Is rioting effective? Research suggests yes, it can be.
This article was originally written for my newsletter. You can subscribe here.
The far-right riots that recently erupted across the UK are as unprecedented as they are predictable. The scale of organised fascist violence in the UK and elsewhere is horrifying, but let’s not kid ourselves—riots are a regular feature of political history, both here and around the world.
Think about the last month alone. In France, environmental protestors in La Rochelle mixed nonviolent tactics with riots, building barricades and hurling rocks at police to oppose irrigation reservoirs. In Bangladesh, student-led riots against an increasingly authoritarian Prime Minister forced her to flee the country, triggering military intervention. Senegal saw fatal riots after opposition leader Ousmane Sonko’s arrest, while in Kenya, ongoing protests against economic policies morphed into riots in Nairobi. In Catalonia, during a pro-independence rally where Carles Puigdemont was speaking, the mostly nonviolent protests included a group of protestors forcing their way into Ciutadella Park, which houses the Catalan Parliament. Riots are far more common than we’re led to believe.
In short, riots happen. But do they work?
Protestors in La Rochelle used a mixture of nonviolent and violent tactics. The Gendarmie responded by setting fire to the fields.
So much of what we know about nonviolence is wrong. (Or art least exaggerated.)
Now, let’s have a heart-to-heart. As progressives, we love to preach acceptance and democracy, but - and it hurts me to say this - we also LOVE a good dogma.
Take nonviolence, for example. It’s almost gospel among progressives that nonviolence is the only strategic choice. But how often do we really challenge that idea? In recent years, Andreas Malm’s ‘How to Blow Up a Pipeline’ had a go at opening up the debate, but more through provocation than reasoned argument. The dominance of nonviolence is held up through selective analyses, such as Extinction Rebellion claiming “we are humbly following in the tradition of Gandhi and Martin Luther King,” conveniently ignoring the violent roles played by the Indian National Army or the Black Panther Party. Academically, people often point to Erica Chenoweth and Maria Stephan’s Why Civil Resistance Works, which argues that nonviolent movements are twice as likely as violent ones to succeed in toppling governments.
I used to believe that too—until I spent a year researching it for my 2020 dissertation, which analysed Extinction Rebellions strategic logic, finding that their analysis of nonviolence was oversimplified.
You could read my dissertation to see why. But you’d be better reading Street Rebellion at this point. In it, Case presents the most serious analysis of nonviolence and violence for social movements that I have read. He exposes the methodological flaws in the most influential texts on nonviolence, highlighting the historical oversights and logical fallacies that we, as social movements, often fall for.
But don’t get me wrong—Case doesn’t dismiss nonviolence or sugarcoat riots. He’s not swapping one dogma for another.
La Rochelle protestors in a haze of tear gas.
The point, as the organisers in La Rochelle understood, is that we need a diversity of tactics.
Nonviolence is great. In comparison to riots, it makes movements seem morally superior, attracting a broader range of participants, while violence tends to draw in specific groups, usually young men. Nonviolent actions are also less likely to provoke severe repression from the state, and they allow for more controlled and strategic disruptions.
However, when nonviolence fails, riots can serve to disrupt the status quo in a way that forces governments and institutions to confront the underlying issues. This is especially true in contexts where there’s a broad base of public sympathy, when they expose the brutality or inadequacies of the state. Political riots are not just random acts of violence; they’re often rooted in systemic injustice, a desperate form of resistance by those who feel unheard and marginalised.
And here’s the crux: riots happen. Whether we like it or not.
Does this mean you should organise a riot this Sunday?
No. That’s not Case’s point at all. In fact, that would defeat the very nature of riots as spontaneous, emotionally-driven collective events.
We have two options:
First, we can continue to cling to the idea that nonviolence is the only effective strategy. When nonviolence fails and people riot in response to injustices, we can focus all our energy on condemning the rioters and distancing our movements from the chaos.
Or, we can continue to prioritise nonviolent action while also preparing to harness the momentum that progressive riots generate. This means accepting the messiness they bring. Riots won’t always align perfectly with your movement’s messaging, and they won’t be without innocent victims. But my simple belief is that maintaining the status quo is a lot more messy, and will lead to a hell of a lot more innocent victims.
Let’s be strategic, not dogmatic. If you want to prepare for the inevitable, there is no better place to start than reading Street Rebellion.
P.S. don’t have time to read another book?
Would you be interested in a summary of Street Rebellion? If so, just reply “yes” to this email. I’m thinking of turning my notes into a summary, but I’ll only do it if you think it’ll be useful ;)
STUFF WORTH KNOWING
🤳 Environmental movement strategy event in Italy. Common Ecologies will host a three-day English language strategy exchange event outside Florence in Italy, at one of the beloved Casa del Popolo centres.
🎨 Beautiful, powerful graphics - for free. Just Seeds. How did I just find out about this? Get involved.
👨💻 A newsletter on digital organising and strategies. Tectonica do bloody brilliant work supporting organisations to move beyond transactional politics and towards organising. Their newsletter is full of high quality resources to this end do amazing work to support organisations with organising.
🇺🇸 Kamala’s 48-hour branding make-over. Mixed feelings about Kamala Harris, obvs. But regardless of that, it’s super interesting how these people churned out a whole campaign brand in 48 hours. (I first saw this article in Tectonica’s newsletter, btw ;))