Direct action

From Free net encyclopedia

For the Canadian urban guerrilla group "Direct Action" see Squamish Five.

Direct action is a method and a theory of stopping objectionable practices or creating more favorable conditions using immediately available means. More generally, Direct action is the act of establishing desired conditions using various means, techniques, methodologies, procedures, policies, or processes.

Contents

[edit]

Overview

Direct action include 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, although these are often squatted. Direct actions are often (but not always) a form of civil disobedience, and may be 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.

This method and theory is direct in that it seeks immediate remedy for perceived ills, as opposed to indirect tactics such as electing representatives who promise to provide remedy at some later date. Reformist politics (or indirect tactics) are generally acceptable to the institutions who they are directed against, because they generally change nothing, while at the same time allow most of the people who participate to blow off some steam and feel good about themselves, thinking that they have done something to bring about changes, thus allowing the offending party or institution to continue with its harmful practices without further harassment. By actually rendering the institution incapable of operating, direct action is the only thing that the offending institution will actually respond to, as it poses a real threat to its existence. Anarchist Emma Goldman said "If voting changed anything, they'd make it illegal." Template:Fact

[edit]

History

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. 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—notable those seeking suffrage, improved working conditions, civil rights, an end to abortion, and environmental protection—employ at least some types of violent or non-violent direct action.

[edit]

Nonviolent direct action

Nonviolent direct action is taken by various organizations and individuals. 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."

The anti-nuclear movement has deployed NVDA, 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 U.S., mass protests resulting in thousands of arrests opposed nuclear energy, weapons, and military intervention throughout the decade. 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 World Trade Organization meeting to end early with NVDA tactics such as lying down in streets to block traffic. Since then, NVDA has been used by activists at many trade-related events.

One of the largest nonviolent direct actions in recent years took place in San Francisco the day after the Iraq War began in 2003. Almost 2500 people were arrested in affinity group actions throughout downtown SF, home to many military corporations.Template:Fact

[edit]

Direct action and anarchism

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. While sometimes commonly associated with activism, direct action isn't limited by being merely symbolic of the struggle for liberation from the oppression of the capitalist State. Actions taken directly can actually have an affect on real situations in our own lifetimes.

In the U.S., the term has come to signify nonviolent protest in general, and in particular civil disobedience. 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 and the Canadian group more popularly known as the Squamish Five. "Direct Action" was also the name of the magazine of the Australian Wobblies.

[edit]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]

External links

de:Direkte Aktion es:Acción directa et:Otsene tegevus fr:Action directe (théorie politique) lt:Tiesioginiai veiklos metodai nl:Directe actie pt:Ação direta sv:Direkt aktion

Retrieved from "http://www.netipedia.com/index.php/Direct_action"