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CLOWNS, REVERSE BOYCOTTS, AND INVOLUNTARY WALKATHONS: HOW COMMUNITIES
ARE MAKING POLITICAL VIOLENCE BACKFIRE  
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Maria J. Stephan
June 5, 2024
Just Security
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_ Confronting the normalization of political violence and stopping it
from undermining the practice of inclusive democracy in the United
States requires tapping into the power of communities, to resist
violence and make it backfire. _

, Grandparents for Truth

 

The new dystopian Hollywood film, _Civil War_, has raised the specter
of devastating violent conflict once again engulfing America. While
the film has been criticized
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normalizing political violence, others
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embraced it as a learning opportunity, and a way to highlight the
necessity of working together to prevent the terrible outcomes
envisaged in the film. Although the film doesn’t really address how
the United States devolves into civil war, in fact research has
documented
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how that happens, and the United States is seeing the signs now –
including the mainstreaming of dehumanizing rhetoric, and politically
motivated threats, harassment, and acts of physical violence that are
inspiring fear and undermining the practice of democracy. 

Fortunately, in communities across the United States, ordinary people
are already organizing and mobilizing to nonviolently confront a broad
spectrum of political violence that ranges from incidents of police
brutality, to attacks on election officials and school board members,
to attempts by white nationalist groups to disrupt events celebrating
diversity and social inclusion. These communities are turning the
tables on perpetrators of political violence while building more
resilient communities. Confronting the normalization of political
violence and stopping it from undermining the practice of inclusive
democracy in the United States requires tapping into the power of
communities, with their diverse membership, to resist violence and
make it backfire.

The United States, of course, has a long history of political
violence, almost always linked to efforts to expand political power
for some while denying it to others, typically Black and Brown
Americans. The post-Reconstruction “Jim Crow”-era system of racial
apartheid in the South, upheld by local authoritarian rule anchored at
that time in the Democratic Party, was a blatant example of political
violence used to advance racial authoritarianism
[[link removed]]. Each major
attempt to advance multi-racial democracy in the United States,
whether through Reconstruction, the civil rights movement, or the
election of Barack Obama and the modern-day Movement for Black Lives
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backlash. Other movements for social progress such as equal rights for
women or LGBTQ rights have also faced violent backlash.

Today, researchers have documented
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that the preponderance of political violence
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including threats, intimidation, and acts of physical violence,
“used with a political motivation to achieve a political goal or
assert political power over another group,” is committed by
far-right groups, with a much smaller number of attacks by leftist
groups. Unlike violent leftists, the far-right groups receive implicit
or explicit backing from a Republican Party controlled by a racist and
anti-democratic MAGA faction, one that attempted to violently overturn
the 2020 election.

Even without a civil war or a January 6th-scale event, political
violence is having a chilling effect on U.S. democracy. Targeted
threats have become the most common way to terrorize individuals and
make communities fearful. The dramatic escalation of threats targeting
election officials
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politicians
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and other public servants is prompting good people from across the
political and ideological spectrum to step away from public service
– or to double down on security measures. It is encouraging
politicians and elected officials to self-censor or change their votes
out of fear of reprisal, including some members of Congress who
refused
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to vote to impeach Donald Trump because of this fear. The violence and
threats are punishing those who face police and non-State violence
while exercising the fundamental right to protest
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human rights abuses – and they are disproportionately Black and
Brown Americans.

Historically, organized collective action has been the strongest
xxxxxx against authoritarianism and the political violence that
greases its wheels, as my own research
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and at least a dozen independent studies have concluded
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When large numbers of people from diverse sectors and segments of
society stubbornly say no to authoritarianism, and stop cooperating
with those responsible for it, they can fundamentally alter the
balance of power. In some cases, as we have seen
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in dozens of examples from around the world, movements that rely on
marches, strikes, boycotts, walk-outs, and other forms of organized
noncooperation can remove violent regimes altogether.

Today, organized action in communities across the United States,
including digital spaces, is needed to raise the costs of political
violence for perpetrators and their enablers. Threats – whether made
through doxxing, swatting, or other menacing actions — like militia
members showing up in civic spaces with guns — are cheap, and
perpetrators rarely face any kind of accountability. Unless the
calculus of those responsible for political violence changes, and
unless they are forced to pay a social, political, financial, and
legal price for their violent, anti-democratic behaviors, the threats,
intimidation, and violence will continue to escalate.

