On May 6th, we held a workshop for those who want to dive into the deeper thinking that goes on behind the scenes of the most successful movements. We offered an introduction to the conceptual underpinnings of strategic nonviolent action and how they are applied in movements. The interactive, day-long workshop dove into a number of central questions for activists, movement leaders, and engaged citizens, including: What is power? How can a movement build or shift power? What are the most strategic and powerful methods that ordinary people can adopt to collectively create lasting change in their society? What are the first steps in designing an effective, sustainable campaign for justice in your society?
BIOGRAPHIES
Jamila Raqib is the Executive Director of the Albert Einstein Institution and a specialist in the study and practice of strategic nonviolent action. Jamila has assisted in the translation and overseen the dissemination of educational resources on nonviolent action on a global scale. She has conducted workshops on the subject for human rights organizations, universities, and governmental bodies, as well as for individuals and groups striving for diverse objectives. For 15 years, she worked closely with the late Dr. Gene Sharp, the world’s foremost scholar in the field of strategic nonviolent action, and collaborated on the publication of Self-Liberation: A Guide to Strategic Planning for Action to End a Dictatorship or Other Oppression.
Joe Worthy is the Chief of Staff for the Light House | Black Girl Projects, where he oversees programming and leadership development. He is a community organizer who led campaigns that ended Zero Tolerance Policies in Boston, MA and overhauled Cleveland, OH’s Citizen’s Review board following the murders of Tamar Rice and Tanisha Anderson. He has also served as the National Organizer of the Children’s Defense Fund, where he launched the Child Defender Fellowship that trained over 200 people as organizers to end the Cradle-to-Prison Pipeline.
Alia Braley is pursuing a Ph.D. in Political Science at U.C. Berkeley. Her research centers on the use of civil resistance and strategic nonviolent action in acute political conflicts. She holds a Master of Divinity degree from Harvard University, where she studied the strategic potential of grassroots nonviolent responses to ISIS in Iraq and Syria. Alia previously served as the Director of Programs at AEI and has recently returned to support the development of new programs at the Institution.
SPONSORS
This is a student-initiated and student-run event hosted by the Right Livelihood Club at UC Santa Cruz. Cosponsors include Albert Einstein Institution, Institute for Social Transformation, Social Sciences Division, Kresge College, Rachel Carson College, Politics, Anthropology, Sociology, and Resource Center for Nonviolence.
We are pleased these will also be the first events for the new Civic Discourse and Democratic Engagement Initiative of the UCSC Politics Department.
The Right Livelihood Club at UC Santa Cruz’s mission is to link activists and academics for research and education about courageous solutions to global problems.
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