Mass Mobilization

Sometimes the way to improve people’s living conditions is through a change in government policies. However, policy-makers can be difficult to convince - after writing to them, even meeting with them, they may not be moved to initiate the necessary changes. Even some forms of activism, such as an online petition or signature campaign, may not work. What could convince them is the sight of a large number of people gathered in one place, over an extended period of time if necessary. This is mass mobilization.

(When governments require military-age citizens to report for war, this is also termed “mass mobilization”, but let’s not confuse that with what we’re talking about here).

Mass mobilization requires a central planning and coordinating group to orchestrate the whole effort. Somebody has to think about who will be invited, how they will get to the site, who will speak, how to protect people from trouble-makers, etc. Mass mobilization also involves an active effort to persuade people to join up. Mass mobilizations are noisy and highly visible - meetings, marches, parades, or demonstrations. They involve efforts to sustain the initial activity until the desired change happens.

Organizers plan for a non-violent event, but government response may not be peaceful. Gandhi’s salt march had been mentioned in a previous post - add to this the “Bloody Sunday” march in Selma, Alabama (USA), where protesters were attacked by Alabama state troopers with clubs and whips, and tear gas; the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests in China, the 2014 Maidan Revolution in Ukraine, and many other incidents.

Some of these efforts led to significant policy and governance changes. The MLK-led marches contributed to the adoption of the  Voting Rights Act of 1965 in the United States. The 1986 People’s Power rallies in the Philippines forced a regime change. The Maidan Revolution ousted a pro-Russia leader and brought back the country’s 2004 constitution.

Today, mass mobilization is still used to protest against undesirable conditions and to ask for policies that benefit the people. Americans continue to stage “No Kings” rallies to oppose tyrannical tendencies of powerful individuals, Filipinos are mobilizing against corruption in flood control projects  - and in many places around the world, including Iran, we hear of mass events pushing for change.

Endurance is key to successful mass mobilizations - the ability to outlast powerful opposition, apathy, and (shorter) attention span. Whether today’s mass actions can endure depends on the people who take part in it, and those who work on its many moving parts, from keeping coalitions together to managing the sound system, from managing security to making placards - people like you and me.

What kind of mass mobilization - and for what purpose - would you join?