GENERATING BACKFIRE

In other words, political violence must be made to backfire.
Australian scholar-activist Brian Martin describes backfire
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acts of repression, including political violence, end up strengthening
those attacked and their cause, while weakening the perpetrators.
Backfire, which other scholars
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refer to as the “paradox of repression” does not happen every time
nor does it happen automatically. Rather, it requires planning,
preparation, timely and effective communication, and communities going
on offense against those responsible for the repression.

Martin, who has documented
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cases from around the world when repression backfired (and when it did
not), has highlighted the “5 Rs
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backfire. To trigger backfire, people must _reveal_ the nature of the
injustice and counter attempts to cover it up. Second, they must
_redeem _or validate the targets of repression, challenging efforts to
devalue, discredit, or dehumanize those targeted. Third, they need to
_reframe_ the narrative, emphasizing why the repression or violence
violates core norms and values, while countering attempts to
reinterpret events in a favorable light. Fourth, they must harness and
_redirect_ anger, pain and outrage while avoiding overreliance on
official channels. Finally, they must _resist _attempts to intimidate,
threaten, or co-opt those targeted or potential supporters.

Illustrative examples from history and the recent past, both in the
United States and around the world, highlight the role of preparation,
effective communication, and creative nonviolent action in making
political violence backfire. During the U.S. civil rights movement,
police attacks on marchers in Selma backfired when the media revealed
dogs and firehoses attacking demonstrably peaceful protestors,
resulting in greater support for civil rights activists, who were
already adept at framing their actions as part of a freedom struggle
(as opposed to undermining law and order, as Alabama officials
portrayed it).

The march from Selma to Montgomery, along with the earlier Montgomery
bus boycott, the lunch-counter sit-ins, and the Freedom Rides, which
were met with significant political violence from State and non-State
actors, featured protagonists who were trained in strategic nonviolent
action. The organizations providing that training included the
Nashville student movement and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating
Committee, which were able to redirect pain and outrage towards
organized action, which in turn was shepherded by the Southern
Christian Leadership Conference and other key groups.

These highly organized and confrontational campaigns were able to
raise the social, political, financial, and legal costs on Southern
governments and businesses responsible for Jim Crow, which set the
conditions for dismantling racial apartheid in the South. In some
states of the South, including Mississippi, Alabama, and North
Carolina, armed self-defense
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provided by groups like Deacons for Defense and Justice, was part of
the popular resistance (though the consequences of mixing armed and
unarmed resistance tactics continues to be a subject of scholarly
debate
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NEW APPROACHES FOR MODERN TIMES

The fracturing of the media ecosystem and the rapid spread of mis- and
disinformation pose challenges to this type of high-profile backfire
today. So, too, does structural racism and ingrained patterns of
prejudice, which, as scholars including political scientist Christian
Davenport have found, affect how people perceive violent and
nonviolent protest behavior. A study conducted by Davenport, Rose
McDermott, and Dave Armstrong found
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that when police are White and protestors are Black, Whites are less
likely to blame police for abuse. While these factors pose significant
challenges to the ability of certain groups, notably Black Americans,
to trigger backfire, the widespread protests following the murder of
George Floyd in summer 2020, the most sustained in U.S. history
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demonstrate the ability of the highly organized Movement for Black
Lives to make police killings backfire.

Notwithstanding structural and informational challenges, communities
have found creative work-arounds.

That includes efforts to challenge Moms for Liberty, an organization
founded in 2021 in Florida, with chapters across the country, that
advocates
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for book bans, opposes student inclusion activities, and supports
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rightwing school board candidates. The organization was identified
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in a 2023 report by the Southern Poverty Law Center as an
anti-government extremist group for actions including spreading
disinformation
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threatening librarians and school board members, and associating with
members of the Proud Boys, another far-right extremist group. This did
not prevent Florida Governor Ron DeSantis from appointing
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a prominent member of Moms for Liberty to a state Commission on Ethics
in 2023.

