NONVIOLENT RESISTANCE NVR BEYOND THE SINGLE STORY 1DANGERS

NONVIOLENT RESISTANCE (NVR) BEYOND THE SINGLE STORY 1)DANGERS OF THE SINGLE STORY 2)COUNTER-STORIES: CONSTRUCTIVE & COMMONING 3)WHAT CAN WE LEARN FROM MOSAIC OF STORIES?

ADICHIE’S TED TALK, 2009

“THE DANGER OF THE SINGLE STORY” 1)READ WESTERN CHILDREN’S BOOKS 2)WROTE SAME STORIES AS YOUNG AUTHOR 3)SINGLE STORY DEFINES NIGERIAN & NIGERIA 4)COUNTER-STORIES EMPOWER, HUMANIZE & DIGNIFY

ADICHIE ON HOW STORIES MATTER “Stories matter. Many stories matter. Stories have been used to dispossess and to malign. But stories can also be used to empower, and to humanize. Stories can break the dignity of a people. But stories can also repair that broken dignity. ” MY PROJECT: 1)Dangers of the single story of NVR 2)Diversify concept of NVR with counter-stories

GENE SHARP & THE SINGLE STORY OF NVR 1)UNARMED PROTEST IN MEDIA: NVR = GANDHI = SHARP 2)EGYPT, 2011: SHARP AS PROPHET, RULEBOOK AUTHOR 3)SHARP’S SINGLE STORY EMPOWERS & BREAKS DIGNITY 4)OTHER WESTERN AUTHORS: ACKERMAN & CHENOWETH

GENE SHARP: AUTHOR OF NVR RULEBOOK

SINGLE STORY OF STRATEGIC NVR 1)PEOPLE WITHOUT VIOLENCE AGAINST VIOLENT REGIME -Vinthagen: NVR = Against & Without Violence 2)SHARP’S HANDBOOK FOR NV STRATEGIC CONFLICT -Political power, methods, dynamics, change 3)VISION = WESTERN CAPITALIST LIBERAL DEMOCRACY -From undemocratic to democratic regime SINGLE STORY AFFIRMS WESTERN FREEDOM & DEMOCRACY

ACKERMAN ON SINGLE STORY OF NVR “Even though these events occurred in different parts of the world and in different decades, they are essentially the same story. It is the story of what people do when their interests and those of their opponents cannot be reconciled, when the normal political processes in functioning democracies are not available, and when armed resistance is an unpromising option. ”

DANGERS OF SHARP’S SINGLE STORY 1)IGNORES THAT VIOLENCE IS CONTINUUM & PERVASIVE 2)FOCUS = VIOLENCE OF DICTATORS, NOT DEMOCRACIES 3)CAN ONLY IMAGINE STRATEGIC NVR STORIES 4)LACK TRANSFORMATION BEYOND CAPITALIST VIOLENCE *BREAKS DIGNITY OF SUBALTERN STORIES OF NVR*

WHAT ARE COUNTER-STORIES? 1)CHALLENGE SINGLE STORIES & REGIME OF TRUTH -Regime of truth= Power to legitimate knowledge 2)REVEAL SUBJUGATED KNOWLEDGES -Hidden & disqualified ways of knowing NVR 3)COMBINE FACTUAL FICTION & SOCIAL SCIENCE -Creative storytelling & analysis of subaltern

COUNTER-STORY #1: CONSTRUCTIVE NVR GANDHI ON “THE TIGER’S NATURE”: You have drawn the picture well. In effect it means this: that we want English rule without the Englishman. You want the tiger’s nature, but not the tiger; that is to say, you would make India English. And when it become English, it will be called not Hindustan but Englishtan. This is not the Swaraj [self-rule] that I want.

NVR AS TRANSFORMING TIGER’S NATURE 1)CONSTRUCTIVE PROGRAM PRIOR TO STRATEGIC NVR -Communal cooperation over removing the state 2)PURPOSE IS PERSONAL & POLITICAL SELF-RULE -Beyond Western civilization & capitalism 3)VISION: POST-CAPITALIST AUTONOMOUS VILLAGES -Not pyramid, but bottom-up federation

COUNTER-STORY #2: COMMONING NVR 1)COMMONS=Share resources, cooperate, self-rule *MINIMAL RELIANCE ON CAPITALIST MARKET & STATE* 2)COMMONING=Social labor to protect, reclaim & sustain post-capitalist way of life 3)ZAPATISTAS AS COMMONING MOVEMENT Other world beyond violence of capitalist system

COMMONING BY ZAPATISTAS 1)FROM ENCLOSURE TO RECLAIMING OF LAND 2)COOPERATION: ECONOMIC, EDUCATION, HEALTH 3)SELF-GOVERNMENT: AUTONOMOUS MUNICIPALITIES 4)ETHICS: GOVERN BY OBEYING, ASKING WE WALK 5)VISION: MAKE WORLD IN WHICH MANY WORLDS FIT

“HERE THE PEOPLE GOVERN AND THE GOVERNMENT OBEYS”

INDIGENOUS WOMAN PUSHES SOLDIER (X’OYEP, CHIAPAS, 1998)

FOOD SOVEREIGNTY IN REBELLION

READ COUNTER-STORY OF COMPAÑERAS 1)ETHNOGRAPHIC SOURCE OF SUBALTERN STORIES 2)FORM: IMAGINE I TALK WITH ZAPATISTA WOMEN 3)COMMONING AGAINST/WITHOUT/BEYOND VIOLENCE 4)COMMONING NVR AT HOME, IN STRUGGLE & WORK **WHAT DID YOU LEARN FROM COUNTER-STORY? **

POWER IN DIVERSIFYING NVR STORIES 1)UNIVERSAL IS IN THE PARTICULAR 2)LEARN TO LISTEN TO SUBJUGATED KNOWLEDGES 3)SHARE COUNTER-STORIES TO REPAIR DIGNITY 4)MOSAIC FOR “WORLD IN WHICH MANY WORLDS FIT” *WHAT ARE NEW POSSIBILITIES FOR NVR STUDIES? *

MOSAIC OF NVR COUNTER-STORIES Beauty out of broken glass