Tactics for overcoming challenges
Civil society organisations and protest movements face numerous challenges that hamper their ability to organise and hold protests and deal with the aftermath of protests. These challenges include the outright banning of protests, violence experienced during protests and the arrest and detention of protesters. Protest movements need to be strategic and creative to overcome these challenges. Based on the previous experiences of movements and protesters, there are numerous tactics that can be used to minimise the detrimental effects of these challenges.
In this section:
Opening closed protest spaces
Notifications
Surveillance by police
Internal disagreement over approaches and politics
Inexperienced protesters
Social inequality and targeting of the vulnerable
Police brutality
Counter movements
Arrest of protest leaders
Additional resources
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Did you know?Opening closed protest spaces
States where the space for civil society (civic space) is closed often ban specific civil society organisations or prohibit protest completely (see here). However, protest is a crucial way of expressing dissatisfaction with the state and social conditions. It is often the only mechanism through which people who are living in poverty or are otherwise marginalised or vulnerable can express their dissent and make their voices heard. Bans make it difficult for people to organise and participate in protests and mean that those who do risk arrest and police brutality. In conditions if closed civic space, often civil society organisations cannot hold meetings, rent office space or openly spread their messages.[1] It is important to act strategically to ensure that dissent can occur without individuals having to open themselves up to harm and face state reprisals.
Grassroots partnerships
In Azerbaijan, where civic space is closed (see here), protest movements often start as grassroots movements that lobby local authorities to address specific concerns. These movements are generally not banned as they are not formalised and they do not generally express their dissatisfaction through conventional protest methods as they do not have the numbers to do so. Rather, they use knowledge of local pressure points to get their grievances across. Civil society organisations and concerned individuals can support these grassroots movements by spreading their messages and stories on social media and amongst their networks. Such actions may not be deemed as unlawful because they generally do not violate domestic laws that restrict civic space.[2]
Lawful innovation
Where it is formally prohibited to advocate for banned causes, there may be lawful ways that messages can be spread. For instance, in Azerbaijan, members of civil society organisations nominate their members to run for political office during local and national elections. In campaigning for office, these members are able to spread the message of their movements lawfully. This can happen on large and small scales. Progressive messages can form part of formalised campaigns and, over time, candidates may be elected to office. Candidates also sometimes go door-to-door attempting to convince people to sympathise with or join civil society organisations and movements.[3]
When protests are banned, it may be effective to turn everyday life into a protest. Spontaneous performances of everyday acts can catch people’s attention and express dissent. For example, when New York City authorities started re-enforcing a 1920s anti-cabaret law to close live music venues in the 1990s, dance flash mobs were organised in protest (see here).
“When protests are banned, it may be necessary to turn everyday life into a protest.”
Mass action
Sometimes the conditions in states necessitate mass protest even when such actions are deemed illegal by domestic laws. While such so-called illegal action may cause repressive state responses, it is clear that if such protests occur, they should be carried out peacefully and in large numbers to ensure their effectiveness. It is difficult to arrest all of the protesters in a mass movement. This means that a unifying issue should be chosen to ensure that as many people as possible join the protest. For instance, in Azerbaijan, where protests are banned, the main mass protests were about military conditions. This was a unifying issue as military service is compulsory in Azerbaijan.[4] Similarly, in Sudan, mass action has taken place in 2019 to demand an end to military rule following the repressive and extended dictatorship of former President Omar Al-Bashir. In Hong Kong, mass action has been used in 2019 to protest against a proposed law that would allow Hong Kong citizens to be extradited to mainland China, given the real risk that this mechanism would be used for political reasons. At the time of writing, reports estimate that more than 200,000 protesters have participated in mass action against the proposed law (see here).
Hologram protests and use of online spaces
Where people are prohibited from protesting in specific locations, it may be possible to use technology to protest in these places. In Spain, a law was passed in 2014 prohibiting protest outside government buildings (see here). In response, projectors were used to beam holograms of people protesting outside the buildings. A similar strategy was used in South Korea by Amnesty International when some protest actions were banned. This tactic can send an important message to governments and draw attention to such bans, helping to fuel public pressure against them (see here, page 31.) Equally, online protest is increasingly occurring in the wake of global restrictions on civic space and, depending on the state of online freedoms, can be a viable tool to express dissent against restrictive regimes.
