1. embargo • Protest strike • Peasant strike • Farm workers’ strike • Refusal of
Public speeches • Letters of opposition or support • Declarations by
Mock funerals • Demonstrative funerals • Homage at burial places •
impressed labor • Prisoners’ strike • Craft strike • Sympathetic strike • Slowdown
organizations and institutions • Signed public statements • Declarations
Handbook for
Assemblies of protest or support • Protest meetings General strike •
strike • Working to rule strike • Reporting “sick” (sick in) •
of indictment or intention • Group or mass petitions • Slogans,
• Teach-ins •
Walk-outs • Silence • Renouncing honors • Turning one’s back • Social
Nonviolent
Withholding or withdrawal of allegiance • Refusal of public support • Literature
caricatures, and symbols • Banners, posters, and displayed
boycott • Lysistratic nonaction • • Boycott of legislative•bodies • Boycott of
Excommunication Suspension of
and speeches advocating resistance
Action
communications • Leaflets, pamphlets, and books • Newspapers and
social and sports activities • Boycott of social affairs • Student strike and
elections • Refusal of assistance to enforcement agents • Removal of own signs
•
journals • Skywriting and earthwwriting • Deputations • Mock awards •
Withdrawal from socialaccept appointed Stay-at-home • to dissolve existing
placemarks • Refusal to
institutions • officials • Refusal Total personal
Group lobbying • Picketing • Mock elections • Displays of flags and
noncooperation Reluctant and slow compliance boycott •
organizations •
• Sanctuary • Consumers’ • Nonobedience in absence of direct
symbolic colors • Wearing of symbols • Prayer and worship • Delivering
Nonconsumption of boycotted goods •meeting to disperse • Sitdown • Civil
supervision • Refusal of an assemblage or
Rent withholding • Refusal to
symbolic objects • Protest disrobings • Destruction of own property •
rent • Nationalof “illegitimate”boycott • Workers’ boycott • Producers’
disobedience
consumers’ laws • Selective refusal of assistance by government
Symbolic lights • Displays of portraits • Paint as protest • New signs and
A nonviolence
boycott • Blocking of lines of command and information • training handbookof
aides
• Suppliers’ and handlers’ boycott • Lockout • Refusal
Stalling and obstruction •
for direct action against
names • Symbolic sounds • Symbolic reclamations • “Haunting” officials
nuclear weapons
industrial administrative•noncooperationof JudicialdepositsOak Ridge Mutiny •
General
assistance Withdrawal • bank noncooperation • TN to pay
in • Refusal
• Taunting officials • Fraternization • Vigils • Humorous skits and pranks
The Oak Ridge
Environmental
fees, dues orevasions and delaysRefusal to pay debts or interest •• Severance
Quasi legal
assessments • • Withholding of diplomatic Peace Alliance
relations
June
• Performances of plays and music • Singing • Marches • Parades •
Severance of funds or • Withdrawal from international • International trade
of diplomatic relations
credit • Domestic embargo organizations • Refusal of
Religious processions • Pilgrimages • Motorcades • Political mourning •

2. Contents
Introduction
4 • sample agenda
Opening Exercises
6 • history circle
7 • timeline
8 • violence/nonviolence spectrum
History and Overview of the
Principles of Nonviolence
9 • overview
11 • video segments
13 • discussion questions
17 • fear
19 • role playing
OREPA Oak Ridge and International
Law Issues
25 • international law
27 • court statements
Civil Disobedience
33 • affinity groups
36 • consensus decision-making
Logistics/Plans for August
38 • scenario
39 • arrest process
43 • jail strategies
OREPA thanks 47 • jail in anderson county
Mary Dennis Lentsch
Lissa McLeod Shelley Exercises for Centering and Closing
○
○
Wascom Kip Williams 50 • centering exercises
○
and Ralph Hutchison
○
52 • imagining exercise
○
for preparing this 53 • closing exercise
○
handbook for nonvio
○
Appendix
○
lent direct action
○
56 • handout sheets
○
○
Thanks also to all 65 • international law brochure
○
those groups whose 67 • communication/consensus booklet
○
71 • CD resister card
○
history and ideas have
○
72 • songsheet
inspired and guided us
○
○
in Oak Ridge as we
○
work for change Many
○
of the pieces in this
○
additional copies of this handbook are available from:
○
booklet we have The Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance
○
adopted or adapted P O Box 5743
○
○
from our partners and Oak Ridge, TN 37831
○
colleagues in the www stopthebombs org
○
○
movement donations to defray the cost of printing and mailing gratefully accepted
2

