I am not always against ground rules. However, ground rules as widely practiced are poorly understood and are often a waste of time. At worst they are pious rituals of political correctness designed to enforce mainstream norms. Too many facilitators limit themselves to using ground rules when other tools might work much better. Here’s why.

[ Training for Change is offering a series of articles about how trainers can model strategic thinking for activists at all levels of their training. This is the first in the series. The training tools mentioned below, plus additional articles, are all available on its website: www.TrainingForChange.org ]

“Oh no, not another anti-oppression training,” a leader in the organization complained to me, five minutes before our training was scheduled to begin. “Another training where we hear how we need to be politically correct. We have real work to do, you know.”

SECOND IN A SERIES OF INTERVIEWS OF TRAINING ASSOCIATES: Nico Amador interviews Erika Thorne, progressive activist, writer, facilitator and cultural worker since 1974. Learn more about Erika and her stories of using Training for Change, and more...

FIRST IN A SERIES OF INTERVIEWS OF TRAINING ASSOCIATES: Nico Amador interviews Matt Guynn, an organizer and nonviolence trainer with over ten years of training experience. Learn more about Matt, his stories of using Training for Change, and more...

We live in a breakthrough period for "nonviolent struggle," when pro-democracy movements are using it to overthrow dictators and human rights advocates are using it to save lives during civil unrest. In this lecture, George Lakey talks about how can this social technology be made even more powerful for achieving justice, democracy and peace?We live in a breakthrough period for "nonviolent struggle," when pro-democracy movements are using it to overthrow dictators and human rights advocates are using it to save lives during civil unrest.

"We need to educate people," is one of the most common refrains from social change activists. But what does it really mean? The rise of popular education and insights from anti-oppression movements give us major insights into how to do meaningful education. Daniel Hunter examines how pedagogy influences our social change work. An extract from "Before You Enlist And After You Say No," a counter-recruitment manual co-written by Daniel Hunter.

On April 3,06, WHYY's Radio Times with Marty Moss-Coane aired a discussion of Christian Peacemaker Teams and third-party nonviolent intervention with George Lakey. The archived broadcast is available online:

Listen to this show via Real Audio or mp3

As thoughtful people sort out the lessons of the ongoing Iraq tragedy, some look for seeds of hope. Tom Fox and his fellow hostages from Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) represent one of those seeds. Three of those captives were freed last week...

Daniel Hunter writes to US activists about lessons to keep in mind in the midst of empire. Originally written for On Earth Peace's newsletter along with Matt Guynn's article on "Reading the Signs of the Times" speaking to Christian activists.

As individuals we often feel our lack of power to affect the course of events or even our own environment. We sense the untapped potential in ourselves, the dimensions that go unrealized. We struggle to find meaning in a world of tarnished symbols and impoverished cultures...The manifesto includes a vision of a new society-its economy and ecology, its forms of conflict, its global dimensions. The manifesto also proposes a framework for strategy of struggle and change.

What to do when you can't find the right tool to help move the group forward? How to handle cross-cultural differences? How to get out of thinking of anti-oppression work as grim? TFC training associates Matt Guynn, Erika Thorne, Judith Jones, and Betsy Raasch-Gilman share training challenges and insights based on their experience of training around the world.

(The Sword That Heals translated into Italian)

di George Lakey

Título original: Strategizing against the Iraq war
Autor: George Lakey
Origen: Z Net Commentaries, 15-9-2002
Traducido por Maite Padilla y revisado por Alfred Sola

Un attivista statunitense parla agli Europei, rispondendo a cinque domande chiave sul Movimento Pacifista negli Stati Uniti

di GEORGE LAKEY

1. QUAL'È LA PORTATA DELL'INTERESSE PER LA PACE NEGLI STATI UNITI?

There is life after the elections! †No matter the outcome, activists and people interested in social change will need to continue the fight and move into creating smart strategy. †We'll also need to do some reflection and relaxing after the intense push many groups are putting into the elections now.

Mass actions in Seattle, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia and L.A. have ignited controversy over tactics and strategy. Here are 7 ways we can make our protests more powerful and open up new options for future mass direct action scenarios.

How can we organize against the multiple wars of the U.S. and at the same time plant the seeds for the future mass radical movement that's required to end the war system itself? Here's a training tool called the mattress game that helps to understand those relationships.

Here's an approach to add immediately to your strategy tool kit, using a tool called spectrum of allies.

When state-sponsored violence meets nonviolent people power, which one wins? As George Lakey shows in this passionate and well researched piece, it's nonviolence that tends to win hands down. Originally written as a rebuttal to the Ward Churchill screed "Pacifism as Pathology," this booklet is filled with recent real-world examples of nonviolent victories.

The young man was steamed as he confronted a protest leader during the Republican National Convention in August: "I needed to go downtown that day and I didn't because of all the disruption in the streets! If you were trying to get me on your side, you sure didn't do it!"

