Nonviolence Course 2011/12
17 - 19 February 2012: Is everybody happy? Tools for effective group work 'I believe that slowness is an act of resistance, not because slowness is good in itself but because of all that it makes room for, the things that don't get measured and can't be bought'. (*)
Sorry, but this session is for those signed up for the year-long course only. Our next public session is 17 March, The Living Revolution: building the constructive alternative. Book now to avoid disppiontment. Groups are very powerful bodies and each of us in the group plays a role in contributing to the group's ability to work together. Groups have their own character, moods, ways of behaving, and self-generated rules that influence the individual members. This session will consider how we work together in groups, we'll look at group-process and group-dynamics. This is a residential weekend for year-long course members only.. February's pre-workshop reflection question
Suggested resources: Is everybody happy? Tools for effective group workConflict in the peaceable kingdom: Quaker identity, silence and virtue ethics The Tyranny of Structurelessness Participatory Workshops: A sourcebook of 21 sets of ideas and activities Rhizome guide to Consensus Decision-making Rhizome guide to Active Listening
(*) Quote from author, activist Rebecca Solnit 21 January 2012: Don't just sit there! Exploring direct action 'Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue.' (*)
Nonviolent direct action (NVDA) targets property, infrastructure or groups or person(s) deemed to be doing harm, or perpetuating a system of injustice. It may mean breaking the law and risking arrest, but as well it may not. Discerning what role in the action is right for you is an important part of the process. In this workshop we talked about these questions as well as
January's pre-workshop reflection questions
Suggested resources: Don't just sit there! Exploring direct actionG8 can you hear us? - BBC4 'documentary' exploring the diferent roles social change activists tak, much like we tried to do with our fishbowl exericise we worked as a group to taken on different personalities involved in making change happen. The BBC4 trailer says: 'A film about three very different protesters who headed to Gleneagles in 2005 to persuade the gathered world leaders to take steps to help save the planet from destruction.' The World Against Apartheid: have you heard from Johannesburg? (video about 1 hour) Happy Australia Day 2012 - (video, about 4 minutes), continuing our conversation about the media and activism 2 articles from past Making Waves -- Anger Alternatives and Me, My Wheelchair and Direct Action Stick it to the man: How the web spurs political change (a bit of a fluffy but interesting article) Starhawk's Webs of power -- good on diversity of tactics in the protest movement Tim Gee on 'Counter Power' (video interview here ) Philippe Duhamel's blog on New Tactics War Resisters League, Handbook for Nonviolent Action CT UP New York’s Manual for Civil Disobedience Seeds for Change's briefing on affinity grous Organizing for Power, Organizing for Change hell no, we won't glow: nonviolent occupation of a nuclear power site, Seabrook April 1977 by Sharon Crown Preparing for Nonviolent Direct Action by Howard Clark, Sheryl Crown, Angela McKee and Hugh MacPherson (1984). A small book written for and by activists in the 1980s British nuclear disarmament movement, placing nonviolent direct action in a wider strategic framework, urging a small group approach to organizing nvda, describing a range of tools and exercises, and offering short success stories. Fanny Tribble’s cartoons provide a humorous commentary on the text.
(*) Quote from Martin Luther King Jr's 1963 Letter from a Birmingham Jail
17 December: Campaigners do it together! How we make change This session looked at how the strategic and creative use of tactics add up to effective campaigning, and how all our contributions add up to make change. 'I feel enthusiastic about what I've learnt about campaigning tools and am inspired to pick up with a group I've pulled back from.' -- December workshop participant
December's pre-workshop reflection question
Think of campaigns you've been part of, what has been the overall goal of the campaign? What actions have you taken to reach those goals? How do you know your actions are effective? How have you grown and changed through these campaigning experiences?
Suggested resources: Campaigners do it together! How we make change
'Democracy to the right, WTO to the left' banner as Hannah described when she gave the example of the Smart-eme story-telling framework for strategy.
With my Hammer , video by Seize the Day, about the smashing of the fighter jet action that inspired the GenetiX Snowball Campaign. Turning the Tide's page of campaign strategy planning tools. Here you'll find guidance notes for several of the tools mentioned at the workshop such as SWOT/BEEM, Force Field Analysis, Pillars of Power, and many more.Here is further information about NAOMIE .
As mentioned in the additional strategy tools session near the end of the day: article describing the social change framework of the Living Revolution (1. cultural preparation, 2. organisation + movement-building, 3. confrontation, 4. mass economic and political non-cooperation, 5. new/parallel/alternative instituions), the definition of backcasting a campaign vision tool.
