Nonviolent Activism Class - located on UC Berkeley campus

This is an informative, inspiring, and extremely relevant "DeCal" course open to both Berkeley students and to members of the community. We meet Wednesdays from 4:00 to 6:00 until the end of the Spring semester, and we need more students!

Class Description:

This course will give students the opportunity to learn about the theory and practice of nonviolent activism and to engage in service/learning projects in the community. The class draws its inspiration from the early years of the Students Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), when student activism lead directly to desegregation of lunch counters, registration of African-American voters, and other achievements within the broader civil rights struggle. Recognizing that we as a society still have a long way to go to achieve the “Beloved Community” that Dr. King dreamed of, this class provides students an opportunity to do concrete, constructive nonviolent work.

The theory portion of the class will focus on topics such as principled vs. strategic nonviolence, the role of religion and spirituality in nonviolent activism, the history of SNCC, and nonviolent social movements. Pace E Bene will help conduct “nonviolence trainings,” and we’ll invite special guest speakers from organizations such as the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights and the Central Committee on Conscientious Objection.

The field work projects will be chosen by consensus of the students.