By Martin Kelley
'Direct Action' is a term which is often misunderstood. It has the cachet of
dramatic zealotry, yet in essence, it is often quieter and more powerful than
this stereotype.
To act directly is to address the actual issue of your concern. If you're working against hunger, it's might be simply giving someone a meal. If you're working against homelessness, it might be taking over an abandoned house and making it livable. If you want to stop military spending, it might be refusing to pay your income taxes.
Direct action differs from symbolic protest action, which is lobbying someone in authority to change their policies. An advantage to direct action is that it doesn't require the cooperation of the authority to be effective. If they intervene to stop your action, you have a dramatic story; if they ignore you, you've followed your conscience and can continue following it further. Since the action in itself has a direct effect, it has a power and strength. In practice, the most effective actions are both direct and symbolic, providing a clear witness to your beliefs.
Direct action is only one form of engaging in social change. Civil disobedience tends more often to be symbolic and conscience-led.
by UHC Collective
Non-violent does not mean passive or necessarily peaceful. It accepts that violence
exists and occurs within many confrontational situations that arise from direct
action.
Much of the toolbox relates to mass protest/demonstration tactics which frequently
turn violent for many reasons.
In dealing with this, the toolbox expects you will be attending such events
without the specific intention to be violent, but it respects your choice to
defend yourself. Call it 'confrontational situation management/manipulation'.