Re Sister

If we’re speaking electrically, resistance is simply a physical property — a matter of how much a material can hold back the flow of current.
That’s Ohm (Ω) — and that’s pretty much it.
At least in physics.

But that’s not the kind of experiment the woman in the RESIST shirt had in mind — though she has electrified millions of people in her lifetime.

Jane Fonda, at eighty-eight, walked into Stephen Colbert’s studio wearing that shirt — and carrying a few warnings about the situation of the United States.
Jane has never allowed herself to be reduced to “film legend” status.
After all, rebellion runs in her family.

Then she dropped the bombshell: Jane Fonda has revived her fathers Committee for the First Amendment — the one that guarantees freedom of speech, press, religion, and protest.
As the activist she’s always been, she rallied around 550 members of Hollywood’s creative guard — Aaron Sorkin, Barbra Streisand, Billy Crystal, Christine Baranski, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Julianne Moore, Lily Tomlin, Melanie Griffith, Natalie Portman, Viola Davis, Winona Ryder, and many more.
Jane is, without question, a Re-Sister — a sister of peaceful resistance.

So what, once again, are Americans resisting?
Ah yes — the slow dismantling of one of the world’s oldest democracies into something that smells more like an autocratic federation.
Resistance now stands against repression, aggression, and the steady erosion of the rule of law.
What an astonishing fall from the self-proclaimed “land of the free.”

Back to the art of peaceful resistance.

There are a few key ingredients for activists — that is, citizens — to sustain resistance without falling into rage.
Because once violence enters the picture, everyone loses.
Peaceful resistance isn’t passive.
It’s smart defiance — quiet but deeply effective.
History has shown that some of the most powerful movements have thrived precisely because they were peaceful.

Unjust laws lose their footing when citizens stop playing along.
Boycotts, strikes, sit-ins, and refusals to cooperate weaken the machinery of oppression.
Why?
Because the system collapses when people simply stop participating.

When civilians deliberately and publicly break unfair laws — without violence but with consequences — injustice becomes visible.
And when the emperor is finally stripped of his clothes, humour and ridicule move in.
Laughter disarms power.
Satire takes absurd rules literally and exposes them for what they are.
Authoritarian systems have no sense of humour — because laughter makes them look small.

Characters in literacy like the good soldier Schwejk or Basel’s own HD soldier Läppli have long shown how laughter can outlast tyranny.

Like Jane Fonda, citizens must show up — visibly, calmly, and together.
Marches, vigils, silent protests, human chains — all these forms of presence make those in power nervous.
Large crowds holding signs are powerful beyond measure.

Stories are vital too — stories of courage, injustice and absurdity.
Through open letters, essays, films, songs, and poems, the unspeakable becomes visible.
Injustice doesn’t die by force — it dies from exposure, from the light of truth.

And one of the most underestimated strengths of peaceful resistance lies in organized community.
When neighbours, friends, and families come together, share information, and act cooperatively, the movement grows stronger — and unstoppable.

The temptation, of course, is always there — the fury of revenge.
But revenge has no place in peaceful resistance.
The key to its success is precisely the absence of violence.
As Martin Luther King Jr. once said,

“Non-violence forces evil to reveal itself.”

And yes, something else is needed — two attributes that don’t sound very glamorous: patience and perseverance.
To keep going patiently, to keep planning the next action — that’s what makes resistance powerful.
That’s what makes autocrats tremble.

Oh yes, that’s the beauty of it.

Peaceful resistance is
brave without weapons,
loud without noise,
persistent without hate,
and dangerous — to injustice itself.