2

Individual Responses to Threats

Organising our approach to security is largely about developing a more accurate
ability to perceive and analyse threats and choose means of avoiding them. How-
ever, we need not develop this perception from scratch: we already have physiolog-
ical responses to threats which should be understood and acknowledged. Further-
more, our perception and ability to analyse may be challenged by some aspects of
our work. If we are at least aware of these, it will help us plan more realistically.
People have natural defence mechanisms which developed through our
evolution. Hard-wired into our brains are neural pathways and structures with
the primary function of keeping us alive when we are threatened. These functions
are most often below the level of conscious awareness; that is, our security pro-
cesses are operating even if we are not aware of them. This applies both when we
ourselves are under threat, or indirectly, when someone close to us is threatened.
One of our survival mechanisms is often called intuition, those powerful but
seemingly irrational feelings that we sometimes have about a particular person,
place, or activity. When our intuition is signalling untrustworthiness or danger,
it is often because we have picked up multiple, subtle indicators which alone do
not identify a particular threat, but taken together strongly suggest the presence
of danger. Many human rights defenders have been saved by paying attention to
their intuition or ‘trusting their gut’, even when they could not explain how they
knew they were in danger.
Intuitions of danger produce a feeling of anxiety. Although anxiety is an uncom-
fortable feeling, it is an extremely helpful one. Anxiety provokes us to act to reduce
our discomfort. When we feel anxious we actively seek out information that
might confirm or challenge the possibility that we are in a potentially harmful or
dangerous situation. Depending upon what we learn, our anxiety might develop
into fear.
When we feel fear we demonstrate powerful survival responses. These responses
are driven by the same brain structures and supported by biological changes.
When this happens much of our behaviour becomes automatic, in the sense that
we have less conscious awareness of choosing to act in a particular way. Common
survival responses include the following responses.
1 The ‘freeze is when a person becomes utterly still while remaining highly alert
response’ and poised for action. This response relies on escaping notice until
the danger has passed. For example, we might cease the work that
we are doing, stop communicating through our usual channels,
or reduce communication with someone with whom we are in
conflict. In each case, we are hoping that the unwelcome attention
will pass if we become inactive.

2 The ‘flight is when a person quickly tries to get as far away from the danger as
response’ possible. We might move our operations to a safer location, aban-
don certain activities or modes of communication, or separate
ourselves from people who might cause us harm.

3 The ‘comply involves doing what an aggressor instructs in the hope that co-
response’ operation will result in the attack ending quickly and with less
injury. We might agree to suspend or abandon certain objectives
or activities, or give up passwords to secure information.

4 The ‘tend happens when people try to protect other, more vulnerable people
response’ who are being similarly victimised. Many human rights defenders
are motivated to help others because of our own experiences of
oppression and exploitation.

5 The involves trying to build some kind of relationship with the aggres-
‘befriend sor in the hope that this will limit the harm perpetrated against
response’ oneself or others. By telling physical aggressors about our fami-
lies, we might try to humanise ourselves in their eyes, a strategy
that is sometimes useful in reducing violence.

6 The is an attempt to drive off the danger by pretending to have greater

‘posture power than one actually does. As human rights defenders, we
response’ often threaten to expose and publicise threats of violence so as to
publicly embarrass our adversaries.

7 The ‘fight is when a person attacks with the intent of driving off or destroy-
response’ ing the aggressor. Of course there are many different ways to fight
and we all make our own choices about this.
It is important to note that when engaged in a survival response, we become
quicker, stronger, more focused and more resilient than we would normally be. As
a result, these survival strategies are extremely effective in many circumstances.
It helps to remember that even though you might only be beginning to develop
your own organised approach to security, your natural survival mechanisms are
already hard at work.
As powerful as our survival responses are, they are not perfect. While our brains
are capable of processing enormous amounts of information and reacting very
quickly, they do not do this in a systematic and logical manner. There are some
situations in which our brains are particularly untrustworthy, and we should pay
special attention to these.

Threats from the digital sphere

One of the ways in which we can be let down by our physiological responses dis-
cussed above relates to digital and information security. We are well adapted to
respond to physical threats (such as defending ourselves from attack), or inter-
personal threats (such as coping with estrangement from family members) and as
a result we have strong intuitive and emotional reactions to these kinds of danger.
However, whilst our physical and digital worlds are closely interwoven, we
can struggle to identify or respond appropriately to digital attacks; a suspicious
stranger standing outside our home might make us very anxious and prompt us
to take action to make ourselves safer, yet clear warnings of viruses on a com-
puter are more likely to be experienced as irritants, and ignored or even disabled,
despite having very real implications.
Moreover, the prevalence of proprietary technology and the secrecy surround-
ing electronic surveillance make it difficult to establish what threats we face. Fre-
quently we fail to recognise these threats, or conversely we perceive threats which
may not actually be relevant to us.
Since human rights defenders are subjected to ever more sophisticated means
of electronic surveillance and depend more than ever on digital tools, we must
learn to make up for this lack of protective instinct. Through taking account of our
information as an important asset in our work and opting to protect our data from
unwanted access or surveillance where we deem it necessary, we can increase our
levels of certainty and reduce the stress and fear which this topic may cause us.
Trauma, stress and fatigue