Notification
Many states require that protesters notify the state and its policing authorities of proposed protest actions. Despite recommendations by international institutions such as the UN, some states either explicitly require that prior permission is sought for protests or use the notification system as a guise for requiring permission to protest. Protesters, in terms of international law and standards, do not require permission to exercise any fundamental rights, including the right to protest. Notification is generally justified by the needs of states to put in place proper health and safety and traffic procedures, but when it is used as a proxy for requiring permission, it can stifle the rights to protest and expression (see here, page 49). Where true notification requirements apply, it is recommended that these procedures be complied with. However, where notification systems are abused by states and their policing institutions, there are strategies which can be used to avoid having to notify the authorities of protests.
“If a notification system is in place, it should only be used to enable facilitation of public gatherings.”
Spontaneous protests
Notification procedures often do not apply to spontaneous protests, and spontaneous protests are recognised in international law. For instance, in South Africa it is not a crime to attend a protest for which no notification has been given, but you are not allowed to convene such a protest without notification, unless the protest arises spontaneously. What constitutes a spontaneous protest is not fully defined. This is a defence that is often used to avoid having to notify the authorities, but should not be used where it is obvious that a protest was not spontaneous (see here). In Armenia, protesters in the 2018 Velvet Revolution used these tactics. They planned to stop their cars at a specific time to create massive traffic jams and when asked why, stated that their cars had broken down and could not be moved.[5]
Non-location specific protests
It is possible to be disruptive and express dissent without holding a formal mass gathering, march or sit-in. Single acts of dissent carried out by individuals that cumulatively disrupt the functioning of states are not location specific and do not require prior notification or permission from states. This is because it is generally accepted that the actions of an individual do not constitute a protest (see here). For instance, in Armenia, at a specific time all drivers were asked to hoot if they supported the opposition. Similarly, people who disliked the government were asked to bang on pots and pans at a particular time. These individual acts combined to create a huge amount of noise, which made it difficult for business to carry on as usual and led to more pressure being put on the government. The communication about this strategy took place on social media.[6] Similar strategies, such an individual worker go-slows, are often employed by labour movements.
Surveillance by police
States regularly undertake overt and covert surveillance of protesters. This helps states track the movements of protesters, intercept their communications and act on knowledge gained this way to undermine protesters’ plans. It also enables states to monitor the movements and actions of protest leaders and protest movements, outside of protests, which can create a chilling effect on the right to protest and other fundamental rights. All these state-employed tactics can fuel an environment of fear that discourages people from participating in protests and makes it difficult to communicate effectively on the scale needed to organise large-scale protests (see here, page 86).
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Secure communications
Protesters should ensure that communications within their movement and with members of organisational networks is done using fully end-to-end encrypted methods of communication (see here ). End-to-end encryption is the most secure way to communicate privately and securely online. By encrypting messages at both ends of a conversation, end-to-end encryption prevents anyone in the middle, including eavesdroppers, from reading the private communications of the parties to a discussion. During protests in Armenia, communication was exclusively conducted through Telegram as this is considered to be a secure communication platform. Signal, accessed through a virtual private network (VPN), has also been used effectively in Ethiopia, The Gambia and Zimbabwe, among others, including during internet shutdowns to ensure continued communications. Careful thought and research should go into deciding which platform is most appropriate in each particular protest’s context.[7]
Secure connections
Members of protest movements and civil society organisations should also ensure that they use VPNs to create a secure and encrypted network while using less secure infrastructure, such as the public internet.
