As the youth-led social movement gathers speed in Thailand, professor Mark S. Cogan reflects on the successes and failures of other protests to outline what essential tools of non-violent political action demonstrators have at their disposal.
After several major protests in Bangkok, authorities have practiced a degree of restraint, despite the dismantling of a long-held social taboo of voicing public criticism of Thailand’s once-revered monarchy.
The use of political jiu-jitsu
When a social movement begins to effectively undermine a regime, the state will calculate the cost of repression and respond accordingly.
Decentralised, but not leaderless movements
In protests around the world, the most recent trend is toward leaderless resistance.
Haunting
A rather simple but straightforward approach advocated by Sharp was to exert maximum pressure on officials, through «haunting». These are direct tactics used to influence or non-violently target regime officials through a variety of means – targeted protests, the use of social media campaigns, using past rhetoric against them, and more.
Without non-violent tactics, opportunities for peaceful discussion can turn into regime excuses for implementing a more aggressive response
This article was written by MARK S. COGAN
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