New Tactics | Symbolic Public Acts

Symbolic Public Acts

Using a historic garment factory to promote dialogue on sweatshop issues

The Lower East Side Tenement Museum brings together representatives from conflicting sectors of the garment industry to a recreation of the Levine family’s 1897 tenement apartment and dressmaking shop and discuss what needs to be done – and by whom – to address the problem of sweatshops today. The museum provides a non-threatening environment in which to build dialogue around contentious

Engaging religious leaders in a conversation about inclusion, and implementing non-violent direct action tactics

Soulforce Inc.

Demonstrating outside the homes of perpetrators of abuse to generate condemnation

In Argentina, perpetrators of abuse during Argentina's dictatorship (1976-1983) often live anonymously among their neighbors, enjoying the immunity granted by the current Argentinean government. HIJOS, a local human rights organization, is trying to unmask this anonymity.

Mobilizing citizens to turn off their lights everyday to protest government corruption

Citizen Initiative for Constant Light mobilized 30 million people in Turkey to turn off and on their lights to demand that the government act against corruption. The action resulted from public outrage after a car crash openly revealed connections between government, police and the mob.