NAACP - Direct Action/Mobilization

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Direct Action/Mobilization

Field Operations is the direct proponent of Direct Action, which includes such activities as strikes, boycotts, workplace occupations, sit-ins and less oppositional methods such as establishing radical social communities. Direct actions are often (but not always) a form of civil disobedience, and are sometimes illegal. Those employing direct action should aim to either:

Obstruct another agent or organization from performing some practice that is detrimental to civil rights.
Act with whatever resources and methods are within their power, either on their own or as part of a group, in order to solve problems that continue to erode the civil rights agenda.

Field Operations recognizes that reformist politics are not as effective in bringing about change under all circumstances. Direct action pushes forward the NAACP agenda, while still giving a sense of accomplishment to the participants, thus allowing the party or institution being targeted to no longer continue with its perceived harmful practices without further consequences.

NON-VIOLENCE

Nonviolent direct action is any form of direct action that does not rely on violent tactics. Mahatma Gandhi's teachings of Satyagraha (or truth force) have inspired many practitioners of nonviolent direct action (NVDA). In 1963, civil rights leader, Martin Luther King Jr. described the goal of NVDA in his Letter from Birmingham Jail: "Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue. It seeks so to dramatize the issue that it can no longer be ignored." ROY WILKINS

One major debate is whether destruction of property can be included within the realm of nonviolence. This debate can be illustrated by the response to groups like the Earth Liberation Front and Animal Liberation Front, which use property destruction and sabotage as direct action tactics. Although these types of actions are often viewed as a form of violence, and even terrorism, many supporters of these types of actions define violence only as harm directed towards living things, and not towards property. The NAACP believes that through non-violence we can move forward the civil rights agenda affectively.

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Direct Action/Mobilization

NON-VIOLENCE