006 group or mass petitions
"Group or mass petitions are written requests or supplications seeking the redress of a specific grievance, signed by a large number of individuals or by a smaller number of individuals acting on behalf of organizations, institutions or constituencies. (Petitions from individuals normally do not fall within “nonviolent protest and persuasion,” since they are usually simply personal efforts to persuade. Exceptions may occur, however.) Of the multitudes of examples, we offer here a few of the less known in order to illustrate some of the diversity in the use of this method. Examples of petitions go back at least as far as the Roman Empire. In one instance, in the years A.D. 183-185, during the reign of Emperor Commodus, son of Marcus Aurelius, the peasant tenants of one of the imperial estates of Africa sought relief from the amount of compulsory work required of them by"...
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High scoring campaigns using this method
Historical cases from the Nonviolent Action Database that used this method
Argentine women fight for access to abortions, 2005-2020
In 2003, the National Women’s Conference (ENM), a yearly feminist conference based in Argentina, held a workshop called “Strategies for Abortion Rights” in the nation’s province of Rosario. This workshop inspired the idea for launching a national cam...
Burmese citizens stop dam construction on Irrawady River, 2007-2011
The Irrawaddy river, the largest in Burma, begins at the confluence of the Mali Hka and N’Mai Hka rivers in the northern state of Kachin. Villagers in the small towns dotting the banks of these waters make their livelihood farming and fishing in a re...
North Carolina textile workers win union recognition from J. P. Stevens, 1976-1980
In 1974, workers at seven textile plants in Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina owned by the J. P. Stevens company voted to be represented by the Textile Workers Union of America (TWUA). However, the company refused to sign a contract with the new union. ...
Sudanese bring down dictator Abbud (October Revolution), 1964
By October of 1964, an issue called the “Southern Problem” had formed in Sudan. This Southern Problem was essentially a dispute between the Arabized Muslim North and Christian South of Sudan. The northern “Sudanization” of southern administrative pos...
Greek campaign to stop construction of coal plants 2008-2010
In July 2007, the Ministry of the Environment, Physical Planning and Public Works published the “General Spatial Planning and Sustainable Development Framework” with no plans for new coal plants in Greece. A month later, the Ministry of Development p...
Greenpeace and Sea Shepherds force Japanese seafood company Nissui to sell stakes in whale hunting ships 2005-2006.
In 1985, the International Whaling Commission instituted a moratorium on commercial whaling, but in 1986, the Japanese government started a scientific whaling program to study whales. Many observers view the scientific whaling scheme as a way to cont...
Newark residents and students campaign to stop the building of 279 MW power plant (2013-2014)
The Science, Technology and Advanced Research (STAR) campus, a satellite campus of the University of Delaware (UD) is located just half a mile from the primary campus in Newark, Delaware. During the efforts to fully develop the STAR campus, UD offere...
Swiss railway workers strike against job cuts, 2008
The cargo division of Swiss Federal Railways (SFR) had repeatedly been suffering financial deficits for a few years and even changed top management. On March 6, 2008, SFR announced a major restructuring plan that involved shutting down its maintenanc...
Newark Delaware USA community activists stop power plant in their neighborhood - 2013-2014
In 2013, Newark, Delaware, USA, was a town of 30,000 and home to the University of Delaware. Local citizens felt great concern about job creation to recover from the losses resulting from the worldwide financial crisis of 2007-2008, and they pressure...
Chi Ha Kim’s Declaration of Conscience Delegitimizes Korean Dictator Park, 1975
Chi Ha Kim was a poet and playwright who gained prominence through his anti-establishment literature. He inspired many dissidents by inculcating them with courage to stand up against the illegitimate regime and exposing the corrupted nature of the cu...
Low scoring campaigns using this method
Historical cases from the Nonviolent Action Database that used this method
South Korean women labourers protest closing of YH wig manufacturing company 1979
Workers engaged in conflict with their employers, the YH wig making company, as early as 1975. Since the founding of the company in 1966, the executives had hired employees at very low wages, siphoned funds to America, and illegally fired workers. Th...
Western Michigan University students campaign for a living wage, United States, 2006-2007
In 2004, Western Michigan University outsourced its custodial labor to a private company called Commercial Sanitation Management. The contract cut costs for the university by $1.1 million dollars a year and eliminated 58 positions. Commercial Sanitat...
Falkland Islander fishermen protest license fee increase, 2008
@font-face { font-family: "Cambria"; }p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0in 0in 10pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }div.Section1 { page: Section1; }\n\nThe Falkland Islands is an archipelago off the coast of Argen...
Swarthmore students campaign for card check neutrality in workers' unionizing, 2006
Swarthmore College is a small liberal arts college close to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. During the spring semester of 2006 campus workers at Swarthmore began to organize a union. For the union to be established a significant number of the workers had...
Yale University students protest sweatshop labor, 2000
On 1 March 2000, 400 Yale University students rallied to demand that their administration withdraw from the Fair Labor Association (FLA) and join the Workers Rights Consortium (WRC) instead. Both organizations focused on monitoring sweatshop labor an...
Seychellois campaign for free independent radio, 2006
The Republic of Seychelles is a small island nation in the Indian Ocean, east of Tanzania. The Seychelles People’s Progressive Front (SPPF) has held power in the Republic of Seychelles since their coup d’etat in 1977. Despite laws that nominally prov...
Ohio citizens campaign to stop incinerator in East Liverpool 1991-1993
The Waste Technologies Industry, Inc. first proposed to build an incinerator in the floodplain of the Ohio River in East Liverpool, Ohio in 1977. Throughout the 1980s, the company battled with the local government officials and other regulatory agenc...
Saint Lucia Prison Officers campaign against re-appointment of former Director of Prisons, 2009
Over a period of two months in 2009, Saint Lucia prison officers organized a petition and a sick-in to protest the return of a former Director of Prisons. Hillary Herman had voluntarily left his position as Director of Prisons in 2008 (after a 7-year...
South Africans protest Mondi Paper's multi-fuel boiler, 2001-2006
Although apartheid formally ended in 1994, repercussions from apartheid-era laws and policies have continued to impact the lives of South Africans, especially those in poor and industrial communities. An example of black Africans' plight is the commu...
NYU students attempt to remove Chick-Fil-A from campus, 2011
In the summer of 2012, the American fast food restaurant chain Chick-fil-A became the focus of an anti same-sex marriage controversy when the restaurant’s owners made public comments in support of traditional marriage. Chick-fil-A CEO Dan Truett Cath...