While bombings, gunfire and death are an everyday part of life for many people struggling to gain independence or defeat an occupying military force, there is a vision of an alternative battle plan. That plan is non-violent resistance.The Peace and Conflict Studies Department hosted an informative and invigorating event on April 10 to discuss the history and effectiveness of mass non-violent movements.

The guest speaker, Dr. Stephen Zunes, is a professor of politics and international studies at the University of San Francisco, who also heads the Middle Eastern Studies Department.

Zunes is a renowned expert on the formation and successful execution of mass non-violent campaigns and also on U.S. foreign policy. His main area of expertise is on the Middle East, a very difficult part of the world for non-violent movements.

Zunes’s presentation was a provocative mix of nonviolent strategies, the success of such movements, and how they pertain to the Middle East and other parts of the world.

While much of world history has been centered on armed conflict, nonviolent movements have been equally prominent.

“Non-violent action campaigns have been part of life for millennia,” Zunes said, “Non-violence can be a very pro-active means of political power.”

Mass non-violent movements, particularly as independence movements, have been amazingly successful. Gandhi’s movement against British colonialism in India and Martin Luther King Jr.’s nonviolent campaign for civil rights are two prominent examples.

Somehow, however, these movements are hardly the norm when it comes to resistance or to gaining independence. Zunes attributes this to a variety of factors, the main one being U.S. foreign policy decisions.

“There’s no evidence that shows America ever supporting a non-violent opposition movement, in spite of supporting armed liberation movements,” Zunes said.

An example is the U.S. government’s failure to support the Burmese non-violent uprising in the early 1990s, which resulted in the death and detainment of thousands of peaceful pro-democracy activists.

Many people don’t equate non-violence with the Middle East, but Zunes points out that a massive, popular, non-violent movement is not only possible, but also quite beneficial.

A case that Zunes himself has worked on extensively is the independence movement in Western Sahara, North African territory that is currently occupied by the Moroccan government.

A non-violent independence movement has been underway since 1991. The movement is unique mainly because it is an unarmed movement in a very violent part of the world.

But it also is unique because it challenges systems of inequality in the Muslim world. The Western Sahara movement’s leadership is mostly female, an uncommon feat for most Muslim nations and movements.

Zunes’ invigorating and provocative presentation closed with a discussion on the United States. Many questions were posed about the chances of nonviolent popular movements here, and Zunes had a simple response.

“A regime is dependent solely on the will of those below it.