Nonviolence 4 Equality

Part 2, “Introduction to Action Planning” — An introduction to basic theory of organizing nonviolent direct action.

Step 1: Read these three sections from the Ruckus Action Planning Manual:

• Functions of a Direct Action
• Symbolic Nature of a Direct Action
• Action Development
• Also read noted theorist Gene Sharp’s 198 Methods of Nonviolent Direct Action

Step 2: In order to get a better idea of what a nonviolent direct action looks like, view this video of Kate Burns’ and Sheila Schroeder’s September, 2007 nonviolent civil disobedience in Denver, Colorado. On Sep 24, 2007, Kate Burns and Sheila Schroeder staged a sit-in at the Denver Clerk and Recorder office, confronting Colorado’s discriminatory anti-LGBT marriage laws… and prompting an arrest for trespassing when they refused to leave after being denied a marriage license.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7luw6WKiI_E

******************************

Additional Resources for Trainers and Organizers:

>> ACT-UP New York has posted a comprehensive Civil Disobedience Index may be accessed online or may be downloaded in its entirety in .PDF format. In cooperation with several other contributing organizations, ACT-UP New York recently founded the Act Up Oral History, a collection of interviews with surviving members of the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power, New York.

>> Founded in 1921, the War Resisters’ International is an anti-war organization including collaborative partners from over thirty countries. Their comprehensive Handbook for Nonviolent Campaigns can be accessed at this web URL: http://www.wri-irg.org/node/3855.