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19143. (215) 729-7458. <peacelearn@igc.apc.org> VOLUME 11, NUMBER 1
Volume II, Number I
WHY TRAINING FOR
NONVIOLENT ACTION?
By George Lakey*
Question: What do some revolutionary soldiers in a Burmese
jungle, Act Up members in New York, environmentalists in Germany,
coal miners in West Virginia, and aboriginals in Taiwan have in com-
mon?
Answer: Participation in nonviolent action training workshops.
These groups as well as many others around the world are turning to
training to increase the likelihood of accomplishing their goals. Students
in Central America, steelworkers in Western Pennsylvania, Buddhist
monks in Thailand, environmentalists in Russia, Mohawks in Canada,
peace activists in Scotland, pro-democracy activists in the Philippines,
homeless people in Philadelphia — these are just some of the groups
involved in the past few years.1
Is training making a difference in achieving movement goals, in
fact, or is it simply a ritual helping participants feel better in an uncer-
tain and scary world? Scientific studies are lacking at this point. In some
places, however, movements are so convinced of the value of training
that all participants in major confrontations are expected to participate
in training workshops first. And we know of at least one dictatorship
which felt so threatened by training that it held a training team at the
airport to prevent entry.2
By "training" we mean learning formats leading to changed
behaviors in action situations. Training is different from liberal educa-
tion because of the emphasis on behavior-in-action; similar to people
being trained to be a doctor or engineer, the activist learns the skills and
*George Lakey, 56, has led over 1,000 workshops on five continents since his start while teach-
ing at the Martin Luther King School of Social Change. He has led a variety of nonviolent social
change projects, engaged in civil disobedience, and accompanied Sri Lankan lawyers threatened
with assassination. Author of five books, he has taught at Haverford and Swarthmore Colleges
and the University of Pennsylvania. Acknowledgments: Thanks to Michael Beer, Philip
Bogdonoff, Nancy Brigham, Chuck Esser, Vivien Sharples, Lynne Shivers, and Peter Woodrow,
for their suggestions and assistance.
4 50
International Journal of Nonviolence
Revolution (cited above), pp. 256-274. The literature which analyzes or presents models for non-
violent strategizing includes Peter Ackerman and Christopher Kruegler, Strategic Nonviolent
Conflict. (NY: Praeger, 1994); Anders Boserup and Andrew Mack, War Without Weapons (NY:
Shocken, 1975); George Lakey, Powerful Peacemaking (Philadelphia; New Society Publishers,
1987); Brian Martin et al., Nonviolent Struggle and Social Defence (London: Myrtle Solomon
Memorial Fund and War Resisters' International, 1991); Bill Moyer, The Movement Action Plan
(Social Movement Empowerment Project, 721 Shrader St, San Francisco, CA 94117, 1987);
Martin Oppenheimer, The Urban Guerrilla (Chicago: Quadrangle, 1969).
9 Since the 1970s in the US a number of major mobilizations which include civil disobedience
have printed a large-format, magazine-size pamphlet for participants, which includes discussion
of strategy and the issues of the event, tips on acting nonviolently and explanation of the collec-
tive discipline, and logistical information. For example, "Out and Outraged: Nonviolent Civil
Disobedience at the US Supreme Court," CD Handbook, Mimeo., National March on
Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights, 8-13 October 1987.
10 See the documents on Pittston in the new edition of Staughton and Alice Lynd (eds.),
Nonviolence in America (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, forthcoming).
11 An example of social scientists addressing an activist readership with relevant empirically-
based knowledge is the book edited by Neil Wollman, Working for Peace: An Handbook of
Practical Psychology and Other Tools (cited 'above).
12 Report from Ed Kinane dated November 29, 1993, on incident in Jeremie, Haiti. The peace
team was from the organization Cry for Justice. Regular reports on nonviolent third-party inter-
ventions in Latin America, Asia and elsewhere are published by Peace Brigades International,
which as been fielding peace teams since 1982. The US office is 347 Dolores St. STE 228, San
Francisco, CA 94110. The Christian Science Monitor reported on their work March 21, 1988.
A US organization which has considerable experience in nonviolent third-party intervention is
Witness for Peace; see Ed Griffin-Nolan's book Witness for Peace (Louisville, KY:
Westminster/John Knox Press, 1991). Michael Beer's compilation of a large variety of docu-
ments which include both case reports and conceptual essays is available from Nonviolent
International, PO Box 39127, Friendship Station NW, Washington DC 20016.