Using words in a special way can be either confusing or helpful. We try to keep jargon to a minimum. The reason to use it at all is to be able to be able to make a precise point more quickly than giving a long explanation every time. Here are some of the common TFC terms!Using words in a special way can be either confusing or helpful. We try to keep jargon to a minimum. The reason to use it at all is to be able to be able to make a precise point more quickly than giving a long explanation every time.

At last, for directors, board members, staffers and volunteers -- a guide for improving nonprofit groups! This book weaves together theory, experience and context to help leaders deal creatively with the full range of organizational issues. This practical toolkit will help you build diversity, turn your board into a more valuable resource, improve morale, supervise more effectively, banish boring meetings, handle conflict better and much more. (available online)

When state-sponsored violence meets nonviolent people power, which one wins? As George Lakey shows in this passionate and well researched piece, it's nonviolence that tends to win hands down. Originally written as a rebuttal to the Ward Churchill screed "Pacifism as Pathology," this booklet is filled with recent real-world examples of nonviolent victories.

George Lakey's article Strategizing for a Living Revolution adds a hopeful yet down-to-earth perspective in the new book just published by City Lights: Globalize Liberation, edited by David Solnit.

This book offers a theoretial model for ensuring that social movements are successful in the long term. Beginning with an overview of social movement theory and the MAP (Movement Action Plan) model, Doing Democracy outlines the eight stages of social movements, the four roles of activists, and case studies from the civil rights, anti-nuclear energy, Central America, gay/lesbian, women's health and globalization movements.

Announcing the first TFC Newsletter! This newsletter updates Summer 2009 and representative of the excitement we feel for providing more activist resources for you -- the trainers, facilitators and educators in the TFC network.

Since 1992, Training for Change (TFC) has honed and shared its cross-cultural education methods with activists and educators the world over. It has facilitated custom-designed experiential workshops in some 20 countries, on every continent. The core of Training for Change's international mission is to provide the best training of trainers methodology to build local training capacity, free from outside dependency. The TFC approach is to support and challenge activists and trainers to step fully into their power, so they can carry and share the skills they learn, on their own.

Listen to Training Elder Betsy Raasch-Gilman interviewed on the topic of Martin Luther King & nonviolence -- and how it relates to current struggles and problems

Just before Martin Luther King, Jr., Day in January07, TFC was contacted by the public radio show "Weekend America," looking for contemporary nonviolent activists to be interviewed about MLK's legacy for today. The interview was broadcast as part of their annual MLK show. The brief interview includes clips from Dr. King's speeches, with comments from TFC trainers Nico Amador, Matt Guynn, Daniel Hunter, and George Lakey.

At the end of December,06, George Lakey carried out TFC's four-year strategic plan and retired as its founding executive director. His report on the fifteen years of his leadership is on this website.

Advocate for Nonviolent Social Change to Serve as Visiting Professor

George Lakey, the head of a Philadelphia-based organization internationally known for its leadership in creating and teaching strategies for nonviolent social change, has been selected as Swarthmore College's Eugene M. Lang Visiting Professor for Issues of Social Change in06-2007.

TFC is going green. Click here to learn how renovations in our building will make our office building environmentally sustainable. (If plans are fully implemented, it'd be the first existing building to implement the level of green features they intend to use.)

Training for Change launched its strategy project a little over a year ago. Already we're hearing from participants about how they're using what they learned...

TFC's04 report, including description of The Strategy Project, The Africa Project, international training (Russia, Sierra Leone, Ghana), the evolution of the "direct education" approach, the new website, and over 1,000 participants served.

The rising debate about "humanitarian military intervention" has increased interest in third-party nonviolent intervention to support human rights and peace. †Effective training is key to successful alternatives. †For two years Training for Change has researched "best practices" in training people in this field

At TFC, 17 trainers assisted 1500 activists to move toward those qualities in03. Over0 of them were given training skills to increase the ripple effect -- so thousands more can become empowered in04 to face nonviolently these turbulent times.

TFC in cooperation with the Civic House of the University of Pennsylvania launched an Activist Dialogue Project in May01. The one-year project concluded in May02 with two tangible products...The organizers of Nonviolent Peaceforce asked TFC to draft a training curriculum for the nonviolent soldiers who would be recruited from around the world and then sent to areas of hot conflict to save lives and protect human rights...36 workshops in North American with almost 1,000 participants...

The human shields in Palestine were probably the most publicized episode yet in humanity's series of experiments in inventing a new social technique: third party nonviolent intervention (TPNI).

(the activist dialogue project ended in May02)

Through facilitated discussions, people are encouraged to seriously engage and deal with some of the conflicts and problems that prevent activists from being as effective as possible. It works to unite three specific groups of activists: community-based you activists, college activists, and older more experienced activists.