Toolbox:

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

Theory

Corruption

Corruption

The abuse of public power for private gain. Corruption thrives within a culture of impunity and is endemic to neoliberal and authoritarian regimes.

Principle

Use the Jedi mind trick

Use the Jedi mind trick

The Jedi mind trick worked for Obi-Wan Kenobi, and it can work for you, too. Believe in yourself hard enough, and others will too. “Act like you belong,” and most people — even the police — will assume you do.

Tactic

Critical mass

Critical mass

Large, festive, monthly bike rides in cities around the world, arranged in a spirit of do-it-yourself "organized coincidences," that prefigure future cities in which bicycles actually hold their own as traffic.

Story

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.

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.

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

Boycott

Boycott

An organized, mass refusal to purchase products of a company, industry or country in order to economically pressure your target.

Tactic

Identity correction

Identity correction

An act of activist ventriloquism in which you momentarily assume the mask of power to speak a little lie that tells a greater truth.

Tactic

Sex strike

Sex strike

A sex strike, sometimes called a sex boycott, is a method of nonviolent resistance in which people refrain from sex with their partner(s) to apply political pressure towards a certain goal.

Methodology

Participatory action research

Participatory action research

An approach to community-based research emphasizing participation, collaboration, and action, which seeks to understand the world by trying to change it.

Principle

Lead with sympathetic characters

Lead with sympathetic characters

Good actions tell a good story. Good stories revolve around sympathetic characters. The most sympathetic characters are members of the impacted community that outsiders can easily relate to.

Story

Harry Potter Alliance

Harry Potter Alliance

An innovative cultural campaign that mobilized the huge Harry Potter fan-base to fight for justice, human rights, and democracy in our world, just like Harry did in his world.

Story

Occupy Wall Street

Occupy Wall Street

For two months in 2011, in an open-ended act of defiance against capitalism, citizens occupied a public square on the doorstep of Wall Street, sparking 800 similar occupations and a new revolutionary awakening.