Tactics of Social Movements

Tactics of the Civil Rights Movement
Just as any other political group, the Civil Rights Movement had numerous branches. As civil rights activism spread, it became evident that its different branches had completely opposing viewpoints. For example, the branch lead by Martin Luther King Jr. stressed the employment of nonviolence, and the methods of direct action. As one of the most famous activities of the Civil Rights Movement, direct action can be defined as an activity undertaken by individuals, groups, or governments to achieve political, economic, or social goals outside of normal social or political channels. In Martin Luther King’s own words in ,Letters from Birmingham Jail, “The purpose of our direct action program is to create a situation so crisis packed, that it will inevitably open the door to negotiation”. King’s tactic for reform created a crisis, but in a nonviolent way. King’s tactic of direct action was indeed heavily debated. Many raised the question as to why King didn’t simply negotiate, instead of using sit-ins, and marches. He simply responded that negotiation was a goal, but must be achieved by creating a situation that could not be ignored.
Another branch of the Civil Rights Movement was lead by Malcom X, and favored black nationalism. Black nationalism can be defined as a group of militant African American people who urge separatism from white people and the establishment of self-governing African American communities. Malcom X did not always favor King’s idea of nonviolence by taking up the slogan, “the ballot or the bullet”. Malcom X was criticized by the nonviolent group as being counter-productive towards their cause. Black nationalism urged that the present was the time for civil rights action, and its delay would mean its very end.
Tactics of the Chicano movement
The Chicano movement observed the techniques of the black power movement, and linked themselves to African American protests with the common goal of empowerment. It established racial identity as the principle means of self-conception and group empowerment. An example of would be the land grant movement, where mass occupations occurred, and the more violent tactic, of attempting to make citizens arrest for unruly and abusive government officials.
Tactics of the Native American Movement
A prime example of Native American tactics would be fish-ins. The term fish-in itself stemmed from the terminology used by African American protests, A fish-in was where illegal fishing occurred, in bodies of water that were legally restricted or banned for native Americans. This tactic harnessed the media as a way of publicly showing the Native American movements. Another tactic were occupations of famous sites such as the area of wounded knee, as well as land that was declared unfit for use, such as the island of Alcatraz. Finally, the American Indian Movement, (AID) provided a symbolic as well as organizational point for the Red Power movement to gather. It encouraged the news media, and voiced Native American social concerns. AIM hosted the event of the “Trail of broken treaties”, a caravan-like march that ended in Washington D.C, where there was a final occupation of government buildings.