3. Public speeches • Letters of opposition or support • Declarations • Group
Silence ••Renouncing•honors • Lysistratic Prisoners’ strikeExcommunication
embargo Protest strike Farm workers’ strike • nonaction • • Sympathetic strike
or mass petitions • Slogans, caricatures, and symbols • Banners,
••Student strike strike • Withholding orsocial institutions • Stay-at-home •
Working to rule • Withdrawal from withdrawal of allegiance • Literature and
posters, leaflets, pamphlets, and books • Picketing • Prayer and worship
Introduction
Total personal noncooperation • Sanctuary • Consumers’ boycott •
speeches advocating resistance • Boycott of elections • Refusal of assistance to
• Paint as protest • Vigils • Performances of plays and music • Singing •
Lockout • Refusal • Sitdown • Civil disobedience•of “illegitimate” laws • Mutiny
enforcement agents of industrial assistance Refusal to pay debts or
Marches • Pilgrimages • Motorcades • Mock funerals • Teach-ins • Walk-
The Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance has provided nonvio-
lence trainings for over ten years in conjunction with actions at the Y12
nuclear weapons plant in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. OREPA members contrib-
uting to this collection/chronicling of activities have been trainers and
facilitators at various trainings and members of the Gathering Community
of Nonviolence. The Gathering Community was birthed by OREPA to
encourage deeper thinking about and practice of nonviolent resistance.
Some of these exercises are our own creations; some have been borrowed and
adapted from other sources. All have been used in Oak Ridge to prepare people to
take action against the ongoing building of nuclear weapons at Y12 and the
military-industrial complex in the United States.
This book provides a variety of resources for individuals or organizations who
want to hold nonviolence trainings in their own communities. We envision this
booklet being used as a starting point for tailoring a nonviolence training that
meets your needs. Not every exercise would be appropriate for every training;
instead, this is a compilation of exercises we have used at various trainings over
the years.
These exercises could be used to create a training for:
• people planning to come to Oak Ridge for August 6 activities—whether or
not they plan to do civil disobedience here—or if they are still undecided about
whether they will;
• an affinity group coming to Oak Ridge as they prepare themselves for civil
disobedience;
• giving a background and opportunity to grow in nonviolence for the general
public and /or those without much experience in nonviolence;
• people with civil disobedience histories wanting to continue their explora-
tion of nonviolence as strategy or lifestyle.
continued…
3

4. The exercises and information here ration for nonviolent action.
can be selected and adapted for your
own timeframe, as well: a day-long History and overview of OREPA, Oak
training, a series of shorter trainings or Ridge and International Law issues
an evening meeting. We have typically This section contains information
created day-long trainings that aim at a about OREPA and operations at Y12
variety of participants—from the that can supplement the Stop the Bombs
newcomer to nonviolence to the veteran video at a meeting or training. Also
civil resister. included is information on international
Each of the chapters focus on a law, how it applies to nuclear weapons
different topic of nonviolence training. production, and how civil resisters can
use this information in court.
Opening exercises
Meeting everyone in the room and Civil Disobedience
getting a sense of our personal history This section gives basic information
is a great way to open a nonviolence on civil disobedience, why do it, civil
trainings. There are ice-breaker/ disobedience in Oak Ridge, what
introduction exercises. We include a affinity groups are and how they
couple we have found especially useful function within a larger action. It also
The exercises and in setting the tone for a nonviolence covers the basics of consensus decision
○
○
training. making—the process OREPA uses for
○
information here affinity groups to come to a decision.
○
○
History and Overview
can be selected
○
of the Principles of Nonviolence Logistics/Plans for August 6, 2005
○
○
and adapted for This section includes exercises or This section contains information
○
activities for reflection on people and specific to Tennessee law and the
○
your own
○
nonviolence movements, discussion scenario for action for this August,
○
questions on both history topics and including likely charges, consequences,
○
timeframe as
○
challenges within the practice of what to expect, etc. Support people for
○
nonviolent resistance, an exercise on the action can also find information on
well: a day long
○
fear and action and exercises in prepa-
○
their role.
○
training a series
○
○
of shorter
○
○
SAMPLE AGENDA FOR A DAY-LONG TRAINING
○
trainings or an (9:00am – 4:30 pm)
○
○
○
evening meeting Gathering/Registration
○
Welcome/ Introduction/ Logistics for the Day
A Centering Exercise
Opening Exercise: Way to get to know who’s in the room
History Circle, Timeline or Nonviolence Spectrum
Overview of History and Principles of Nonviolence
Includes video segment and discussion questions
History/ overview of OREPA, Oak Ridge, International Law
Possible special topic discussion: discussion questions or fear exercise
Logistics and Legal Issues Specific to August 6 in Oak Ridge
Including scenario plans, legal consequences, jail solidarity
Formation of Affinity group
seeing if there are any people wanting to take that next step
Role Plays / Practice Nonviolence
Closing Exercise
Modify as needed for time and specific topic needs.
4