Common Cause: The case for working with our cultural values (very long, but valuable report) Communicating your Campaign Message Developing Strategies for Abolishing War Indymedia - If you you haven't ever read 'Indymedia' news, please discover this campaigning tool. Be the media. Interview with Counterpower Author Tim Gee (video, about 5m) McLibel (video, about 84min) Roots to Resistance (website about arts + activism campaign) Ten Tactics - From the Tactical Technology Collective video, further information, tools and advice from rights campaigns around the world The Bank of Ideas - (public repossession of bankrupted bank now community space) The Ruckus Society (website with tools) The Village Green (video, about 9min)
19 November: Playing with power 2: changing The System How does change happen? What role have you played in change? What do you need to help you make change?
November's pre-workshop reflection question In this training, the facilitation team asked people to think about how change happens, and what role do you usually play in making change happen. We looked at successful campaigns to grain inspiration for today's challenges.
Handouts given on the day (and archived below) include: How change happens (part 1 & 2), Noticings, Break the rules: how ground rules can hurt us, The Great Turning, The 100th Monkey; a participant has also archived below is a summary of the day's activities written up by a participant. A few words about empowered learning This is a course which aims to take participants on a deep transformational learning journey. We strive to create the conditions and opportunities for you to challenge your self-limiting beliefs and discover your inner power. We aim to build a safe environment which nurtures 'empowered learning' by which we mean awareness of your needs and taking personal responsibility to find ways to meet those needs, while not interfering or creating obstacles for others' learning'. To this end, we offer you a d-i-y guide to help you understand more about your learning intelligences.
The notion of 'learning intelligences' can also be broadly interpreted to mean the way we process and tend to present information to others. The greater our awareness about our preferences and the ways we deal with information, the easier it may be for us to develop other areas and recognise different preferences in others. If you have time for this learning intelligences assessment, it may help you to become more aware about yourself and others, and potentially improve your ability to work effectively in, and with groups.
Suggested resources: Playing with power 2: changing The SystemStrategizing for a living revolution Collective identities: trap or tool for empowerment? The Great Turning: From Empire to Earth Community Nonviolent responses to assault Training Pro-Democracy Movements: a conversation with Colonel Robert Helvey Human nature isn't inherently violent Caffeinated Community Comeback: A small Ohio town discovers the power of networking The NGOs of Development in the South: Neo-liberalism's instruments or popular alternatives? A short history of enclosures in Britain Defend life: what does a forest mean to local people?(short animation)
15 October Playing with power 1: understanding The System What is power? How do you grow it? How do you connect with and unblock your own?
In Playing with power 1: understanding The System we explored our understanding of different types of power and disempowerment. We worked on cultivating and nurturing ourselves and skills and ways of growing the transformative power of nonviolence to emerge. A few of the questions we asked ourselves were --
Suggested resources: Playing with power 1: understanding The SystemOctober workshop suggested resouces include articles, a couple of websites and hand-outs and documents (below) from the actual day. These are Taster sheet on power, 2 case studies about nonviolent power, patterns of responding to violence, Arnold Mindell's 4 types of rank and learning zones.We also offer a summary of October's workshop written by one of the participants.
Be realistic, demand the impossible! 1968 The Mysterious Chemistry of social change Hannah Arendt on the concept of power White Privilege: unpacking the invisible knapsack That's how I like to see a woman I am right, you are wrong: power dynamics in NGOs Heteropatriachy and the pillars of white supramacy Class Matters - a website, a book, and more about working across the class divide Dear Diary - Over 3 years from 30 June 2001 to 30 June 2004, Alana Jelinek's 'Dear Diary' recorded day to day experiences of racism - as observer or bystander, as a victim of racism and as a racist. Barbara Deming: An activist's life A resource from Pace e Bene about Deming's concept of two hands of nonviolence Mork versus the KKK (video, about 7 min)
24 September 2011 Nonviolence, a dangerous idea Think about everyday acts and practices that you observe and to ask yourself, 'Is that violent or is that nonviolent? What are the characteristics or qualities of violent and nonviolent acts?' Workshop resources What is your understanding of social change? Participatory ways of work? In ''TTT key concepts' (see archive below) we explain briefly what these notions (and a few others) mean to us. September workshop hand-outs and documents (below) include: September Summary, Active Listening, Transforming us versus them thinking, De-escalating violence, Nonviolence taster, and What is violence, what is nonviolence (Galtung), Myth of redemeptive violence.
We also welcome resource suggestions including inspiring case studies recording and sharing the good news of nonviolence. See our case studies section for more.
Suggested resources: what is violence, what is nonviolence?The global spread of active nonviolence Nonviolence: does gender matter? The Seville Statement on Violence Cultural Disobedience and the power of the margins
Resource ArchiveTo view the documents in the archive you will need a copy of Adobe® Reader®. If you don't have a copy or if you have an old copy which you would like to update, go to the Adobe website where you can download it for free.
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Workshop reflection