3. “Nonviolent direct action seeks to
create such a crisis and foster such a
tension that a community which has
constantly refused to negotiate is
forced to confront the issue. It seeks
to dramatize the issue so that it can
no longer be ignored.” Martin Luther King Jr.
3 introduction
nashville sit–ins
9 background
11 what happened
13 communication tactics
social networks
17 network features
18 how networks act
battle of seattle
21 background
25 groups involved
29 what happened
37 communication tactics
41 conclusion
5. History is littered with examples of how
people have gathered together in order to
alter the status quo and improve their lives.
Activism such as protests, demonstrations,
and direct action have created remarkably
swift improvements in society. Many aspects
of contemporary American life, such as the
privilege for all adult citizens to vote, and racial
equality were made possible by such activism.
The protestors of today are able to do more
then their predecessors could have dreamed
of because of the tools available to them.
Technology has played a role in the evolution
of protest by allowing people to act together
in new ways and in situations where collective
was not possible before. It is true that activist
movements prior to the mid 20th century
brought about tremendous changes and are
landmarks in history, but they were dumb.
Though fewer in number, the
minority can create change by
joining forces and organizing.
introduction
6. 1912
Woman’s suffrage protest and parade
1955
Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott
1957
Desegregating Little Rock, nine students
1960
Greensboro sit–ins
Nashville lunch counter sit–ins
1963
March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom
1965
Three marches of Selma to Montgomery
1970
Kent State and Cambodia Incursion Protest
1999
Battle of Seattle against the wto
1912 1955 1957 1960
1963 1965 1970 1999
introduction
Dumb is not meant in the pejorative
sense; the people involved in protests
were likely intelligent, and their collective
actions were valiant. In the context of this
book, dumb does not mean stupid; rather
it denotes that activism had several
structural and functional deficiencies.2
The dumb mobs of the past are dumb
because the activists had a limited ability
to plan and communicate with one other.
Creating strategy and sharing information
are what allow individuals to work cohe-
sively as a group, to collaborate in order
to achieve a single goal. Understanding
the limits of planning and communicating
allows one to see the limits of yesterdays
activism.
This book will explore of the use of
communication networks in the context of
activism. It Is about how networks emerge,
what they look like, and how they act.3
An example from the Civil Rights era
known as the Nashville sit-ins will set the
stage by illustrating how a basic sit–in
functions. A protest known as the Battle
of Seattle will be used to show how the
advances of communication and organiza-
tion that have been facilitated by mobile
communications technologies.12
It is im-
perative that the protestors of today
understand how modern communications
technology can improve the efficiency,
precision, and effectiveness of protest.
The shortcomings of activism in the
past comes from the inability to manage
coordination beyond a certain threshold
of size, complexity, and velocity.5
Activ-
ists could only communicate with each
other before the protest via face-to-face
discussion, the telephone, or mail. With
the exception of talking directly, these
media formats are inflexible because they
are wired in place, and require significant
amount of time to convey information.
During activist activities, people needed
to be within hearing range or line of sight
to communicate with one another since
cell phones did not exist until the 1980s.
Only under conditions of the recent wave
of information and wireless technologies
that allow for both communication and
computation capabilities, can activists
become smart in the way they configure
themselves during a protest. 5,12
8. 10
The Nashville Civil Rights protests are
an example of a form of protest known
as a sit-in. As the name implies, a sit-in
is a kind of protest that involves groups
of individuals sitting in areas in order to
disrupt or halt the actions of others.
Protesters were trained to remain passive and calm
if provoked in order to reduce any confrontation and
hopefully eliminate negative publicity.
Sit-Ins are an example of direct action,
as those involved are attempting to effect
immediate change by directly address-
ing their perceived problem and those
perceived to be responsible.
From February to May 1960, a total of 500
students from universities in the area sat
at tables and counters at four stores and
ordered food. Each group would sit-in
their respective stores until closing and
then would return the next day.
background
9. 11 12
in the stores
The protesters attended training to make
their time in the stores effective and safe.