When Moms for Liberty has faced organized opposition, including from
groups such as Grandparents for Truth, their activities have
backfired. Grandparents for Truth
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grandparents and their allies formed by the left-leaning People for
the American Way, whose stated goal is to fight for the next
generation’s freedom to learn, formed in 2023 to fight censorship,
book bans, and attacks on education. When Moms for Liberty convened in
Philadelphia last year for their annual convention, Grandparents for
Truth rallied
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hundreds of grandparents, local activists, and elected officials
outside the convention hall, reframing the activities of Moms for
Liberty as the antithesis of liberty. Moms for Liberty has continued
to lose support and influence
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across the country, with most of the candidates for local races it
backed in places like Iowa and Ohio losing, in no small part due to
grassroots mobilization by parents, grandparents, and educators.

In Enid, Oklahoma, when town members learned
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that the city had elected a candidate to the city council who had
marched alongside neo-Nazis in Charlottesville in 2017 and identified
himself under a pseudonym as Oklahoma state coordinator for the white
nationalist group Identity Evropa, they organized. They formed the
Enid Social Justice Committee (ESJC) and engaged in months of
activism, protest, and fierce advocacy at city council meetings that
shone a spotlight on the council member’s views and past actions.
When the council member, Judd Blevins
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would not explain or apologize for these actions, the ESJC collected
enough signatures for a recall petition. Cheryl Patterson, a longtime
Republican and former teacher, stepped up to run against the
incumbent, citing the need to restore the town’s reputation. On
April 2, 2024, Patterson won the recall vote. After the victory, the
chair of the ESJC offered this lesson
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to others: “You can do this because we did this. We didn’t even
know what we were doing, and we did this. This is possible.”

In Whitefish, Montana, as white supremacist activities intensified,
and an armed march
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was planned for Martin Luther King, Jr. day in 2017, a community group
called “Love Lives Here” took a stand
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As the date of the march approached, businesses that relied on tourism
and had a strong interest in countering the perception of community
intolerance, posted “Love Lives Here” stickers in their windows,
along with images of menorahs. The campaign also had a digital
strategy. When extremist online trolls attacked local restaurants and
other businesses, the community responded by flooding the internet
with positive reviews and patronizing the businesses – an example of
what civil resistance scholars call
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reverse boycott. A “Love Not Hate” rally one week before the
planned neo-Nazi march brought out hundreds of people, including
families and kids, and emphasized tolerance and a welcoming spirit.
Tactics used during the “Love Not Hate” campaign included the
formation of a “matzo ball soup brigade,” as well as people
showing up in blue troll wigs to “troll the trolls” and a “queer
insurrection unit.” The collective action, along with a denied march
permit, helped ensure that the neo-Nazi marchers stayed away from the
rally.

HUMOR AND CREATIVITY

Humor and creativity have been at the forefront of many backfire
campaigns around the world.  In Wunsiedel, Germany, neo-Nazis
annually marched to the grave of Rudolph Hess, a deputy of Adolph
Hitler. In 2014, town organizers innovated with humor to outmaneuver
the neo-Nazis. They launched a campaign called Rechts Gegen Rechts
(“Rights against the Right”) and turned the annual march into a
“walkathon
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so that for every meter neo-Nazis marched, local residents and
businesses pledged to donate 10 euros to an organization that helps
people exit far-right groups. Near the finish line, a sign thanked the
marchers for their contribution to the anti-Nazi cause, and rainbow
confetti was showered on marchers at the finish line.

The campaign has spun off other creative actions, including Omas Gegen
Rechts
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(Grannies Against the Right) in Germany and similar activities in
Sweden. In the United States, tactics involving humor and particularly
clowns [[link removed]]
have been used to challenge white supremacists across the country. In
Olympia, Washington, in 2005 in response to far-right marchers calling
for a race war, clowns mimicked their salutes, mocked them with goose
steps, and turned attention away from their cause. In 2007, in
Nashville, Tennessee, the group Anti-Racist Action organized clowns at
a neo-Nazi rally. As the neo-Nazis yelled “White power!”, the
clowns answered them by calling “White flour!” and threw flour in
the air. As the neo-Nazis continued, the clowns shifted and responded
“White flowers!,” which they handed out to passersby. In response,
the neo-Nazis called off their rally hours before it was supposed to
finish.

