People power, however, is more than protests. It's the strategic use
of a wide variety nonviolent tactics such as strikes, boycotts, other
mass actions, and civil disobedience. Mohandas Gandhi said, "Even the
most powerful cannot rule without the cooperation of the ruled." People
power unfolds when the population withdraws this cooperation, refuses
to obey, and uses nonviolent resistance to make "business as usual"
impossible for the opponent.

Ukraine's Orange Revolution, which inspired the Lebanese, is the
most recent of a long line of victorious people power movements. Last
May the predominantly Muslim population of Ajaria, a breakaway province
in Georgia, ended the regime of Aslan Abashidze, a third-generation
local dictator. A nonviolent struggle was initiated by students who
were joined by ordinary citizens. They learned how to plan and
strategize from their counterparts in Georgia's Rose Revolution, who
had pressured Eduard Shevardnadze to resign after fraudulent
parliamentary elections.

The Solidarity movement in Poland won free trade unions and
ultimately the demise of the communist regime all the while that one
million Soviet soldiers occupied Eastern Europe and national
governments took orders from Moscow. The Indian independence movement
not only shook the foundations of British rule, but established a
stable democracy amidst a population composed of multiple religions and
sects.

Some may doubt the viability of people power given Lebanon's
occupier.  But civilian-based movements do not succeed because a
political system is open or because an opponent is soft. It is in
closed, repressive situations that they usually emerge. Serbia's
Slobodan Milosevic was known as the "Butcher of the Balkans" until he
was dislodged by a nonviolent uprising. The Pinochet regime in Chile
was infamous for torture and disappearances, yet it too succumbed to a
civilian-based movement. The anti-apartheid struggle in South Africa
operated under curfews and violent military incursions into black
townships.

Will people power succeed in Lebanon? There are four necessary
conditions for success. The first is planning. It's not enough to
gather spontaneously on the streets, whether in the hundreds or the
thousands. Planning the selection and sequencing of a range of
nonviolent actions is based on a strategy to de-legitimize the
oppressor and undermine its sources of support and control, namely, the
organizations, institutions and sectors of society that make decisions
and carry out orders.

Planning and strategy are crucial to thwarting counter moves and
withstanding repression from the opponent. For example, in 1985 the
Sudanese population forced Jaafar Numeiri from power, but the military
and a group of civilians struck back, and took control with the promise
of holding free and transparent elections the following year. The
military intervention and the lack of a clear strategy from the
protesters aborted a real opportunity to move the country toward
democracy.

A second condition is unity of purpose. Civilian-based struggles
need to have widely held political goals in order to win the support
and participation of the majority. The Lebanese "Intifada for
independence" is gathering momentum through the broad consensus behind
its basic demands: freedom from all foreign powers, and democracy.
These two objectives appeal to most people regardless of their
political or religious affiliations.

Third, nonviolent discipline is absolutely essential. It builds
longevity. In contrast to violent uprisings, whereby a minority acts
while the majority is sidelined, only nonviolent action will enlist the
active participation of average citizens, undermine the loyalty of the
opponent's sources of support and control, and enable defections from
security forces. It's not possible to co-opt those you threaten to harm.

Lastly, nonviolent movements cannot be created or directed by
external sources; they have to be homegrown. The population needs to
believe in the cause and righteousness of the struggle in order to
stand up in the face of repression and say "enough," as many are now
doing in Egypt.

People power is finally reaching the Arab world. Those rulers who,
until yesterday, refused any changes are today realizing they may have
no choice.

* Mr. Sabir is presently a United Nations Human Rights Officer and a
long-time civil society activist from Morocco. Shaazka Beyerle is Vice
President of the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict.

Source: Al-Hayat, 4 March 2005