Paul Engler on Spain’s handling of the Catalan crisis: ‘I would expect that from a dictatorship’

Paul Engler wrote the book that he would have liked to read as an activist. In ‘This Is An Uprising,’ Engler and his brother Mark bring together the lessons learned from non-violent struggles all across the world throughout the decades, connecting the dots to present a grand theory of civil resistance that sheds light on the strategies that made the likes of Martin Luther King and Mohandas K. Gandhi successful. 

Originally published in 2016, the book has become an increasingly timely read, as mass protests and civil disobedience become the new norm from Chile to Hong Kong—including, of course, Catalonia. Engler believes that his work can help social movements around the globe better understand their own struggles, their rivals, and the price of victory.

You underline the importance of activists putting their bodies on the frontline. Why?

When people start making personal sacrifices for their cause, it's no longer something that people can just say: "Oh, it's political, you're on one side. I don't need to take a side." It forces people to take a side, it forces polarization.