A Force More Powerful

Director: Steve York

November 16, 2006
Little Theatre, National Centre for Performing Arts, Mumbai
In association with Citizens for Peace

A Force More Powerful, a three-hour, two-part documentary series, tells six stories of successful nonviolent movements, which used strikes, slowdowns, boycotts and massive demonstrations to topple dictators, foil military invaders, establish democracy and win human rights. Here are the heroes some known, some unsung, who changed the course of the 20th century. Their power flowed not from the barrel of a gun, but from discipline and shrewd tactical planning.

Part One chronicles how Gandhi refines and expands the nonviolent weaponry he discovered in South Africa, as he leads India’s campaign for full independence from Britain in the 1930s. It also reveals a new angle on the American civil rights movement in 1960, then returns full circle to South Africa, this time in the 1980s, as activists help dismantle the apartheid system.

Part Two recounts how Danish citizens resist the Nazi Occupation, how striking Poland ship workers band together in solidarity to fight communism head-on in 1980, and concludes in Chile of 1988, where seven million citizens overcome their fears of the power of dictator Augusto Pinochet and participate in a special election which throws him out of office.