Nonviolence Education: What and How? During a recent Australian Nonviolence Network (ANN) Phone Link-Up (PLU), participants discussed a problem that is shared around the country: how do we develop and implement an appropriate schedule of nonviolence education programs tailored to the needs of activists in our local communities? This article has been written in response to a request made during the PLU and passed on to me by Jan McNicol. I have also responded to questions raised by Geoff Evans (of Alice Springs) in a discussion with me during his recent trip to Melbourne and the Centre for Nonviolence c/- Commonground. There is more that could be written but, given the imminent deadline for this issue of 'Nonviolence Today', I have only had time to consult Margaret Pestorius, extremely briefly, about the article's content. History of Nv Education in Melbourne I am unfamiliar with the history of nonviolence education in Melbourne prior to 1981 but there was very little of it. My first exposure was an introductory workshop I attended in 1981 that was organised and conducted by Diana Pittock and three others. During 1982 there was one 'follow-up' workshop and a couple of introductory workshops conducted as part of the Tasmanian Wilderness Society's effort to prepare activists for the Franklin River Blockade that began in December 1992. Although a workshops collective ('Magrathea') existed during 1983-1985 (at least), following the strong reaction against (especially 'principled') nonviolence that came after the Franklin campaign, no workshops (that I can recall) were conducted by members of the fledgling nonviolence network in Melbourne during that period. Campaigns were conducted in Melbourne throughout the mid-1980s but few, if any, benefited from a consideration of how the history, theory and principles of nonviolence might guide them. Interest in nonviolence as a philosophy to guide political action was rekindled in Melbourne during 1988 when it was specifically introduced as a component of the activities of the 'Peace Fleet': one of the groups in the Melbourne Anti-Warships Coalition that was formed to protest the bicentennial visits of nuclear warships to Australia. But nonviolence in Melbourne was given its greatest impetus through the campaign of the Melbourne Rainforest Action Group (MRAG): a group that evolved out of the Peace Fleet in October 1988. MRAG had a specific commitment to nonviolence and to grassroots action. It was in late 1988 that I realised that interest in nonviolence had probably revived sufficiently to justify a new attempt to conduct regular introductory workshops. I spent part of late 1988 and early 1989 planning a workshop agenda and preparing to conduct workshops in parallel with my involvement in the MRAG campaign. Throughout 1989 I conducted one introductory weekend workshop in Melbourne every month. To recruit participants I advertised at weekly MRAG meetings, posted an 'advertisement' to other activist groups in Melbourne, and mentioned them at the many other action campaigns that I made a point of participating in during that year: the Animal Liberation Duck Rescue Team, the campaign to save the South East Forests of New South Wales, Nurrungar and the East Gippsland forest campaign. I also conducted 'workshops' (usually of about two hours duration) at many of the locations where these campaigns organised actions. In fact, according to my diary, I conducted forty-five workshops (for between six and one hundred and fifty activists at a time) at nineteen locations in five states during 1989. By the end of 1989, quite a number of people were interested in learning about nonviolence, beyond that offered at an introductory workshop, and in becoming teachers of nonviolence themselves. Margaret Pestorius, for example, had attended three weekend workshops! In order to give people the chance to talk about nonviolence itself (rather than just the issues they used nonviolence to address), I decided to organise another forum. We had our first 'Night of Nonviolence' on 14 October 1989 when Jerry Smith visited Melbourne from Brisbane. There were about thirty-six people in Alex's and my lounge room and the last people left at 1:30 a.m.! In March 1990, Alex Perry and I conducted a weekend workshop for eighteen people who wanted to become teachers of nonviolence. From then until 1992, introductory workshops were conducted by people who had attended this teachers workshop, although they were conducted less regularly and attendance was variable. In summary, this was because the new teachers (obviously) lacked experience and needed more support (of various types) than I gave them (which only became clear to me later). Thus, the collective formed to coordinate these workshops did not perform several vital functions. As Margaret Pestorius describes them, these include the following: new teachers need encouragement to develop, nurture and tap their 'natural networks' - their activist friends and those with whom they work - for workshop participants. New teachers need support with promotion to get 'other' people to attend their workshops. They need organisational support (everything from information about what they must do to assistance with follow-up telephone calls and help with catering) so that they do not overload themselves with work and suffer too much stress as a result of conducting the workshop. New teachers need to be provided with clear