Modern Dissent: A New Era of Effective & Peaceful Action for Real Change!

Triggered by polarizing crises, protesters are back in the streets all over the world. This will become the new normal given the dismal shape the economy and world politics are in.

Many protests are struggling to generate enough awareness for their cause. What lessons can today’s planners learn from previous triumphs of social activism (the New Deal, the 60’s movements), and how can they create the winning conditions needed for the social, economic, and political transformations in our world?

Re-embracing notions of compassion and solidarity as change agents for social mobilization would be a welcome start. But it is also important to realize that protests need to be staged and run differently, they must be centrally planned and carried out to achieve the maximum desired impact and outcomes.

Love trumps hate, compassion eases suffering.

The following decades after WWII saw an emerging sense of freedom that birthed a revolution of social change. Direct citizen participation and activism transformed social and cultural developments around the world. Deviating from the social norm and infused with a burning zeal for fairness, justice, and equality of rights, activists organized into grassroots political resistance groups and won major civil, legal, and political concessions against the powerful forces of the day.

Same muck, different era.

The Those decades are long gone but concerns for the human rights and conditions of all people are still valid today as we face an entirely new set of challenges in a post-new-cold-war era. People are helpless against all the insecurity and instability in the world. They are either unable to find work or hold three jobs just to get by. They cannot vent about their problems, they endure pain and suffering in silence, shut out of the economic system with nary a compassionate ear to listen to them. Look around you, those “alien others” are everywhere, begging on the street, collecting our garbage, cleaning our bathrooms, stocking our shelves, serving our meals.

The human and spiritual damage caused by a ruthless global economy and widening inequality has taken its toll on wide swaths of enraged individuals, whose only comfort is economic, political, ethnic, sectarian, or religious violence taken to the streets. But anger and violence are a dead end. Effective and peaceful protests are the only way forward.

Solutions are everywhere, we just need our leaders to pay attention!

We are in the midst of many crises, imminent economic upheavals (those are cyclical, and we are due for a market correction soon), COVID-19, policing, the environment, never-ending wars, etc. But what is startling is that the solutions for all our problems are not hard to find, some even exist in broad daylight, but our leaders will seldom give them full play. And here lies the crux of the problem; getting our leaders to listen!

The most important component in social movements is People Power.

We must use whatever peaceful and effective means (yellow vests in France) to make our voices heard. Peaceful and effective protests mean thinking and planning strategically, acting in harmony with our stakeholders to positively influence public opinion. It also means respect for our surroundings and the authorities; however indifferent they may be. A strategic mindset is at the heart of progressive activism, that why people were able to win important concessions in the past with simple and sustained calculated actions, “in it for the long haul.”

And now social movements have a new friend, technology.

Today, the internet and digital communications are indispensable tools for empowering citizenry, civil society, and social movements. Demonstration strategists have two important considerations, No Violence (which is not even up for discussion), and Strategic Planning (who’s goal is to achieve a successful rollout and demand resolution). Now imagine how technology (with a large social media component) and other focused but integrated online and off-line strategies, will not only level the playing field but start forcing the other party to the negotiation tables.

The success of the plurality depends on the single actions of individuals.

Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself”. – Rumi, 13th century Poet

Most people have the capacity to develop genuine sympathy for others. They always stand up for their friends if they are in trouble. We need to do expand our circles of friends to strangers that need help. Doing so can liberate and enrich our lives, and give us a lot more friends!

Here’s a simple exercise (called the 3 F’s) that will help start the process of self-healing and set us on the path to opening increasing that circle of friends:

• Forget the past; especially if it is full of unpleasant memories that sequester your thoughts daily, for they will stunt your growth and impede positive interactions with people. The past has come and gone; and in the present; nothing else exists except your present actions good (or bad) be sure they will outlive you.
• It is also important to forgive, for being angry towards someone is like drinking poison and expecting them to die. Think of someone you’ve wronged; how would you feel if they still held a grudge against you, even though you’ve since changed your ways? Use this argument to rid yourself of what poisons you. And remember that when forgiveness is exercised collectively it can nullify decades of enmity and lead to peace between hostile neighbors and nations.
• And finally, be fortunate to be alive; be grateful for everything you have. Learn to accept and use whatever cards you were dealt, for there will always be someone who was dealt a worse hand than yours. Be fortunate for your life is extremely precious; you must not waste it, you must expand those circles of friends, and benefit others as much as you can.

The solution to our survival is the respect of others to save everyone.

Demonstrations inspired by principles founded on “acting for the greater good” ”end up always the way forward. Nations and Empires dread them but are sometimes fashioned by them. But for protests to become effective long-term instruments of change they must be planned and staged intelligently and with dignity. There are many BDS movements to get inspiration from that are legal, non-violent, and are extremely effective in creating the right conditions for change.

Join a group, take up a cause, for the right motivations can move the world!

With a focus on love, we must connect with others of like minds and aspirations, for here among a Compassionate Collective Consciousness, the Revolution of the Righteous must continue to champion Love over Hate; Compassion over Cruelty, and Truth over Falsehoods.

“How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.” – Parting words by Anne Frank

Flower photo courtesy: By S.Sgt. Albert R. Simpson. Department of Defense. Department of the Army. Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations. U.S. Army Audiovisual Center.

Crowd photo courtesy: Orna Wachman from Pixabay