direct action en · NOUN
Pronunciation
- (US) audio
Meanings
-
(euphemistic, uncountable, usually) A form of political activism in which participants act illegally, ignoring established democratic procedures. It may take the form of strikes, workplace occupations, sabotage, sit-ins, squatting, revolutionary/guerrilla warfare, demonstrations, vandalism or graffiti.
It should be easy enough to see why anarchists have always been drawn to direct action.
2009, David Graeber, Direct Action: An Ethnography, AK Press, →ISBN, page 203:Or there are those who believe that in general the wisest way for people to get what they want is by the indirect method of voting into power some one who will make what they want legal; yet who all the same will occasionally under exceptional conditions advise a strike; and a strike, as I have said, is direct action.
1912, Voltairine de Cleyre, Direct Action:
- (uncountable, usually) Small-scale raids, ambushes, sabotage, etc. carried out by the military.
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| direct actions | Number=Plur | lexicographic |
Deriveds
Relateds
direct activist · direct actionist
Translations (6)
eu ekintza zuzena (form of activism) · it azione diretta (form of activism) · de direkte Aktion (form of activism) · fr action directe (form of activism) · es acción directa (form of activism) · fi suora toiminta (form of activism)