Nonviolent Civil Disobedience Training

Become a Conscientious Protector

This training will prepare you for nonviolent participation in civil disobedience, which has a long history of success in achieving large scale change, from Jabiluka to the Indian Independence Movement and the Civil Rights Movement.

Australian government policies are literally adding fuel to the fires that the climate crisis is driving in this country and across the world. It is up to people like us to take peaceful civil disobedience to get them to act now.

We are offering two sessions, each with a different focus. The morning session is for people without experience in nonviolent civil disobedience and those who might want a refresher. It will provide you with an understanding of why nonviolence is vital to our civil disobedience actions, how it is achieved and what further steps you need to take to be ready to act. The afternoon is for everyone.

We’ll break for lunch and then move into an afternoon session of role plays using several scenarios where we try out different nonviolent civil disobedience techniques.

This training will help you:

• Learn the skills needed to practise and promote nonviolence during actions
• Understand and begin to address your fears or concerns about participating in actions
• Explore what kind of arrestable and non-arrestable action roles best suit you (legal information will be offered)
• Help you identify your next step towards taking action.

It is preferable (but not essential) that you have watched a Heading for Extinction Talk. Watch it here!

Schedule

• 10am - 12pm Introduction to Nonviolent Civil Disobedience, for people new to nonviolent civil disobedience, or those looking for a refresher
• 12pm - 12.30pm Lunch/unstructured social time
• 12.30pm - 4pm Complex role plays, to build your nonviolence and civil disobedience skills and your understanding of the different roles involved in civil disobedience