2020 Session 1: What is Non Violence and Civilian Resistance

Session One: What is Non Violence and Civilian Resistance?

Music: "In the Name of Love," U2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhSYivo6HGI

Essential Questions:

• What is non violence/civilian resistance?

• How effective is non violence/civilian resistance?

• What are some of Gene Sharp’s ideas on the nature of power and the techniques of non violent social change?

• Who is Erica Chenoweth and why is her work important?

Gathering: " My name is ______ and the reason that I am taking this course is____"

Rick's Rap
 • course/syallabus overview • course assumptions • unanswered questions • Stevenson & Zinn quotes

Exercise: Tools

            • Bias-Angle exercise • Origin- Purpose- Value – Limitations (OPVL)

            • Reflective Sentence Starters

Brainstorm: "A question that I have about non violence, non violent direct action or civilian resistance is..."

Video: John Green, " Non Violence and Peace Movements," Crash Course https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eP-mv5IjFzY
            • Reflective Sentence debrief

Video: “Civilian Resistance Works,” Erica Chenoweth, panel on Violence, Humanity   the Future, and the Origins of Violence,” (2015); Link to video
           • Reflective Sentence debrief

Video: Jamila Rajib, "The Success of Non Violent Struggle," January 7, 2015 Link to video
          • Reflective Sentence debrief

Review: Gene Sharp's "198 Methods"

Closing: "Something I learned today was..."

Readings: 

(1) Gene Sharp “198 Methods of Non Violent Action,” http://www.aeinstein.org/nonviolentaction/198-methods-of-nonviolent-action/

(2) Albert Einstein Institute, “Correcting Common Misconceptions About Non Violent Action,” http://www.aeinstein.org/nonviolentaction/correcting-common-misconceptions-about-nonviolent-action/

(3) Sheryl Gay Stolberg, “Shy Intellectual Created Playbook used in  Revolution ,“  NYTimes, 2/16/11; http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/17/world/middleeast/17sharp.html

(4)  “Non Violence,”  Wikipedia,  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nonviolence

Resources
• "25 Acts of Political Rallies and Acts of Civil Disobedience," List 25, 2016 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxTd6biipZo
• 'Howard Zinn on Democracy and Civil Disobedience," documentary of the1985 trialof the AVCO Ploughshares  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gx6QQOn4dQE
• George Lakey, " Gene Sharp- the lonely scholar who became a non violent warrior," Waging Non Violence https://wagingnonviolence.org/feature/gene-sharp-scholar-nonviolent-warrior/

Those who love peace must learn to organize as effectively as those who love war.
                                    Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.