13 See Resource Manual (loc cit), pp. 175-176. For a discussion of the use of agents provoca-
teurs, see also George Lakey, .Powerful Peacemaking , 137-138.
14 As reported by Seattle trainer Vivien Sharples. A similar story of alliance-building, through
nonviolent action workshops, among groups which were in some tension with each other, is
reported from Guatemala by Peace Brigades International volunteer Winnie Romeril.
15 A new training modality being pioneered by psychologist Arnold Mindell, Process Oriented
Psychology, develops leadership through conflict dynamics - analogously to nonviolent move-
ments. See his The Leader as Martial Artist (NY: Harper Collins, 1992).
16 See the biography of the man nicknamed "the frontier Gandhi" by Eknath Easwaran, A Man
to Match His Mountains (Petaluma, California: Nilgiri Press, 1984). Joan V. Bondurant also
reports on the case in Conquest of Violence (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1965).
17 See theResource Manual (cited above) for descriptions of training methods which serve these
goals.
18 Basic and advanced workshops for training trainers offered by Training Center Workshops,
4719 Springfield Ave, Philadelphia, PA 19143; these workshops are so far offered in North
America, Europe, and Asia.
19 At this writing the most current global data base of trainers in this field is maintained by
Nonviolence International, PO Box 39127, Friendship Station NW, Washington, DC 20016.
Their Washington office refers inquirers to trainers with desired specialties.
Volume II, Number I International Journal of Nonviolence

Endnotes knowledge that prepare her or him to act. By "nonviolent action" we

include these major applications
1 For some sources for descriptions and evaluations of nonviolent direct action training work-
shops for nonviolent action, please see Reconciliation International 5/4, Winter 1990;
Alternatives to Violence Project, 3049 East Genesee St, Syracuse, NY 13224; Nonviolence
(a) struggle by social change movements,
International, PO Box 39127, Friendship Station NW, Washington, DC 20016. Reports of the (b) social defense of communities and institutions, and
author's international trainings sessions are available for $2 plus SASE from Training Center (c) third-party intervention in conflicts. 3
Workshops, 4719 Springfield Ave, Philadelphia, PA 19143, USA.
2 The issues involved in creating reliable research for evaluating training are similar to those out-
lined by Christopher R. Mitchell regarding problem-resolving workshops used for intervening in Why training?
protracted conflicts. See his essay in Dennis J.D. Sandole and Hugo van der Merwe (eds.),
Conflict Resolution Theory and Practice:: Integration and Application (Manchester, England and
New York: Manchester University Press, 1993).
To deepen participants' understanding of the issues. Dr. Martin
3 The basic text in the field of nonviolent action is Gene Sharp, The Politics of Nonviolent Action Luther King, Jr., initiated in 1968 a "Poor People's Campaign" to reduce
(Boston: Porter Sargent, 1973). For a useful distinction between "nonviolent action" and "non- poverty in the US. Teachers and students at the Martin Luther King
violence," see Roger S. Powers, "Nonviolent Philosophy/Nonviolent Action: An appeal for
Conceptual Precision," Nonviolent Sanctions Summer 1993), Albert Einstein Institution, 50 School of Social Change designed workshops to explore racism, poverty,
Church St., Cambridge, MA 02138. and direct action to prepare participants to join the campaign. People
4 Paolo Freire is the best-known pioneer in this arena of what he calls conscientizacion. See his who have been victimized by injustice may have a limited (though vivid)
Pedagogy of the Oppressed (Herder and Herder, 1970). His thinking entered the field of nonvi-
olent action training through the most popular of all manuals among nonviolent activists:
understanding of oppression, and need a "bigger picture" to enable them
Virginia Coover, Ellen Deacon, Chuck Esser, and Christopher Moore, Resource Manual for a to struggle more effectively for change.4
Living Revolution (Philadelphia: New Society Publishers, 4527 Springfield Ave, 19143; 1977). To prepare participants psychologically for the struggle. The
The Resource Manual includes a clear summary of Freire's major thrust and examples of appli-
cation.
