How We Win
A Guide to Nonviolent Direct Action Campaigning
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- €14.99
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- €14.99
Publisher Description
A lifetime of activist experience from a civil rights legend informs this playbook for building and conducting nonviolent direct action campaigns
In an era of massive worldwide protests for racial and economic justice, it is important to remember that marching is only one way to take to the streets. Protest must be supplemented with the sustained direct action campaigns that are crucial to winning major reforms.
Beginning as a trainer in the civil rights movement of the 1960s, George Lakey has spent decades helping direct action tactics flourish and succeed on the front lines of social change. Now, in this timely and down-to-earth guide, he passes the torch to a new generation of activists. Lakey looks to successful campaigns across the world to help us see what has worked, what hasn’t, and why: from choosing the right target to designing a creative campaign; from avoiding burnout within your group to building a movement of movements to achieve real progressive victories.
Drawing on the experiences of a diverse set of ambitious change-makers, How We Win shows us the way to justice, peace, and a sustainable economy. This is what democracy looks like.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This slim volume on inclusive nonviolent direct action campaigns from Lakey (Viking Economics), an organizer, activist, and academic, is an intriguing hybrid. It's part how-to manual for "building a movement of movements" for change and social justice, part rallying cry, and part an extended attempt to give three lesser-known activists (Daniel Hunter, Ryan Leitner, and Eileen Flanagan) wider exposure. Drawing lessons from the American civil rights movement of the 1960s; campaigns against coal mining methods in the U.S.; and change movements in France, Serbia, and Chile, Lakey breaks down key points of successful movements for change: have specific aims, maximize effectiveness by understanding the other side's position, and have a positive outcome in mind before launching a campaign. Lakey doesn't sugarcoat the difficulties inherent in organizing across class and racial lines, but offers an outline of constructive and accessible methods to patiently build resilient consensus and agitate effectively for change. "Blame and shame are out. It's about walking with people and building deep, meaningful relationships," says one activist. Lakey doesn't make it sound easy, but he employs a reasoned, seasoned perspective to clearly convey principles of organization that have proved their value to activists worldwide.