For more information:
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Moving meetings
Surveillance of members of protest movements often allows the police to interrupt public and secret meetings held in person, which may violate the right to the freedom of association. This challenge is particularly prevalent in places with closed civic spaces. For instance, in Azerbaijan, meetings have been regularly interrupted and broken-up by the police. In response, the movement did not have any specific office space or location that it used regularly. Instead it constantly moved its meeting points. Meetings about particularly sensitive topics were held in neighbouring countries to ensure the safety of attendees and protect the secrecy and security of conversations held at meetings.[8] During #FeesMustFall protests held at the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa, students believed that their meetings were being monitored by private security services on campus. In response, they moved their meetings to various public places around the City of Johannesburg, including Constitution Hill, where private security services had no mandate.
Internal disagreement over approaches and politics
While dissatisfaction may unite many different people, conflict can occur within movements fighting for the same cause. Members may have strong feelings about the kinds of tactics that should be used, the legitimacy of the use of violence, the political underpinnings of a movement, or who a movement chooses to partner with. While civil society will always be characterised by discussion and debate, conflict and division are difficult to manage as they can split and weaken movements and can cause significant disruptions to the championing of a cause.
Unity in times of peace
Mass protests are often made up of multiple movements that band together for a common cause. It is difficult to create relationships based on trust between these movements at the height of protests. Instead, relationships should be built in times of peace when tensions are lower. For instance, the 2011 student protests in Chile were largely successful because they brought together student movements from different universities regardless of the political affiliations of the movements. The same was true of the South African #FeesMustFall student protests in 2015 and 2016. Success was only possible because relationships had been created between the movements in less active times when student movements provided humanitarian assistance during a mining crisis and in aid of cleaning staff. The relationships of trust that had been built during these collaborations were carried through into the student protests.[9]
Conflict management strategies
There is room within a single movement for people with different political opinions. While focus is often placed on mass action, movements may need to employ a number of strategies to ensure their sustainability. Movements should have both long-term advocacy strategies and short-term protest strategies. Within this framework it is possible to have different interest groups within a movement working towards different aims and lobbying different external interest groups. It is important that leaders emphasise the purpose of all these strategies and the fact that they can coexist. This conflict management strategy should give every person a role in a movement that suits their political affiliation or level of activism as closely as possible.[10]
Core minimum standards
While it is possible to house people with conflicting political values in a single movement, it is crucial that a movement establishes a set of core minimum standards that cut across political opinions and to which all members subscribe. An example of such a standard could be that members will not resort to violence. In this instance, violence must be properly defined, with clarity about whether it includes controversial aspects such as damage to property or responding to violence from the police. Where members fail to meet minimum standards, disciplinary processes should be implemented and public relations should be managed to ensure continued public support, if possible and where part of a movement’s strategy. This works best with formalised civil society movements or established protest movements.[11]
Inexperienced protesters
Many protest movements, particularly those that represent youth or student causes, are made up of people who have never participated in protests before. It is important to plan for this inexperience to ensure the safety of members of a movement and the efficacy of protests.
Education and training
It is important to hold mass meetings to discuss the procedures involved in protesting and to circulate ‘know your rights’ information and other such useful information. Protest organisers should ensure that everyone knows the route that a protest march will take, what safety measures are in place and how to react if the police are violent or deploy teargas or similar weapons. For instance, because many protesters were participating in mass action for the first time in the Chilean student protests, leaders printed educational material explaining the procedures and safety protocols and held meetings to discuss the details of these.[12] In South Africa, civil society organisations created a hotline for protesters staffed by lawyers called the Right2Protest project (see here). In Brazil, civil society organisations often hold lunchtime seminars on how to protest and protect yourself from the harmful effects of less-lethal weapons, including appropriate clothing and exit strategies.
Marshals and safety staff
It is important to have specially designated staff who can carry out first aid, mark out the route that a protest march is following and provide protection to protesters, where necessary. Staff can be made up of members of a movement who have the relevant expertise, volunteers or hired professionals, where a movement has resources for this. The Chilean student unions paid to hire people to fulfil these roles during the student protests in 2011. Such staff make the environment safer and decrease the likelihood of inexperienced protesters engaging in unlawful activities or experiencing ‘protest panic’. Panic in crowds can be dangerous as it often leads to stampedes or violent responses from the police.[13] In Brazil, ancillary social movements that monitor and record protests and provide first-aid have been established to support and empower protest movements.