Pinochet regime in Chile depended, as dictatorships do, on fear to main-
5 Reported by Chilean trainer Fernando Aliaga Rojas at the Transnational Gathering of tain its control. In the 1980s a group committed to nonviolent struggle
Nonviolence Trainers in Holland, 1991. For more on training and fear, see George Lakey, encouraged people to face their fears directly in a three step process:
"Preparing for Nonviolent Confrontations," in Neil Woltman (ed.), Working for Peace: A
Handbook of Practical Psychology and Other Tools (San Luis Obispo, CA: Impact Publishers,
small group training sessions in living rooms, followed by small, "hit-
1985). Faith-based groups often offer workshops which emphasize the adoption of a pacifist reli- and-run" nonviolent actions, followed by de-briefing sessions. By teach-
gious creed to sustain participants through the rigors of struggle. An example is the US ing people to control their fear, trainers intended to prepare the way for
Fellowship of Reconciliation; see their manual, Active Nonviolence: A Way of Lift, A Strategy for
Change (1991, FOR, Box 271, Nyack, NY 10960). Another approach which links the person-
the fall of the dictatorship.5
al level to political activism is shown in a recent Australian manual, Katrina Shields, In the Tiger's To develop group discipline, morale/and solidarity for more e ective
Mouth: An Empowerment Guide for Social Action, New Society Publishers, 4527 Springfield Ave, action. In 1991 members of ACT-UP (a militant group protesting US
Philadelphia, PA 19143.
6 The workshops used as their text the book written for the civil rights movement by sociolo-
AIDS policy) were beaten up by Philadelphia police during a demon-
gists Martin Oppenheimer and George Lakey, A Manual for Direct Action (Chicago Quadrangle stration. The police were found guilty of unnecessary force and the city
Books, 1965); see chapter on training. paid damages, but ACT-UP members realized they could reduce the
7 For a widely-used example of how these connections are made, see the Handbook for Nonviolent
Action, War Resisters League, 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 (1989). The Handbook
chance of future brutality by acting in a more united and nonviolent
reflects clearly how organizers for a major nonviolent action sometimes place the event in the way. Before their next major action they invited a trainer to conduct a
context of a larger social movement agenda which includes individual self-responsibility, demo- civil disobedience workshop; they clarified the strategic question of non-
cratic decision-making, teamwork, and unlearning forms of oppression such as racism, anti-
Semitism, sexism, classism, agism, heterosexism, and ablism. Training workshops are then
violence and then role-played possible scenarios. The result: a high-spir-
expected to assist participants to make these connections. ited, unified and effective civil disobedience action.
8 For descriptions of these strategy development tools, see the Resource Manual for a Living

49 42
Volume II, Number I
International Journal of Nonviolence

The power of nonviolent action is related to the group morale of

shops before demonstrations; having undergone necessarily brief (and
the participants. Training workshops are often designed to assist a group
sometimes incompetently led) workshops several times, they write off
to make a tighter bond, or even for strangers to develop a new sense of
training as "something I know all about!"
group spirit. In 1964 the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee
Strategic training is less popular than tactical training.
(SNCC) and other civil rights organizations called upon college students
Strategizing is a complex art, poorly understood, and not easily taught.
from all over the U.S. to register voters and organize freedom schools in
(A handicap is that the research base for nonviolent campaigning is still
"Mississippi Summer." Two week-long training workshops were held in
in early development.) Nevertheless, strategy workshops can often be
succession in Ohio, each for 400-500 students; community-building
helpful in sharpening ideas and increasing the sophistication of leaders.
was a major focus of the training. Midway in the second workshop the
The most frequently used tools in strategic training are: scenario-writ-
news broke that two of the participants in the first workshop were
ing, force-field analysis, and (especially for gaining insights into oppo-
already found murdered in Mississippi. Despite the almost palpable fear
nent behavior) strategy games.
among the students, nearly all of them stayed with the community, com-
Team-building and leadership dynamics. A major resource of non-
pleted the training, and went to Mississippi.6 Solidarity issues can come
violent campaigners is the ability to work together. Sporadic isolated acts of
up at many points in preparation for action. Trainers can:
heroism do not produce change, however admirable they are. Teamwork,
and leadership which builds teamwork, are key areas for training.
• introduce the option of "jail solidarity": noncooperation with the sys-
Fortunately, nonviolent action as a technique of struggle is diver-
tem in order to protect all members of the group and get demands
sity-friendly. It can be used across the demographic spectrum (unlike
met;
the Marines who look for "a few good [young] men"). A group choos-
• sensitize participants to the possibility of "special treatment" by
ing nonviolent action can with high consistency train with diversity con-
authorities of people of color, non-citizens, juveniles, gays, people
sciousness, bringing out racial cultural and other differences and using
with AIDS, etc.;
them to enrich the united team needed for effective action.
