Case Studies – Rules of Activism

Here are some of the case studies explored in Rules of Activism, by Charles Euchner:

Community Organizing: How organizers talk, listen, and learn in community work, with techniques developed by the Industrial Areas Foundation.

Amber Hollibaugh, one of the leaders of the Second Wave of Feminism

Second-Wave Feminism: How feminists of the 1960s found their identity through personal crisis, involvement in activism, and a fast-changing society.

Antiwar Movements: The challenge of finding a unifying message to fight destructive and unwise wars.

The Gay Revolution: The move from rampant discrimination and ridicule to basic rights.

Police attacks on nonviolent marchers in a Justice for Janitors walk to Century City

Justice for Janitors and the SEIU: How the unlikeliest group of workers–low wage, low-education, non-English-speaking immigrants–helped to revive the labor movement.

Greenpeace:The strategies and tactics of radical environmentalists–and how they made the move from protest to policy.

Bayard Rustin, the organizer of the March on Washington and a pioneer in the strategy of nonviolent direct action

The Civil Rights Movement: Who were the leaders of the movement? Were they the charismatics, like Martin Luther King and Malcolm X? The visionaries like Philip Randoph and Bayard Rustin? Or was it the technocrats, the youth, or the teachers?

The United Farm Workers: The power of boycotts to help a marginalized group engage a whole nation.

Stealth Activists: The Zoot Suitors, the Sanctuary Movement, and The Value Turners: Working behind the scenes, these activists did what they could for their causes in the shadows.

Depiction of the Boston Tea Party before the American Revolution

Tax Revolts: The ultimate form of withdrawing consent, tax revolts have not played a major role in small-d democratic activism in recent years. How might that change?

The Battle of Seattle: How a massive campaign of nonviolent direct action changed the debate about globalism.

Occupy: By taking over public places all over the world, the Occupy movement transformed the way people talk about growing inequality. But did they solve any problem?

Lois Gibbs, the lead organizer in the grassroots movement against toxic waste dumping in the community of Love Canal

Love Canal: A high school-educated mother expanded the environmental movement from the courthouse to the streets.

The Anti-Nukes Movement: The Clamshell Alliance transformed modern activism with its protest against the Seabrook nuclear plant. But did the movement win? And for how long?