Toolbox:

An interconnected web of the key strategies and tactics that have inspired people-powered victories & upended the status quo. Start anywhere and explore…

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Sign Language Sit-in

Sign Language Sit-in

Deaf activists in Zimbabwe stood up (and sat-in) to demand access to information in sign language, successfully pressuring the national broadcaster to include sign language interpretation in news broadcasts.

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Miniskirt March

Miniskirt March

After a video circulated in 2014 showing the public abuse and harassment of a woman in Harare, Zimbabwe, women organized a miniskirt march to protest widespread street harassment and to push for safe spaces.

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Boxing Gender Oppression

Boxing Gender Oppression

After Kenya’s post-election violence in 2008, when many young women were sexually abused and traumatized, Boxgirls Kenya used boxing to fight the shaming, stigma, and fear they experienced.

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Kisangani Demands Electric Power

Kisangani Demands Electric Power

Despite state violence, the people of Kisangani forced the Congolese authorities to honor their constitutional right to reliable electric power.

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Angola 15+2

Angola 15+2

The story of how 17 young activists risked their lives in hunger strikes and flash mobs to force out Angola’s brutal dictator and bring an end to over 30 years of oppression.

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Street Graduation

Street Graduation

Graduates across Zimbabwe creatively turned their unemployment into a daily protest routine, instilling a clear link in public consciousness between unemployment, the financial crisis, and corruption.

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Stripping Power in Uganda

Stripping Power in Uganda

Female elders in northern Uganda invoked powerful cultural taboos by removing their clothes in front of two government ministers who were attempting to grab their land, successfully chasing them away.

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Yellow Pigs in Parliament

Yellow Pigs in Parliament

In 2014, to protest government corruption and high rates of youth unemployment, young activists painted two pigs yellow (the colour of the ruling party), and let them run wild in Uganda’s Parliament.

Tactic

Cultural disobedience

Cultural disobedience

Civil disobedience is the deliberate violation of unjust laws. In a similar spirit, cultural disobedience bravely subverts unjust cultural norms.

Theory

Feminism

Feminism

Feminist social movements identify patriarchal power as a fundamental source of injustice and inequality, and hence call to transform gender power relations in all domains.

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Black Monday movement

Black Monday movement

A campaign against theft of taxpayer money that engaged Ugandan citizens to fight corruption by exposing and ostracizing government thieves. Members wore black on Mondays.

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Bring Back Our Girls

Bring Back Our Girls

In April 2014, 276 girls were abducted from their school by the Boko Haram terrorist group, sparking a massive global campaign demanding their return.

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Kubatana’s yellow poster campaign

Kubatana’s yellow poster campaign

In 2014, after a disheartening election in Zimbabwe, despondent citizens were inspired by motivational posters around Harare to interact with each other via the online social justice site, kubatana.net.

Principle

Change a name to change the game

Change a name to change the game

Translate complex terms into simple, everyday language, so that people can more easily discuss and confront unjust and oppressive systems.

Tactic

Nudity

Nudity

Since being naked makes a person both vulnerable and powerful at the same time, nudity can be a potent method of nonviolent resistance. It shows both fearlessness and that, literally, you have nothing to hide.

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Fees Must Fall

Fees Must Fall

The 2015 tuition hikes sparked a national student movement in South Africa that demanded comprehensive reform and questioned the political, social, and economic status quo of the “rainbow nation.”

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#​This​Flag

#​This​Flag

One individual’s outcry for a better future inspired the citizens of Zimbabwe to find their courage and overthrow a ruthless dictator.

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No vote, no sex

No vote, no sex

An opposition party candidate in Zimbabwe’s 2013 elections called for women to withhold sex from their husbands in order to pressure them to vote for change. The results were underwhelming.

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Dhawili (turn on the lights)

Dhawili (turn on the lights)

In 2012, Tunisian anti-corruption campaigners used blogs, flash mobs and lobbying of National Constituent Assembly deputies to enshrine the right to freedom of information in the post-revolution constitution.