• stimulate dialogue on the tactic of refusing bail after arrest as having
Trainers have a rapidly-growing set of approaches for team-
classist implications;
building, inducting methods of conflict resolution within the group and
• make sure support people are affirmed (not only those who have be
decision-making methods which combine efficiency with democracy."
jailed or beaten);
• ask how the action will remain accessible to people with disabilities;
Training as a New Craft for Meeting Old Needs
and
• introduce the notion of violence as going beyond physical force to
Training is not a panacea — it cannot make up for weak strategy,
include poverty, racism, sexism, etc.7
corrupt leadership, or an idea whose time has not yet come. Nevertheless,
movements and individuals increasingly turn to training as one resource
To revise and develop strategy. In 1973 the New Zealand anti-
for emboldening, uniting, and democratizing their struggles for justice.
apartheid movement was divided on how to protest the scheduled rugby
Strategic and tactical work can be done in a training context; the skills and
tour of the white South African rugby team. Three workshops were
dynamics of nonviolent action can be taught. Trainers are learning from
scheduled with a visiting trainer both to learn more about how other
each other and from cognate fields how to assist movements even more
social movements have used nonviolent action and also to develop their
effectively.' 8 There's reason to keep an eye on this new and growing
own strategy and tactics. Top leadership of the movement participated.
field.19
43
4R
Volume II, Number I
Training Methodologies
Two main training methodologies are in use today: cognitive and
experiential. Cognitive training focuses on concepts and information.
The trainer wants to expand participants' options in action situations,
and does that through teaching new concepts and sharing case histories
from other struggles. If there is limited time for a workshop, cognitive
training may consist basically of a briefing: "This is our job and these are
things we should look out for." More time enables discussion, case study
analysis, scenario development, learning strategic principles — all in
order to internalize basic ideas and plans for action.
Experiential training uses a variety of participatory designs to
involve the whole person in the learning process — emotional, physical,
and spiritual dimensions as well as mental. Some of the many training
tools are: role-plays, visualizations (used also by athletes for training),
simulations. Although we think of experiential training for nonviolent
action as fairly new, non-cognitive methods have been used in the past.
In the 1930s nonviolent leader Abdul Ghaffar Khan of the Northwest
Frontier of colonial India used marching as a major training design in
preparing the Pathans to do nonviolent campaigning.16
Which kind of training to use — cognitive or experiential —
depends on the purposes, the participants, the amount of time available,
and the skills of the trainer. Usually a combination of the two modali-
ties will be optimal.
Training in What?
Tactical direct action training came to the fore in the '60s, in the
US civil rights movement. African Americans used training extensively,
especially in the deep South where violence and murder were a daily
threat. Largely through role-play, activists learned to minimize injury
and maximize effectiveness. Because of its usefulness in assisting inex-
perienced people to deal with danger and unpredictability, tactical train-
ing is very popular and has now been expanded into the application of
third party intervention in conflicts. Ironically, there has also been a par-
tial backlash among some activists who have experienced tactical work-
47
International Journal of Nonviolence
The result: a strategy (and coordination among leadership) which led to
the government canceling the South African tour.
One way that workshops support smarter strategy is through
increased understanding of the opponent and other parties to the con-
flict. Many of the strategic mistakes made by nonviolent movements
have been caused by lack of understanding of where the other players
"are coming from." Through strategy games and other training tools,
participants stretch their knowledge base and their imaginations.8
tactics. For success nonviolent strategies
To revise and clarify tactics.
usually require tactical flexibility; campaigns often need creative and
bold tactical maneuver. Through training, participants learn the overall
goals of the action, important logistical and legal information, and share
guidelines so people know what to expect from each other. Often in the
workshops themselves "affinity groups" are created, which become the
fundamental action units or teams. These elements of training set the
tone for the action and optimize the chance of tactical flexibility within
the larger strategic framework.9 To prepare participants for decisions they
need to make. Although strategies and tactics are chosen by the organi-
zation or campaign, some decisions must be made by individuals — for
example, whether to risk arrest. Workshops provide legal information,
set up support systems for notifying families etc., and assist individuals
to decide how to participate in the action.
