Direct action

Direct action is a form of protesting / civil resistance characterized by actions that place pressure on those in positions of power to respond to fulfill a set of demands; die-ins, strikes, sit-ins, blockades, vigils, boycotts, teach-ins, lobbying, etc. - George Lakey & the Global Nonviolent Action Database, adapted by Michelle Xie

"Direct action is a category of activism in which participants act directly, ignoring established (or institutionalized) political and social procedure." -The Direct Action Movement

Direct action "interrupts business-as-usual, seizes leadership, and introduces an alternative narrative." Direct action at its core is about power. "One way of thinking about power is that there are two kinds: organized money and organized people. We don’t have billions of dollars to buy politicians and governments, but with direct action, organized people spend a different currency: we leverage risk. We leverage our freedom, our comfort, our privilege or our safety." -Beautiful Trouble

The ideas and knowledge shared on this page come from:

1) An instagram live with Stu Basden, moderated by Kenzie Harris (HUB team member). Ideas coming from Stu are highlighted throughout.

2) Knowledge compiled by HUB anglo librarian Kenzie Harris.

Instagram live speaker

Stu Basden (he/him): Stu is one of the ten co-founders of Extinction Rebellion, a globe-spanning social movement. Stu was one of the initiators of Toronto350.org, and was elected as President twice. He is a founding member of the Defend the Sacred Alliance and the Being The Change Affinity Network. He has facilitated hundreds of workshops, retreats and training courses around Europe and Turtle Island.

Examples of direct actions

Example from Stu

2019 London XR (Extinction Rebellion) action

[Paraphrased] We went with thousands of people to 5 different sites in the centre of London and took over those spaces, occupied those spaces, and sat down in the roads and blocked the roads. Gradually over those 2 weeks people were arresting people for obstructing the highway, for blocking the roads, and people would be taken away, put in jail overnight and then they would come back the next day and often many of them would sit in the streets again. We didn't hold all of them for the whole 2 weeks but we held some of the 5 spaces for the whole 2 weeks. All 5 of them we held for a week. It was the most magical time. It was a time when everything felt possible. We didn't know what the future would hold, and there were so many people who were showing up with such energy and enthusiasm. The amount of excitement and joy that 'wow we're doing something', such creativity. It was unlike any other space I've ever been in. That sense of 'we're changing something here', and there is something else that's possible.

In so-called Canada

Blockades	The Fairy Creek blockades to protect the old growth trees in so-called British Columbia, on Pacheedaht Nation territory (also employed 'tree-sits' in their direct action) Human or structural blockades between police and houseless people in encampments, to protest the encampment eviction, lack of shelter space and housing for all. Kanien’kéhaka (Mohawk) lands defense blockades in so-called Quebec, to protect a sacred burial ground and a sacred area.   For more on blockades, including tips, risks and more examples, see Beautiful Trouble's write up.
Sit-ins	University student sit-ins, whether in university centres, board member's offices, meeting spaces etc., to pressure their universities to divest from fossil fuels.
Strikes/Marches	Student strikes which often target municipal, provincial and/or the federal government, are raising the alarm for climate action. Occupy marches were held across so-called Canada to protest corporate greed and financial inequality 2012 Quebec student strikes to protest increasing tuition fees For more on strikes, in particular general strikes including tips, risks and examples, see Beautiful Trouble's write up.

Support is also critical for the success of those that participate in direct action. Support can look like fundraising, technical support, media engagement, social media presence, upskilling and so much more. 

Is direct action the same as civil disobedience?

Direct actions may sometimes fall into a form of civil disobedience, which may involve a degree of intentional law-breaking (peaceful or not) where persons, often in masses, place themselves in arrestable situations to make a political statement. Direct action can be nonviolent and/or violent, and individuals participating may have different ideas of what is considered 'violent' (i.e. some may consider intentionally damaging private property to be violent, while others may conclude this cannot be compared to the violence faced by those protesting). Direct action has historically been an effective tactic employed by social movements (i.e. the Civil rights movement, LGBTQIAS+ right movement etc).