Social inequality and targeting of the vulnerable
The inequalities that plague society in general are present in protest movements too. This means that people who are vulnerable or marginalised generally face struggles as members of movements and when trying to communicate a movement’s message. Equally, movements may have gendered dimensions requiring specific attention. For instance, women are often the targets of sexual assault by fellow protesters or the police (see here, page 99). Further, as is the case in Chile, movements representing the interests of indigenous people have less social and political capital than movements made up of groups that enjoy certain privileges, such as urban students.[14] Equally, policing responses are often more repressive towards groups or movements that represent people or causes that have faced historic disadvantage.
“Throughout Latin America, workers and marginalised groups also suffer unequal and discriminatory responses in the context of protests. This inequality in responses by security services reinforces the lack of trust that these communities have towards members of the security services.”
Awareness
It is important for movements to evaluate constantly the demographics of the people who form their membership. This evaluation should be accompanied by a critical reflection on the social struggles that different groups face and a conscious effort to avoid the perpetuation of behaviours and attitudes of exclusion within a movement. This can be done by ensuring that members undergo sensitivity and implicit-bias training and that there are proper reporting mechanisms that allow members to report instances of abuse or discrimination.[15]
Collaboration
Movements must ensure that they support members who are particularly vulnerable or movements that represent the interests of vulnerable groups. However, it is crucial that this is done through collaboration. This involves reaching out to excluded groups to establish their needs and the assistance or partnership they seek. A decision to help other movements and their members should be based on mutual respect and cannot be taken based on preconceptions that privileged groups have of the needs of those who experience inequality.[16]
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Strategic partnerships
Because of their privileged position in society, some movements or people are less likely to face violence or repressive responses from states than others. It is important that movements and networks of movements think carefully about who is best placed to make demands and use this to tailor their advocacy approaches. For instance, in Chile, universities in rural areas that cater predominantly to indigenous people faced similar funding struggles to universities in more privileged urban areas. However, the members of movements from urban universities were less likely to be abused if they held mass protests than their counterparts in rural areas. The movements collaborated to ensure that urban universities furthered the cause of rural universities during their mass protests, without the indigenous protesters having to put themselves at unnecessary risk.[17]
Police brutality
Police brutality affects many members of protest movements. Police officers are often not properly trained to deal with large crowds or are not taught the need to respect the fundamental rights and integrity of those participating in protests. Violent reactions to protests from the police lead to injuries amongst protesters and often the escalation of violence as protesters act to defend themselves (see here, page 54).
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Advocacy and training
It is important that states develop proper training procedures for police officers to ensure that human rights are protected during times of protest. All crowd-control measures should be evaluated to determine their compliance with human rights standards before they are deployed (see here, pages 54-56). Protest movements and civil society organisations should arrange advocacy campaigns around this issue (see here). Civil society organisations should develop training materials and offer to assist states in properly training the police to deal with mass gatherings. Numerous civil society organisations are indeed doing this (see here for examples).
“All law enforcement officials must receive ongoing and continuous training on policing assemblies.”
Positive relations and humanisation
In certain contexts, recognising that police officers are just people who have been given a job and are often afraid when doing this job humanises them. Once the police have been humanised, it is easier to see that they can be brought on board with a cause that a movement is protesting for. In Armenia, protesters in 2018 gave sweets and flowers to the police and attempted to befriend them. As a consequence, during the Velvet Revolution there was only one instance of police brutality and it was met with condemnation from all sides. It is unlikely that police will engage in violent reactions when they empathise with a cause and are treated well by protesters.[18]
Human shields
Depending on the context, the police may be less likely to use violence against prominent people, out of fear of reprisals. For instance, journalists, celebrities and high-ranking officials are likely to be treated with caution because of the influence they possess. Protesters should attempt to form good relations with these people so that they will assist in preventing brutality and arrest. For instance, at the Standing Rock protests in the USA, military veterans acted as human shields to prevent violence against protesters (see here, page 10). Similarly, at many South African universities, white students, being less likely to be targeted by police violence than black students, formed human shields to prevent the arrest of black students during the 2015 student protests at the University of Cape Town (see here).