To develop understanding of the dynamics of nonviolent struggle. In
1989 the United Mine Workers of America decided to go beyond a con-
ventional strike in its dispute with the Pittston Coal Company, launch-
ing a nonviolent civil disobedience campaign. The union called togeth-
er 50 field staff who would be the "lieutenants" in the struggle for a
training workshop. While role-playing, the staffers acted on the widely-
held belief that direct action is a contest with police to hold "turf"— for
example, the road where the coal trucks drive. Through repeated role-
plays and careful de-briefing, the staffers learned that nonviolent meth-
ods operate through dynamics which are more political than material —
that power is too complex to reduce to who physically occupies what, at
a particular moment. The coal miners went on to win their campaign
against heavy odds, and set a new standard for labor action in the US.10
44
Volume H, Number I
Scholars and researchers in nonviolent action, social movements,
group dynamics, and related fields can regard training as a "transmission
belt" for conveying knowledge to the field for application and feedback.
They can also can use workshops as places to learn from activists and
generate new hypotheses.11
To build skills for applying nonviolent action. In Haiti a "hit
squad" abducted a young man just outside the house where a foreign
peace team was staying. The team immediately intervened and,
although surrounded by twice their number of guards with weapons,
succeeded nonviolently in saving the man from a hanging.12
Successful campaigns and interventions need more than sound
strategy and high morale: they also need specific skills - which are rarely
taught in schools! For example: from the independence campaigns of
colonial India of the 1940s to the civil rights marches in Northern
Ireland of the 1960s to the anti-apartheid struggle in South Africa of the
1980s, movement leaders have faced the challenge of violence erupting,
inviting repression, and dividing the movement. (Often agents will even
be hired to stimulate violence, as the British did in India and the FBI did
in the US movement against the Vietnam War.) A specific skill for such
situations is marshaling (also called peacekeeping), and many move-
ments have trained marshals with specific skills to handle such inci-
dents.13
To build alliances across movement lines. In Seattle a workshop
drew striking workers from the Greyhound Bus Company and members
of the militant AIDS protest group Act Up. The workshop reduced the
prejudice each group had about the other, and led some participants to
support each others' struggles.14
One block to uniting potential allies can be the lack of common
experience; another can be lack of common understanding of strategy
and tactics. These blocks as well as prejudice can be reduced through
action training workshops which bring potential allies together. To
increase democracy within the movement. In the 1970s the Movement for
a New Society developed a pool of training tools and designs which it
shared with the grassroots movement against nuclear power. The anti-
nukes movement went up against local electrical companies, and some
of the largest corporations in America, and the federal government itself
International Journal of Nonviolence
— and won. The movement delayed construction, which raised costs,
and planted so many seeds of doubt in the public mind about safety that
the near melt-down of the Three Mile Island plant brought millions of
people to the movement's point of view. The industry's goal of 1000
nuclear plants evaporated. The environmentalists succeeded without
creating a national structure around a charismatic leader and even with-
out centralized leadership, because they learned the tools of shared lead-
ership and democratic decision-making, through countless workshops,
practice, and feedback.
One way to reduce democracy is for leadership to monopolize
skills and knowledge. Training, by contrast, spreads the skills and
knowledge around, making possible more broadly shared leadership.15
Training and a clash of paradigms
Activists start with one arm tied behind them: everyone has been
brought up with cultural assumptions which limit the creative use of
nonviolent action. The dominant paradigm says: "Power grows out of
the barrel of a gun;" "Violence is manly;" "Violence is intrinsic to work-
ing class/African American/Latin culture;" "Nonviolent action may have
its uses but when more strength is needed, violence is necessary." These
limiting beliefs go so deep that even intellectuals have rarely questioned
them in a rigorous way. The beliefs are usually held subconsciously even
by people who think they have rejected some or all of them on a con-
scious level. That's what paradigms do: they condition how we see and
know the world.
The potential of nonviolent action is a new paradigm, a new
framework for understanding power and conflict. The dictatorships
which have fallen because of nonviolent action in the past ten years, and
a growing body of research, point to the reality of this new paradigm.
Millions of people around the world have acted beyond their knowing
in recent years — they've done what intuitively seemed right (nonvio-
lent action), but their beliefs haven't always caught up with them.
Enter: "Training," a way to enable groups and individuals to step into
the new paradigm deeply enough so they will be creative and coordinat-
ed in their application of nonviolent action.