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Nonviolence: The Tactics and Strategies of Winning Campaigns

Each session will feature a brief, documentary film on a significant and effective nonviolent campaign. In the discussion following the film, a Facilitator, supported by a Guest Expert, will assist members of the audience in thinking through the strategic and tactical lessons for effective nonviolent action that the successful campaign suggests.

1. India: Defying the Crown- March 6, 2023
In India in the 1930s, after Gandhi had returned from South Africa, he and his followers adopted a strategy of refusing to cooperate with British rule. Through civil disobedience and boycotts, they successfully loosened their oppressors’ grip on power and set India on the path to freedom.

Guest Expert:
Bill Bhaneja, founding member of the Center for Global Nonkilling in Honolulu and author of Quest for Gandhi: A Nonkilling Journey (2010)
Facilitator:
Lyn Adamson, climate activist, nonviolence trainer, and member of the boards of Science for Peace, Voice of Women for Peace and Climatefast

2. Nashville: We Were Warriors- March 20, 2023
In the 1960s, Gandhi’s nonviolent weapons were taken up by black college students in Nashville, Tennessee. Disciplined and strictly nonviolent, they successfully desegregated Nashville’s downtown lunch counters in five months, becoming a model for the entire civil rights movement.

Guest Expert:
Michael Beer, who is the Director of Nonviolence International and the author of 'Civil Resistance Tactics for the 21st Century'. Facilitator:
A long-time activist, for over 30 years, LeeAnn McKenna has been doing work in conflict zones around the world, supporting local initiatives for peace.

3. Chile: Defeat of a Dictator- April 3, 2023
In 1983, Chilean workers initiated a wave of nonviolent protests against the military dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet. Severe repression failed to stop the protests, and violent opposition failed to dislodge the dictatorship—until the democratic opposition organized to defeat Pinochet in a 1988 referendum.