Women-led movements are reshaping resistance. Red Wine and Blue, with 700,000 members, draws on Dr. Erica Chenoweth’s research showing nonviolent campaigns, especially those with women at the forefront, are most effective in challenging authoritarianism through grassroots power.
Facing a climate of fear and uncertainty, action and community offer a powerful antidote, driven significantly by women. Red Wine and Blue, an organization with over 700,000 women nationwide and 800 local groups, stands dedicated to defeating extremism in communities. The organization recently featured Dr. Erica Chenoweth, a renowned expert on nonviolent movements and political violence from Harvard University, to highlight women's crucial role.
Dr. Chenoweth's extensive research reveals a compelling truth: nonviolent campaigns are twice as likely to succeed as armed revolutionary movements in confronting authoritarianism. Her work, initially focused on terrorism, revealed the surprising effectiveness of civil resistance.
A key finding, developed with Zoe Marx, shows that extensive participation of women on the front lines correlates to much greater success in resistance movements. This often overlooked indicator suggests that the more women are involved in frontline roles, the more likely a movement is to win.
The reasons behind this success are multifaceted. Movements with extensive women's participation are orders of magnitude larger, increasing participation rates by as much as seven and a half times. Women often possess unique social power and vast networks, allowing them to bring entire communities into a movement.
Their skills in organizing, multitasking, and logistics prove invaluable during national emergencies. Furthermore, women are often innovators of tactics. For example, the term "boycott" originated from Irish women in the late 19th century through their social ostracism of an absentee landlord.
Another example is the Ebo women's "sitting on a man" technique in Nigeria, a nonviolent yet disruptive resistance that paved the way for Nigerian independence.
Authoritarian regimes, Dr. Chenoweth noted, find women's organizing politically threatening, often implementing regressive policies to disempower them and prevent egalitarian democracy. However, large, inclusive nonviolent movements make it harder for such regimes to maintain control by eliciting defections from their pillars of support, like security forces or economic elites.
A widely cited finding from Dr. Chenoweth's research is the "3.5% rule," which describes a historical pattern: no nonviolent movement between 1900 and 2006 failed after mobilizing 3.5% of the national population. While not a predictive "magic number," it highlights that power is built over time, often years, through consistent organizing to foster defections.
Local organizing is paramount in this effort. It serves as the single most impactful way to generate hope and agency, directly counteracting the fear and isolation authoritarianism thrives on. Reverend James Lawson's work in desegregating Nashville exemplifies this, as he mobilized a community by listening to the shared indignities of women, leading to powerful collective action.
Inspired by these insights, Red Wine and Blue is launching "160 Ways to Change the World Without Losing Your Shit" a new guide filled with concrete actions for local community organizing.
The guide organizes actions into categories like building community, taking back power, showing up, caring for others, and effective messaging.
A cornerstone is friend-to-friend organizing, which has proven significantly more effective; Red Wine and Blue data shows a 10.1% higher voter turnout for those contacted this way. Their "Trouble Nation" program also empowers local groups, providing resources, training, and support to foster grassroots change nationwide.
As Dr. Chenoweth encourages, "get together with the people where you are," starting locally to reach the unorganized majority. Red Wine and Blue's initiatives offer a clear roadmap for engaging in this vital movement, working towards a more democratic and egalitarian future.