5. Exercises for Centering and Closing Preparing as a group for action and not
This section includes various just as individuals also builds cohesion
exercises, reflections, litanies, songs that within the entire group.
could be used in designing a nonvio- Finally, even if you offer a nonvio-
lence training. lence training and no one attending
decides to participate in the civil
Appendices disobedience scenario, the training
Throughout this manual, you will helps begin or continue each person’s
find references to sheets that you might journey, helping them build confidence
want to reproduce for use in your and challenge their fears.
training; these sheets are provided in The Y12 nuclear weapons plant
the back of the manual so you can tear won’t be shut down this year. Milita-
them out and make copies. rism, racism and poverty will continue
in this country past our individual
WE RECOMMEND THAT GROUPS coming action. We need trained, thoughtful,
to Oak Ridge prepare themselves with a committed resisters to dismantle this
full day of training (or series of shorter system. Hosting a nonviolence training
trainings) that includes some exercises adds to this movement building.
and information from each of the topic
sections in this book. We believe that WHILE THIS TRAINING WORKBOOK
reflection on and practice of nonvio- includes information on affinity groups
lence is very important to the success of and decision making, it does not
a nonviolent action, no matter what provide the process or the space for the
your experience level. Even if there are formation of a unique affinity group.
people in attendance not planning to We believe that formation is its own
participate in civil disobedience, their process and needs time to unfold apart
understanding of the action and sup- from the time available in this training.
port of it strengthens the entire action.
The purpose of training is for participants to form a common understanding of
the use of nonviolence It gives a forum to share ideas about nonviolence
oppression fears and feelings It allows people to meet and build solidarity with
each other and provides an opportunity to form affinity groups It is often used
as preparation for action and gives people a chance to learn about an action its
tone and legal ramifications It helps people decide whether or not they will
participate in an action Through role playing people learn what to expect from
police officials other people in the action and themselves
Handook for Nonviolent Action
5

6. Public speeches • Letters of opposition or support • Declarations • Group
Silence ••Renouncing•honors • Lysistratic Prisoners’ strikeExcommunication
embargo Protest strike Farm workers’ strike • nonaction • • Sympathetic strike
or mass petitions • Slogans, caricatures, and symbols • Banners,
••Student strike strike • Withholding orsocial institutions • Stay-at-home •
Working to rule • Withdrawal from withdrawal of allegiance • Literature and
posters, leaflets, pamphlets, and books • Picketing • Prayer and worship
Total personal noncooperation • Sanctuary • Consumers’ boycott •
speeches advocating resistance • Boycott of elections • Refusal of assistance to
Opening exercises
• Paint as protest • Vigils • Performances of plays and music • Singing •
Lockout • Refusal • Sitdown • Civil disobedience•of “illegitimate” laws • Mutiny
enforcement agents of industrial assistance Refusal to pay debts or
Marches • Pilgrimages • Motorcades • Mock funerals • Teach-ins • Walk-
HISTORY CIRCLE
Time needed: 15 minutes
Supplies needed: none
This exercise is good for reviewing nonviolent movements in this country and in
getting to know a little more about who is in the room. By doing a history circle you get
people up and moving, and you acknowledge participants’ history.
Beginning the exercise:
Ask everyone to make a circle (standing, if able). Explain that this exercise will
give you a chance to get to know people’s history, as they choose to acknowledge
it. People will identify themselves as belonging to a group by taking a step into the
circle. They can self-identify with any of these categories they choose.
After each category, return to the circle shape each time.
Here are some of the categories we have used. Add or alter as fits your group
and the time allotted.
Who among us has?
Participated in a rally/march/protest during the civil rights movement
Been a Conscientious Objector during WW II
Participated in protests against Vietnam War
Participated in protests against the First Gulf War
Been arrested for doing civil disobedience/resistance
Spent time in jail or prison for CD/CR
Refused to pay war taxes
Been to a protest/rally in the last week
Attended a World Trade Organization protest
Protested against the Contra War
Not attended a Nonviolence Training before
6

