Our trainings are designed to support people’s analysis of the situation, including their own role in the conflict and that of the ‘other’ – to enhance consciousness of self and other, to interrogate narratives of hatred and domination-subjugation – and then to take that knowledge back to their homes and out into the meeting places of their neighbourhoods, communities and societies in the form of nonviolent direct action.
What that action looks like, how it takes shape, depends on that analysis and their own readiness to challenge non-violently the oppressive structures and the pillars of power that support them. It might be street theatre, symbolic public acts, protests and rallies, walk-outs and sit-downs/sit-ins, boycotts, economic or social; any number of forms of withdrawal of consent from those structures or the economic, social, cultural, religious, tribal, military, communications, political and/or judicial pillars of power that support them. We encourage the liberal use of humour.
Within the training we discuss what might be possible and sometimes, depending on the situation, we even ‘take them out for a walk’. Nonviolent direct action may involve the creation of local, community-based peace commissions – part of building the society they want in the midst of civil conflict – in order to intervene in conflict before it becomes violent.
