasingly permeate more broad spectra of society. As this happens, more and more people have closer interests in the resistance (or change-seeking, revolution, whatever you want to call it--it doesn't matter) and are thus drawn into it, either in support or in opposition. For example, she mentioned that no State operative, however brutal their job might be (e.g., the East German Stazi) (sp?) is completely disconnected from the society in which that person lives and operates. That, IMO, is a crucial point. She also talked about people who may be sympathetic but 'risk-averse,' who, when they see many others demonstrating, et al, become more willing to join in--the 'safety-in-numbers' idea. I can understand how, Once a certain 'critical mass' is reached (and I do think that this minimum proportion is essential), the growth of the movement (resistance, revolution, et al--whatever) almost certainly will increase exponentially, simply because of the multitude of social and other ties that connect virtually all individuals within any given society. Chris Hedges, who covered a multitude of violent and non-violent revolutions, emphasizes something like this in his own commentary on resistance/revolution/change. He provides examples of this dynamic working in many instances, including Czechoslovakia and East Germany; when those charged with firing on the crowds have family members in those crowds, well, the effect of that is obvious. I remain skeptical about the efficacy of this in any and all situations; I think each is unique, and requires its own strategies and tactics. And, although I don't like the idea, I do think that in some instances, the strategic or tactical use of some acts and levels of violence may become necessary. Even Chris Hedges acknowledges this, although, as he points out, when violence becomes an absolute necessity, the results are always tragic, everyone loses. All extremely complex, certainly from a moral perspective, and from a strategic perspective. I doubt there are any absolute answers--I certainly have none. But I do feel certain of one thing: we must do Something--act, preferably in a non-violent manner, but act, express resistance to the status quo, or nothing will change.

I always wondered how could people allow such atrocities when the majority was against and now I know. I am an Amerindian living in Venezuela and when I compare over 500 years of struggle with contemporary history I now understand that a NATION where everyone defends only his/hers interests in no match against a group of people however small in numbers that stick together for a common interest.

I do think that just one century might be too short, considering the major conflicts that dominated the first half of it being the most destructive in human history. This might explain the shift towards the end of it, people were tired of violence period. I cannot help but think that property rights are themselves based on violence, and thus, all societies have violence inherent to them. IE. Who gave you that land? Your grandfather? Where did he get it? His grandfather? And him? Eventually, you reach a point where ownership/property sprang from violence (or at the very least; attendance). And thus, living in a place, or near a place, for some period of time precludes others from using it to sustain themselves? Thus, violence. Though...I think it is interesting. Her facts are strong, and there is no denying that the trend is continuing. So for now, I support this as the primary tool in our new, evolving society.

0:07 "i would like you to imagine that you live in an extremely repressive country": don't need to, i am already living in one, hello form Vietnam everyone.

Excellent! Spreading this around Indivisible! Thank you, Erica!

Great! Thanks!

Wonderful!!

We are doing this in lebanon and will stay resisting peacefully till we change our system to a non corrupted one and start aa civilised one...

Cazerolazos! I heard many of them all over Caracas in 2016. Banging pots and pans in the evening. Powerful

Very timely video

Belarus 2020 non-violent resistance has failed, though has engaged around 10%. The 3.5% role does not always work if the is a decisive and defiantly violent suppression by the despot.

Pacifism is a tactic, liked all tactics they have a place and time, like all tactics they do not work in every situation, In all cases resistance has fractions that perform different functions and no one fractions actions can be attributed to the totality outcomes.

Power to the people!!!!!

Thank you, this was really awesome. This was shared via my nonviolent transformation on conflicts class!

Hi XR 2019! 😊

Thanks

Such a great presentation ! But please could you allow people to add more translations, I would really love to translate it in French ! And I swear my request is made in a very peaceful manner !

Excellent points, particularly on coordinated electricity shut-offs... Shira, 13 July, 12016 HE

Excellent message.

This talk makes it seem like these two types of resistance are mutually exclusive, which is definitely not the case throughout history nonviolent and violent civil resistance are usually very closely tied for understandable reasons, and it allows for both the broader appeal of nonviolent resistance and the force of violent resistance. Examples of both non-violent and violent resistance in a movement are the civil rights movement in the US as well as the Russian Revolution, which had many years of non-violent demonstrations, with violent retaliation from the Tsar against mass protests from people like the priest Georgy Apollonovich Gapon in Bloody Sunday, all leading to the Russian Revolution.

Watching this now, during a pandemic when labor can’t show up to work and the US economy is tanking just lends more evidence to the ability of a mass strike to cripple power until it listens.