7. Participated in protests against bombing of Afghanistan
Marched with Martin Luther King, Jr.
Been on a peace-making trip to another country—Central America,
p Middle East, Russia, etc.
Protested nuclear weapons in Oak Ridge, TN
Been arrested for protesting nuclear weapons
Protested nuclear weapons at a site other than Oak Ridge
Done “duck & cover” drills in school
Ever served in the military
Participated in anti-apartheid movement
Been to SOA protest in Columbus GA
Crossed the line at SOA
Been to Cuba
Written a press release
Helped organize a fundraiser
Ever been to a National party political convention
Ever protested at a National Convention (Democratic/Republican)
Ever created a piece of art, poetry, music, etc. as a way to protest
Consider self an anarchist
Ever given money to a group working for social change
Ever worked on efforts to improve or strengthen neighborhood
Ever seen a stripmine
Ever been a welfare recipient
Ever lived below the poverty line
Identified as a person of color
Identified as LGBT
Been a parent
Has grandchildren
Come to the U.S. from another birth country
Ever contacted a legislator about legislation
Ever spoken at a protest rally
Ever performed at a protest rally
Planning to go to Oak Ridge for Hiroshima Day protest
TIMELINE
(meets objectives similar to history circle.)
Time needed: 15 minutes for filling out, additional time for people to read it.
(This works well to have up for people to fill out as they arrive,
and then look over during lunch break or other breaks.)
Supplies needed: long paper on wall, prepared with timeline; pens, markers.
This is an exercise we have used for people to think about resistance over the
continued…
7

8. past 100 years and to better understand our collective history.
We often use this exercise for the first 15 minutes or so after people gather—
during the usual “milling time” as people straggle in.
You will need paper 6-10 feet in length, taped to the wall, and markers. The
paper will need a timeline drawn midway from top to bottom across length of the
paper. Divide line with dates (1900, 1910, 1920, etc.) You can place some important
events on the line or let participants fill it all in.
Invite people to fill in political events above the line, and “acts of resistances”
below the line. For example, 1914-1918 would have “WWI” on top of line. Under
line someone may write “spent 2 years in jail for conscientious objection.”
Invite people to look at the line later in the day, noting what people have put
on timeline. It is also useful to use it to refer to in doing a review of nonviolence
history.
VIOLENCE/NONVIOLENCE SPECTRUM ACTIVITY
Time: 15-30 minutes
Supplies Needed: None
There are some areas in which we all (or most of us) can agree that something
is violent or nonviolent. However, this activity reveals that we don’t all have the
same definition of violence or nonviolence. In fact, over time each of us may
change our mind (more than once even) about what we consider violent. We do
this exercise to remind ourselves that peacemaking is an ongoing process and we
should open our hearts and minds to the learning process. It also helps us to
remember that we each have a piece of the truth, and that no one has the whole
truth.
Facilitator Instructions:
Ask people to stand in a (generally) straight line. Designate one end of the line to
represent violent and the other end to represent nonviolent. Read the following list one at a
time. After you read each item, ask people to move to the place on the line where they think
this item lies. Then ask a few folks to share why they feel the way they do. Then move on to
the next item.
Spanking your children.
You see someone beating someone else up. You go and hit that person to get them to stop.
Spray painting peace and equality messages on the sign at a bomb plant.
You’re protesting at the home of Donald Rumsfeld. During the protest a group of people
smash the windshield of his car.
Voting for legislation that discriminates against a group of people.
Voting to go to war.
Playing a video game that simulates bombing villages from an airplane.
Watching a boxing match.
Yelling at a counter protester.
Feel free to add to this list.
8

