IT WON’T TAKE MUCH FOR US TO WIN!!!

I can’t think of a better thing to lead off with than the “3.5% Rule,” which I heard about several months ago and is the most inspiring — and fact-based — thing I’ve heard at a time when we are all exhausted trying to fight Trump and his efforts to undermine democracy and the rule of law.

I’ve been involved in non-violent protests since I studied at Haverford, a Quaker college where non-violence was part of the religious principles underlying the college and its mission. Of course I knew of Gandhi and Dr. King, but, as we marched on the Pentagon and elsewhere to end Vietnam, we had to ask: does this work?

The answer is a resounding YES, and you wouldn’t believe the research backing that up!  As this article documents, example after example since 1900 has shown that when only 3.5% of the population in a country, becomes involved in non-violent resistance, autocracies will fall, and democracy will be restored.  Astounding!

I love the way this was proved. Two social science researchers, Erica Chenoweth, a political scientist at Harvard (yet another reason for Trump to target them!) and Maria Stephan, patiently reviewed research on social movement worldwide from 1900 to 2006, and they found that consistent pattern of these movements succeeding within just a year of protestors’ peak engagement in resistance.  

So, when things look darkest, remember the 3.5% Rule, and remember that we shall overcome!

— David Stephenson