I’ve had much quiet thinking time over the last few weeks and one thing I kept coming back to was why non-violent action only sometimes works to create social change. Since yesterday was MLK day and I think I’ve got a few things figured out, here goes.

Non-violent action works to bring about social changes only under very specific circumstances.

1) There MUST be sympathetic media coverage of the actors.
2) There must be a marked visual difference between the actors and the enforcers
3) You need an iconic image to rally people to the actors’ cause that both glorifies that actors and shames the enforcers at the same time.
4) Combination of media pressure and social pressure must be great enough to push the enforcers into retreat over a length of time. Short term actions will not be enough to change the course of society.

Let’s start with the images, cause they are what really gets this going.

The image is the thing. The most important thing. if you think back on successful non-violent actions of the past, you can probably pull some iconic images into you head with little thought: Gandhi in homespun white cotton, a flower in a machine gun, well dressed black kids on soda fountain stools, tiny Rosa Parks in her hat on the bus.

The image is necessary to hold the ideal of what is trying to be accomplished in the heads of people. Without it, the entire exercise is one whose point will be lost on the vast majority. They don’t care about the who, what, when or where. They need something that tugs on their conscious and sticks in their head when they close their eyes. They need to see the stark contrast between what is the status quo of the enforcers and what is possible from the actors.