9. Public speeches • Letters of opposition or support • Declarations • Group
Silence ••Renouncing•honors • Lysistratic Prisoners’ strikeExcommunication
embargo Protest strike Farm workers’ strike • nonaction • • Sympathetic strike
or mass petitions • Slogans, caricatures, and symbols • Banners,
History and Overview
••Student strike strike • Withholding orsocial institutions • Stay-at-home •
Working to rule • Withdrawal from withdrawal of allegiance • Literature and
posters, leaflets, pamphlets, and books • Picketing • Prayer and worship
of the Principles of
Total personal noncooperation • Sanctuary • Consumers’ boycott •
speeches advocating resistance • Boycott of elections • Refusal of assistance to
Nonviolence
• Paint as protest • Vigils • Performances of plays and music • Singing •
Lockout • Refusal • Sitdown • Civil disobedience•of “illegitimate” laws • Mutiny
enforcement agents of industrial assistance Refusal to pay debts or
Marches • Pilgrimages • Motorcades • Mock funerals • Teach-ins • Walk-
OVERVIEW OF NONVIOLENCE
After using the history circle or timeline exercise to get people reflecting on history, we
often move into a section where we reflect together on non-violent movements for social
change. We have found that a short exercise/presentation, a video, and discussion work well
together.
Time: 20-30 minutes
Supplies needed: handouts – Martin Luther King, Jr. Principles of Nonvio-
lence, easel pad, markers, tape if you choose to record responses in discussion.
Start with the facilitator asking participants to name times in history when nonviolent
action has created change. These may include
• Indian independence • Danish resistance in WWII • Abolition of apartheid
in South Africa • Abolition of slavery • Women’s suffrage • Labor organizing/
free speech/ the right to organize/ working conditions/ workplace regulation/
worker health and safety • Conscientious Objection • Civil rights/ desegregation/
Voting Rights Act • War tax resistance • Vietnam • Women’s liberation • Nuclear
freeze/ Nevada Test Site/ Rocky Flats • The environmental movement • The
United Farm Workers • Pittston coal strike • Nestlé boycott/infant formula •
Central America/ Witness for Peace and Pledge of Resistance/ sanctuary move-
ment • South Africa divestment campaigns • ACT UP! • Gulf War • School of
Americas • Trident to Life/ Nukewatch/ Ploughshares/ Y12/ Stop the Bombs •
Globalization/ the World Bank/ International Trade • Afghan war • International
mobilization against US war on Iraq
The facilitator then makes a brief presentation of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s
principles of nonviolence. (If you want to distribute copies, there is a master of this
handout in the Appendix.) continued…
9

10. 1) Nonviolence is a way of life for courageous people.
It is active nonviolent resistance to evil.
It is aggressive spiritually, mentally and emotionally.
It is always persuading the opponent of the righteousness of your cause.
2) Nonviolence seeks to win friendship and understanding.
The end result of nonviolence is redemption and reconciliation.
The purpose of nonviolence is the creation of the Beloved Community.
3) Nonviolence seeks to defeat injustice, not people.
Nonviolence holds that evil doers are also victims.
The nonviolent resister seeks to defeat evil, not people.
4) Nonviolence holds that suffering can educate and transform.
Nonviolence accepts suffering without retaliation.
Nonviolence accepts violence if necessary, but will never inflict it.
Nonviolence willingly accepts the consequences of its acts.
Unearned suffering is redemptive and has tremendous educational
and transforming possibilities.
Suffering can have the power to convert the enemy when reason fails.
5) Nonviolence chooses love instead of hate.
Nonviolence resists violence of the spirit as well as the body.
Nonviolent love is spontaneous, unmotivated, unselfish and creative.
Nonviolent love gives willingly, knowing that the return might be hostility.
Nonviolent love is active, not passive.
Nonviolent love is unending in its ability to forgive in order to restore
community.
Nonviolent love does not sink to the level of the hater.
Love for the enemy is how we demonstrate love for ourselves.
Love restores community and resists injustice.
Nonviolence recognizes the fact that all life is interrelated.
6) Nonviolence believes that the universe is on the side of justice.
The nonviolent resister has deep faith that justice will eventually win.
Nonviolence believes that God is a God of justice and love.
continued…
10

