Promoting Nonviolent Resistance Across the World from East Boston

80-year-old expert on non-violent resistance Gene Sharp perseveres in his mission to analyze, document, and share information about resistance to dictatorships and authoritarian governments despite cuts in funding and a lack of institutional support.  The headquarters for his Albert Einstein Institution is near Logan Airport.

Working from a modest house in East Boston, Mr. Sharp is nearly unknown to the U.S. public. But he is despised by many authoritarian regimes and respected by opposition activists around the globe. Mr. Sharp has had broad influence on international events over the past two decades, helping to advance a global democratic awakening.

An aging academic, Mr. Sharp says he has no links with the government or any intelligence agency. He responded to Mr. Chavez's speech with an open letter suggesting that if the president is concerned about being overthrown, he should read "The Anti-Coup," a booklet Mr. Sharp co-authored.

Spread via the Internet, word-of-mouth and seminars, Mr. Sharp's writings on nonviolent resistance have been studied by opposition activists in Zimbabwe, Burma, Russia, Venezuela and Iran, among others. His 1993 guide to unseating despots, "From Dictatorship to Democracy," has been translated into at least 28 languages and was used by movements that toppled governments in Serbia, Ukraine, Georgia and Kyrgyzstan.

His most influential book is From Dictatorship to Democracy which can be purchased for $6 in 23 languages or downloaded for free (pdf).