Training for Nonviolent Action
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Posted May 19th, 2008 by New Tactics
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Training ourselves on tactical and strategic nonviolent action is essential to maximize possibilities and results. What does this kind of training entail?

It's not too late to share your experiences, methods and resources or gain ideas and tools to apply to your efforts. Join the New Tactics community today to participate in this and other dialogues today!

Practitioners included:

  • Srdja Popovic and Giorgi Meladze from CANVAS
  • Sam La Rocca, Jason MacLeod, James Whelan, Holly Hammond, and Anthony Kelly from The Change Agency
  • Zsuzsanna Kacsó, Bianca Cseke and Corina Simon from PATRIR
  • Daniel Hunter, Joe Catania, and Philippe Duhamel from Training for Change
  • Linda Sartor from Nonviolent Peaceforce
  • Dola Nicholas Oluoch from Chemchemi Ya Ukweli-Active
  • Ouyporn Khuankaew from International Women's Partnership for Peace and Justice
  • Shaazka Beyerle from The International Center on Nonviolent Conflict
  • Hardy Merriman, an independent consultant in the field of strategic nonviolent conflict

Learn more about the experienced nonviolent action trainers who shared their ideas and resources during the dialogue.

Summary of Dialogue

Moving Nonviolent Action Theory to Practice

Enormous and exciting developments have taken place over recent decades to make this strategic theory available and accessible to people around the world, notably through education and mainstream acceptance of the theory.

Core concepts of successful nonviolent action are support, careful planning and strong leadership. It is essential to have a vision and strategic plan and to develop the tactics and campaigns necessary to achieve it. Most often, movements tend to happen through local grassroots organizations and unions, in response to circumstances in a place or because of the creativity of a group of people. It addition to educating people on their rights, nonviolent action also gives people an alternative way of expressing themselves.

Dealing with Repression

The effectiveness of tactics depends on the context in which the nonviolent struggle operates, and are not inherently effective or ineffective, low-risk or high-risk Even within an ongoing nonviolent struggle, a tactic can at some point be at risk. When teaching or training, it can be most effective in training is to have participants come to this insight themselves. Under conditions of repression, dilemma actions and simple mass actions can be effective. 

When choosing tactics to use, it is important to consider all possible tactics, as well as ‘dispersion’ and ‘concentration’. Different tactics are both necessary and useful at different times. One useful tactic activists have is to increase the cost of repression and reduce the effectiveness of the opponents’ repression. A group in Kenya identified the need to integrate the concept of self talk in nonviolent action training and to strengthen the capacity of organizations to traditional approaches of nonviolent action. And in Moldova, a "frozen conflict" brought forth some of the challenges that NGOs face in their relationship with the de facto authorities. To address these and other issues, Peace Brigade International (PBI) has provided for human rights defenders, trade union members and activists a manual to improve their understanding of security and protection.

However, participants need be aware that despite having a good plan and the right strategies and tactics, a nonviolent actions simply may not work out and that the best that can be done is to be prepared for probable risks and to train for the worst. Debriefing after an action has taken place is a tool in itself that allows participants a say and to realize their own power and effect.

Training tools and processes

One tool The Change Agency uses is critical-path analysis to get activists to think beyond what tactics they will employ and to consider how they connects with the vision, goals and objectives they are hoping to achieve. Another tool is power mapping for strategy building and mapping players/political actors and their position in relation to activists’ issues and their level of influence over campaign objectives. The New Tactics in Human Rights project uses a tool they call "Tactical Mapping" to help groups more clearly see the "terrain" in which they are operating, and additional areas they ca potentially impact.

Experimental methods in education that have been used include the water glasses exercise to show the difference between teach-centered learning and participant-centered learning, Education and Training for  Effective Environmental Advocacy: a chapter on educational theory is applicable to activist education in all movements, and The ‘spiral model’ by the Doris Marshall Institute which essentially follows an action learning cycle but with some guidelines for designing experiential process.  

A tool that proved effective and appropriate in Kenya, in the run up to elections when it was necessary to reach as many people as possible was the introduction of theatre into the process. A larger audience was reached in a short period of time and mobilization became very easy. Other examples of the use of theatre to engage, educate and move people to action are seen in Bangladesh (Action Theatre: Initiating Changes), in Senegal (Using Popular Theater to Break the Silence Around Violence Against Women) with the Philippine Education Theater Association and in Augusto Boal’s suite of The Theatre of the Oppressed (TO) which can be used in a meaningful way to explore and build a collective understanding on a range of themes. Another tool that has been used is the use of photographs to stimulate discussion, creativity and personal disclosure and strategic thinking.

Finally, CANVAS has designed four tools for knowledge transfer, acknowledging that the best and most efficient way to transfer knowledge is by using practical tools which enable participants to adopt new skill by DOING IT.

Training the Trainer: Experiences and Challenges

Challenges that trainers are face can include the opposition to joint “agreements” and the contradiction of so-called diversity. While it cannot be argued that diversity of tactics is a good thing, there are consequences to it such as a debate about he effectiveness of tactics, an unwillingness to put any parameters on public actions, the impossibility of truly nonviolent action (an action that is even 1% violent will not be "nonviolent") and the marginalization of nonviolence training, among others.  But a commitment to diversity or a variety of tactics can be especially helpful when groups are thinking about the surprise factor and keeping the opposition "off balance".

People need to need to feel that they have elected to be a part of the nonviolent action. Described as the 'Two hands of nonviolence', the combined impact of a nonviolent action, if designed well, creates an irresistible push and pull impact upon the opponent, stopping something while at the same time inviting people to work towards a solution. A great example of the challenges facing movements and campaigns including the need for a vision, measuring success, using a combination of pull and disrupt tactics, as well as know when to end a campaign is that of the Nestle Boycott.

Saul Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals provides some of the best advice on confrontational tactics, including do unto others before they have a chance to do unto you, if something you do is ineffective, stop doing it, be truthful and honest at all times, but know when to keep your mouth shut, plan to change the world, but be happy with changing a single opinion, and be controversial, but watch the legals. Most importantly, “Power is not only what you have, but what an opponent thinks you have”. What can let down trainers is failing to link the community's theory of change to the real issues that affect them. Flexibility and being able to listen are key to the process, as is creativity.

Resources Featured Within the Dialogue

General

Theory

Methods

Tools

Training

Exercises

Case Studies and Examples

Recommended Books, Films, and Games

hyrax's picture

"Diversity of tactics"

Submitted by hyrax on Sun, 06/01/2008 - 19:43.

I certainly hope Philippe will get in on this conversation, since I know he's thought so much about this as well as might be writing about it as we speak.

But, Sam, this is a cultural piece we're facing in the US; I know it's hot in Canada, too. Diversity is an important value and being translated into a meaning that all tactics, all tools should be available to us.

The framing itself is terrible -- of course. Diversity, as used, contradicts strategy. It also guarantees one will not get a diversity of participants. Few people will risk joining into an action where anything might happen. That's especially true where I live, for example, for African-American and Latino activists, who just won't be bothered with the high-risk, high-invitation-to-repression tactics of white, middle-class young rebels.

That said, in the training room I think modeling boundaries and enforcement is the goal. It's chilling to some in the room who avoid commitment, but if people cannot accept agreements, I invite them to walk out of the room. It's their choice. But that's the freedom of a democratic situation -- the freedom to choose.

I've had situations where I've invited participants to leave if they did not want to agree to such nonviolent guidelines. It ended up being a helpful confrontation. Most recently when one participant raised this question, what it clarified for them was the act of choosing to be involved in a nonviolent action.

One value underlying this choicepoint, and there are several, is solidarity. Agreements to each other is the heart of solidarity.

George Lakey wrote an article, in case you missed it, about this issue to the US arm, especially, of the Anti-Globalization Movement.

Daniel Hunter, Training for Change

Daniel Hunter, Training for Change