11. Present OREPA’s Nonviolence Guidelines:
Combining these principles with similar guidelines from a base Christian community
in Latin America, OREPA has created its own Nonviolence Guidelines. People participat-
ing in Hiroshima Day activities in Oak Ridge will be asked to follow these guidelines. (If
you want to distribute copies, there is a master of this handout at the back of this book.)
Be nonviolent in tone as well as action.
Show respect for all people; each person has a piece of the truth.
Always leave the other a face-saving way out.
In difficult moments, behave as a disciple of nonviolence.
Try to make human contact with your antagonist, meeting them on the level of
your common humanity.
Do not hide anything, Tell the truth.
Be firm and unyielding in your commitment to nonviolence and your action for
peace.
Be courageous. Choose to love.
Ask: On hearing/reading these guidelines and principles, which one speaks
most to you and why? Give participants a few moments to answer. Highlight
places of agreement and disagreement.
VIDEO SEGMENTS:
Time Needed: 20-30 minutes (depending on video and amount of discussion)
Supplies Needed: video to be shown, TV/VCR
We have found that showing a video segment can often help participants move from
thinking about nonviolence mainly in their “heads” to connecting to their “heart” or
feelings. We choose one video segment to show and invite reflection afterwards on what
principles of nonviolence were highlighted in the video and what meaning that has for us
and our action(s).
This is certainly not an all-inclusive listing of video material; it is a sampling of
what we have used at past nonviolence trainings. If you have trouble finding any
of these, give a call and we can help you.
Listed below are segments from videos that we have used and discussion
questions that can go with each segment.
1. Passbook burning scenes from the movie Gandhi. This is from South Africa
when Gandhi worked as an attorney there and first began to formulate nonviolent
strategies for dealing with unjust situations. An amazing example of courage.
Discussion: How does this action that Gandhi takes fit into the principle that King
created that says: Nonviolence holds that suffering can educate and transform? What
sustains a person to take such an action?
2. The Salt March of 1931 in India, scenes from the movie Gandhi. We usually
start this segment from the scene on the second video where Gandhi is talking with
the reporter (Mr. Walker, played by Martin Sheen) at his home by the sea. We then
run for 15 minutes or so through the end of the occupation attempt at the salt
works factory where the reporter calls in a story and says, “Whatever moral
ascendancy the West may have had has been lost here today.” continued…
11

12. This section chronicles Gandhi’s creation of the March and the British
government’s response, including a great line about the nonviolent resister as the
one who is in control, not the oppressor.
Discussion: What was the point of the action at the salt works? Was there any larger
point to the great suffering inflicted? Does this speak to you in any way as you prepare for
an action in Oak Ridge?
3. The overthrow of the Pinochet government in Chile, from A Force More
Powerful video series. We show the entire segment on Chile from this series. This
segment includes discussions about violent v. nonviolent overthrows, overcoming
fear and repression, and great organizing. It is generally available through public
libraries.
Discussion: At one point in this film several people reflect on the point at which the
forces for government reform had to make a choice about whether they would engage in
violent resistance, as other countries in Central and South America had, or whether they
would choose nonviolent resistance. Do you feel they made the right choice? Why or why
not? Is there always a “right choice”? Who should make those decisions?
4. The Danish Resistance in World War II, from A Force More Powerful video
series. This segment raises questions about whether property damage is part of a
nonviolent movement. We generally show the section from where the resistance is
running off papers underground (in defiance of the occupying Nazis) to the end.
Discussion: Are actions resulting in property damage still “nonviolent” if
no life is taken? Is property damage ever justified? Always justified? What do
King’s principles have to say on this point?
5. The Nashville Sit-ins 1960 from the Eyes on the Prize documentary
series. This explores how students prepared themselves to meet violence
in the early sit-in movement and the role of training. We usually show a
segment that starts with Diane Nash and the sit-in movement in Nash-
ville and runs through Mayor Ben West agreeing to desegregate lunch
counters. On the Ain’t Afraid of Your Jails segment. This tape is often
available in public libraries.
Discussion: What nonviolence principles were most reflected in this video
piece on the sit-ins? What strikes you the most about seeing this footage (as
opposed to knowing the story)?
5. Mississippi Voter Registration and the role fear played in Freedom
on My Mind. The segment we have shown starts with Bob Moses and the
death of Herbert Lee and runs through Ida Mae’s reflections on how,
despite her fear, she couldn’t give up.
Discussion: How does fear affect people? What role does fear play in
maintaining the status quo? How (or why) do people take action despite their
fears? Reflect on the principle that asserts that nonviolence is an active, not a
passive, force for courageous people. Do you agree or disagree? Why?
6. Interviews with the “Greensboro Four” on the 45th anniversary of
the first lunch-counter sit-ins, from a PBS special. This segment tells the
story of how the sit-ins first began, how unplanned they were, and the
courage and fear involved in stepping out.
Discussion: Does this interview surprise you? Why? Did you know that
Diane Nash the tactic of lunchcounter sit-ins was just dreamed up one evening? What did other people
Eyes on the Prize do to support the actions of the Greensboro Four and spread the movement? Were there
factors in place that enabled the movement to use this action? What are things we can do
to help our actions have broader effects?
12

