“Where there is oppression, there will be resistance.” Assata Shakur wrote this in her autobiography and time and time again, we see that in every corner of the world this rings true. The people will resist and although their struggle will be unique to their context, direct action will be called upon to support them. 

The concept of direct action is largely credited to the group of mostly working class people that triggered the French Revolution. Moreover, the Spanish are credited with first practicing direct action in the form of a general strike in 1855. Regardless, as Voltairine de Cleyre wrote in her 1912 essay, Direct Action: “Every person who ever had a plan to do anything, and went and did it, or who laid his plan before others, and won their cooperation to do it with him, without going to external authorities to please do the thing for them, was a direct actionist.”

Today direct action is commonly known as a tool to achieve our goals without handing our power to someone else. It interrupts business-as-usual. Direct action is tasked with interrupting because the current conditions are harmful at best and violent at worst. We see in mainstream media that direct action is often criticized as inconvenient, burdensome, or even violent. However, what is more inconvenient or violent than being killed at the hands of the state? Is it really violent to damage property when there are people being murdered in our local and international communities? 

We understand that the goal of mainstream media in portraying movements is to pacify and seldomly to accurately represent our movements. Therefore it is crucial that we understand direct action as an integral part of our movements. 

Political movements have been marked by direct action. For example, the Boston Tea Party used the disposal of tea as a way to protest the taxation on tea itself. The sit-ins during the Civil Rights Movement protested segregation laws by actively defying them. In 1963, a Vietnamese monk, Thich Quang Duc, set himself on fire to protest the persecution of Buddhists by the South Vietnamese government backed by the U.S. In 1977, 150 disabled people occupied a government building in San Francisco for 25 days to demand that the Carter administration sign Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. The bill acknowledged that discrimination against disabled people existed and it made it illegal. In 1992, a group of protesters flinged the ashes of loved ones lost to the AIDS epidemic onto the White House lawn. In 2018, David Buckel, a retired lawyer, set himself on fire in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park to bring attention to the climate crisis. In December of 2023, protesters blocked the Bay Bridge in support of Palestine. 

As technology continues to infiltrate our lives, we must adapt and use it to our advantage. Twitter was a central tool in showcasing the violence that Black people experienced at the hands of the police and the brutality that protestors endured during the #BlackLivesMatter movement. This hashtag became a unifying force for solidarity and documentation. When mainstream media refuses to share our struggle and our resistance we are able to turn to online platforms to post photos, videos, or even livestream. Most recently, Aaron Bushnell used Twitch to livestream his self-immolation, forcing the world to witness his courageous last action and his support of a free Palestine. At the same time, we must stay vigilant against surveillance. Remember to be cautious when using social media while at direct actions. Don’t film the faces of your fellow comrades. Instead film the police. Wearing a facial mask is a great way to continue protecting each other against COVID19 and surveillance. 

We must continue to learn from our history of direct action and adjust to the present moment. Direct action has brought many wins to our movements, after all, “direct action gets the goods.” This is a slogan popularized by the Industrial Workers of the world in the early twentieth century and renewed by the movements of the 1960’s. When the conditions of our world feel too big to fight, it is helpful to reflect on our movement histories. We must honor all those who have given their lives and wisdom to our work. May we look to them for creativity and knowledge in defeating the oppressive systems of the world.