The Basics

Abstract This chapter dives deeper into the core concepts or basics of civil resistance. It determines which methods count as civil resistance and which methods do not, and how pragmatic uses of civil resistance intersect with moral claims. It also reviews the definition of civil resistance, which is a form of struggle in which unarmed people coordinate a variety of actions to build power and force change. The chapter addresses some common misconceptions about civil resistance. It explores the ideas that civil resistance requires passively accepting suffering, that civil resistance means being civil and respectful, that protest is the primary form of civil resistance, that civil resistance is only available to people in privileged positions, and that the methods of civil resistance cannot be abused for unjustified or immoral aims.