Nonviolence Workshop Report The workshop that I attended in The Channon (NSW) on nonviolent action on 28 April was given by Michael Salla from Qld Uni. It was well attended with approximately twenty-five people. It was a wonderfully warm day, and the surrounding countryside provided an attractive setting. The approach given by Michael to the workshop was relaxed but structured. The day was broken down into three separate sessions, with each session covering different aspects of nonviolence, with input and discussion held after the completion of each. The sessions that Michael covered were all very relevant and covered a wide area in the field of nonviolence and allowed one to gain a basic understanding in the concepts of nonviolence. The first session of the workshop looked at the origins of nonviolence, from the remote past through to the present; and looking at recent advocators of nonviolence, eg. Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King. The question of what nonviolence meant to us produced an interesting discussion where one meaning was put forward as being anything that didn't 'involve tissue damage'. This definition then was dicussed in some detail. The first session was fairly solid, and gave the participants of the workshop a background knowledge of the term nonviolence. It made us realise that this isn't a relatively new term that has been developed in the last few years, but that it has been around and put into practice for many centuries, and has important implications in today's society. It proved that there is no one single meaning of nonviolence, as different people over the years have interpreted and practiced nonviolence in many different ways. Session two gave the participants a look at the more nitty-gritty aspects of nonviolence and generated a lot of interest and discussion among the participants. This session looked at the theory and dynamics of nonviolence in which three methods were discussed when people participate in demonstrations which were: * need to face penalties * withdrawal of co-operation * importance of third parties It was during this session that a diagram was drawn on the blackboard that invoked interest not only for me personally but for the other participants of the workshop. The diagram represented the 'Social Barometer', which indicated the range of attitudes of individuals in regard to a nonviolent action. The diagram was very informative in that each individual could assess themselves quickly and personally to where they fitted or slotted into on this scale. The 'Social Barometer' showed two extremes of attitudes i.e., the Activists and the Opponents, and it was only a minority of the population that would fall into intermediate areas: 'friendly', 'oblivious' and 'hostile neutrals'. I could see where I actually fell into on this scale which was the area covering 'oblivious neutral'. It's quite natural that the largest group would be the Neutrals on such a scale, though because of the group involved in the workshop, more fell towards the end of Activists. But it did show the group at the workshop the enormous importance of these Neutrals and how Action Groups should try to target and sway these large groups of people into their point of view, and for making a stand on some issues. This could probably come about by educating people to be less ignorant about matters, especially in the environmental issues area. I felt that the final part of the session on strategies and steps to be taken in a nonviolent campaign, due to time constraints were briefed over an only an overall outline was given. These two topics in themselves would provide an interesting workshop on their own for the future. The third session came after lunch which involved a roleplay on the theme of sabotage. The main purpose behind this role play was to see what strategies the different groups would develop and involve themselves in, and how the different groups formed (police, loggers, activists, etc.), handled confrontation. This roleplay enacted out was a good outlet for all the participants of the workshop. Once the roleplay was completed, discussion was started as to how people acted in the various situations. Discussions held afterwards showed a number of good points and deficiencies in the approach taken on sabotage. It probably showed how the participants would have reacted has they undertaken an environmental protest. If time permitted, it would have been an interesting exercise to have re-enacted the roleplay using strategies worked out from the discussion. Future workshops in this area would be beneficial if the strategy aspect of nonviolence was discussed in more detail so that an actual plan of steps could be worked out for any environmental group to follow. This could be discussed within groups and guidelines developed for different types of issues and problems. In conclusion, the workshop gave the beginner a good broad overview of the topic nonviolence and has led the pathway to more workshops in specific areas of nonviolent action. I am sure that all the participants of the workshop like myself learnt and gained a lot in different aspects from attending this workshop, and whet the appetitie for future workshops. Last but not least, by attending this workshop, I met and made a number of friends all concerned or interested in the usage of nonviolence. Jenny Moore