Hi there,

In this chaotic news cycle it may be tempting to tune out, but we hope you won’t—only an informed and engaged public can defend democracy. In these times of deep political polarization we need news that goes beyond play-by-play headlines, news that goes to the heart of each story by asking people to tell their own stories of abuses of power and injustice in their own words. If our journalism is important to you, please donate today. Every dollar makes a difference. Thank you so much.

Democracy Now!
Amy Goodman

Non-commercial news needs your support.

We rely on contributions from you, our viewers and listeners to do our work. If you visit us daily or weekly or even just once a month, now is a great time to make your monthly contribution.

Please do your part today.

Donate

Nonviolent Resistance Advocate Gene Sharp Dies at 90

HeadlineJan 31, 2018

And Gene Sharp, a lifelong advocate of nonviolent resistance, has died at the age of 90. Sharp was most famous for his extensive writings on nonviolent struggle, which include the influential book “From Dictatorship to Democracy: A Conceptual Framework for Liberation.” He was also the founder of the Albert Einstein Institution, which is dedicated to advancing the study of nonviolent action. This is Gene Sharp accepting the Right Livelihood Award in 2012.

Gene Sharp: “Nonviolent struggle, or nonviolent action, includes three categories of methods, specific means of acting. One, the methods of nonviolent protest, that are symbolic activities, such as marching down the street or displaying certain colors. But this technique, if it has only that, wouldn’t be worth much. It also includes the much more powerful methods of noncooperation, such as social boycotts, economic boycotts, labor strikes, political boycotts, civil disobedience. And thirdly, the methods of nonviolent intervention and disruption, such as sit-ins, fasts and the creation of new institutions.”

Gene Sharp died Sunday at the age of 90 in his home in Boston.

Topics:
The original content of this program is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. Please attribute legal copies of this work to democracynow.org. Some of the work(s) that this program incorporates, however, may be separately licensed. For further information or additional permissions, contact us.

Non-commercial news needs your support

We rely on contributions from our viewers and listeners to do our work.
Please do your part today.
Make a donation
Top