Erica Chenoweth: “It may only take 3.5% of the population to topple a dictator – with civil resistance.”

“Nonviolent resistance has empowered the labor movement, closed down or cancelled dozens of nuclear plants, protected farm workers from abuse in California, motivated the recognition of Aids patients as worthy of access to life-saving treatment, protected free speech, put climate reform on the agenda, given reprieve to Dreamers, raised awareness about economic inequality, changed the conversation about systemic racism and black lives and stalled construction of an oil pipeline on indigenous lands in Standing Rock.  In fact, it is hard to identify a progressive cause in the United States that has advanced without a civil resistance movement behind it.”