Recording the police and collecting evidence
To mitigate abuses of force and brutality by the police and gather evidence for potential prosecutions in the event of police criminality, protest movements may consider deploying people to record protests and any policing operations during a protest. The right to record is firmly entrenched in international law and standards, and includes the ‘right to record back’, which occurs when a protester records a police officer who is recording a protester. Alongside photo and video evidence, protesters should document and collect any other evidence, including of weapons and munitions, that may be useful for prosecuting misconduct by the police or counter-protesters. Additionally, evidence collected may lead to different and additional forms of advocacy. For example, teargas canisters have multiple identifying marks that should be recorded. In protests in Bahrain in 2014, a teargas canister produced by a South African arms manufacturer was allegedly discovered as a result of its markings. This resulted from an earlier awareness campaign called ‘Stop the Shipment’ that sought to prohibit the export of teargas to Bahrain. Scrutiny of weapons exports is one example of an action to address social ills that may lead to different forms of advocacy and protest against different targets (see here for more information about evidence collection).
Avoiding protest fatigue
In contexts where police brutality is prevalent or protest movements have protested for extended periods of time, protest fatigue – where protest leaders no longer have the energy or mental or physical strength to protest further – can often weaken movements. Members of movements should be aware of the difficulties associated with protest fatigue and ensure that suitable mechanisms, such as psycho-social support, are accessible and that debriefings take place after protests, especially were violence has occurred.
Counter-movements
Sometimes movements form to counter a cause or change for which an organisation or movement advocates. This is most common when the issue underlying a movement relates to a value-laden or moral question, rather than an issue of service delivery or government failure. For instance, in 2019 protests against Alabama’s new anti-abortion legislation there were protest movements that were both for and against abortion (see here). Movements and counter-movements often clash with one another and provoke violence that can delegitimises both (see here).
Strategic partnerships
Sometimes it is possible to identify the issue that underlies conflict between two movements and create partnerships with other organisations to tip the scales in your movement’s favour. For instance, the Armenian government wanted to pass a Bill that would criminalise domestic violence and protect domestic violence survivors, but faced protest from traditionalists who believed the Bill would undermine family values. Movements that supported the Bill formed a strategic partnership with children’s rights organisations and relied on the high value most people place on the need to protect children to counter arguments against the Bill. As a result, the Bill was successfully passed.[19]
Use of the media
It is important that both mainstream and social media are used strategically to defend against counter-movements and counter-narratives. Information about protests should be spread on social media to help recruit protesters and persuade the public about a specific cause. Mainstream media should be requested to livestream protests rather than recording and editing content before broadcast because this allows the public to understand the true nature of all of the movements involved.[20] Movements should also seek to discredit the ideology underpinning counter-movements. Public debates that are broadcast on TV or radio, in which both sides are asked to engage critically with each other, often offer an effective way to illustrate logical gaps or bigotry that may characterise counter-movements.
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Training and education
Members of movements must be made aware that counter-movements may seek to provoke them into violence. It is important that members of movements are trained in de-escalation strategies and warned of the potential consequences should they respond rashly to provocation.[21]
Police assistance
While states and policing authorities are often painted as the enemy of protesters, in some circumstances the greater threat comes from potentially violent counter-movements. Where possible, protesters should work to get the police on their side and ensure that their right to protest is facilitated. In Armenia in 2018, protesters gave police officers flowers and sweets to endear themselves to them, and to encourage the police to help in preventing violence and protecting protesters should it become necessary.[22]
Arrest of protest leaders
Particularly in conditions of closed civic space, the arrest of protesters and protest leaders is a significant challenge and is often used as a tactic by policing institutions, even where a criminal offence has not been committed (see here, page 61). The arrest of members of civil society organisations harms the morale of other members and movements and helps create a culture of fear and intimidation. Often, arrests hamstring the operations of movements and force them to focus on the release of members rather than the cause for which they were established.[23]
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“Mass and arbitrary arrests during an event violate fundamental rights and are likely to escalate tensions and undermine public trust in police.”
