Alternatives to Violence Course
Search the course:
  • Home
  • About Us
  • Resources
    • Beginners Guide
    • Curriculum Syllabus
    • Glossary
    • Extra
  • Sessions
    • Personal Alternatives to Violence >
      • Personal Guide
      • Session 1
      • Session 2
      • Session 3
      • Session 4
      • Session 5
      • Session 6
    • Community, National, and Global Alternatives to Violence >
      • Community, National, and Global Guide
      • Session 7
      • Session 8
      • Session 9
      • Session 10
      • Session 11
      • Session 12
  • Discussion Forum
  • Blog

More Movement Building

5/4/2015

0 Comments

 
Greg Coleridge is the current director of the Northeast Ohio American Friends Service Committee. I sat down with him to discuss Gene Sharp, who founded the Albert Einstein Institute in 1983. Its purpose is to advance the study and use of strategic nonviolent action in conflicts throughout the world. The following is the second part of a summary of my conversation with Greg.

One of Gene Sharp's most famous works, From Dictatorship to Democracy, has been translated into more than thirty languages (How to Start a Revolution). Greg cites a couple different factors for its success. First, he says that it was one of the first books that “was relatively short, had some history behind it... and it provided a step-by-step” process that was simple to experiment with and practice; additionally, “Nothing achieves success like success,”(Coleridge). Once one movement succeeded, others asked where they had found the strategies, and the essay grew in popularity by word of mouth.

According to Greg, there has been a dearth of strategy in circles that promote social action and change. Too often, people react defensively instead of examining the dynamics of a situation and acting from that understanding. For instance, Greg mentioned that the military teaches violence in a systematic, methodical way: “They learn the history, the theory, the strategy, [and] the tactics” related to waging war (Coleridge). If people want to be as effective in promoting nonviolent change, they must do the same and think strategically.

One of the criticisms that Greg has for Gene Sharp is that “[Sharp] does not connect so very much the macro with the micro.” What Greg means by this is that Sharp thinks mostly in terms of the large scale movements to overthrow an oppressive government without teaching the small scale movement of personal nonviolence.

Too often people who want to create nonviolent change focus solely on one aspect, but Greg suggests thinking of movement building as three pieces of a pie: “The first would be working on yourself personally - personal transformation. [The second is] changing societal structures, and the third is looking at creating an alternative for what you want” (Coleridge).

Personal transformation is important in order for the liberators to create true positive change, instead of simply replacing one oppressor with a new oppressor. The second piece of the pie is what Sharp focuses on – how to change society to improve the conditions for the people it should serve?

In the midst of that, it is important to focus on the third piece – creating alternative solutions. This would include creating microcosms of whatever issues need to be fixed. That way, as Greg says, if and when the “power structure collapses, you would hopefully be able to take the microcosm” that you have created, whether its an economic system or a system to feed or educate people, and use that to replace the old oppressive system (Coleridge).

In order for a movement to be truly successful, Greg argues, the people need to “be engaged and involved in all of these [aspects] in some way” (Coleridge).

See Session 12 of this website for audio and video entitled "Assuring Nonviolence" and slide show entitled "Imaging a Nonviolent Community or World." Please see our revised BEGINNERS GUIDE for suggestions on how to use this course.   

Submitted by Hannah Yackley
John Looney Intern 2015


Coleridge, Greg. "Gene Sharp Impressions." Personal interview. 19 Mar. 2015. 

How to Start a Revolution. Dir. Ruaridh Arrow. Gene Sharp. The Big Indy, 2012. DVD. 





0 Comments



Leave a Reply.


    Picture

    Archives

    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    November 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    July 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013

    Categories

    All
    Background
    Careers
    Education
    Travel

    RSS Feed

Home
About us
Picture
Discussion Forum
Blog
Sessions:
Personal
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six


Community, National, Global
Seven
Eight
Nine
Ten
Eleven
Twelve

Resources:

Beginners Guide
Curriculum Syllabus 
Glossary 
Extra

Picture
"Like Us" on Facebook, email us directly, or view Alternatives to Violence Course original videos on Youtube using the icons: