Protest emigration (also called ''hijrat'' or ''deshatyaga'' in South Asia) is the use of

emigration Emigration is the act of leaving a resident country or place of residence with the intent to settle elsewhere (to permanently leave a country). Conversely, immigration describes the movement of people into one country from another (to permanentl ...

as an

activist Activism consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived common good. Forms of activism range from mandate build ...

tactic when it is felt political change is not currently possible inside a jurisdiction. Gene Sharp in ''

The Politics of Nonviolent Action ''The Politics of Nonviolent Action'' is a three-volume political science book by Gene Sharp, originally published in the United States in 1973. Sharp is one of the most influential theoreticians of nonviolent resistance, nonviolent action, and hi ...

'' describes this as a form of social noncooperation. In some traditions, such emigrations have been symbolically analogized to the

Hijrah The Hijrah, () also Hegira (from Medieval Latin), was the journey the prophets and messengers in Islam, Islamic prophet Muhammad and his followers took from Mecca to Medina. The year in which the Hijrah took place is also identified as the e ...

or to the Exodus.

Pre-modern class conflict

This was a method used against local lords by peasants and lower classes in the s''ecessio plebis'' of Ancient Rome and in Japan as well as Southeast Asia. Fugitive peasants were a recurring phenomenon under European serfdom. This tactic has also been noted as important to the formation of various pre-colonial African states, as well as a template for later eras.

Anticolonial resistance

This featured in several anticolonial and

decolonization Decolonization is the undoing of colonialism, the latter being the process whereby Imperialism, imperial nations establish and dominate foreign territories, often overseas. The meanings and applications of the term are disputed. Some scholar ...

movements, including in British India, as in the Hijrat of 1920 from

North-West Frontier Province The North-West Frontier Province (NWFP; ) was a province of British India from 1901 to 1947, of the Dominion of Pakistan from 1947 to 1955, and of the Pakistan, Islamic Republic of Pakistan from 1970 to 2010. It was established on 9 November ...

to independent Afghanistan associated with

Abul Kalam Azad Abul Kalam Ghulam Muhiyuddin (11 November 188822 February 1958), better known as Maulana Azad and sometimes referred as Abul Kalam Azad, was an Indian politician, writer and activist of the Indian independence movement. A senior leader of t ...

of the

Khilafat Movement The Khilafat movement (1919–22) was a political campaign launched by Indian Muslims in British India over British policy against Turkey and the planned dismemberment of the Ottoman Empire after World War I by Allied forces. Leaders particip ...

, and in the 1928 Bardoli Satyagraha and 1930

Salt March The Salt march, also known as the Salt Satyagraha, Dandi March, and the Dandi Satyagraha, was an act of Non violence, non violent civil disobedience in British Raj, colonial India, led by Mahatma Gandhi. The 24-day march lasted from 12 March 19 ...

operations which included some migrations from Gujarat to the princely

Baroda State Baroda State was a kingdom within the Maratha Confederacy and later a princely state in present-day Gujarat. It was ruled by the Gaekwad dynasty from its formation in 1721 until its accession to the newly formed Dominion of India. With th ...

. Hijrat was a tactic commended several times by

Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (2October 186930January 1948) was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist, and political ethicist who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful campaign for India's independence from British ...

as appropriate to certain circumstances. This tactic was also proposed but not pursued as a form of resistance to

concessions in China Foreign concessions in China were a group of Concessions and leases in international relations, concessions that existed during late History of China#Imperial China, Imperial China and the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic of China, which ...

. And it was also significant in emigration from

French West Africa French West Africa (, ) was a federation of eight French colonial empires#Second French colonial empire, French colonial territories in West Africa: Colonial Mauritania, Mauritania, French Senegal, Senegal, French Sudan (now Mali), French Guin ...

to the Gold Coast and other colonies of British West Africa.

Radical federalism

In a country under strong federalism such as the United States, protest can take the form of an internal migration through

foot voting Foot voting is expressing one's preferences through one's actions, by voluntarily participating in or withdrawing from an activity, group, or process; especially, physical migration to leave a situation one does not like, or to move to a situation ...

to better individual lives, or in a more utopian mode, to alter the political character of a sub-national state through a directed partisan sorting.

References

{{authority control Activism by type Emigration *