~ tips, tactics and strategy
So, after gathering a great deal of information, what if you’re so black-pilled you’re becoming anxious or pessimistic, or worse? How to action those feelings in healthy, effective ways?
Citizen Ninja: Stand up to Power by Mary Baker is an excellent primer and a quick read (free limited preview online). “A guide for budding activists—of any age—who want to engage but don’t know how to start, what to do, or how to think about political activism.” During a lengthy, enjoyable interview, Baker describes how to become efficient activists, how to manage emotions, maintain composure and self restraint, how to recognize bully techniques, and how to respond instead of react. She describes four types of people (uninformed, informed, misinformed and partisan) and how to assess each one. The confident public speaker knows that engagement is strategic and preparation is key; the effective influencer employs a variety of methods which build respect, rapport and positive civil discourse. When disrupting obedience one does so in the kindest way possible. And so much more. (1)
Speaking out loud isn’t for everyone—just ask Banksy. Pepper a community with quickie hits of information, there are plenty of downloadable resources online. (2)(3)(4). Or, with basic computer skills and a printer, make your own. Place leaflets on windshields in busy parking lots. Or staple them to wooden telephone poles. Photocopy memes and pin them on community notice boards, their visual messages are impactful and often very funny.
Dollar stores sell washable coloured chalk: write on sidewalks where there’s lots of foot traffic, streetcorners where people wait for the green light, places where drivers have to sit idle in heavy traffic. Chalk it up at key locations: media outlets, post offices, shopping malls, libraries, bus stops, hospitals and clinics. Some phrases to consider: TheyLied.ca – Expose Bad Pharma—Bring Our Normal Back—Corruption Ends Now—Stop Being Complicit—Blow the Whistle—Stand Up—Truth Matters. If you have some disposable income, place an advert in the local paper or rent a billboard on a busy highway.
If working alone isn’t your thing then find a buddy; efforts are easily synchronized and trust levels are high. Or if your motto is “the more the merrier”, organize into a freedom pod. (5) Whatever your preference, experienced activists have uploaded plenty of resources to guide the way. (6)(7)(8) Meet weekly to share progress and set goals.
We know that the Commons, that big majority, are often apolitical. Even when life gets really hard, many cling to the status quo. They’re disinterested and unmotivated and some are even antagonistic. But with the right tactics and nimble strategy they can be moved to care. This is what happened in the 1990s during the Otpor! movement in then-Yugoslavia (Otpor! means Resistance). Under the guidance and leadership of Srda Popovic, a 25-year-old student, Serbians peacefully ousted long-term strongman, Slobodan Milosevic. Popovic has written a book about it (9) and now teaches other democracy movements around the globe. (his email: psrdja@gmail.com)
Some of his advice:
~ When you have a vision for tomorrow, you can’t pick the big cataclysmic fight as your first confrontation. Start by picking easy fights, building a reputation and a name.
~ Pick battles big enough to matter but small enough to win. Success is a series of small acts done well with goals achieved.
~ Proper revolutions are not cataclysmic explosions, they are long, controlled burns.
~ Show how the state’s propaganda is ridiculous. Public speeches were given by youth and grandmothers who were being called terrorists.
~ Listen to people, find out what they care about and fight your battle in that general vicinity.
~ Make your movement relatable to the widest number of people at all times.
~ You know you’re on the winning track when two or more groups that have nothing to do with one another, or are normally antagonistic, decide to join together for their mutual benefit.
Notes from the documentary about Otpor!, Bringing Down a Dictator :
Popovic: “Everything we did must have a dose of humour, because I’m joking and authorities are only getting angry. They’re only showing only one face—anger—and I’m always, again, with another joke, with another action, with another positive message to divide their audience…” (10)
Humour—also called laughtivism—offers a satisfying, low-cost point of entry for everyone. Some tactics that have been used: Russians placed toys holding protest signs in the streets; Syrians poured buckets of red dye in all their fountains; Poles buried loudspeakers, which played anti-government messages, in piles of excrement requiring police to dig into them in order to silence them; Syrians wrote messages critical of Bashar al-Assad on hundreds of ping-pong balls and let them loose on steep streets requiring police to scurry after them.
The only thing that trumps fear is laughter. Laughter is power. Police forces spend time training on how to deal with violent people and zero time on how to deal with funny, laughing people.
Pit your strong points against your enemy’s weak points.
~ Sun Tzu
A topical example: the weakest point of globalism is its obsession with digital enslavement; without cyberspace, tyranny is impossible to accomplish; information which can be passed hand to hand—like Druthers, pamphlets, leaflets—is a strong point because it evades surveillance, censorship and cancellation.
Audacious slogans captivated the general mood with remarkable effect during Otpor!. “He’s finished” caught on like wildfire and soon the phrase was everywhere, on t-shirts, bumper stickers and hand-held flags. Even though the dictator was still in power, the slogan contained determination and optimism and became a lucky talisman.
In its early days, Otpor!’s numbers were small so they created some mystique to give the impression of an extensive organization by making a simple logo of a solidarity fist.
Cities such as Belgrade were black holes—hard to penetrate because telecommunications had everyone captured. But small towns turned out to be big supporters so Otpor! focused efforts there. The movement grew from the outside in. And though Otpor! had a leader, operations became so decentralized that tyrannical forces didn’t know who should be attacked.
Popovic: “I think we succeeded because we simply love life more than them. Generally, those guys were the preachers of death. Their hatred, their propaganda, their language, smelled like death. And we won because we love life more. We decided to love life and you can’t beat life. So this is what Otpor! did, we were a group of fans of life.”
Otpor!’ is now global. CANVAS, the Center for Applied Non-Violent Actions and Strategies, has worked with pro-democracy activists in over 50 countries. CANVAS emphasizes the importance of “unity, nonviolent discipline and planning” as the keys to success: “Power in society is not fixed, and can shift very swiftly from one social group to another. It can become fragile and can be redistributed, especially in non-democratic regimes. Ultimately, power in society comes from the obedience of the people. And those people – each of whom is individually a small source of power – can change their minds, and refuse to follow commands.” (11)
When it comes to globalists trying to push paradigm shifts that will consolidate their power, exclude voters, and drastically harm humanity’s future, the fact that they are ignoring Newton’s 3rd Law is a profound weak point: “Whenever one object exerts a force on a second object, the second object exerts an equal and opposite force on the first. For every action (force) in nature there is an equal and opposite reaction.”
Whether action is taken by the individual citizen ninja, or the action is collective like Otpor!, there is no time to waste. Get offline and get out into the real world. When you channel outrage in safe, healthy and effective ways it brings a great deal of relief, hope and energy. Which is far better than worry and anxiety!
Work local and start now.
***
Sources and Resources
(1) Mary Baker interview https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJc54EksdBw
(2) https://nationalcitizensinquiry.ca/printable-resources/
(3) https://theylied.ca/TakeAction.shtml
(4) https://www.resistcbdc.com/billofrights
(6) https://www.citizenshandbook.org/get_rid_of_a_dictator.html
(7) https://canvasopedia.org/videos/
(8) Download letters to send to politicians
https://www.kiclei.ca/new-page
(9) Blueprint for Revolution: How to Use Rice Pudding, Lego Men, and Other Nonviolent Techniques to Galvanize Communities, Overthrow Dictators, or Simply Change the World by Srda Popovic
(10) Documentary on the Otpor! Movement, Bringing Down a Dictator
(11) CANVAS https://canvasopedia.org/
T.A.
the Lillooet Gazette 