Very disturbing or traumatic past experiences may unhelpfully distort the way we
respond to indicators of danger. This is particularly true of those traumatic expe-
riences that stay with us in powerful and uncomfortable ways, even years after
the event. These kinds of traumatic experiences lead to two common reactions.
For many people, past traumatic experiences contribute to our unfounded fears.
These people become over-sensitive to things that remind them of past traumatic
experiences. When this happens, entirely harmless situations take on a sinister
appearance and our intuition begins to tell us that we are in danger when we are
not. This can lead us to having reactions which are inappropriate and impact our
relationships with the people and organisations around us.
Other people recognise their problem or become exhausted by continually
having their brains and bodies reacting to these false alarms. Over time, these
people sometimes start to suppress or ignore their healthy internal alarm system.
While this helps people live more effectively in the world, it does also reduce their
awareness of potential threats in the environment. In this way, past traumatic
experiences may contribute to unrecognised threats.

Perception of Threats

Unrecognised threats

Genuine, recognised threats

Unfounded fears

Field of perception
 Stress and fatigue can also result in us inaccurately identifying and responding to
indicators of threats in our environment. When we feel overwhelmed by the chal-
lenges in our work and home lives, or when we have been working too hard, for too
long and without enough rest, we start to behave differently.
Every person has a level of challenge or threat that stimulates them to a point
of maximum productivity and well-being. If there is not enough stimulation and
challenge in our lives, we feel bored and become unproductive, even depressed.
If there is too much challenge or threat, we start to become overwhelmed. We feel
that we cannot cope with everything that life demands of us, and once again we
become unproductive, anxious and depressed.

Stress Curve

Level of Optimum
functioning

Boredom Strain

Panic

Level of challenge / threat

Many human rights defenders may be accustomed to high levels of challenge in

their lives, and some may even enjoy it, but this doesn’t mean that we are impervi-
ous to stress. Each of us has a limit after which we can no longer cope. When this
limit is reached, we become unhappy and our productivity suffers. Furthermore,
the level of care and attention that we give to our security drops.
When we are over-worked, security indicators can sometimes be seen as just
one more problem we have to deal with. If our coping resources are already com-
pletely committed, we might choose to ignore the indicator or react in ways which
 are not helpful to ourselves, our colleagues or our work. Another reason for failing
to deal adequately with real threats is that we become accustomed to a certain (and
sometimes growing) level of threat in our personal or work life. This level of threat
starts to feel ‘normal’ or comfortable. When this happens, we are less likely to take
steps to improve our safety.
As a result, developing a culture (both individually and as a group, organisa-
tion or movement) of stress management and self-care is fundamental to a holis-
tic approach to security. Not only will this help to prevent threats brought about
through long term exposure to stress and fatigue, but it will greatly aid critical
thinking about security in general.

In the following exercises, we will reflect upon some of our past experiences and
how these may continue to affect our perceptions of danger. Once we are more
aware of this, it will be easier to build tactics for keeping our perception ‘in check’
in our security planning.

1.2a Exercise

Self-awareness exercise: Recognising and reacting to threats

Purpose & The purpose of this exercise is to help you recognise the areas in
Output which your perceptions are most accurate and the areas in which
you may be less clear-sighted.

You should gain a clearer understanding of:

• your reactions to threats in the past which went well and not so
well
• the gaps in your recognition of threats
• things you may want change
• things which make you confident facing new threats and should
be continued.

Input & Printed copies of the questions

Materials
Format & Individual reflection
Steps Think back on a past experience where you felt particularly
unsafe and then acted to take care of yourself. While the experi-
ence might have been primarily physical, emotional or related to
information security, it might also have had additional impacts on
other aspects of your security.

Use the following table to keep track of your insights.

Remarks & It is helpful to take time for this exercise and write your answers
Tips clearly so that you can come back to them as you deepen your
self-awareness. If you do this, take care to keep your notes in a
private place, sharing your personal thoughts and questions only
with people that you trust.

Choose one moment when you felt threatened or in danger and then acted to pro-
tect yourself. Consider experiences of physical danger (such as a robbery), emo-
tionally damaging experiences (such as being threatened or betrayed) or threats
to your information and communications (such as devices being confiscated or
telephones being wire-tapped.

How did you become aware of the threat?

