, and violence.
opposition which he called "satyagraha", instrumental in its role in the Indian Independence Movement. Its effectiveness served as an inspiration to
and many others in the civil rights movement. Some
action is morally superior or most effective. In general, advocates of an activist philosophy of
use diverse methods in their campaigns for social change, including critical forms of
and social, political, cultural and economic forms of intervention.
Some, however, support physical violence for emergency self-defense. Others support the destruction of property for conducting symbolic acts of
resistance like pouring red paint to represent blood on the outside of military recruiting offices or entering air force bases and hammering on military aircraft. Not all
nonviolent resistance is based on a fundamental rejection of all violence in all circumstances. Many leaders and participants in such movements, while recognizing the importance of using
non-violent methods in particular circumstances, have not been absolute
pacifists. Sometimes, as with the civil rights movement's march from Selma to Montgomery in 1965, they have called for armed protection. The interconnections between civil
resistance and factors of force are numerous and complex.
Nonviolent resistance, or
nonviolent action, is the practice of achieving goals such as social change through symbolic protests,
civil disobedience, or other methods while being
nonviolent. The term "
nonviolence" is often used as a synonym of
pacifism, but this equation is rejected by
nonviolent advocates.
Nonviolence specifically refers to the absence of violence and it is always the choice to do no harm or the choice to do the least amount of harm, and passivity is the choice to do nothing. Sometimes
nonviolence is passive, and other times it isn't.
Major
nonviolent resistance advocates include
Mahatma Gandhi, Henry David Thoreau, Charles Stewart Parnell, Te Whiti o Rongomai, Tohu K?kahi, Leo Tolstoy, Alice Paul,
Martin Luther King Jr., Daniel Berrigan, Philip Berrigan, James Bevel, Václav Havel, Andrei Sakharov, Lech Wa??sa, Gene
Sharp,
Nelson Mandela, Jose Rizal, and many others.