Saturday, May 26, 2012

Unsung Heroes and Nonviolent Protest

Our own Toronto weekly NOW Magazine tips the hat to the many influences of the Montreal protests but they're missing a very key player in the birth of the recent resistance movements.

During the shooting of our feature documentary SLAUGHTER NICK FOR PRESIDENT we learned of the Serbian organization called OTPOR ("Resistance" in English), founded by Srdja Popovic and his student comrades in the '90s. OTPOR led a non-violent revolution which toppled brutal dictator Slobodan Milosevic.

Using the valuable lessons from their successful peaceful action, Popovic and colleagues went on to found an organization called CANVAS, the Centre for Applied NonViolent Action and Strategies. And here's where it gets interesting -- CANVAS was the organization that actually trained the agitators of the Arab Spring in the ways of peaceful resistance, which was the inspiration for the Occupy Movement... and so on... and so on.... Pass it on!

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