political scientist Erica Chenoweth found studying 323 campaigns for change from 1900 to 2006, that when 3.5% of people become fully engaged, go to the streets and demand change, it happens. When we fight, we win. She also found that nonviolence is twice as effective as violence, because it engages more people.
“Numbers really matter for building power in ways that can really pose a serious challenge or threat to entrenched authorities or occupations,” Chenoweth says. “There weren’t any campaigns that had failed after they had achieved 3.5% participation during a peak event.”
