Saffron Revolution: The power of nonviolence

October 18, International Herald Tribute
Shaazka Beyerle and Cynthia Boaz

It was not a surprise that the Burmese junta violently cracked down on the
"saffron revolution." The generals had lost all credibility in the eyes of
their people, and were left with only one tool of control - repression.

But no matter how many guns and tanks they have, the generals still depend
on ordinary soldiers to do their dirty work. History teaches that once
enough people stop carrying out their orders, or switch sides, the junta's
power will disintegrate.

Through this lens, the saffron revolution isn't over, it has just begun.

Disobedience is at the heart of nonviolent struggle. "Even the most
powerful cannot rule without the cooperation of the ruled," Mahatma Gandhi
said. Nonviolent movements succeed not necessarily when there are masses
on the streets, but when enough people withdraw their cooperation, refuse
to obey, and thus undermine the sustainability of the existing system.

Reports of defiance continue to leak out of Burma. Dissident sources
report that opposition posters are appearing in public spaces, on prison
walls, taped to helium balloons, and even on river rafts.

Protests are not the equivalent of a nonviolent movement, but they are one
type of nonviolent tactic. Moreover, "people power" is not an inexplicable
force whereby thousands of citizens suddenly materialize on the streets
and trigger a conversion in the hearts of oppressors.

People power is the sustained, strategic application of a variety of
nonviolent tactics, including civil disobedience, boycotts, strikes and
noncooperation. Gene Sharp, a student of nonviolence, has documented over
198 kinds of nonviolent actions, and each successful struggle invents new
ones.

The strategic objectives of nonviolent actions are four-fold. They can
disrupt normal functioning in a city, region or country, thereby making
business as usual impossible. Under Augusto Pinochet's brutal regime in
Chile, the opposition called for a slow-down, and the designated day the
majority of Santiago's residents walked at half speed and drove at half
speed, and thus told the generals that they'd had enough - without putting
a single person at risk.

A Burmese exile with sources inside Myanmar reported that activists there
are "calling for noncooperation with the regime and for non-attendance of
factories and offices."

Nonviolent actions, as Thomas Schelling, a Nobel laureate in economics,
pointed out 30 years ago, can also deny an oppressor what it needs, such
as money, food, supplies or manpower.

During the popular revolt against Ferdinand Marcos in the Philippines, the
public withdrew its money from banks associated with the regime and
stopped paying utility bills. This put real pressure on a cash-starved,
mismanaged economy. Marcos needed money because repression does not come
free. It costs huge sums to feed, transport and arm soldiers, as well as
to buy the loyalty of the top brass and the inner circle.

Nonviolent strategies and action can also undermine the oppressor's
pillars of support - the institutions and groups it needs to retain
control - including the police and military. A Burmese exile reports
hearing that Burmese soldiers are not fully obeying orders and that some
are going AWOL, and that a rift has apparently developed between the two
top generals in the ruling "State Peace and Development Council."

A lesson from past nonviolent struggles is the importance of communicating
a vision of society based on justice, not revenge, which includes a place
for those who defect from the oppressor's side.

Finally, nonviolent actions can themselves attract people to the
opposition. A growing number of Myanmar's residents have been turning off
their televisions, and even lights, when the regime's nightly newscast
begins, thereby signaling support for the opposition and disgust for the
government.

So if the generals wanted quiet, they got it - a quiet mobilization with a
potential to grow. Such was the case in Turkey in 1997, when a protest
against corruption that began with people turning off lights ended up with
demonstrations by 30 million.

While in prison, the Reverend. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote: "We know
through painful experience that freedom is never given by the oppressor;
it must be demanded by the oppressed." In Burma, thousands have been doing
and continue to do just that.

Shaazka Beyerle is senior advisor at the International Center on
Nonviolent Conflict. Cynthia Boaz is assistant professor of political
science and international studies at the State University of New York at
Brockport.