Toolbox:

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

Principle

Activate international mechanisms

Activate international mechanisms

While international mechanisms like the United Nations’ human rights protocols are no cure-all for correcting abuses, savvy campaigners can use them to put pressure on rogue governments or protect activists.

Theory

Al faza’a (a surge of solidarity)

Al faza’a (a surge of solidarity)

A key segment of your supporters will only join at peak moments of your campaign — usually in response to an external event — and then disappear again. To win, you must be ready to make the most of this surge.

Story

Battle of the Camel

Battle of the Camel

A violent attack on protesters in Tahrir Square by pro-regime, camel-riding thugs was a turning point in the Egyptian revolution, generating popular support for the protesters and leading to the fall of Mubarak.

Principle

Breakfast is persuasive

Breakfast is persuasive

Providing a direct service that benefits your community can speak louder than any rhetorical argument. Living out the values of self-reliance can empower the community to engage in deeper organizing.

Methodology

Building resilience

Building resilience

Activities and practices for building individual, small-group, and community resilience, so we can create sustainable, impactful, and thriving groups capable of changing the world for the better.

Story

Burmese Students’ Long March

Burmese Students’ Long March

In 2014, hundreds of students embarked on a 580 kilometre-long march across Myanmar to protest the military-controlled Parliament’s attempt to outlaw student unions.

Tactic

Cacerolazo (noise-making protest)

Cacerolazo (noise-making protest)

Let your resistance be heard loud and clear by making lots of noise en masse — banging pots and pans, blowing whistles, honking horns, or setting off cell-phone ringtones.

Tactic

Civil disobedience

Civil disobedience

Breaking a law in public in order to challenge the moral legitimacy of that specific law (e.g. racial segregation) or a greater injustice committed by the state (e.g. corruption).

Tactic

Clandestine leafleting

Clandestine leafleting

When it is unsafe to protest or campaign publicly, there are many creative ways to deliver your message without putting yourself at risk — even floating lanterns or ping pong balls.

Theory

“Democracy promotion”

“Democracy promotion”

Democracy promotion is the term the US uses to describe efforts to penetrate and control emergent civil societies in targeted countries — those with regimes deemed unfriendly or unstable by policymakers.

Theory

Direct action

Direct action

Action that changes our circumstances without handing power to an intermediary. Direct action interrupts business-as-usual, seizes leadership, and introduces an alternative narrative.

Story

Disrupting Obama’s town hall in Myanmar

Disrupting Obama’s town hall in Myanmar

In 2014, young activists at Yangon University, Myanmar, creatively disrupted a town hall meeting with President Obama to expose the flaws in the military-dominated government’s political reform process.

Tactic

Distributed action

Distributed action

A decentralized mass protest where large numbers of people express their support by taking many small, simple, coordinated actions: banging pots, turning lights off, wearing the same colour of clothing, etc.

Principle

Don’t dress like a protester

Don’t dress like a protester

If you look like a stereotypical protester, it’s easy for people to write you off, but if you look like the girl next door, people just might sympathize with you instead.

Story

Flower Speech Campaign

Flower Speech Campaign

In 2014, Burmese activists launched the Panzagar (“flower speech”) campaign to counter hate speech in Myanmar in response to a rise in anti-Muslim violence.

Principle

Focus on basic needs

Focus on basic needs

In repressive regimes, directly criticizing the authorities can be dangerous. One lower-risk way to challenge the legitimacy of the regime is to focus attention on everyday economic struggles, e.g. high prices.

Theory

Framing

Framing

Like the frame around a photograph, a conceptual frame highlights certain events and facts, while making others invisible. Effectively framing your message can make the difference between winning and losing.

Story

#​Gambia​Has​Decided

#​Gambia​Has​Decided

After almost a decade of building momentum, Gambians seized a crucial window of opportunity in 2016 to overthrow a notorious dictator.

Tactic

General strike

General strike

A widespread work shutdown across many industries in a city, region, or country. General strikes are led by workers, often involve entire communities, and can be triggered by unpopular political edicts.

Methodology

Hardship to grievance

Hardship to grievance

Organizers can help people shift their understanding of the difficulties they are experiencing from isolated hardships to shared grievances, then carry out successful campaigns to address those grievances.

Tactic

Hashtag campaign

Hashtag campaign

By choosing a strategic hashtag and curating the ensuing conversation, you can use Twitter and other social media platforms to shift the debate and expand your support.

Story

Honk at Parliament

Honk at Parliament

In June 2013, citizens began honking their horns outside Lebanon’s Parliament to tell MPs that their time in office had expired. The protest spread until they were honked at everywhere they went.

Principle

If protest is made illegal, make daily life a protest

If protest is made illegal, make daily life a protest

When repression makes protest too risky, turn ordinary acts — driving slowly, clapping, wearing black, or laughing — into protests, thereby ridiculing the authorities and forcing them into a decision dilemma.

Tactic

Jail solidarity

Jail solidarity

Putting pressure on authorities after activists are arrested can create a strong community of resistance, and help deter state violence and the persecution of activists.

Tactic

Mass street action

Mass street action

A large public protest that shows the scale of people power behind a cause.

Story

Panty power

Panty power

Burmese dissidents protested Myanmar’s ruling junta by encouraging supporters to mail panties to foreign embassies and top generals (who superstitiously feared that female underwear sapped their power).

Methodology

Perception box

Perception box

Use the perception box to understand your audiences better, so you can design effective campaign messages to reach them.

Methodology

Pillars of power

Pillars of power

Identify the institutions that your target relies on for support so you can weaken or disrupt their power.

Methodology

Power mapping

Power mapping

Map the power dynamics at play to identify your primary target and design a winning campaign strategy.

Principle

Put your target in a decision dilemma

Put your target in a decision dilemma

Design your action so that your target is forced to make a decision, and all their available options play to your advantage.

Principle

The real action is your target's reaction

The real action is your target's reaction

When challenging a more powerful target, the key to success often isn’t what you do, but how your target reacts to what you do. Therefore, anticipate your target’s response and write it into your script.

Story

The Salt March

The Salt March

In 1930, Gandhi famously led a march to the sea to collect salt (which Indians were banned from producing), forcing the British Raj into a classic decision dilemma and paving the way for Indian independence.

Principle

Seek safety in support networks

Seek safety in support networks

When activists are threatened, it’s important to harness national or international networks that can provide support and deter violence.

Principle

Simple rules can have grand results

Simple rules can have grand results

Rather than trying to script everything out, often a few simple rules — say, “come to Wall St; bring a tent,” or “bang your pots and pans at noon” — are enough to spark a surprisingly effective mass action.

Methodology

Spectrum of allies

Spectrum of allies

Locate allies and opponents along a spectrum from active opposition to active allies in order to increase your own support, as well as to shift support out from under your opponent.

Story

Standing Man

Standing Man

Sometimes one person standing in defiance of police repression is enough to galvanize a movement of millions. That’s exactly what happened in Turkey in 2013.

Story

#​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.

Tactic

V-formation

V-formation

Inspired by migratory birds, this is a technique for sustaining activism for the long haul. Rotate roles to share burdens, and allow members to step back from frontline roles without guilt, and you’ll go far.

Story

Who Would Accept?

Who Would Accept?

After Egypt’s 2013 coup, when the only safe way to criticize the regime was to focus on poor economic conditions, ten Egyptian women held up banners with messages like, “Who would accept… such high gas bills?”