Were there earlier indicators of the threat that you noticed, or maybe failed to
notice? Consider indicators in the socio-political environment, in your physical
environment, in your devices and in your body and mind.
Were there earlier indicators of the threat that you had noticed, but dismissed as
unimportant? Consider indicators in the socio-political environment, in your phys-
ical environment, in your devices and in your body and mind.

What were your initial reactions when you became aware of the threat and how
effective were these?

What were your subsequent actions and how effective were these?

What would you change if you could go back in time? What would you do instead?

What can you learn from this experience which might help you feel more confi-
dent in your ability to cope with future difficulties?
1.2b Exercise

Note: If you, your team members, colleagues or fellow activists have gone through
traumatic experiences and you want to know how this might impact your percep-
tions of threats, you can run this deepening exercise. This exercise may be more
emotionally challenging so if you do not presently feel ready, consider completing
it at another time.

Self-awareness exercise: How traumatic experiences affect our perception

Purpose & The purpose of this exercise is to help you recognise areas in which
Output your perceptions are most accurate and areas in which you might
be less clear-sighted due to traumatic experiences.

Input & It is helpful to take time over these questions and to write down
Materials your answers clearly so that you can come back to them over time
and as you deepen your self-awareness. If you do this, take care to
keep your notes in a private place, sharing your personal thoughts
and questions only with people that you trust.

Format & Think back on any past traumatic experiences that may not be
Steps fully resolved. These will be experiences that you think about
often and which still have the power to make you feel frightened,
angry, guilty, ashamed, or sad. Don’t go into the actual situation,
but focus on what you did to help yourself, what you did to help
others and what others did or might have done to help you.

Consider the following questions:

• What kinds of dangerous situations are particularly emotion-
ally loaded for you as a result of your past experiences?
• When you find yourself in potentially dangerous environments,
are there any situations that make you anxious or scared quite
easily?
• Is there someone you trust who could help you identify any
unfounded fears you may have?
• What kind of threats do you feel you fail to recognise easily?
 • How might you check whether you are failing to recognise some
indicators of danger?
• With whom do you feel comfortable discussing your fears and
possible blind spots?

Remarks & As this exercise might prove to be emotionally challenging, com-

Tips municate this clearly to your colleagues. It is important that
nobody feel coerced into participating in this exercise, and if
someone starts to become distressed, they should stop immedi-
ately. It might also be a good idea to relate it to other activities,
which cover areas of psycho-social well-being.

Optional Exercise: Use of Time 6

As human rights defenders, a very important aspect of our lives which we often
lose track of is our use of time. Our workloads are often extremely difficult to
manage and our struggle to stay on top of them may come at the cost of our
physical and emotional well-being. It may also have a negative effect on our ability
to perceive dangers. You can explore this for yourself in the exercise below.
The development of successful security practice demands the commitment of
resources, most notably time. As individuals, we need time to reflect on the effect
our work is having on us, to ask questions and find answers, to identify successful
tactics and tools, to plan and co-ordinate and to integrate new practices into our
lives and work.

6 Reproduced from Barry, J. (2011) Integrated Security: The Manual, Kvinna till Kvinna Foundation, Stockholm.
Feelings of emotional security are often related to our use and perception of time.
What is the ratio between our working or engagement hours and the time we spend
with our loved ones or for recreational activities? As activists, we nearly always
face the dilemma that our workload never ends but our energies do. So where do
we draw the line? The “Use of Time” exercise from the Integrated Security Manual
helps us to make conscious steps towards a healthier and more emotionally secure
use of time, which you can find in Appendix E.

Inner Beliefs and Values

Our instinctive physiological responses are not the only resource we have at our
disposal to help us build resilience when facing threats. Understanding ourselves
and our security in this context also demands that we reflect on the values and
beliefs we bring to our activism: they inform how we perceive the world and soci-
ety around us, our role within it, and indeed our understanding of security and
well-being. From this perspective, it is helpful to recognise the inner beliefs and
values which inspire us, motivate our work and build our resilience. It is equally
important that we respect the values and beliefs of our colleagues and fellow
human rights defenders in order to avoid contributing to division, tension and
mistrust in our collectives, organisations and movements.
The inner beliefs and values that underpin our work vary greatly. For some,
they may have their roots in traditional cultural, religious or spiritual beliefs; for
others, they may be entirely humanist or atheist. In any case, for many human
rights defenders, inner beliefs and ethical values are a fundamental lens through
which we perceive the world: they offer many of us a sense of purpose; they can
help us find inner peace in times of turmoil, strength in the face of adversity and
healing when hurt.
However, these values are often deeply significant and personal, and we might
hesitate before voicing them to others. We think about bringing our values to our
work as a personal process, but what does it look like to be explicit about our val-
ues as individuals, or indeed our common values as a collective or movement? If
we articulate our ethos, beliefs and their associated rituals, and recognise the role
these values play in inspiring our activism and maintaining our resilience, we will
be more inclined to create, respect and defend space for them within our work.