Utilizing power in numbers, the protes-
tors congregated in groups for protection,
and to create a more noticeable presence
in the stores. Once seated, the protesters
remained quite, polite, calm, and did not
directly react to taunts or harassment.
group communication
Once the plan was enacted, the protesters
could not update each other on their status
due to their large sizes. Therefore the protes-
tors walked together in one large group and
split into smaller sub-groups who then broke
off to enter different establishments.
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what happened
10. 13 14
segmentation
As each sub-group separates, the
network shrinks and fragments until the
network ceases to function.
All protesters can do is hope their prior
planning will work, as they cannot update
their strategy if conditions change or if
they need assistance.
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limitations
Technological abilities of the time meant
that during a protest, protesters could
only communicate to those in their close
physical proximity.
nashville structure
The students organized and communi-
cated in a hierarchical way. Hierarchies
are formed in a rigid, tiered structure
that do not allow for efficient means of
communication. The sit-ins were limited
in their scope and complexity because
the students were not organized into a
structure called a network.
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isolation
Once seated, the protestors in each store
are isolated from the other sub-groups.
They have no idea if their fellow protest-
ers are being successful or have been
arrested. They are also unable to keep
track of other protest movements if the
protesters do not have access to news-
papers or other media.
communication tactics
line of sight
distance of hearing
12. 17 18
Swarming appears in the animal kingdom,
long before it did in human affairs. Human
swarming cannot be directly modeled after
animal swarming, but some useful lessons
and insights can be drawn from animals
of such as the bee and ant.3
The swarming
pattern of these social insects resembles
guerilla tactics in some ways, with linear
formations used for movement, then omni-
directional blanketing ‘wave’ attacks at the
point of contacts.3
For these five phases to
work correctly, they must be synchronized
between a diversity of seemingly discon-
nected individuals. Therefore there must
be a layer of instantaneous communication
between these individuals. This level is the
most difficult aspect of swarming, and this
prerequisite has made swarming extremely
difficult, or impossible, up until now.15
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types of networks
Centralized networks are the most simple
in structure, and easiest to break. If the
central hub is removed, the whole net-
work falls apart.3
Decentralized networks are stronger then
those that are centralized, but they are
vulnerable if more then a few hubs are
removed. The advantage of this type of
network can be set up relatively quickly.
Distributed networks creates robust
command and control structures that
allows rapid shifts in strategic targeting,
resistance to decapitation (attacks that
target leadership), and the disruption of
the communication channels. Since every
node is a hub, this network is almost
impossible to break down.1
connecting people
It wasn’t until the ‘Kevin Bacon Theory’
of six degrees of separation came along
that mass media and popular culture
have thought of social groups as literal
networks — interwoven connections
between people that are made by interac-
tion, and the formation of relationships.3
Each person in a network is a node who
in turn connects to one or more people.
Highly connected nodes are called hubs.
Hubs are the leaders in a group, and are
like the people you know who seem to
know everyone. Through these connec-
tions, information and resources can be
shared. It is from sharing that a network
gains its utility.3
A protest known as the
Battle of Seattle was the first example of
networked political protest in America.
swarming
Networks utilize a technique called
swarming to attack other institutions.
Swarming, in the context of protesting, can
be thought of as the technique of quickly
massing a large number of individuals
from all directions onto a single position
in order to attain a specific goal.15
The use
of modern communications technology
allows a extremely large amount of people
divided into small units to synchronize
their actions to a precise time and place.2
If conditions change, plans can be updated
on the fly.
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network features
how networks act
centralized decentralized distributed
14. 21 22
During four days from November 30th to
December 3rd 1999, activists held mas-
sive protests to voice opposition against
the state of globalization, and cancel the
meeting of the wto (World Trade Organi-
zation). The wto is the body that creates
rules and regulations governing the global
trading system.
400,000 protesters from dozens of countries met in
Seattle for four days in order to protest the wto.
