Social change does not happen without struggle. As pointed out by Saul Alinsky, The haves want to keep and the have-not wants to take. Nobody gives up power and privileges voluntarily. Nobody. The Haves have the courts, the police, the military and the bureaucracy with them. The Haves-Nots have only number. The main reason to fight for social change is to benefit the Have-Nots.
Seven decades after the independence of India, Indian society is still quite inequitable. Inequality exists in many sphere of Indian life. People of lower caste are treated badly by people of upper castes. Poor people are treated not so well by the people of means. Rural poor are treated the worst of all. They have no access to or minimal access to healthcare, education and culture. Their children go to inferior school, are under nourished, under grown, suffer from preventable diseases and die young in larger number than the urban poor. The total quality of life of the rural poor is much inferior to the quality of life of the urban rich. Discrimination based on religion, sex, caste and colour is also common in India.
What can be done to change this situation? The answer is nonviolent campaign for social change.
Erica Chenoweth and Maria Stephen after analyzing 323 campaigns (100 violent, 223 non violent) have shown that nonviolent movement worldwide were twice as likely to succeed as the violent one. They have also shown that over the last fifty years, non violent campaigns had grown both numerous and most successful. Violent insurgencies meanwhile had grown “increasingly rare and unsuccessful”. They have also shown that, a nonviolent campaign to succeed, it needs the involvement of around 3.5% of the population. They called the “3.5 per cent rule”.
At present there are at least 198 methods of nonviolent campaign to succeed. It must maintain the discipline of not engaging in any kind of violent action. Violent action by the resistors provides pretext to the authorities to use all kinds of repressive measures (beating to jailing), in the name of” law and order” to silence the protestors and crush the movement.
Large campaigns are much more likely to succeed than the small ones. But the diversity of participants is also quite important. The more diverse the participation in terms of gender, age occupation, religion, and socio- economic status better the success.
The Egyptian (2011) uprising (Tahrir Square) stands out as a particularly stunning example of why civil resistance works. Participants in this campaign were generally well organized, extremely disciplined and well prepared for week long nonviolent fight. The campaign featured massive participation from diverse segment of Egyptian society- Muslim, Coptic, Christian, tech savvy youths and elderly women and men, judges and trade unionist. They used YouTube, Facebook and Twitter to plan and coordinate mobilization before the major activities had begun.
Despite days of violent repression mobilization increased in Tahrir Square and other parts of Egypt. Security forces stopped obeying the orders. Labourers coordinated strikes and boycott in solidarity with the campaigners.
Three weeks later Mubarak stepped down, ending 30 years of his dictatorship. Egypt is an example, that nonviolent resistance can be a near-unstoppable for change in our world, even in the most likely circumstances.
The argument that using violent resistance is the only effective way to win concessions from an adversary simply does not stand up to the evidence (Chenoweth). Nonviolent resistance definitely has the strategic-edge. It works!
India is a democratic country and not an authoritarian one. Even though India had reverted to authoritarian rule during the emergency declared by Mrs Gandhi (June 1975-March 1977) rest of the time since 1947, India has remained a vibrant democracy. In India there is freedom of the press. There are multiple parties contesting election. States are ruled by different political parties. Hence to achieve social change in India the tactics and strategies have to be adapted to the different situations in each state.
The states like Odisha, Jharkhand, Chattisgarh are quite poor. Their tribal populations are high. The strategy which may work in Uttar Pradesh may not be suitable to Odisha. But few things are common to all struggles:
(1) Involvement of youth
College students and men and women under 30 are the change agents. Most of them donot have to support the family. They can afford to take risks.
(2)Youths are technology savvy
Most newspapers and television outlets are owned by the Haves. They have to make money. They are unlikely to be supportive of any movement for social change. Like in Tahrir Square youth can use technology, smart phone, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, E-mail accounts to organize and spread the message.
(3) Diversity of participants
More diverse the participant, more likely is the success. Participation by the students, farmers, small business owners, labourers and opposition political parties and labour unions, is more likely to lead to success than participation by one group alone.
(4)The reason of the fight
The reason to fight for any social change should have a broader appeal like to fight corruption , or to fight police brutality, to fight for better education or health care.
(5) Nonviolent movement
The movement has to be strictly nonviolent. Any violence by the participants gives an excuse to the authority to use strong repressive measures in the name of “Law and Order”.
(6) Large number of participants
Large number of participants, more likely the movement will successful. As Chenoweth has shown it should be 3.5% of the population.
(7) Build on small successes
Even if the goal of the movement is to bring out major changes; it is not always possible to get 100%. Build on small successes. If 20% of the demands are fulfilled by the opposition, it is better than zero per cent. Try again and get 20-30% more.
(8) Be persistent
Bringing about any social change is not easy. Major movements to succeed, it takes long time. Gandhi and Indian National Congress started mass nonviolent movement in 1920 but the Britishers did not leave India until 1947. Long time.
Social change is not easy to achieve, but all of us should get involved and give a helping hand. We cannot ignore the poverty, illiteracy and poor health of own fellow citizen. We are after all our “Brother’s Keepers”.
Good Luck in organizing for social change!