13. 7. Women’s Suffrage movement, from Women in the 20th Century: Social
Change. This segment is not an introductory piece on nonviolence, but shows lesser
known pieces of this movement, including jail solidarity. It also explores the racism
and classism in this movement and the role that different groups (radicals and
moderates) played in pushing the 19th amendment.
Discussion: What pieces of racism or classism did you see in the movement for
suffrage? How are these factors still in place in movements today? What actions can we
take to challenge racism and classism and build stronger movements? Reflect on how
different groups played different roles in winning the right to vote. Is that true in other
movements? What part do you find yourself playing and why?
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Time needed: 30 minutes per question discussed
Supplies needed: copy of discussion question for each group—see handouts
at back of section for copy-ready questions. If you want report backs, provide
each group with paper (large or small) and pens or markers.
In the past, we have read the questions to the group and asked them to break into
discussion groups according to the one question that most interests them. We have given
discussion groups thirty minutes to discuss their question, and we have scheduled an hour
for the activity so that people have the opportunity to discuss two of the questions. It may
be helpful to have a spokesperson from each discussion share some of her/his group’s main
points when all the groups reconvene.
Here are some questions we have used, followed by some quotes to consider
during discussions. The quotations help make sure that there are several sides of
each question considered by the whole group.
1. In efforts to achieve peace and justice, history is full of both violent and
nonviolent revolutions. Is violent resistance to injustice ever justified? Can you
bring about justice and peace through violent means? Can you support
revolutionary struggles for liberation without supporting the means?
“I do not believe in short-violent-cuts to success. However much I may
sympathize with and admire worthy motives, I am an uncompromising
opponent of violent methods even to serve the noblest causes. Experience
convinces me that permanent good can never be the outcome of untruth and
violence.”
~ Gandhi
“What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans and the home-
13

14. less, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or
the holy name of liberty or democracy?”
~ Gandhi
“One pinpoint of clarity was that it was time for us to grow out of the short
pants of barbarism, of settling things by violence, and at least to get into the knee
breeches of honestly seeking and trying ways more fitted to our state as humans.”
~ Juanita Nelson
“I have little hope of the freedom of the slave by peaceful means. A long
course of peaceful slaveholding has placed the slaveholders beyond the reach of
moral and humane considerations—The only penetrable point of a tyrant is the
fear of death.”
~ Frederick Douglass
“I do not wish to kill or be killed, but I can foresee circumstances in which
both of these things would be by me unavoidable.”
~ Henry David Thoreau
2. Nonviolence has been used by those who believe in it as a way of life and
those that see it only as a strategy for political action. Can nonviolence be used
effectively as only a tactic? Must it be a way of life? For everyone practicing it?
For only the leaders?
“One of the reasons so many people have developed strong reservations
about the peace movement is precisely that they do not see the peace they seek in
the peacemakers themselves. Often what they see are fearful and angry people
trying to convince others of the urgency of their protest. The tragedy is that
peacemakers often reveal more of the demons they are fighting than the peace
they want to bring about.”
~ Henri Nouwen
“The essence of nonviolence is love. Out of love and the willingness to act
selflessly, strategies, tactics and techniques for a nonviolent struggle arise natu-
rally. Nonviolence is not a dogma, it is a process.”
~ Thich Nhat Hahn
“We live in a violent society, a violent world; that is, a world
in which force is a vital mechanism used to keep the economic
and social system intact. The laws of the land are supported
by the use of violence; that is, the use of physical force to
make people obey the law. This is the premise you have to
start with. If you oppose things in that system, then all those
powers of violence can be used to force you into line. As part
of a minority group, you shouldn’t think in terms of playing
the game by their rules, of using violence to get what you
want, even if you don’t have any philosophical problem with it.
On a level of strategy it’s quite obvious that you have to try and
work out ways of creating social change which avoid coming into
violent conflict with that power of the state.”
~ Myles Horton
14