This protest, which has become known
as The Battle of Seattle, represented one
of the biggest public demonstrations of
anti-globalization in America at the time.7
A ragtag army of nonviolent global citizens
spoke, and the world listened.11
Protesters were not against trade, but
they wanted economic policies to include
social concerns: the environment, labor
rights, and third world poverty.8
Because
it deals with so many separate issues,
from farm subsidies to intellectual prop-
erty rights, the wto attracts a very mixed
bag of opponents, which is one reason
that opposition to it has been hard to
focus.8
Some of the wto opponents want
to reform the organization. Some want
to abolish it. Virtually all of them resent
the secrecy in which the wto makes
decisions that its 135 member nations are
supposed to abide by.9
background
15. 23 24
importance
While some recent demonstrations in
America have drawn more people and
some have been more violent, the Battle
of Seattle is unique in recent US history.10
The Battle of Seattle is important because
it was the first protest to utilize a modern
sophisticated network.
The Seattle protests were chosen as a
case study because they were a prototype
for a series of global protests that have
followed and are continuing in the early
21st century. The Battle was notable for a
number of reasons; the protests were on
of the largest and most visible challenges
to economic globalization in the United
states. Many of the tactics, from the use
of the technologies such as the internet
and cell phone networks, to organiza-
tional strategies, were subsequently
imitated around the world and built upon
at demonstrations that followed. In short,
Seattle has become a shorthand term for
a new global justice movement.15
The country had not witnessed such
widespread direct action protests in many
years. Demonstrators have shut down
corporate lobbies, performed sidewalk
political theater and put their bodies in
the middle of the streets to draw atten-
tion to their cause.4
The direct action protests in Seattle, were
executed without permits, unlike typical
mass marches. Their illegal nature have
sparked harsh criticism, but now there are
signs that direct action is actually begin-
ning to change the way people think talk
and even act. The sheer volume of protest
forced increased press coverage, and
corporate entities that most people have
never heard of are now slipping into the
public eye. On the ground the movement
has coalesced remarkably quickly and has
been able to shift tactics nimbly, in a large
part because of the internet.4
None of these issues began, or ended
with Seattle. Seattle did, however, cast
them in a new light, highlighting a wide
and global movement of protest against
both international organizations and
corporate power.10
The Battle of Seattle saw a more deliber-
ate and tactically focused use of wireless
communications and mobile networks in
urban political conflict.12
Floating above
the tear gas was a pulsing info-sphere of
enormous bandwidth, reaching around
the planet via the internet.6
To raise public awareness and enhance moral,
protesters created and displayed huge banners with
slogans and vivid imagery. The signs could be seen
from miles away.
background
16. 25 26
police vs protesters
The Battle of Seattle is a battle waged
by protesters against the police. Though
there were hundreds of groups that were
involved in these protests, the Direct
Action Network (dan) and the Ameri-
can Federation of Labor Union (afl-cio)
played the most significant role. Together,
these two protest groups outnumbered
the police by a ratio of 100 to 1.
The police operated under the misguided
assumption that dan activists would stop
their protests in order to join to the
afl-cio parade. This theory would prove
to be wrong; the parade would join dan
and embolden their ranks.6
The strategy
to suppress the Direct Action Network
protests while allowing the parade frag-
mented the police force and made it near
impossible to stop the dan activists.
groups involved
wave 1 200–300
locate and lockdown intersections
nonviolent and risk arrest
wave 2 4,000–5,000
protect wave 1 at all costs
nonviolent and do not risk arrest
wave 3 30,000
show symbolic solidarity
nonviolent and do not risk arrest
swarmed the streets
afl-cio 4,000–5,000
not technically part of dan
augmented dan wave 3
local force 400
allow the afl-cio parade
prevent protests
attempt to make arrests
group breakdown
17. 27 28
description
The Direct Action Network is a collection
of grass roots groups from Los Angeles to
Vancouver.13
The Direct Action Network
is not, in of it self, an organization; rather
dan is a network of many individual
activists groups that work cooperatively
to achieve shared goals. Together, these
groups practiced direct action, a type of
activism that attempts to immediately
fix perceived problems in society.5
dan
serves as an umbrella organization in
which organizations such as the People’s
Global Actions, Ruckus Society, Earth-
First!, Rainfroest Action Network, and
Art Revolution.6
Through the Direct Action Network,
these groups coordinated non-violent
protest training, communications and
collective strategy and tactics through
a decentralized process of consultation
and consensus decision making.6
strategy
The major strategy utilized by dan, was to
prevent the wto conference from opening
by stopping the flow of delegates into the
conference center and closing down major
roads in downtown Seattle.11
The plan was organized through the affin-
ity groups by spatially dividing downtown
Seattle into 13 areas, each area in effect
a slice radiating out from the conference
center.6
Different affinity groups of 5–15
people, many willing to risk arrest, took
responsibility for blocking key intersec-
tions and hotels in each wedge.11
goal
The overall strategic goal of the Direct
Action Network was to “shut down” the
World Trade Organization meeting in
Seattle.13
This goal was sufficiently broad
to join together two a variety of wto
opponents. The Direct Action Network
protesters clustered around the inter-
national network of non-governmental
organizations (ngo) devoted to extending
the principles of liberal democracy.6
seattle center
washington
convention
center
delegate route
dan
protesters
downtown seattle
groups involved
18. 29 30
stage 1
dan wave 1 protestors seize and hold
onto a handful of strategic intersections,
immobilizing the police force.