Internal pressure and ‘bust’ cards
An effective strategy is to partner with and appeal to local public interest and human rights lawyers. Human rights lawyers will understand the technical aspects of bail applications and appeals against convictions. Some organisations may represent arrested protesters for free. For instance, in South Africa, the Legal Resources Centre, a public interest law firm, assisted students who were arrested during the #FeesMustFall protests in 2015 and 2016, representing the students for free. Additionally, a group of South African civil society organisations established a WhatsApp group to communicate and share information about arrests in order to instruct lawyers to assist. Legal organisations will also often refer people in need to other organisations that can assist them if they are unable to. Protest leaders should prepare and distribute ‘bust’ cards – credit card-sized materials that detail the contact information of sympathetic lawyers in the event of an arrest.
External pressure
Many states are less concerned about internal pressure than they are about external relations with other states. It is important to reach out to foreign diplomatic missions and international institutions, such as the United Nations, and appeal to them to put pressure on states to stop the unlawful arrest of protesters. In Azerbaijan, members of civil society organisations have realised that the state is responsive to external condemnation of arrest practices. As such, members of movements travel to form international and regional relationships with other states with the aim of encouraging international pressure to force the state to release prisoners and stop unlawful arrests.[24]
Education and training
It is important to educate members about their rights and entitlements should they be arrested. Movements should prepare guidebooks for members that detail the way that arrests may lawfully take place, who arrested people should call for help – including the provision of ‘bust’ cards that give contact details of sympathetic lawyers – and their rights in terms of how long they may be lawfully detained and where. This document should be accessible and easily portable so that members can keep it with them at all times. In Chile, during the student protests in 2011, leaders compiled these guidebooks and conducted training before the protests to ensure that everyone understood their rights in the event of arrest.[25] Additionally, movements may rely on applications that assist with locating a protester in the event that a protester is detained at an unknown location.
Leadership contingency plans
Protest movements can be crippled by the arrest of their leaders. This is both because the people who come up with strategic insights are no longer present and because movements channel their limited resources towards ensuring the release of members. For instance, in Azerbaijan, one movement had five of its leaders arrested and lost its reputation as a protest movement because it then spent years using all its energy to ensure the release of its leaders. It is important that movements have organisational contingency plans in place. These should include plans to ensure the release of leaders but also detail the actions to be taken to continue the work of the movement in the event of arrests.[26]
Additional resources
[1] Based on an interview with a member of a protest movement in Azerbaijan.
[2] Based on an interview with a member of a protest movement in Azerbaijan.
[3] Based on an interview with a member of a protest movement in Azerbaijan.
[4] Based on an interview with a member of a protest movement in Azerbaijan.
[5] Based on an interview with a member of a Protest movement in Armenia.
[6] Based on an interview with a member of a Protest movement in Armenia.
[7] Based on an interview with a member of a protest movement in Armenia.
[8] Based on an interview with a member of a protest movement in Azerbaijan.
[9] Based on an interview with a member of a protest movement in Chile.
[10] Based on an interview with a member of a protest movement in Chile.
[11] Based on an interview with a member of a protest movement in Armenia. In Armenia, non-violence resistance was treated as a core minimum standard.
[12] Based on an interview with a member of a protest movement in Chile.
[13] Based on an interview with a member of a protest movement in Chile.
[14] Based on an interview with a member of a protest movement in Chile.
[15] Based on an interview with a member of a protest movement in Chile.
[16] Based on an interview with a member of a protest movement in Mexico.
[17] Based on an interview with a member of a protest movement in Chile.
[18] Based on an interview with a member of a protest movement in Armenia.
[19] Based on an interview with a member of a protest movement in Armenia.
[20] Based on an interview with a member of a protest movement in Armenia.
[21] Based on an interview with a member of a protest movement in Mexico.
[22] Based on an interview with a member of a protest movement in Armenia.
[23] Based on an interview with a member of a protest movement in Azerbaijan.
[24] Based on an interview with a member of a protest movement in Azerbaijan.
[25] Based on an interview with a member of a protest movement in Chile.
[26] Based on an interview with a member of a protest movement in Azerbaijan.
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