Technology for Nonviolent Struggle

Steve Wright, “The new technologies of political repression: a new case for arms control?” Philosophy and Social Action, Vol. 17, Nos. 3-4, July-December 1991, p. 31-62; Steve Wright, An Appraisal of Technologies for Political Control (Luxembourg: European Parliament, 1998). The Campaign Against Arms Trade, among others, has targeted the repression trade. See for example “Campaigner’s guide to the internal repression trade,” Peace News, March 1996, pp. 7-10.

9.

The dilemmas involved when nonviolent resisters “accept casualties” are dealt with by Gene Keyes, “Heavy casualties and nonviolent defense,” Philosophy and Social Action, Vol. 17, Nos. 3-4, July- December 1991, pp. 75-88.

10.

I thank Andreas Speck for this point.

Notes to Chapter 9

1.

Karl R. Popper, Objective Knowledge: An Evolutionary Approach (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1972).

2.

Henry H. Bauer, Scientific Literacy and the Myth of the Scientific Method (Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 1992); Paul Feyerabend, Against Method: Outline of an Anarchistic Theory of Knowledge (London: New Left Books, 1975).

3.

Ian I. Mitroff, The Subjective Side of Science: A Philosophical Inquiry into the Psychology of the Apollo Moon Scientists (Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1974).

4.

Obviously, not everyone is able to participate in every form of nonviolent action. For example, using a short-wave radio to send messages requires certain skills and technology. But virtually everyone can participate in petitions, rallies, boycotts, strikes and other forms of noncooperation. On participation by people with disabilities, see Brian Martin and Wendy Varney, “Nonviolent action and people with disabilities,” Civilian-Based Defense, Vol. 15, No. 3, Year-End 2000, pp. 4-16.

5.

There is a considerable literature on citizen participation in technological decision making. See for example Malcolm L. Goggin (ed.), Governing Science and Technology in a Democracy (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1986); Alan Irwin, Citizen Science: A Study of People, Expertise, and Sustainable Development (London: Routledge, 1995); Frank N. Laird, “Participatory analysis, democracy, and technological decision making,” Science, Technology, & Human Values, Vol. 18, No. 3, Summer 1993, pp. 341-361; Brian Martin (ed.), Technology and Public Participation (Wollongong: Science and Technology Studies, University of Wollongong, 1999); James C. Petersen (ed.), Citizen Participation in Science Policy (Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1984); Richard E. Sclove, Democracy and Technology (New York: Guilford Press, 1995); Leslie Sklair, Organized Knowledge: A Sociological View of Science and Technology (St. Albans: Paladin, 1973); Langdon Winner (ed.), Democracy in a Technological Society (Dordrecht: Kluwer, 1992). However, most of this writing sees citizens as involved in decision making but not actually doing research. On science by the people, see Brian Martin,“The goal of self-managed science: implications for action,” Radical Science Journal, No. 10, 1980, pp. 3-17; Brian Martin,“Anarchist science policy,” The Raven, Vol. 7, No. 2, Summer 1994, pp. 136-153; Richard Sclove, “Research by the people, for the people,” Futures, Vol. 29, No. 6, 1997, pp. 541-549. Relevant here are the diverse experiences in participatory action research, though such “people’s research” is far more likely to be in fields of social analysis rather than science and engineering. See for example Stephen Kemmis and Robin McTaggart (eds.), The Action Research Planner (Geelong, Victoria: Deakin University, 3rd edn, 1988); Robert A. Rubinstein, “Reflections on action anthropology: some developmental dynamics of an anthropological tradition,” Human Organization, Vol. 45, No. 3, Fall 1986, pp. 270-279; William Foote Whyte (ed.), Participatory Action Research (Newbury Park, CA: Sage, 1991); Trevor Williams, Learning to Manage our Futures: The Participative Redesign of Societies in Turbulent Transition (New York: Wiley, 1982).

6.

Jun Ui, “The interdisciplinary study of environmental problems,” Kogai — The Newsletter from Polluted Japan, Vol. 5, No. 2, Spring 1977, pp. 12-24.

7.