A Force More Powerful: A century of nonviolent conflict
A miniseries (in two parts) recently shown on US
PBS stations dealing with the relatively recent rise in the tactic of using non-violent protest to change things that need changing. The two hour and a half shows dealt with three different situations each. The first installment dealt with the
Civil Rights Movement in
Nashville, TN during the
1960s,
Gandhi's
Salt March in
India in the 1930s (the original non-violent protest, of course), and
South Africa in 1984, during the end of
apartheid. The second (which airs this week) deals with
Denmark's protest against
Nazi Germany's occupation of their country during the
Second World War, the striking in
Warsaw,
Poland in 1981 which arguably directly led to the downfall of the
USSR, and finally, with the protests against
Pinochet's rule over
Chile in 1983 which led to the resumption of democratic elections in that country.
The show is a fascinating look at the tactics that Ghandi created when he kicked the British out of India and which has been adopted successfully in places all over the globe, including the United States.
Additionally, the show is technically very well done with a lot of original film taken at the time of the protests and worked into modern day interviews with a lot of cinematic success.
Check your local
TV guide for air dates and times as its different from station to station.