Don't confuse non-resistance with non-violent resistance.

MALCOLM X: You don't have to criticize Reverend Martin Luther King. His actions criticize him. Any Negro who teaches other Negroes to turn the other cheek is disarming that Negro. Any Negro who teaches Negroes to turn the other cheek in the face of attack is disarming that Negro of his God-given right, of his moral right, of his natural right, of his intelligent right to defend himself. Everything in nature can defend itself, and is right in defending itself except the American Negro. And men like King -- their job is to go among Negroes and teach Negroes "Don't fight back." He doesn't tell them, "Don't fight each other." "Don't fight the white man" is what he's saying in essence, because the followers of Martin Luther King will cut each other from head to foot, but they will not do anything to defend themselves against the attacks of the white man.
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MALCOLM X was assassinated for his activism on February 21, 1965.

MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR: Non-violent direct action is a method of acting to rectify a social situation that is unjust and it involves in engaging in a practical technique that nullifies the use of violence or calls for non-violence at every point. That is, you don't use physical violence against the opponent. Now, the love ethic is another dimension which goes into the realm of accepting non-violence as a way of life. There are many people who will accept non-violence as the most practical technique to be used in a social situation, but they would not go to the point of seeing the necessity of accepting non-violence as a way of life. Now, I accept both. I think that non-violent resistance is the most potent weapon available to oppressed people in their struggle for freedom and human dignity. It has a way of disarming the opponent. It exposes his moral defenses. It weakens his morale and at the same time it works on his conscience. He just doesn't know how to handle it and I have seen this over and over again in our struggle in the South. 
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MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR was assassinated for his activism on April 4, 1968.

Esquire names Micah White one of the most influential under 35 year olds alive today.

Here's an excerpt from Micah's interview with Esquire:

I’m not satisfied anymore with just the standard repertoire of activism. We have to really rethink the foundation of activism. And that’s what I’m trying to do.

The protest tactics that we’ve developed—the repertoire of tactics that we’ve developed—like, marching and these kinds of things, are designed to influence liberal democracy. They were designed to influence people—like, elected representatives—who had to listen to their constituents. But the breakdown of that paradigm happened on February 15, 2003, when the whole world had an anti-war march and President George Bush said, “I don’t listen to focus groups.” He said that, basically, by saying that, he basically said, “It doesn’t matter if you mass a million, billion, six billion people or whatever. It doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter.”

My thinking is moving away from protest. Instead, I’m more interested now with the power of social mobilization. The power of, basically, getting large numbers of people to change their behaviors, to depattern themselves, to actually get the facts collectively in order to tackle global challenges.

I think where it’s going now, it’s much more towards the Five Star in Italy, where they do things like getting people elected or, like, running very complicated organizations that are able to manage global problems. One of the things that’s happening is that we’re seeing these global problems that everyone faces, like Ebola, and that social movements might be the answer to those kind of problems, too. Right? Because they mobilize large numbers of people. They get large number of people to do highly synchronized actions together.

I was a sophomore in college at Swarthmore on 9/11. And that was, like, the inflection point. And that was the point, too, that I kind of, like, really changed my approach to activism and tried to directly influence, like a lot of people, the war. I started to see the power of the Internet to allow for global action at the same time. Like, on February 15, 2003, we had, like, a global synchronized action on every continent on earth. Which I think would’ve been impossible prior to the Internet and stuff like that.

Arab Spring is absolutely crucial. And it was absolutely crucial for my own development because I have lived in Egypt for nine months in, like, you know, 2005 or 2006. My wife’s father is a former ambassador to Egypt. I remember staying at the embassy and seeing, like, how many police officers Mubarak would employ to, like, keep order in his society. I mean, I remember seeing that and I remember thinking, at the time, like, “Wow. A revolution would be impossible here with all these police officers.” Like, they would have dozens and dozens and dozens of police officers everywhere. Then, lo and behold, a revolution happened in Tahir Square. That opened my eyes.

I’m at the library and I’m reading all these books about revolution. Is there a pattern that always happens? And there is. De Tocqueville is who observed that that revolution often just functions to strengthen state power. I think that that’s why the movement towards kind of, you know, horizontalist, Internet-enabled, populist movements is a way to not repeat that pattern.

The total cost of Occupy was probably under, like, $500. It’s ridiculous. It’s like a force multiplier. That is allowing history to be changed very rapidly.

If there’s gonna be a revolution, it’ll happen non-violently. I think it’ll be a very peaceful kind of. It’ll be more like an awakening, you know?

Micah White PhD, 32, is an activist and former Adbusters editor who saw the protests of Tahrir Square and launched the Occupy Wall Street movement—and the wealth-gap debate that’s raged ever since—with a letter that began “All right you 90,000 redeemers, rebels, and radicals out there . . .” He’s since opened Boutique Activist Consultancy. (Motto: “We Win Lost Causes.”)

