What is "direct action"

Direct \Di*rect"\, a. [L. directus, p. p. of dirigere to direct: cf. F. direct. See Dress, and cf. Dirge.]

1. Straight; not crooked, oblique, or circuitous; leading by the short or shortest way to a point or end; as, a direct line; direct means.

   What is direct to, what slides by, the question.
   --Locke.

2. Straightforward; not of crooked ways, or swerving from truth and openness; sincere; outspoken.

   Be even and direct with me.
   --Shak.

3. Immediate; express; plain; unambiguous.

   He nowhere, that I know, says it in direct words.
   --Locke.

   A direct and avowed interference with elections.
   --Hallam.

4. In the line of descent; not collateral; as, a descendant in the direct line.

5. (Astron.) In the direction of the general planetary motion, or from west to east; in the order of the signs; not retrograde; -- said of the motion of a celestial body.

6. (Political Science) Pertaining to, or effected immediately by, action of the people through their votes instead of through one or more representatives or delegates; as, direct nomination, direct legislation. Direct action.

   1. (Mach.) See Direct-acting.

   2. (Trade unions) See Syndicalism, below. [Webster 1913 Suppl.]

      Direct discourse (Gram.), the language of any one quoted without change in its form; as, he said ``I can not come;'' -- correlative to indirect discourse, in which there is change of form; as, he said that he could not come. They are often called respectively by their Latin names, oratio directa, and oratio obliqua.

      Direct evidence (Law), evidence which is positive or not inferential; -- opposed to circumstantial evidence, or indirect evidence. -- This distinction, however, is merely formal, since there is no direct evidence that is not circumstantial, or dependent on circumstances for its credibility.
      --Wharton.

      Direct examination (Law), the first examination of a witness in the orderly course, upon the merits.
      --Abbott.

      Direct fire (Mil.), fire, the direction of which is perpendicular to the line of troops or to the parapet aimed at.

      Direct process (Metal.), one which yields metal in working condition by a single process from the ore.
      --Knight.

      Direct tax, a tax assessed directly on lands, etc., and polls, distinguished from taxes on merchandise, or customs, and from excise.

n. A form of political activism, in which participants act directly, ignoring established political procedures. This is often (but not always) accomplished by means of strikes, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/workplace%20occupation, sabotage, sit-ins, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/squatting, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/revolutionary%20warfare/guerrilla warfare, demonstrations, vandalism or graffiti.

n. a protest action by labor or minority groups to obtain their demands

In the context of special operations, direct action (DA) consists of: "Short-duration strikes and other small-scale offensive actions conducted as a special operation in hostile, denied, or politically sensitive environments and which employ specialized military capabilities to seize, destroy, capture, exploit, recover, or damage designated targets. Direct action differs from conventional offensive actions in the level of physical and political risk, operational techniques, and the degree of discriminate and precise use of force to achieve specific objectives."

The United States and many allied countries consider DA one of the basic special operations missions. Some units specialize in it, such as Rangers of the 75th Ranger Regiment, while other units, such as US Army Special Forces, have DA capabilities but focus more on other operations. Unconventional warfare, special reconnaissance and direct action roles have merged through the decades and are typically performed primarily by the same units. For instance, while American special operations forces were originally created for the unconventional warfare (UW) mission and gradually added other capabilities, the United States Navy SEALs, and the UK Special Air Service (SAS) and Special Boat Service (SBS) continue to perform a primary DA role with special reconnaissance (SR) as original missions. SEALs, SAS, and SBS added additional capabilities over time, responding to the needs of modern conflict. Russian Spetsnaz are DA and SR units.

Some countries may have standing units for deniable DA operations, and others may put together ad hoc volunteer groups for such missions. Under the US Central Intelligence Agency's National Clandestine Service, there is a Special Activities Division that operates without apparent national identification. It is possible that units of the Joint Special Operations Command or the frequently-renamed Intelligence Support Activity may do ad hoc operations.

Direct Action is a 2004 action film directed by Sidney J. Furie and starring Dolph Lundgren.

Direct Action ( ukr. «Пряма дія») is a network of independent student unions in Ukraine. The union was founded in 2008 by the students of Kiev University. Legalized on April 15, 2009, the union has its branches in a number of Kiev universities and also in several regional centers of Ukraine.

Direct action is political action seeking social change outside the usual political channels.

Direct action may also refer to:

• Direct Action, the English translation of Action directe, a French far-left terrorist group
• Direct Action (film), a 2004 action film directed by Sidney J. Furie and starring Dolph Lundgren
• Direct Action (magazine), an anarchist magazine published by the Solidarity Federation
• Direct action (military), a military operation involving special operations forces
• Direct Action (newspaper), an English language newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
• Direct Action, a Canadian anarchist organization better known as the Squamish Five
• Direct Action (trade union), an independent Ukrainian students union
• Direct Action Day (16 August 1946), a day of rioting and killing in Calcutta also known as the Great Calcutta Killings
• Direct Action: Day 21, a 2001 album by punk rock band Sham 69
• Direct Action: Memoirs of an Urban Guerrilla, a book about anarchism by Ann Hansen
• Act of War: Direct Action, a 2005 real-time strategy game

Direct Action was an English language newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is published in tabloid format.

'''Direct action ''' occurs when a group takes an action which is intended to reveal an existing problem, highlight an alternative, or demonstrate a possible solution to a social issue. This can include nonviolent and less often violent activities which target persons, groups, or property deemed offensive to the direct action participants. Examples of non-violent direct action (also known as nonviolent resistance or civil resistance) can include sit-ins, strikes, workplace occupations, blockades, or hacktivism, while violent direct action may include political violence, sabotage, property destruction, or assaults. By contrast, electoral politics, diplomacy, negotiation, and arbitration are not usually described as direct action, as they are politically mediated. Non-violent actions are sometimes a form of civil disobedience, and may involve a degree of intentional law-breaking where persons place themselves in arrestable situations in order to make a political statement but other actions (such as strikes) may not violate criminal law.

The aim of direct action is to either obstruct another political agent or political organization from performing some practice to which the activists object; or to solve perceived problems which traditional societal institutions ( governments, religious organizations or established trade unions) are not addressing to the satisfaction of the direct action participants.

Non-violent direct action has historically been an assertive regular feature of the tactics employed by social movements, including Mohandas Gandhi's Indian Independence Movement and the African-American Civil Rights Movement.