Gene Sharp Lecture on Civilian-Based Defense

“If ever there was a time by which war should have been abolished, it has passed.” So begins this 1983 lecture given by Dr. Gene Sharp at Whittier College in Whittier, CA. The presentation was part of a conference called “Feeling Safe: Exploring Paths to National and International Security” sponsored by the Whittier Institute for International Understanding.

Sharp goes on to ask rhetorically why war continues to be an accepted form of conflict. His answer is that people do not want to helplessly submit to genocide, dictatorial regimes, foreign occupations, cultural usurpations and other forms of injustice so ubiquitous in the modern world, and they see no other way to resist. People require a way to fight for good causes and, even more importantly, to defend themselves and their families against possible enemies. War and violence are the only forms of struggle they trust to defend their way of life.

Civilian-Based Defense, Sharp suggests, may provide an effective nonviolent alternative to military warfare. CBD is based on the insight that power is derived from the obedience and cooperation of people, and no invading army can effectively rule a country whose citizens refuse to support the new regime. Sharp maintains that using nonviolent action is not contrary to human nature (or even animal nature); it builds on our natural capacity to be stubborn, obnoxious and incompetent. He stresses that it is not necessary to be opposed to violence on ethical or religious grounds in order to use nonviolent tactics, just as those who support war don’t need to embrace violence as a way of life. In fact, nonviolent action has been used for hundreds of years by ordinary people, and Sharp goes on to cite historical examples of successful or partially successful nonviolent struggles.

Since all previous attempts at nonviolent national defense have been spontaneous, Sharp theorizes that a carefully prepared program could be far more effective. A trained citizenry might be able to multiply the power of nonviolent non-cooperation by ten times. He advocates more research to develop the technique, claiming great strides could be made with just one percent of the Pentagon’s budget. In fact, Sharp point out (at the time of the lecture) several smaller European countries were already giving serious consideration to using Social Defense (as they call it) as part of their overall defense strategy.

Sharp concludes his talk by suggesting ways ordinary citizens can begin to raise public consciousness about CBD, and advocates initial steps toward what he calls “transarmament.” Some day, Dr. Sharp hopes, we may give up military weapons for the same reason we gave up bows and arrows--not because they were wicked and immoral, but because we had developed a superior weapons system.

Gene Sharp holds a Doctor of Philosophy degree in political theory from Oxford University. He is currently Senior Scholar at the Albert Einstein Institution, which he founded in 1983.

Part one runs 33:22 and is about 6.3 MB. In my tests it took 42 seconds to download using a DSL connection, and about 18:30 using a dial-up modem. Your download times will vary.

Some points covered in part one:

Part two runs 24:50 and is about 4.7 MB. In my tests it took 32 seconds to download using a DSL connection, and about 14:00 using a dial-up modem. Your download times will vary.

Some points covered in part two: