International Day of Non-Violence is celebrated today (Oct. 2) on the birthday of Mahatma Ganhdi, the iconic proponent of civil disobedience in India.
The day is meant to reflect the necessity of non-violent demonstration and action “to secure a culture of peace, tolerance, understanding and non-violence,” the UN said in its founding resolution.
The history of such demonstrations spans from the small scale of events like the sit-ins protesting all-white lunch counters in Jim Crow-era southern US to massive street protests around the world featuring thousands of marchers. The past few years have seen explosion of enormous movements from the Umbrella Revolution in Hong Kong and Black Lives Matter demonstrations across the US to women’s marches across the globe.
These photos reflect a small sliver of the power of non-violent demonstration:
