Journalist Mark Engler (How to Rule the World) and organizer Paul Engler (founding director of the Center for the Working Poor in Los Angeles) argue that mass protests are not spontaneous eruptions, but "forces that can be guided with the exercise of conscious and careful effort." Drawing on vivid worldwide historical examples and interviews with scholars and organizers in the "tradition of strategic nonviolence," This Is an Uprising is a well-structured and engaging guide to "the art of unarmed uprising."
The authors refute the idea that there is anything weak about nonviolent civil resistance and provide strong evidence that nonviolent movements have been "twice as likely to succeed as violent ones" in both democracies and dictatorships. However, without substantial structure and funding, revolutionary movements often struggle to maintain and build on their achievements. The authors reflect on what triggers uprisings and how organizers may take advantage of such moments of "whirlwind." Organizer Judi Bari's work with Earth First! illustrates the effectiveness of nonviolent strategies compared to violent ones in the same context, and other examples show the self-destructive effects of violent revolutionary action.
"Strategic nonviolence does not offer a secret formula for success, and its development is hardly the work of a single mastermind." Engler and Engler have distilled decades of complex and often discordant theories into an accessible guide to effective lasting civil resistance and organization building. This is a book that is likely to be read and reread for years to come. --Sara Catterall