An Analytical Overview of the Application of Gene Sharp’s Theory of Nonviolent Action in Milosevic’s Serbia

In this document, Srdja Popovic, an organiser in the Serbian youth resistance movement, Otpor, analyses the use of nonviolent action to enlist civil society in participation in the overthrow - by democratic election - of the 13 year-long reign of President Slobodan Milosovic in 2000. This 9-page essay considers the role of Gene Sharps’ strategic model for nonviolent action and Otpor’s application of Sharp’s model.

Otpor began its work in Belgrade in October 1998, adopting a unifying symbol, a clenched fist, which, according to the author, "will likely remain the movement’s lasting contribution to post-Titoist symbolic culture." The analysis of Otpor's work to unify the opposition is based on Gene Sharp's strategies from his treatise The Politics of Nonviolent Action, including Sharp’s 198 methods of nonviolent methods of protest. Otpor’s first strategy was to channel widespread discontent into constructive social action by organising a series of nonviolent actions centred on travelling “street theatre" events. They were aimed to capture the imagination of the public and, subsequently, appeared on a number of cover pages of several popular papers and magazines. They served to create, in the Milosevic-controlled public space, a new model for social action – the “demonstrative exercise”. "Otpor’s meticulously planned and highly choreographed actions had the effect, reinforced through their exposure in mass media outlets, of an ongoing demonstrative exercise.... Actions...in increasingly shorter intervals... challenged ordinary people to do something...themselves, wear t-shirts, pass-out leaflets, spray paint slogans, about the condition of the body politic."


"Coordinated strings of meetings and petitions, ...public appearances, and literally tons of propaganda material, as well as ...student marches across Serbia" and a focus on concrete local problems “...attracted more and more domestic and foreign public attention.....Otpor insisted on defining its authority as being rooted not in erudite parlance but in decisive deeds. Dramatic confirmations of this, such as the commemoration of the first anniversary of NATO’s bombing with a coordinated posting of some 50,000 posters in 63 towns and cities simultaneously (the whole action lasted exactly an hour), amounted to a formidable show of strength."


Following training in non-violent activism using Sharp's work, "[l]arge-scale nonviolent social disobedience slowly became common place..." which culminated in a general strike, embodying the realisation of one of Otpor’s key aims - to unify “the citizens as Otpor”, a third party of political power with growing authority as a people's nonviolent movement.


A battle for "media space" began, with Otpor producing low-cost propaganda materials, such as posters, handouts, stickers, and graffiti, using only black and white shades on all propaganda material to solidify “brand recognition”. The movement was able to cover every available physical space and "managed to a surprising extent to shape, if not to control, the 'terms of the debate.'" The regime countered with arrests and with a "media blitz and public events", while activists were reduced to vertical and horizontal communication in coded messages, presenting themselves as a movement gone "underground". Activists turned to humorous actions, provoking arrest, but effectively eliciting community support and unity, including "500 massive protests in front of police stations." Upon release, each activist, while exiting the police station, cited the words of Jorge Luis Borges, “Force is the last refuge of the weak.” The strategy of presenting Otpor as the national victim of government repression drew conversions, as stated here, even from within the ranks of the government.


When elections were called, Otpor was ready with campaign materials for a "get out the vote" campaign and a negative "He's finished" campaign already distributed in hidden caches. Using its civil society "human resource" support, Otpor had 25,000 people willing to risk arrest by distributing materials, posting stickers, and writing graffiti. Otpor responded to the regime's denial of the election results by training people at the local level in techniques of nonviolent action. This base of 2.5 million voters set up a series of blockades, supported by "appropriate propaganda-educational material, such as stickers asserting 'Blockade!', 'Barricade!', and 'You won’t pass!'), hundreds of planned and spontaneous local meetings of citizens, and student marches....The...nonviolent strategy of Otpor constitutes a key component in the mobilization of the citizenry against the dictatorial regime of Slobodan Milosevic and it represents a genuine historical instance where nonviolent methods triumphed against a nondemocratic regime."