Stu on differentiating civil disobedience from direct action [paraphrased]: Mass civil disobedience is a form of direct action, but I would also say direct action encompasses a much broader range. There are people shutting down oil rigs, just 3 of them, which is not civil disobedience but it is a form of direct action. Even writing a letter to your MP is a form of direct action, it is directly taking some action, but it's not disobedient. So, some direct action is in mass, some is not. Some is disobedient, some is not.

On when to choose civil disobedience vs other forms of direct action

[Paraphrased] When I was living in Toronto, I was on a student visa. I wasn't doing civil disobedience as I didn't have citizenship. There are individual conditions that make civil disobedience more risky. And I'd also say, the culture that we live in teaches us to not be criminal. It becomes a cage around us that stops us from doing things. I've had so many conversations with people who have done civil disobedience and been arrested and experienced that as one of the most liberating days of their life. The chains fell off in that moment, even as they got arrested. The power of putting your body on the line, and challenging the stories of why you can't do that, is incredible.

See the risk assessment section of our page legal information for activists for more on individual risk.

What makes a direct action powerful (and how do you measure success)?

For us, we wanted to normalize civil disobedience. We wanted people to step over that scary, challenging thing to see that this is possible. I think that's one of the greatest successes that we had, is we created a culture of acceptance for participating in civil disobedience.

The impact of changing hearts and minds

[Paraphrased]

• There are things about taking action, where you're physically getting in the way of infrastructure... you're probably only stopping it for a few days. You might get some media coverage, and over a few days you might be able to connect with members of the local community to sway some hearts and minds.
• You might have people who have only read right-wing media their whole life who go down and have a lovely chat with you and suddenly the scales fall of their eyes because they see 'wow these aren't a bunch of hooligans. These are lovely people who had a cup of tea and chatted with me, who are willing to put their freedom on the line.' There's power in that, the power in touching hearts
• Rarely is it stopping the infrastructure from being built, sometimes it is with enough power and a strong enough campaign. Often politicians dig in and get that one built, but might reconsider whether the next one is worth it.It ups the cost of the next one.

The context of direct actions is important.

[Paraphrased]

• The spin off of XR is 'Just Stop Oil' in the UK, for example. Whilst they're doing incredible disruptive things, it's really polarized the public. There's been so much media against them, and they haven't been able to get the public's support and therefore political support to continue. So there's a context there that's important when considering the right strategy. It's a debate and I don't have the answer, people are making courageous life decisions in the way they're taking action.
• I think part of the magic of direct action isn't the hard activist, the student who has dedicated their life to pursuing this, or the person who is already political. It becomes the teacher, mum, grandparent... the person who has had massive anxiety for years. They say 'forget what the system is telling me, I'm going to do it.' And suddenly they've changed the hearts of their relatives, it has this rolling effect. That's some of the magic that comes even without a mass civil disobedience that's successful. It's that surge of energy.
• It takes a lot of time to figure out, as it took 2 years for us to figure out as Rising Up (pre-XR), where are we? What are the sensitive points? What are people's emotions related to what's happening? What are the stories there, and the pathways to free them? What's the narrative that brings a sense of possibility.
  
• The law-abiding grandma who has never done anything wrong who goes and sits on the street and gets arrested, that is a massive change. The person who finally breaks down in tears as they grapple with this. These things are significant. And they often get missed. These moments of transformation steer lives and then steer years of devotion, and organizing and work, finding different ways of relating that steer movements.

How do we make demands for our direct actions?

[Paraphrased] Demands are complex.

If you are making a demand as a movement, you are demanding that someone else change, which puts the power on the other. You're not locating power within yourself. We're going to push, and hopefully they'll do something. You're giving the other the power. If our demand is for the government to tell the truth, they never will. Occupy didn't have demands for this reason.

Demands can be used as a media play, so people can quickly see what's being asked for. Demands should be inspiration for how we are moving through the world, and what we want to see. Demands are best as demands for our inner self, and when used strategically, as a media play.

If you have any suggested revisions or additional resources to share related to the above content, please email them to kenzie@lehub.ca.

Back to Homepage