Editing Gene Sharp (section)

==Criticism==
According to Stuart Bramhall in ''Daily Censored'', in 2005 Gene Sharp was accused by [[Thierry Meyssan]] in [[VoltaireNet]] of having strong links with a variety of US institutions including the [[Central Intelligence Agency]], [[The Pentagon]], [[International Republican Institute]], [[RAND Corporation]], and the [[National Endowment for Democracy]].<ref name="dailycensored-cia">{{cite web|url=http://www.dailycensored.com/the-cia-and-nonviolent-resistance-3/|author=Stuart Bramhall|title=The CIA and Nonviolent Resistance|website=Daily Censored|date=21 March 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130503221026/http://www.dailycensored.com/the-cia-and-nonviolent-resistance-3/|archive-date=May 3, 2013|df=mdy-all}}</ref>{{unreliable source?|date=October 2022}}

There has been debate around Sharp's works influencing the [[Arab Spring]],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://globalvoices.org/2011/04/15/egypt-gene-sharp-taught-us-how-to-revolt/|title=Egypt: Gene Sharp Taught Us How To Revolt! · Global Voices|date=April 15, 2011|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161023230600/https://globalvoices.org/2011/04/15/egypt-gene-sharp-taught-us-how-to-revolt/|archive-date=October 23, 2016|df=mdy-all}}</ref> and a [[United States diplomatic cables leak|leaked US embassy cable]] mentioned Syrian dissidents using his work to train non-violent protestors,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2011/12/201112113179492201.html|title=Q&A: Gene Sharp|first=Gene|last=Sharp|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121020135359/http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2011/12/201112113179492201.html|archive-date=October 20, 2012|df=mdy-all}}</ref> but [[As'ad AbuKhalil]] rejected such claims.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://english.al-akhbar.com/node/2169|title=How to Start a Revolution: Or the Delusions of Gene Sharp|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130501072122/http://english.al-akhbar.com/node/2169|archive-date=May 1, 2013|df=mdy-all|access-date=April 14, 2013}}</ref>

Sharp consistently denied these claims and, after a period of sustained attacks in June 2008, notable left wing writers [[Noam Chomsky]] and [[Howard Zinn]], among others, defended Sharp in a letter which was circulated by US and internationally based scholars and activists, including the statement,

{{blockquote|Rather than being a tool of imperialism, Dr. Sharp’s research and writings have inspired generations of progressive peace, labor, feminist, human rights, environmental, and social justice activists in the United States and around the world. 
The Albert Einstein Institution has never received any money from any government or government-funded entity. Nor does Dr. Sharp or the Albert Einstein Institution collaborate with the CIA, the NED, or any U.S. government or government-funded agencies; nor has Dr. Sharp or the Albert Einstein Institution ever provided financial or logistical support to any opposition groups in any country; nor has Dr. Sharp or the Albert Einstein Institution ever taken sides in political conflicts or engaged in strategic planning with any group.
The Albert Einstein Institution operates with a very minimal budget out of Dr. Sharp's home with a staff consisting of two people – Dr. Sharp and a young administrator – and is quite incapable of carrying out the foreign intrigues of which it has been falsely accused.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://stephenzunes.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/Open-Letter_Academics_Zunes.pdf |title=Open Letter in Support of Gene Sharp and Strategic Nonviolent Action |access-date=2013-06-18 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130916143844/http://stephenzunes.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/Open-Letter_Academics_Zunes.pdf |archive-date=September 16, 2013 |df=mdy-all}}</ref>}}

More recently Sharp has been criticised by [[George Ciccariello-Maher]] and [[:es:Michael A. Lebowitz|Michael A. Lebowitz]], the latter describing his activities in Venezuela as "marketing regime change" to willing consumers.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://mronline.org/2015/11/26/lebowitz261115-html/|title=MR Online {{!}} Red Is the Primary Color of the Rainbow|last1=America|first1=Michael A. Lebowitz Latin|last2=Lebanon|date=2015-11-26|website=MR Online|language=en-US|access-date=2019-08-29|last3=Russia|last4=Serbia|last5=Ukraine|last6=Commentary|first6=Venezuela}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u29HCgAAQBAJ&q=george+Ciccariello-Maher.+gene+sharp&pg=PT49|title=Building the Commune: Radical Democracy in Venezuela|last=Ciccariello-Maher|first=George|date=2016-11-01|publisher=Verso Books|isbn=9781784782245|language=en}}</ref> Anarchist [[Peter Gelderloos]] accuses Sharp of overstating his theory's relevance to the [[Egyptian revolution of 2011|2011 Egyptian revolution]] for personal aggrandizement.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://web.stanford.edu/group/peacejustice/Gelderloos-Failure-of-Nonviolence.pdf|title=The Failure of Nonviolence|last=Gelderloos|first=Peter|publisher=Left Bank Books|year=2015|pages=75}}</ref> In an interview in ''[[Jacobin (magazine)|Jacobin]]'', law graduate and adjunct lecturer Marcie Smith has stated that Sharp's theories are "ideologically incoherent" and put "protest movements in a position where they can be easily [[co-opted]]" by [[Neoliberalism|neoliberal]] capitalism.<ref>Marcetic, Branko (Sep. 4, 2019). [https://jacobinmag.com/2019/06/gene-sharp-cold-war-intellectual-marcie-smith "Gene Sharp, the Cold War Intellectual Whose Ideas Seduced the Left."] Interview with Marcie Smith. ''[[Jacobin (magazine)|Jacobin]]''.</ref>