Decentralized activism and the legal system

This page was created on Jun 04, 2010 and was last updated on June 23, 2013

Table of contents

Distributed guilt

Main idea: an action can be split into many sub-action that are carried out by a large number of actors. These actors can also be geographically distributed, spanning across national boundaries. The total action amounts to a large effect, but no individual actor can be punished for it, because no individual actor is responsible for the entire effect. Moreover, the legal system is not built for processing massive amounts of individuals.

Example: a large group of activists coordinates to break the windows of all the banks in a city. Every person breaks one window, and the most she can get for it is a small fine. Half an hour later another activist breaks another window, perhaps in a different location. 1000 activists can brake all the windows of all banks in a large city, disrupting business in a major away, especially if this happens in winter, or during a very hot summer. (This is only an example to illustrate the concept. We don't advocate violence!)

Delocalized organizations

Before carrying out effective actions, activist organizations require planning. But planning can put the organization at risk, because local authorities can detect the movement and diffuse it before it happens. Thus planning can be done outside of the reach of local authorities, from other countries, keeping local activity levels at a minimum. In fact, all information activities can be delocalized, performed outside of the reach of local authorities. The execution can be very rapid, like a wave, if the proper conditions are there, spreading with the help of social media, in a decentralize manner, without the need to expose local individuals by identify them as leaders of instigators.

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