building the alternativeIntroduction
The exercises and hand-outs included here support groups exploring what Gandhi called the ‘Constructive Programme’ -- ‘building the new society in the shell of the old.’ As peak oil hovers near, climate catastrophe looms on the horizon and global economic instability threatens us all, now more than ever is the time to turn away from Empire-building for the few to building an Earth-community for all.
Toward the end of his life, Gandhi argued that nonviolence work should be 90% Constructive Programme and 10% Resistance. Much of our nonviolent social change work over the past 100 years has centred on protest and resistance, and certainly there’s still work to be done. But if Gandhi’s formula is correct, then it’s high time that we give a bit more time and energy to building the alternative. The resources collected here are a step in that direction.
Exercises and hand-outs are listed and briefly described below. Documents containing the full description appear at the bottom of the list. Click here for a taster sheet on 'Building the Alternative' .
If the world is upside down the way it is now, wouldn't we have to turn it over to get it to stand up straight?-- Eduardo Galeano
Exercises and Hand-outsNormalising NonviolenceThis exercise aims to get participants thinking about everyday actions and cultural practices that embrace or prop up a culture of violence and then to imagine a world upside down, where nonviolence is the norm. More. Building the Alternative or Resistance Game
This exercise asks participants to open their imagination to building the alternative. All too often we get caught up in the cycle of protest and resistance and lose sight of the ‘other world’ we are trying to create through our activism. This game encourages imaginative responses to contemporary social issues. More. Mapping Utopia
This exercise aims to get people thinking about what a community living/being the constructive alternative would look like and to consider what they would like about utopia. More. Three Dimensions of the Great TurningA hand-out outlining the basic notions of 'the Great Turning' -- holding actions/resistance, creation of new sustainable structures and the roots for this new world, consciousness shifting. More. Paths through UtopiaFour cases studies of utopian social experiments to support or introduce a training about building the alternative. Stories include an anarchist school in Spain, a worker-owned factory in Serbia, a 'freetown' in Denmark and a ecological and peace community in a former secret police training camp in Germany. More. The Nonviolent Community: 90% Constructive and 10% ResistanceA hand-out outlining Gandhi's belief that nonviolence works should be 90% Constructive Programme (building the alternative) and 10% resistance. More.
Full Description of Exercises and Hand-outsTo view our training resources 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. |
