A Seminar in Nonviolence Organizing in Theory and Practice: Building the Beloved Community and Effective Social Justice Movements

Michael Honey, Harvard Radcliffe Institute
Ria Modak, Harvard College

This past summer, we have experienced one of the greatest and largest movements the world has yet seen (Black Lives Matter), but we need to seed more people who have picked up on the methods and philosophy of nonviolent struggle that have been so effective. In this exploratory seminar, we would like to bring together students, academics, union activists, Black Lives Matter activists, immigration reform activists, gun violence and global warming organizers in social movement organizations, to think about how to move politics and social policy into its most effective framework. Drawing upon the models of social change and the theories and practices of nonviolence from Ghandi to James Lawson, this seminar seeks to create a new roadmap at this critical juncture, especially for young social movement activists, many of whom may not know of the tactics and strategies of nonviolent direct action that in the past produced so many movement victories.