WK 312 Disobedience: Risks and results for engaging public participation
Nonviolent, well-planned, disciplined and purposeful disobedience has been known to change the course of history – from Mahatma Gandhi to Martin Luther King, Jr., to present-day struggles. Even much smaller-scale acts of disobedience can result in significant results on issues of trade and globalization, freedom of expression and the right to free movement and peace.
Panelists
Featured Tactic: Philippe Duhamel,
Operation SalAMI, Canada
Complementary Presentations:
Featured Tactic
Using "dilemma demonstrations", a form of disobedience to heighten public awareness and demand government transparency Philippe Duhamel, Operation SalAMI, Canada
For months, the Canadian government had persistently refused to make public the draft papers for the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas. In the weeks prior to the dilemma demonstration, Operation SalAMI issued an ultimatum for the government to release the documents by a certain date or citizens would exercise their right to information by demanding their release. When the government continued to refuse the release of the documents, the demand was accompanied by a petition signed by tens of thousands of people. Extensive media relations work, support demonstrations and a call-in and fax jamming operation accompanied the demonstration. The demonstration outside the headquarters of the Canadian government in Ottawa culminated in the arrest of 99 people by the police. This started a debate around the country, with people asking, "Why is the government refusing to publish key public policy documents, choosing to arrest its own citizens instead?" The pressure soon proved unbearable for the government. One week after the dilemma demonstration, the Canadian government, after consulting its negotiating partners, finally agreed to make the documents public.
Complementary Presentation
Sanar Yurdatapan, Initiative for Freedom of Expression, Turkey
More than 80,000 citizens have voluntarily disobeyed the law and republished materials been banned by the government in order to expose restrictions on freedom of expression. Over the last eight and a half years, 1,148 people have been arrested in connection with this action; 108 radio and TV stations have been closed and 169 publications have been prohibited or confiscated and 108 billion Turkish lira levied in fines. Although the law has not been changed, the tactic has gained national and international attention.
Complementary Presentation
Amanda Lucia Camilo Ibarra, La Ruta Pacifica de Mujeres, Colombia
The Women’s Pacific Route organizes caravans of thousands of women from all over the country to open up routes that have been controlled by government and paramilitary groups and to show solidarity with the communities who had been cut off by them. They use national and international attention and above all the solidarity of thousands of women from across the nation to rebuild a sense of community within a conflict zone.
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