Though the police didn’t realize it, the
Direct Action Network had already
swarmed them and now shifting to a
defensive strategy of holding on to the
streets in immovable groups.6
stage 2
The police split into two groups, one to
protect and allow a labor parade, and the
other to suppress dan protests. The afl-
cio rally and parade was planned in con-
junction with the police, and the strategy
of parading without protesting dovetailed
neatly with the city plans for a minuscule
protest and a media-genic parade. As the
number of protesters increased, the 400
police remained in their lines around the
Convention Center or at their positions at
the Memorial Stadium.6
stage 3
Members of the parade join the dan
Protest to reinforce the protesting. The
afl-cio parade delivered crucial rein-
forcements to the protesters, instead of
sweeping them out of downtown. This
was the reverse of what government of-
ficials thought would happen. The police
plan to reorganize for an attempt to force
the Direct Action Network protesters out
of the downtown area and into the afl-cio
parade was a major turning point in the
Battle of Seattle. It sealed the victory of
protestors over the Police, and the wto.6
what happened
overview
The core structure of the Battle of Seattle
was sit-in protesting. Wave 1 simply sat
down at strategic locations just as the
students in Nashville did decades before.
The additional use of modern technol-
ogy to facilitate collaboration among
multiple waves of people augments and
modifies the simple tactics of the Civil
Rights era. It is important to understand
that the massive increase in people
involved in the Battle of Seattle and ad-
ditional sophistication of communication
represents an evolution of protesting. To
better understand how this modern form
of protest functions, the events of The
Battle of Seattle can be broken down into
three stages.
19. 31 32
realtime communication
Using cell phones to constantly stay con-
nected, each group frequently updated
each other on their status and location if
some groups encountered difficulties or
was running late, they told the others to
slow down or help them out.
lockdown
To maintain their strategic positions, the
dan activists locked themselves to heavy
and immobile objects such as mailboxes,
lamp posts, and fire hydrants.
sample conversation: wave 1 to wave 1
“We’re about five minutes
behind schedule.”
“We’re almost there.
What’s your timing?”
what happened
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stage 1: intersections seized
20. 33 34
sample conversation: wave 1 to wave 2
mix of old and new
Wave 2 was close enough wave 1 to allow
for face to face conversation. Cell phones
were reserved for communicating at
longer distance or calling for backup using
3-way calling.
“We need help!
Police are approaching!”
“Roger that. I’ll bring
backup right away.”
immobilization
Unfortunately for the police, at this point
the dan protesters had been so successful
at blockading the area around the conven-
tion center that police couldn’t move and
therefore couldn’t remove people from the
area in order to arrest them. Seattle Police
Captain Jim Pugel, who commanded the
force in the streets, later said he had too
few officers to even make mass arrests.6
what happened
T
E
R
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Y
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POLICE MOVEMENT
“We’re not close enough,
but I’ll find some help.”
stage 2: parade and protest
21. 35 36
T
E
R
R
Y
UNIVERSITY
8TH
7TH
TERRY
PIKE
UNION
9TH
SENECA
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less talk more action
Wave 3 did not communicate with waves
1 and 2. Rather, their mission was to make
it difficult for police to move about by
clogging the streets and making their
presence known to the media. The afl-cio
parade intermingled with wave 3, further
strengthening dan’s Numbers .
afl-cio parade
During the 2nd and 3rd days of the Battle
of Seattle, thousands of peopled left the
afl-cio parade to join dan’s street actions.