In response to rising hate speech and growing attacks on the LGBTQ+
community, the Parasol Patrol [[link removed]] was founded
in Denver, Colorado, in 2019 to protect children and community members
from harassment and threats from far-right protestors. Members of the
Parasol Patrol, who are trained in de-escalation techniques, use pride
umbrellas to peacefully walk in between protesters, hate groups, and
children with their families. Its volunteers have sung Disney songs to
drown out hate-filled protests. As Marine Corp veteran and Parasol
Patrol co-founder Eli Barzan put it
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“Instead of yelling or fighting, you’ll find the Parasol Patrol
crew playing music, singing, and laughing.”

In a context of rising racial tensions and threats of election-related
violence and intimidation, initiatives like the non-partisan Joy to
the Polls have promoted
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safety and civic participation through music and the arts. Other
election safety and security initiatives have responded to threats
with collective action by trusted community members from across the
political and ideological spectrum. Examples include the deployment of
“poll chaplains
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by groups like Faiths United to Save Democracy and the recruitment of
veterans and military families as poll workers by campaigns like Vet
the Vote [[link removed]], a project of We the Veterans and
Military Families.

In some cases, legal and law enforcement strategies have accompanied
community mobilization and media strategies, to great effect. After
Donald Trump, Rudy Giuliani, and their team made false claims
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of voter fraud against Georgia election workers Ruby Freeman and Shay
Moss, the women endured months of death threats and racist taunts. In
2021, with support from Protect Democracy’s Law for Truth project,
Moss and Freeman filed suit against Giuliani for defamation,
intentional infliction of emotional distress, and civil conspiracy.
Legal proceedings were accompanied by a media campaign that
successfully promoted the fact that Freeman and Moss were just doing
their civic duty and reframed them as patriots, while redirecting
blame at those who illegally attempted to overturn the 2020 election.
In a sweeping ruling, the courts ruled in the women’s favor
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Other legal groups, like the Movement Law Lab, have worked closely
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with activists and organizers to help them sustain their work in the
face of rising criminalization and authoritarian behavior.

Similarly, law enforcement proved helpful in 2022, when 31 members of
the white supremacist group Patriot Front were arrested
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for conspiracy to riot at a Pride event in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.
Their plans were thwarted when a concerned community member called the
police to report 20 men in a U-Haul truck with masks, shields, and
weapons. The FBI worked alongside local authorities to make the
arrests. Even after the arrests in Coeur d’Alene, the North Idaho
Pride Alliance declared Pride in the Park, which featured fun family
activities and the strong support of businesses, a success. “That
was by far the biggest Pride event that has ever taken place here in
Coeur d’Alene,” the alliance’s outreach director told
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NPR. “We stood up — in our way — to the bullies. But we did it
by bringing people together in love and kindness.” The Pride in the
Park event in June 2024 was its biggest yet
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THE NEED FOR WIDER COMMUNITY ACTION

Although institutional mechanisms such as courts and law enforcement
can be helpful, they cannot be relied upon, particularly in instances
when they are controlled by individuals who are hostile to
multi-racial democracy. Wider community action is needed to raise the
costs of political violence while strengthening pro-democracy
community norms and behaviors. Given the ubiquity of online threats,
intimidation, and disinformation, digital strategies that target
businesses and other corporate actors that are promoting or enabling
political violence, such as those advanced by Sleeping Giants
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and Check My Ads [[link removed]], are critically important.

These examples of backfire highlight the importance of confronting
hate and political violence with preparation, diverse participation,
creative collective action, and nonviolent discipline. Stopping
political violence takes going on offense and, where necessary,
raising the heat through collective action. That is what made civil
resistance campaigns so effective during the civil rights movement,
the greatest pro-democracy movement in U.S. history.

Local circumstances will determine which tactics and communication
strategies
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are most effective, including which trusted messengers to engage.
Maximizing backfire requires organization, preparation, and the
involvement of diverse stakeholders. Fortunately, the history of
movements that have advanced social progress in this country and
around the world, often in the face of significant political violence,
offer a powerful and hopeful way forward.

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Maria J. Stephan [[link removed]]
Maria J. Stephan (@MariaJStephan [[link removed]])
is Co-Lead and Chief Organizer for The Horizons Project. She formerly
directed the Program on Nonviolent Action at the U.S. Institute of
Peace. She is co-author of "Why Civil Resistance Works: The Strategic
Logic of Nonviolent Conflict," "Bolstering Democracy: Lessons Learned
and the Path Forward," and "Is Authoritarianism Staging a Comeback?

* Political Violence; Nonviolent Resistance; Backfire;
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