The paradigms of activism are in crisis. "You can't solve climate change by organizing a global climate march," says Micah in the latest issue of Esquire.

"Protest is dead, long live Protest!"

We are pleased to announce that Alfred A. Knopf Canada will publish Micah White's new book THE END OF PROTEST in Spring, 2016.

Pledge to read THE END OF PROTEST and let's seed the world with a new protest paradigm!

White, former editor at Adbusters Magazine and "[one of] today's most innovative social activists" (CBC Radio) was a driving force behind the Occupy Movement, which became a global phenomenon. World rights to the book were acquired by Random House of Canada's associate publisher Scott Sellers.

"We're incredibly excited to be partnering with Micah on this book," says Amanda Lewis, associate editor at Knopf Random House Canada who will be working closely with White on the project. "From economic collapse to climate change to the breakdown of society, there has never been a more important time for a book about how we make true revolution. Micah is one of the strongest voices to guide this resurgence, and his vision for a renewed future—combining philosophy, spirituality, critique of social movements, and practical steps for actually making change—is unlike any other I have read."

In THE END OF PROTEST, Micah White offers readers a provocative playbook for harnessing the creativity and optimism of the people in order to transform the existing social order. The paradigms underlying contemporary protest are in a period of crisis. The global forces that impact our ability to determine our collective future—capitalism's collapse, catastrophic climate change and the existential crisis of ultramodernity—stand outside the reach of traditional forms of democratic dissent. Occupy Wall Street was a constructive failure, according to White, that exposed the limits of protest and inaugurated a more potent paradigm of social action based on contagious memes. On the horizon are increasingly sophisticated and dynamic movements that emerge in a bid to break through the political stasis and establish a global people's democracy.

THE END OF PROTEST is a populist cri du couer that introduces a daring and original new thinker.

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An excerpt from: http://www.thenation.com/article/186129/snowden-exile-exclusive-interview

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The Nation: When was the last time civil disobedience brought about change?

Edward Snowden: Occupy Wall Street.

The Nation: One of us might disagree with you. Arguably, Occupy was a very important initiative, but it was soon vaporized.

Edward Snowden: I believe strongly that Occupy Wall Street had such limits because the local authorities were able to enforce, basically in our imaginations, an image of what proper civil disobedience is--one that is simply ineffective. All those people who went out missed work, didn't get paid. Those were individuals who were already feeling the effects of inequality, so they didn't have a lot to lose. And then the individuals who were louder, more disruptive and, in many ways, more effective at drawing attention to their concerns were immediately castigated by authorities. They were cordoned off, pepper-sprayed, thrown in jail.

"authorities were able to enforce, in our imaginations, an image of what proper civil disobedience is--one that is ineffective" says Snowden

— Occupy Wall Street (@OccupyWallSt) October 27, 2014

The Nation: But you think Occupy nonetheless had an impact?

Snowden: It had an impact on consciousness. It was not effective in realizing change. But too often we forget that social and political movements don't happen overnight. They don't bring change immediately--you have to build a critical mass of understanding of the issues. But getting inequality out there into the consciousness was important. All these political pundits now talking about the 2014 and 2016 elections are talking about inequality.

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You are invited to attend:

THE END OF PROTEST

A lecture by Micah White, PhD

October 20, 2014 at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio

The paradigms of contemporary protest are undergoing a period of crisis. The global forces that impact our collective future stand outside the reach of traditional forms of protest that were developed to sway liberal democracies. The influence of money on democracy exacerbates the crisis by rendering it increasingly difficult for the people to influence their elected representatives toward an inclusive and peaceful society. And yet, there is reason for optimism: the end of protest is a new beginning. On the horizon are increasingly complex and sophisticated social memes that will emerge in a bid to breakthrough the political stasis and reorganize the existing social order.

More details: http://miamioh.edu/cas/academics/programs/its/about/kirk-lecture/index.html

THE BEGINNING OF PROTEST

A lecture by Micah White PhD

October 23 at Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio

The greatest achievement of Occupy Wall Street is what it teaches us about the nature of social change and the future of peaceful global revolution. We learned, for example, that the dominant theory of revolutionary change is too heavily influenced by materialist analysis. Social change materialism cannot fully account for postmodern spiritual insurrections like May 1968 and ultramodern uprisings like Occupy Wall Street. Nor can it explain pre-modern paradigm shifts like the epiphany of St. Paul and the conversion of Constantine that ushered in the Christianization of Western Civilization. Ultimately Micah White calls for another approach to social activism: an inquiry into the political power of metanoia (epiphany).

More details: http://www.antiochcollege.org/news/college_events/beginning-protest-public-lecture-featuring-micah-white

Micah White, PhD is the former editor of Adbusters, the American creator of the Occupy Wall Street meme and the inventor of the innovative debt-activism tactic known as Rolling Jubilee.