I hope you're right and Catalonia become free soon, very soon.

Can we find the data and calculus details somewhere?

Interesting but I wonder if something as complex as revolutions can really be quantified with any real precision. Are we seeing a causal link here or just a correlative one. Suppose for example that certain regimes are more prone to failure and due to these same weaknesses are more likely to allow the proliferation of a peaceful uprising? It is also a bit of an omission that we're never told what qualifies as a "mixed" revolution, meaning one with both violent and nonviolent elements. Would the American Civil Rights movement have counted? Though we cherish the story of Dr. King's pacifism we tend to forget that his famed marches took place over a backdrop of race riots and mounting fears of a militant uprising. There's certainly a lot here to reenforce the idea that nonviolence shouldn't be so readily ruled out, however, unless I'm misreading the subtext, it seems to go further to suggest that violence can be ruled out, which is a stretch. What about the most vigilant autocracies? Could a nonviolent resistance movement have stopped Fascist Italy or Nazi Germany? Even at the height of their power and control? After all just because something is statistically more effective doesn't mean it can't be situationally less effective.

This topic needs more research. Gandhi and his 20 year-plus civil disobedience and protesting for Indian independence is not actual "revolution"; it's a political evolution. Revolutions are much shorter.

Oef such an important message. I feel the urge to and will spread this in every way I can :)

1:29 they blinked at the same time

Many of the points are agreeable, BUT violence has a role. IMHO, non-violence has to work with violence to achieve the best result. Violence has to be used to counter the violence used by the authority, but non-violence shows the authority a possible peaceful future. Besides, every situation is different, and it is potentially upsetting to see stats being thrown around for advocating non-violence!

Why don't we perform national strikes? If everyone decided to take a sick day on the same day or two, things would change immediately.

Knowledge is wealth

Why do I suspect that her research into violent and nonviolent uprisings put her name on a list in some government department somewhere?

As a former Peace educator in schools, training both teachers and students in the ways of non-violence, I really appreciate this talk. But in this year of 2022 with the current vicious attack of Russia on the Ukrainian people, I’m challenged to suggest that they not fight back. When the dust settles and if Russia has firmly overtaken the country, it seems like there are more opportunities to overthrow a dictator with nonviolent strategies than to stop a sudden and brutal vicious attack with indiscriminate bombing on kindergartens and hospitals and homes, like we are witnessing in Ukraine now. Prayers for them all!

This is amazing

I no longer have to imagine I live in a repressive country thanks to Cheeto Benito.

This is awesome!

Could be that we might reduce the amount of our national resources spent on weapons and redirect them on making a much better life for our citizens.

i known leaders who oppose nonviolence in non violence ways...!

We have 25% of the pop tried to do non-violence campaign and fail...T.T

Her parameters for success on non-violent movements are really strange, why is “achieving their demands” considered a good criteria for judging how well protest really changes things?

I wish there was a transcript function for this video to cite it

Honestly, it doesn't matter; peoples dealing with tyrannical situations have the right to decide for themselves how they want to wage their wars against their tyrants, and neither non-violence or violence is morally wrong. It really should depend on the circumstances and the resisters themselves should make the determination -- if some of them want to use violence, the non-violent ones have no right to stop them and are not only being immoral by doing so, they're hurting their own causes by turning against allies and turning their own movements in on themselves, making them self-destruct. The idea that people believe that strict adherence to non-violence is more important than the issue in question or the rights and autonomy of the resisters is sickening.

Miss Young crew represent

Yes but people might be choosing non violence because they already sense that the zeitgeist has swung in their favour, it doesn't mean you can 'reproduce' it by choosing non-violence, based on a study, and have it work the same way.

Direct action. Resist the government

8:10 Even when there are crackdowns, non-violent resistance is twice as effective

Meditation is key to calming the mind, soul...learn it and see ur life improve 10x

This fits perfectly with whats going on in Bolivia right now, thank you!

what counts as a success according to Chenoweth's research?

lit

3:30 Non-violent campaigns twice as successful

Were the end and conclusion questions supposed to make me cry?

This video has been used to promote peaceful opposition in Venezuela. The data may be correct in the lecturer's suggestion of no violence in order to achieve meaningful change. However, the forces of evil tend to fall because dictators don't perform their own studies on how to win over benign forces, in a scientific and systematic fashion. Many dictatorial forces that she mentions in the video have fallen because of this lack of scientific effort. But that has not been the case with the Castros in Cuba, who have been in power for over 50 years (not mentioned in the video). They practice their power with a high level of knowledge, and have put in practice what works best in the science of repression. The problem is that this is the mayor source of support for the government of Venezuela, with all the power and might of the Cuban intelligence. So I agree that there is great success based on the data and on study, but that may well depend of who is better educated in their purpose, the dictator or the people.

