#9 of 198 Methods of Nonviolent Direct Action

Christoph Probst,(l)  Sophie Scholl,(center)  her brother Hans.(r.

NONVIOLENT PROTEST AND PERSUASION
Communications with a Wider Audience
 
#9. Leaflets, pamphlets, and books

Members of the White Rose, a German anti-Nazi student group, beheaded for distributing anti-Nazi leaflets. 
 Do these courageous young people the honor of reading these stirring words addressed to the German people in the midst of the Nazi atrocities. There are lessons for all of us today.

 From a White Rose leaflet, a German anti-Nazi student movement.

"Now the end is at hand. Now it is our task to find one another again, to spread information from person to person, to keep a steady purpose, and to allow ourselves no rest until the last man is persuaded of the urgent need of his struggle against this system. When thus a wave of unrest goes through the land, when "it is in the air", when many join the cause, then in a great final effort this system can be shaken off. After all, and end in terror is preferable to terror without end."

 and from another...

Many, perhaps most, of the readers of these leaflets do not see clearly how they can practice an effective opposition. They do not see any avenues open to them. We want to try to show them that everyone is in a position to contribute to the overthrow of this system. It is not possible through solitary withdrawal, in the manner of embittered hermits, to prepare the ground for the overturn of this "government" or bring about the revolution at the earliest possible moment. No, it can be done only by the cooperation of many convinced, energetic people - people who are agreed as to the means they must use to attain their goal."

Read all the leaflets. White Rose Anti-Nazi Leaflets

#6 of 198 Methods of Nonviolent Direct Action

NONVIOLENT PROTEST AND PERSUASION
Formal Statements
#6. Group or mass petitions

Political and social activists have a lot of choices these days when launching a petition campaign. But not all petition sites are created equal.  Read More

198 Methods of Nonviolent Action compiled by Dr. Gene Sharp and first published in his 1973 book, The Politics of Nonviolent Action, Vol. 2: The Methods of Nonviolent Action. (Boston: Porter Sargent Publishers, 1973). The book outlines each method and gives information about its historical use. You may also download this list of methods.

#5 of 198 Methods of Nonviolent Direct Action

NONVIOLENT PROTEST AND PERSUASION
  Formal Statements
#5. Declarations of Indictment and Intention 
Click above for a general explanation of #5  from blogger Michael Olschimke

Since its earliest use in the U.S. Constitution indicting King George III for his  "repeated injuries and usurpations" of the Americans' rights and liberties," various groups have made Declarations of  indictment seeking accountability for the crimes of government.  In recent years, Declarations of Indictment have been drafted against George W. Bush and his administration by former US Attorney General Ramsey Clark and by The Center for Constitutional Rights, 
and other International groups.

 The US Court of Appeals ruled on Aug. 9, 2011,  that two U.S. citizens who worked for a private security firm in Iraq can proceed to take Donald Rumsfeld to trial for the torture they assert they endured during months of imprisonment in 2006 in a prison set up by the Pentagon at a military base near Baghdad's airport.
Read report here on Indict BushNow.org

198 Methods of Nonviolent Action were compiled by Dr. Gene Sharp and first published in his 1973 book, The Politics of Nonviolent Action, Vol. 2: The Methods of Nonviolent Action. (Boston: Porter Sargent Publishers, 1973). The book outlines each method and gives information about its historical use. You may also download this list of methods.