Turn the tables
Remember the great scene from “Erin Brockovich” where the hero brings a glass of contaminated water to a meeting with the companies her clients have accused of contaminating their drinking water. “You...
View ArticleUse others’ prejudices against them
A prejudice is a mental shortcut that leads a person to make assumptions about others — assumptions that are often false in predictable, and therefore useful, ways. Sexism, racism, homophobia, ageism —...
View ArticleUse the Jedi mind trick
Aside from being able to move objects with your mind and having a retractable sword made out of freaking light (how cool is that??), the best thing about being a Jedi has got to be the mind trick. The...
View ArticleUse the law, don’t be afraid of it
The law is a funny thing. Sometimes the Yes Men ask lawyers before we do anything particularly dangerous. We get one of two answers: “Don’t do it! It’s illegal. You’ll get sued!” or “Awesome! It’s...
View ArticleUse the power of ritual
Rituals can connect us to the deepest truths of why politics matters. As anyone who has participated in a candlelight vigil will know, sometimes the act of quietly bearing witness to an injustice can...
View ArticleUse your radical fringe to shift the Overton window
The various policy options available on a given issue can be roughly plotted on a spectrum of public acceptability, from unthinkable, to fringe, to acceptable, to common sense, to policy. The Overton...
View ArticleWe are all leaders
What is the difference between saying “none of us is a leader” and saying “we are all leaders”? At first glance these two phrases may seem like two ways of saying the same thing, which is essentially,...
View ArticleBeware the tyranny of structurelessness
Have you ever sat through an interminable meeting where everyone is theoretically on equal grounding, and yet only one or two people are doing eighty percent of the talking? Where there’s no...
View ArticleMaintain nonviolent discipline
It’s amazing to think that unarmed masses of people have defeated armed-to-the-teeth forces using humble techniques as strikes, occupations, boycotts and sit-ins. One way of understanding why this can...
View ArticleDebtors of the world, unite!
From 2009 to the present, countries from the UK to Chile have seen an upsurge of student strikes and school occupations to protest raising tuition fees. The 2011 Spanish indignados uprising began under...
View ArticleThe real action is your target’s reaction
During the Salt March of 1930, Indian independence activists famously kept walking, unarmed and undeterred, into the brutal blows of British police (see CASE: The Salt March). Importantly, the press...
View ArticleRecapture the flag
Samuel Johnson did not mean patriotism per se when he famously called patriotism the last refuge of a scoundrel. He meant false patriotism. The uncritical, unthinking, “Love it or leave it” variety of...
View ArticleJury-rig solutions (or, How would MacGyver protest?)
Imagine a problem that you, as a regular citizen, can’t solve alone. For example, let’s say your street is paved with cheap, bad materials after your city privatized road repair, and now has lots of...
View ArticleUse your cultural assets
Radical social change groups can rarely compete with their opponents in terms of financial resources or institutional power. Instead, they must draw on what they do have: passionate, committed people...
View ArticleBuild strength through repetition
A crucial skill for campaigners is the ability to react quickly to time-sensitive issues. For example, a government threatens to declare war, so peace campaigners respond by organizing an anti-war...
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