Constructive Noncooperation as Political Resistance

Building on the examples of the Rank and File and Settlement House Movements, transformative social workers in the United States today have an obligation to strive to integrate liberation and resistance approaches into a broad range of settings. Liberatory social work practice requires us to challenge oppressive social conditions that regulate people's lives and constrain their options. In this article, we explore constructive noncooperation as an important strategic option in campaigns of resistance by oppressed populations and communities and as a key principle of practice for social workers acting in solidarity with those groups. Václav Havel's concept of living in truth as an individual path of constructive resistance and the construction of cultures of resistance and parallel structures as collective strategies have the potential for progressively shaping more just societies in which human rights can be universally realized.