This could be thought of as additional
fourth wave of protest.
what happened
stage 3: reinforcements
22. 37 38
dan communications
The cohesion of the Direct Action Net-
work was partly due to their improvised
communications network assembled out
of cell phones, radios, police scanners
and portable computers. Protesters in the
street with wireless Palm Pilots were able
to link into continuously updated web
pages giving reports from the streets.
Police scanners monitored transmissions
and provided some warning of changing
police tactics. Cell phones were widely
used for voice communication.6
use of technology
The disorder spreading through the
streets downtown was instantly commu-
nicated to the crowd through cell phones,
radios and the rest of the info-sphere.
Behind the scenes, furious activity was
taking place by the protesters to prevent
the parade from being canceled by city
authorities.6
Multiple media channels were used by
thousands of dan protesters simultane-
ously to share information with each
other and also to inform the public about
what was happening. dan was able to
bypass mainstream media and tell their
side of the story.
communication tactics
Information can flow through multiple paths to
reach the same destination.
The police understand that real-time communica-
tion is essential to dan’s strategy, and so they try to
destroy the cellular network in the Downtown area.
Signal towers are shut down.
Cell phones utilize a centralized communications
network to distribute information.
To compensate for the loss of cell phones, Nextel
walkie-talkies were utilized to communicate in a
peer-to-peer decentralized network.
In each group of eight protesters, there is 1 person
that acts as a major hub to other groups.
Communications are impossible since the signal
towers, which act as the main hubs, are down. dan
members cannot communicate via cell phone.
Kelly Quirke, Executive Director of the
Rainforest Action Network, reports that
early Tuesday, “the authorities had suc-
cessfully squashed dan’s communications
system.” The solution to the infrastructure
attack was quickly resolved by purchas-
ing new Nextel cell phones. According
to Han Shan, the Ruckus Society’s wto
action coordinator, his organization and
other protest groups that formed the
Direct Action Network used the Nextel
system to create a cellular grid over the
city. They broke into talk groups of eight
people each. One of the eight overlapped
with another talk group, helping to quickly
communicate through the ranks.6
cell texting
instant messaging
zines
radio
world wide web
activist intranets
subnet a subnet b
hub connects a to b
message 1 start message 2 start
message 1 and 2 end
24. 41 42
The rights and liberties we enjoy today
were not always present; they were
earned by the determination and effort
of those in the past that demanded
improvements in the status-quo and saw
hope for a better future. Each generation
has used the tools available at their dis-
posal to generate those improvements.
In the 1960s, the black minority in
the United States utilized face to face
meetings, as well as small, coordinated,
focused, and synchronized protests that
took many forms, one of them being the
sit-in. The sit-in is but one form of pro-
test, but it has been used by many other
groups throughout history.
Today, the tools available to the pub-
lic for communication are much more
sophisticated and mobile then those used
in Nashville. In the right hands, devices
such as cell phones and walkie-talkies are
powerful tools indeed. The dan activists
showed the world what a determined
group of people can do with communica-
tions technology.
conclusion
The most profound outcome of the wto
protests is the appearance of the netwar
construct in American politics. The Battle
of Seattle was fought not only in the
streets, but also in the info-sphere. The
wto protests were the first to take full
advantage of the extremely dense and
wide-reaching alternative media network
which uses the internet.6
The wto protests in Seattle were the
largest scale left-wing demonstrations in
America since the Gulf War. They were
also the most successful American politi-
cal demonstrations of the decade.6
The
wto protests succeeded in the streets
by a combination of strategic surprise
and tactical openness. Since the Battle of
Seattle, protests throughout the world, in
places such as Bangkok, London, Prague,
Melbourne and other cities have been
visited what protesters call the ‘Spirit of
Seattle’. The tactics and methodology
practiced in 1999 are utilized today as a
model for effective protests.
