Direct action
For the Canadian urban guerrilla group "Direct Action" see Squamish Five. Direct action is a form of political
activism which seeks immediate remedy for perceived ills, as opposed to
indirect actions such as
electing representatives who promise to provide remedy at some later date.
Direct action includes such activities as
strikes,
boycotts,
workplace occupations,
sit-ins,
intimidation,
harassment, political
assassinations,
revolutionary/
guerrilla warfare, or
sabotage, and less oppositional methods such as establishing
radical social centres, which are often
squatted. Direct actions are often (but not always) a form of
civil disobedience, and are sometimes
illegal. Those employing direct action aim to either:
*obstruct another agent or organization from performing some practice to which they object.
*act with whatever resources and methods are within their power, either on their own or as part of a group, in order to solve problems.
Supporters of direct action view
reformist politics as ineffective in bringing about change, while still giving a sense of accomplishment to the participants, thus allowing the party or institution being targeted to continue with its perceived harmful practices without further harassment. Anarchist
Emma Goldman articulated this idea by saying "if voting changed anything, they'd make it illegal." [
1]
Direct action tactics have been around for as long as conflicts have existed, but the theory of direct action developed primarily in the context of labor struggles. In his
1920 book,
Direct Action,
William Mellor placed direct action firmly in the struggle between worker and employer for control "over the economic life of society." Mellor defined direct action "as the use of some form of economic
power for securing of ends desired by those who possess that power." Mellor considered direct action a tool of both owners and workers and for this reason he included within his definition
lockouts and
cartels, as well as strikes and sabotage. However, by this time the American anarchist and feminist
Voltairine de Cleyre had already given a strong defense of direct action, linking it with struggles for civil rights:
"the
Salvation Army was vigorously practising direct action in the maintenance of the freedom of its members to speak, assemble, and pray. Over and over they were arrested, fined, and imprisoned ... till they finally compelled their persecutors to let them alone." (de Cleyre, undated)
By the middle of the
20th century, the sphere of direct action had undoubtedly expanded, though the meaning of the term had perhaps contracted. Most campaigns for social change—notably those seeking
suffrage, improved working conditions,
civil rights, an end to
abortion, and environmental protection—employ at least some types of violent or nonviolent direct action.
The
anti-nuclear movement used direct action, particularly during the
1980s. Groups opposing the introduction of
Cruise missiles into the
UK employed tactics such as breaking into and occupying
US air bases, and blocking roads to prevent the movement of military convoys and disrupt military projects. In the US, mass protests opposed nuclear energy, weapons, and military intervention throughout the decade, resulting in thousands of arrests. Many groups also set up semi-permanent '
peace camps' outside air bases such as
Molesworth and
Greenham Common, and at the
Nevada Test Site.
Anti-globalization activists made headlines around the world in 1999, when they forced the Seattle
WTO Ministerial Conference of 1999 to end early with direct action tactics such as blocking traffic and destroying corporate property.
One of the largest direct actions in recent years took place in San Francisco the day after the
Iraq War began in 2003. Over 2000 people were arrested in
affinity group actions throughout downtown San Francisco, home to military-related corporations such as
Bechtel.
Nonviolent direct action is any form of direct action that does not rely on violent tactics.
Mahatma Gandhi's teachings of
Satyagraha (or
truth force) have inspired many practitioners of nonviolent direct action (NVDA). In
1963, civil rights leader,
Martin Luther King Jr. described the goal of NVDA in his
Letter from Birmingham Jail:
"Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue. It seeks so to dramatize the issue that it can no longer be ignored." One major debate is whether destruction of property can be included within the realm of nonviolence. This debate can be illustrated by the response to groups like the
Earth Liberation Front and
Animal Liberation Front, which use property destruction and sabotage as direct action tactics. Although these types of actions are often viewed as a form of violence, and even
terrorism, many supporters of these types of actions define violence only as harm directed towards living things, and not towards property.
As a principle, direct action is central to many strands of
anarchist theory, including
anarcho-syndicalism,
anarcho-communism,
insurrectionary anarchism,
green anarchism and
anarcho-pacifism.
In the U.S., the term has come to signify
civil disobedience, and protest in general, particularly where the organizers are not concerned with preventing violence. In the 1980s, a California direct action protest group called
Livermore Action Group called its newspaper
Direct Action. The paper ran for 25 issues, and covered hundreds of nonviolent actions around the world. The book
Direct Action: An Historical Novel took its name from this paper, and records dozens of actions in the San Francisco Bay Area.
"Direct Action" has also served as the moniker of at least two
terrorist groups: the
French Action Directe as well as the
Canadian group more popularly known as the
Squamish Five.
Direct Action was also the name of the magazine of the Australian
Wobblies. The
UK's Solidarity Federation currently publishes a magazine called
Direct Action.
*
Civil disobedience*
Direct democracy*
Dual power*
Flash mob*
General strike*
Nonviolence*
Sabotage and/or
Ecotage (
Monkeywrenching)
*
Tree sitting*
Tax resistanceSome groups which employ direct action
*
Animal Liberation Front*
ACT UP*
Black bloc*
Earth First!*
Industrial Workers of the World*
Greenpeace*
Operation Rescue*
Students for a Democratic Society*de Cleyre, V. (undated)
Direct Action. Available at
Spunk Online Anarchist Library.
*Hauser, Luke (2003)
Direct Action: An Historical Novel. Available at
www.directaction.org.
*Lunori, G. (1999)
Direct Action. Available at
sniggle.net.
*Sparrow, R. (undated)
Anarchist Politics and Direct Action. Available at
Spunk Online Anarchist Library.
*
Ecodefense: A Field Guide to Monkeywrenching*
ACTivist Magazine*
Civil Disobedience Manual from ACT-UP/NY*
ReclaimingQuarterly.org features photo-coverage of contemporary nonviolent direct actions*
DirectAction.org offers online organizing resources*
Greenpeace encourages its activists to use Non-Violent Direct Action*
The Citizen's Handbook*
Ruckus*
The Boston Direct Action Project*
IWW Organizing Department*
libcom.org/organise - organising direct action at work, in the community or anywhere else tips and guidelines
*
Smygo News & Views for Anarchists & Activists.
