2020 Osher Fall/Virtual Nonviolence -What is Nonviolence? # 1

Session One: What is Non Violence and Civilian Resistance?

Music: "Wake Up," John Legend, The Roots & Common, Link to Site

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
• zoom thoughts
•course/syallabus overview • course assumptions • unanswered questions • Stevenson & Zinn quotes

Exercise: Tools

            • Bias-Angle exercise 

            • Reflective Sentence Starters

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

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

Review: Gene Sharp's "198 Methods"

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

Readings: 
(1) Robin Wright, "The Story of 2019: Protests in Every Corner of the Globe," New Yorker, 12/30/19
Link to article

(2) Gene Sharp “198 Methods of Non Violent Action,” Link to article

(3)  George Lakey, " Gene Sharp- the lonely scholar who became a non violent warrior," Waging Non Violence Link to article

(4)  “Non Violence,” Wikipedia,  Link to article

Resources
• Video: John Green, " Non Violence and Peace Movements,"  Crash Course Link to Video

• Video and transcript: John Green, "Nonviolence and Peace Movements," Link to site

• Sheryl Gay Stolberg, “Shy Intellectual Created Playbook used in  Revolution ,“  NYTimes, 2/16/11; Link to article
• Albert Einstein Institute, “Correcting Common Misconceptions About Non Violent Action,” Link to article
• The editors, "Remembering Gene Sharp, a pioneer of people power," Waging Nonviolence, Link to article
• "25 Acts of Political Rallies and Acts of Civil Disobedience," List 25, 2016 Link to video


"I had a student who wrote a 13-word paper that has stayed with me:Question: Why are we violent and but not illiterate? Answer: Because we are taught to read."
                                            Coleman McCarthy, columnist, Washington Post