Nonviolent action is one of the most powerful tools we have to defeat authoritarianism and injustice, defend our rights and freedoms, and bring about social change.
Research on civil resistance shows that nonviolent movements are statistically more effective than violent ones, in part because they draw far broader and more diverse participation across race, class, creed, generation, sector and across rural and urban areas. There is a role for everyone in nonviolent civil resistance movements.
When large numbers of people engage in coordinated acts of noncooperation—boycotts, walkouts, strikes, sanctuary efforts, public refusals, and the building of alternative systems—they withdraw the social, economic, and moral support that autocrats rely on to maintain power. Nonviolent resistance also makes repression backfire: when governments use violence against peaceful movements, it triggers public outrage, erodes the regime’s legitimacy, and causes people to shift their support away from authoritarian systems and toward the pro-democracy cause.
Across the United States, growing numbers of people are refusing to cooperate with federal abuses of power and marshalling nonviolent action to counter authoritarianism. At Horizons, we support this growing nonviolent pro-democracy front by:
Training local organizers and communities in strategic nonviolent action and noncooperation tactics.
Researching the conditions that lead to loyalty shifts—when key pillars of society shift their support away from authoritarian systems and toward democracy—and apply these findings to make noncooperation and pro-democracy efforts more effective.
Organizing a broad-front coalition of people and institutions—including faith communities, veterans, artists, business owners, lawyers, unions, grassroots activists, youth organizers and others—invested in using nonviolent action to counter authoritarianism and strengthen democracy.
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