Beautiful Rising: Creative Resistance From the Global South

In the struggle for freedom and justice, organizers and activists have often turned to art, creativity, and humor. In this follow-up to the bestselling Beautiful Trouble: A Toolbox for Revolution, Beautiful Rising showcases some of the most innovative tactics used in struggles against autocracy and austerity across the Global South.

Based on face-to-face jam sessions held in Yangon, Amman, Harare, Dhaka, Kampala and Oaxaca, Beautiful Rising includes stories of the Ugandan organizers who smuggled two yellow-painted pigs into parliament to protest corruption; the Burmese students’ 360-mile long march against undemocratic and overly centralized education reforms; the Lebanese “honk at parliament” campaign against politicians who had clung to power long after their term had expired; and much more.

Now, in one remarkable book, you can find the collective wisdom of more than a hundred grassroots organizers from five continents. It’s everything you need for a DIY uprising of your own.

“Beautiful Rising offers insights and lessons for creative resistance, making it a crucial resource for change-makers.” —Archbishop Desmond Tutu

“Some of the most tactically imaginative ways people can turn the resources they have into the power they need to achieve the change they want.” —Marshall Ganz, senior lecturer in public policy at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government

“Beyond a brilliantly innovative toolkit for making social change, you will find here a ‘deep structure’ of activist patterns and principles that can unite millions in creating a new world beyond capitalist sociopathy and strong man despotism. Read this optimistic book for hope in grim times.” —Charles Derber, professor of sociology at Boston College