Workshop Outline for Violence, Nonviolence, and Leftist Underground Organizations in the UnitedStatesGoals:1. Explore individual and communal understandings of violence and nonviolence2. Differentiate between ideological and tactical nonviolence3. Deconstruct the stories of movements used to justify nonviolence and learn hidden histories of tactical violence4. Understand the ideology behind militant underground groups based in the United States5. Learn the history of left political bombing, bank robbing (expropriating), and other tactical violenceIntroductions:Go around the room and share name, where home is, gender pronoun, one hope and one fear about theworkshop.Covenant/Ground rules:Create a list of actions and ways of behaving that participants can expect of one another during theworkshop. This is a living document and can be revisited during the workshop as needed. Some thingsto include are: active listening, try things on, engage in conflict lovingly, step up/step back (specifically be aware of social power dynamics such as race, gender, class, etc.), turn off or silence cell phones, and othersBrainstorm definition of violence:

Materials - Butcher paper and markersSet up - At the top of butcher paper write, "violence."

(sample script for facilitator)

In our culture violence is often discussed without any reflection on the importance of a commondefinition. While we will not likely come up with one singular definition at this moment I wouldlike for us to brainstorm some words that each person would want to see in a definition of violence. You are also welcome to share working definitions you have for yourself that I can alsolist on this piece of butcher paper. Please remember to give everyone an opportunity to share.

If participants get stuck or are quiet the following are some guiding questions -1. Does power have a role in the definition of violence?2. Is violence always physical?3. Are only humans violent?4. Is it possible for something to be violent for one person to do but not violent for another? For instance, is it more violent for a gang member to shoot and kill a police officer than it is for a policeofficer to shoot and kill a gang member?5. Is physical self-defense violent?Brainstorm definition of nonviolence:

Materials - Butcher paper and markersSet up - At the top of the butcher paper write, "nonviolence." Underneath the top piece have two otherswith "tactical nonviolence" and "ideological nonviolence" listed at the tops respectively

(sample script for facilitator)

Nonviolence is another term that is often used without further exploration of its meaning. While

we will not likely come up with one singular definition at this moment let us continue thebrainstorming exercise by listing words or working definitions each person has for nonviolence.

(If someone early on differentiates between tactical and ideological nonviolence move the top sheetthat does not distinguish between the two and continue the brainstorm by asking participants todetermine if the words/definitions they offer should be listed as "tactical" or "ideological." If no onedistinguished between the two, part way through the brainstorm the facilitator should offer thedifferentiation.)

Clearly there are many pieces that go in to this definition and I want to add another challenge.Nonviolence is often looked at with at least two possible lenses, tactical and ideological. From thelist we have just created are there pieces that more specifically fit underneath one or the other of these categories of nonviolence?

Understanding Nonviolent Leadership in History

Materials - Butcher paper, markers, pens Preparations - Hang up around the room pictures of Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., Vietnam Era Protests. Under each picture hang a piece of piece of butcher paper. On the back side of the pictureslist the role violence played towards achieving the goals of the movement.Gandhi:1. "Prior to the decimation of British troop strength and the virtual bankruptcy of the Imperial treasuryduring World War II, Gandhi's movement showed little likelihood of forcing England's abandonment of India. Without the global violence that destroyed the Empire's ability to forcibly control its colonial territories, India might have continued indefinitely [under England's control.]" Ward Churchill 2. During the Gandhian struggle there were other militant violent organizations as well."Chandrasekhar Azad... fought in armed struggle against the British colonizers, and revolutionaries such as Bhagat Singh won mass support for bombings and assassinations as part of a struggle toaccomplish the overthrow of both foreign and Indian capitalism." Peter GelderloosMartin Luther King Jr. and the Civil Rights Movement:1. "Elevated by white and Black elitist to the heights of social acceptance, Dr. King's message of Christian forbearance and his turn-the-other cheek doctrine were calming to the white psyche. To Americans bred for comfort, Dr. King was, above all, safe. The Black Panther Party was the antithesisof Dr. King. The Party was not a civil rights group... but practiced the human right of self-defencse...The Black Panther Party made (white) Americans feel many things, but safe wasn't one of them." Mumia Abu Jamal 2. "The pacification, through nonviolence, of people of color intersects with the preference of white supremacist power structures to disarm the oppressed. The celebrated civil rights leaders, including King, were instrumental to the government's 'bullet and ballot' strategy in isolating and destroying militant black activists and manipulating the remainder to support a weakened, pro-government agenda centered around voter registration." Peter Gelderloos3. According to King, "those who make peaceful revolution impossible make violent revolutioninevitable." 4. While King may have been nonviolent and much of the white media recognized Civil RightsMovement was nonviolent there were many, many elements of the movement for Black equality/equitythat adopted a diversity of tactics. Some people and organizations to understand and know include the Black Liberation Army, Robert Williams, Angela Davis, and others. To say that the Civil RightsMovement was nonviolent is to erase the history of many other types of resistance that were going onalongside the pacifists.

Anti-Vietnam War 1. Many former hippies and others who organized against the war like to claim that the nonviolent movement in the United States successfully stopped the war machine. Statements such as this ignore amore complex reality that includes the fact that the Viet Cong tactically and militarily outsmarted and outdid the United States military. Even as the military carpet bombed the country the people were still winning the war. There were also U.S. soldiers who were violently resisting their commanding officers,killing them if they tried to force the soldiers to continue fighting and dying (the documentary Sir NoSir is a vital piece of history to learn).2. The Weather Underground bombed over forty different federal buildings and military recruitment centers to forcibly stop the war machine. While their actions were not always effective they wereattempting to cause financial casualties at home. (Dan Berger)

(sample script for facilitator)

Around the room you will find images of leaders and movements celebrated for theircommitment to nonviolence and their successes because of their nonviolent organizing. Please goaround the room in groups

(count off 1 - 3)

and list what you know about the nonviolentorganizing efforts by these movements and what their successes were and are. Each group willhave five minutes at each station.

After they have finished going around the room, the last group at each image should report back to thewhole group what is written on the piece of butcher paper. Ask them to then take down the image andread what is listed on the back. After each group reads the commentary from the back of the imageencourage the group to share what they feel or are thinking, though emphasize the feeling connection.Break Nonviolence and Oppression

Materials - 2 sheets of 81/2''X11'' paper Preparations - On one sheet of paper write "Agree" on the other write "Disagree." Prior to theworkshop print the following quotes on separate pieces of paper:1. "I don't favor violence. If we could bring about recognition and respect of our people by peaceful means, well and good. Everybody would like to reach his objectives peacefully. But I'm also arealist. The only people in this country who are asked to be nonviolent are black people." - Malcolm X 2. "[White pacifists]preach nonviolence to the people at the bottom of the racial and economichierarchy precisely because nonviolence is ineffective, and any revolution launched by those people, provided it remains nonviolent, will be unable to fully unseat white people and rich people from their privileged positions." - Peter Gelderloos3. "Some recent 'feminist' critiques... have condemned militancy as being sexist and non-inclusive to women... This idea is actually the sexist one." - Laina Tanglewood 4. "I do not wish to kill or be killed, but i can foresee circumstances in which both of thesethings would be by me unavoidable. We preserve the so-called peace of community by deeds of pettyviolence every day. Look at the policeman's billy and handcuffs! Look at the jail! Look at the gallows! Look at the chaplain of the regiment!" - John Brown5. "It is the obligation of every person who claims to oppose oppression to resist the oppressor by every means at his or her disposal. Not to engage in physical resistance, armed resistance tooppression, is to serve the interests of the oppressor; no more, no less. There are no exceptions to therule, no easy out." Assata Shakur