Effective political action must match its tactic to the phase of struggle
Evidence
One must be very aware of what a “protest” is doing, and how it will lead to a positive outcome. One must not confuse tactics and strategy; a particular type of contention may get you through one phase of a struggle, but not the next. If the goal is to put pressure on existing elites, then strikes and boycotts often work much better than people walking back and forth across a city. If enough leverage is created to make demands—that is, to enact reform—then someone must represent the group causing problems and negotiate the victories. If the existing elites can actually be removed—a revolutionary situation—then some group must be prepared to take their place and do a better job. — Vincent Bevins, If We Burn, 902
Categorization
- XREF: Pays off earlier claims about protests reproducing familiar routines rather than effective tactics, and about splintered movements easily ignored. — connects to: Sometimes the right political action is to wait and organize instead of disrupt — Vincent Bevins, If We Burn: The Mass Protest Decade and…, 908; Political positions demanding contradictory simultaneous moves become tactically weak; Effective political strategy requires alternating between open and closed communication spaces (+3 more)