Street Spirit

May 22, 2017
This entertaining look at the power of the human spirit to overcome repression and censorship focuses on symbolic and mischievous demonstrations in the pursuit of freedom. Noting that nonviolent protests are twice as likely to achieve their goals as violent insurgencies, Crawshaw, who works for Amnesty International, documents demonstrations over the last 90 years where simple, patient acts of resistance achieved positive outcomes. His examples include sit-ins in the 1960s American South, eating sandwiches in public as a discreet form of defiance in Thailand in 2014, and the subversive use of applause to protest the president of Belarus. Employing one to two pages of text and photos per example, Crawshaw draws on over 40 protests from around the world, organized by type into seven categories: "Not Protesting, Just Strolling," "Small Actions, Big Themes," "Confronting Violence," "Making Truth Heard," "Achieving Results Against All Odds," "Creating Art," and "Employing Mockery and Laughter." Though the examples are light on context, the book is timely and uplifting, providing a cursory look at ordinary people displaying imagination and moral courage in paving the way for change. Color photos.