expectations. For example, if we want to model a good 'closed' small group experience, we have to insist that numbers are limited, that everyone is on time, and that everyone stays for the entire workshop (or comes to another workshop instead). In this way, everyone comes together at the beginning, works together, and then leaves together. As a result, people can more adequately judge the benefits of this type of working compared to the other types (such as the 'anyone-can-wander-in-and-out- whenever-they-like' type) that they have experienced as activists. And, perhaps most importantly, new teachers need to learn their craft by cofacilitating with someone who is experienced. This means that they can ask for support and guidance, be given feedback, and develop the techniques and patience to elicit insights from the group (and resist the temptation to provide all of the answers). Despite the many problems during this period, several good workshops were held and considerable effort went into some important initiatives; for example, Anthony Kelly and Margaret Pestorius prepared and had printed a more elaborate advertising brochure. However, and despite a couple of follow-up workshops being held during this period, as MRAG became less active during 1992, the demand for workshops declined and the workshops collective effectively went into recess. Efforts to promote workshops fell away. Some Melbourne people attended the Mega Workshop, facilitated by Glen Ochre, held at Commonground over ten days in September 1992. This workshop was designed to improve the confidence, knowledge and skills of workshop facilitators and was very successful. However, with very little demand for workshops, teachers had little opportunity to put their new confidence and skills into practice. On 16 August 1993, the Melbourne Nonviolence Education Collective (NEC) was reformed by Bernadette McCartney and myself. At the first meeting, we defined our aim and several objectives. It has met regularly (usually in the days immediately following a workshop) and expanded in membership since that time: it now includes Mark Cerin and Anita McKone. The NEC is committed to ensuring the conduct of a regular program of introductory workshops and other nonviolence education activities. As a result, we now offer a wider variety of education programs, many of which are tailored to the needs of a particular group. For example, some of our regular weekend workshops - called 'Nonviolence and Patriarchy: An Introduction' - are for women only. But the program goes well beyond weekend workshops. We have regular 'Nights of Nonviolence' that involve a shared meal and then a discussion led by (usually) an interstate or overseas guest. And we now actively encourage groups within the Network to ask the Collective for support in relevant ways. For example, we often have discussion nights around a particular topic. Recent facilitated discussions of this type have considered such questions as: Should we use secrecy? How do I practice nonviolence in my personal life? What is negotiable during police liaison? and, in response to separate requests from Australian Humanitarian Aid for Bougainville (AHAB), we supplied a facilitator for a discussion around the question 'should I be arrested?' and a facilitator to assist the group to develop a clearer strategic orientation for its campaign. We have also established better links with the workshop program offered by Commonground near Seymour. This means that we are able to promote their workshops on related topics - such as women's empowerment and conflict resolution - and, in some ways, to advertise our work through them. During the past year, the NEC has also put a great deal of work into developing superior educational programs. We have investigated the nature of some nonviolence workshops conducted overseas and thought carefully, as a result of our own experience, about the facilitation and content of workshops. I am now confident that our teaching methods (that are increasingly experiential and interactive) and content are equal to, or better than, any of the overseas programs with which we are familiar. And we are working systematically to increase the number of people who are able to conduct inspiring and informative workshops. Despite all of our work and some well-attended introductory workshops conducted during the past year, some workshops have been cancelled and others have attracted only small numbers. We accept that this is one outcome of our collective efforts to develop the Network in Melbourne based on affinity groups and households. While MRAG gave many new people the chance to participate in an effective nonviolent action campaign, the large number in the group (sixty to eighty at weekly meetings) ultimately proved dysfunctional in many ways. Although, in some ways, the network model of development seems slower at this early stage, it is providing a vastly superior foundation for expansion of the nonviolence community in future. This is because a person's involvement in the Network is characterised by superior personal relationships and support, more effective campaign strategies, and a deeper sense of active membership in the worldwide nonviolence community. As a member of the NEC, I have also undertaken to provide various forms of more advanced nonviolence education. Apart from my involvement in a couple of 'follow-up' weekend workshops, in 1993 I facilitated the 'Strategy