She's giving information to authoritarian regimes on why nonviolent resistance could topple them.

Listen up ppl

3.5% but how long does it take? a question from Myanmar (Burma) under the Regime for 2 years now.

can someone elaborate more on the "shutting down the electricity" part? what's the purpose of this? how does it help the protestors cause?

Yet most people will do NEITHER in the face of tyranny

Wait.... Non violent opposition toppled slobodan milosevic.... there was a civil war beforehand you know....

Since one of the two situations researched was "territorial liberation" was the almost exclusively peaceful collapse of the British empire considered? Maybe I am being simplistic, but it seems the period of time researched was non-standard in this aspect.

the protesters against anti-corona measures should look at this!

Sources??

Civil resistance in other countries without help of foreign intelligence services like (CIA, MI6, BND, etc.) is doomed to failure. You can do many researches, analyze data and talk, but the reality is something else !!! Change can be made only with violence, or if you are "supported" by this agencies it can be done with less violence like in Serbia. This video only serve in interest of the leaders of the countries, because if the people remove the option of violence that means peaceful sleep for the rulers !!! Let's see what people in Europe will achieve with peaceful protests over there against the problems with the migrants from middle east and other problems that they have !!! Let's see the power of nonviolent civil resistance. :)

I wish i could get the information in this presentation without the BS setup that all Ted talks seem to involve

So, in one sentence: "Nonviolent movements are more likely to succeed today because they draw more people." Maybe, then, the problem is the discouragement from violent movements in the first place.

🥳 👍 👏 + 😊 🙏🏼 😊 = 💪 ✊🏽 I saw this video it’s a blessing Now since 22/2-2019 the Algerians are in the street every Friday & Thursday till now it’s week Nr38 .... Strange total silence 🤫 in the media around the world 🌍... neither politicians... CAN you help us as a humanitarian ? We need your support Thanks 🙏🏼

It's so sad that Serbia is an example used, and I'm from Serbia, watching this cause I want to better understand protests that are happening right now, because that repressive country mentioned at the beginning really is the state I live in. So.. we were that example when I was born, and so are we now, 20 years after.

It is easy to talk about the hope of non-violent revolutions coming from positions of privilage. People who come from positions of struggle and survival do not have the privilage to wait peacefully while the State that rules over them loses legitimacy (that is if it ever gets noticed by NGOs)... and then what? a neocolonial US/Euro supported regime takes over? This is not to say I disagree with her arguments completely. The "long-run" point has a lot of strength to it. ...but I think revolution needs to go beyond the violent/non-violent question and search and answer "What is violence?"

Philippines

too bad that is not subtitled in Spanish. I'm writing from Colombia during a massive protest and I offer to do it

where is the statistics to support this ???

This video was refreshing and reassuring as I continue to peacefully protest against racism. LET US END RACISM. LET US PROTEST. And most importantly, LET US EDUCATE.

Teach peace not war. As a future educator, I got you.

قال صلى الله عليه وسلم: ( ياعائشة! إن الله رفيق يحب الرفق. ويعطي على الرفق ما لا يعطي على العنف. وما لا يعطي على ما سواه) [رواه مسلم] وقال أحد الحكماء:« ُيدرك بالرفق ما لا ُيدرك بالعنف

great lecture. But I gotta say the crowd reactions throughout the vid looked as if they were all on happy pills

Russia 04.08.2019 Nonviolent civil resistance week 3

Belarus 2020!

You certainly won't get the support of the US military manufacturing sector wanting these facts known! Let's hope this is being taught at our schools.

Even the non violent activists pointed out that violence is acceptable. Non violence only works to gain support at first.

What happens when your country is moving towards dictatorship but isn't quite there yet? When a government, itself democratically elected, is undermining democracy, with about half the population supporting it (some because they actually favour autocracy, others because they don't yet realize what effect this would have on them)? I would expect that civil disobdience would even easier to organize, and even more effective, in this scenario (remember, if about half of the population currently supports the government -- that means the other half doesn't). On the other hand, when autocracy is a looming threat, rather than a reality, some people might be too apathetic to bother, which would work against civil disobedience. Well, in my own country, we're about to find out...

We live in the country she summed nup