'We who engage in non-violent direct action are not the creators of tension. We merely bring to the surface the hidden tension that is already alive. We bring it out in the open, where it can be seen and dealt with... Injustice must be exposed, with all the tension its exposure creates, to the light of human conscience, before it can be cured.'
Martin Luther King, JR

Direct action is an option, particularly if lobbying and/or negotiation with decision makers has failed. The environment movement, particularly Greenpeace, has used direct action in a variety of locations around the world.

Greenpeace, Native Forest Action, Wildgreens are all strong advocates of non-violent direct action (NVDA) because it works!

Martin Luther King sums it up: 'In any non-violent campaign there are four basic steps: collection of the facts to determine whether injustices exist; negotiation; self-purification; and direct action. People often ask, "Isn't negotiation a better path than direct action?" The purpose of direct action is to facilitate negotiation.'
- an extract from a letter from Birmingham Gaol, April 1963.

The Ruckus Society
http://www.ruckus.org/man/
A US based group that provides training in the skills of non-violent civil disobedience to help environmental and human rights organizations achieve their goals. Check out their training manuals on media, climbing, hanging yourself from a billboard, planning actions, scouting, video camera tips and climbers' knots.

Act Up
http://www.actupny.org/documents/CDdocuments/CDindex.html
Contains civil disobedience training manuals and several pages describing some of the history, theory, and practice of civil disobedience.

Proactivist
http://www.proactivist.com/
This site is dedicated to photographically documenting progressive protests and demonstrations and assisting activists with their efforts.

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