Education Experiment'. This program, attended by three activists, involved eight (virtually all-day) sessions spread over a couple of months. As a result of what we learned from that experience, at the beginning of 1994, I invited experienced activists from a variety of action groups in the Network to consider being part of a Nonviolent Leaders' Support Group. As it turned out, we set up two groups of three (with me as the facilitator and fourth person of each). The Nonviolent Leaders' Support Groups have met every three weeks throughout 1994 and will go on in 1995. I will set up one or two more groups as well. These support groups meet for five hours at a time (with the middle hour devoted to lunch) and each session consists of four main segments. We provide a space for each person, in turn, to raise personal issues and to get support from the group to deal with these issues. We then provide a space for each person to raise strategic (including organisational) issues that are important to their campaign(s) so that the leaders group can offer suggestions about how their action group might deal with these issues more effectively. We then provide a space for each person to identify issues arising from their role as a nonviolent leader so that they can get support to respond effectively to the challenges of being a nonviolent leader in their group. And finally, I teach a new component of theory or strategy so that the nonviolent leaders are better able to assist their groups to develop more effective campaign strategies. Apart from the many advantages that accrue from the time spent together on the issues mentioned above, these groups have also been effective in building solidarity among groups within the Network. Lessons We have learned a lot about nonviolence education in Melbourne. Here are some of the lessons. 1. There is little awareness of nonviolence in the wider community and of how it can assist people to achieve their personal and political goals. This adversely affects our capacity to recruit workshop participants. 2. It is dynamic and successful nonviolent action campaigns that best generates awareness of, and interest in, nonviolence. 3. It is these campaigns, high quality teaching (and, to some extent, the reputation of the teacher), experiential and interactive workshops, personal contacts, and word of mouth advertising that are the most important factors in getting people to attend workshops. Promotional efforts (such as mail outs to activist groups, meetings with activist/union leaders) in the absence of campaigns have been largely ineffective in recruiting workshop participants. 4. Workshop teachers need support to perform the considerable administrative and promotional tasks associated with a workshop and to conduct an educationally successful program. 5. The NEC has now developed a standard agenda so that we know that each introductory workshop participant is receiving a similar 'basic nonviolence education'. The workshop agenda - which evolves in the light of our investigation of alternative agendas and our collective experience - consists of group-building, vision and cost-sharing exercises as well as some simple theory in relation to conflict, power, nonviolence and nonviolent strategy. (A copy of this agenda can be obtained from your local key contact person or the Centre for Nonviolence c/- Commonground.) The workshops are highly interactive and have several optional components. 6. Workshops work best when the organisation is strict: we insist on bookings and deposits in advance, insist on people being present at the start, and insist on attendance for the entire workshop. This requires the issue of clear guidelines about the workshops and considerable administrative work prior to a workshop. We do this out of respect for our workshop facilitators and have found that people invariably respect what they see as a 'professional' workshop. It is also clear to us that participants enjoy and learn more from such workshops. 7. If our education programs are to improve, we must evaluate them. Therefore, workshop teachers are expected to present the workshop evaluation (including their own thoughts) to the NEC. As a result, any insights can be incorporated into the education program immediately. 8. It takes time for someone to become a good workshop teacher. New teachers need to learn their craft by cofacilitating with someone who is more experienced. The NEC is now concentrating on developing the quality of a few teachers rather than trying to recruit many. This means that the workshops that are conducted are of a consistently higher quality. 9. We have recognised the value of having a diversified and flexible nonviolence education program. Different people and groups respond better to different opportunities. A person's interest in learning is directly related to their immediate personal and/or campaign needs. 10. These days, the NEC is inclined to adopt a patient, medium-term strategy (with an emphasis on quality) and to understand its role as just one of the many that are facilitating the overall development of the Network in Melbourne. As the Network generates a series of strategically-oriented action affinity groups that are capable of organising empowering actions, the NEC will play a role in assisting these groups to educate their members and to recruit and teach new ones. There is no quick path and there are no shortcuts. Robert J. Burrowes