15. “I don’t think any one event, or any one day, or any one action, or any one
confrontation wins or loses a battle. You keep that in mind and be practical about
it. It’s foolish then to try and gamble everything on one roll of the dice—
which is what violence really gets down to. I think the practical person has a
better chance of dealing with nonviolence than people who tend to be
dreamers or who are impractical. We’re not nonviolent because we want
to save our souls. We’re nonviolent because we want to get some
social justice for the workers. If all you’re interested in is going
around being nonviolent and so concerned about saving yourself, at
some point the whole thing breaks down—you say to yourself,
‘Well, let them be violent, as long as I’m nonviolent.’ Or you
begin to think it’s okay to lose the battle as long as you
remain nonviolent, the idea is that you have to win and be
nonviolent. That’s extremely important! You’ve got to be nonviolent—and you’ve
got to win with nonviolence! What do the poor care about strange philosophies of
nonviolence if it doesn’t mean bread for them?”
~ Cesar Chavez
3. Nonviolent practitioners contend that the strength of nonviolence comes
from taking on suffering. How do we absorb pain and suffering when we create
social disorder so great that something must yield. For example, what good do we
accomplish by taking actions that get us arrested?
“You [the eight fellow clergymen who opposed the civil rights action] are quite
right in calling for negotiation. Indeed, this is the very purpose of direct action.
Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that
a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the
issue.”
~ Martin Luther King, Jr.
“Somehow we must be able to stand up before our most bitter opponents and
say: ‘We shall match your capacity to inflict suffering by our capacity to endure
suffering. We will meet your physical force with soul force. Do to us what you will
and we will still love you.’”
~ Martin Luther King, Jr.
4. What are the limits of nonviolence? One of OREPA’s nonviolence guidelines
is “Be nonviolent in tone as well as action.” Does this apply to people only? Also to
property? Are there cases where property damage is necessary or justified?
“Sabotage, resulting in impairing the traffic or property of a railway system, is
always ‘immoral’ from a capitalist’s standpoint because it is opposed to his [her]
interests. On the other hand, discharging and blacklisting 3,000 railway employees
for their activity in a strike is ‘immoral’ from the workers’ standpoint; and sabo-
tage becomes a ‘moral weapon’ to remedy that condition. Sabotage as a weapon of
warfare against the employers is no more ‘immoral’ than taking the first of May as
a holiday without asking the bosses for it.”
~ Ben Williams, IWW organizer
“In all the riots, taken together, the property damage reached colossal propor-
tions (exceeding a billion dollars). Yet the physical injury inflicted by the Negroes
15

16. upon white people was inconsequential by comparison. The bruising edge of the
weapon of violence in Negro hands was employed almost exclusively against
property—not persons.”
~ Martin Luther King, Jr.
5. What are the limits of nonviolence? Who are acceptable targets? What
amount of suffering for others is okay? Is it justifiable for OREPA to take actions in
the Oak Ridge community that inconvenience community members, not just
workers at Y12?
“[The workers] were on strike for three days. It was a general strike as far as
the railroads were concerned. It tied up transportation and communication from
Paris to all the seaport towns. The strike had been on three days when the govern-
ment granted every demand of the workers.”
~ William Haywood, on a strike in France in 1911
“Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension
that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront
the issue.”
~ Martin Luther King, Jr.
“We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words
and actions of the bad people, but for the appalling silence of the good people.”
~ Martin Luther King, Jr.
6. One of the principles of nonviolence is that everyone has a piece of the truth.
What does that mean for how we treat people as individuals and as political
figures? Is there a difference?
“The nonviolent approach does not immediately change the heart of the
oppressor. It first does something to the hearts and souls of those committed to it.
It gives them new self-respect; it calls up resources of strength and courage that
they did not know they had. Finally it reaches the opponent and so stirs his [her]
conscience that reconciliation becomes a reality.”
~ Martin Luther King, Jr.
16

17. FEAR
Time needed: 45 minutes
Supplies needed: candles, matches, copy of readings for each reader
Fear is a powerful emotion that can limit our actions, often without us really
understanding what we’re afraid of. Once we understand our fears, our responsi-
bility doesn’t end.
This is an exercise/reflection that invites participants to hear how other people
—human rights advocates—have faced their own fears and still taken action. It
also asks participants to clarify their own fear.
If in a large group, break people into circles of 10 – 12 people each. Light a
candle in the center of each circle and invite people to get comfortable.
Explain that we are going to spend the next 30 – 45 minutes thinking about
fear. Ask participants to close their eyes and imagine themselves going to Oak
Ridge in August.
“Imagine yourself in Oak Ridge, you commemorate the victims of
Hiroshima in the dawn light at the gates of Y12, tying peace cranes on the
fence and listening to the bell tolling for the victims. You rally at Bissell Park
and join hundreds and thousands (!!) in a march through Oak Ridge to the
○
○
gates of Y12. “Courage is a way
○
“Notice the signs, and the puppets, and the banners. Look who is
○
○
marching—grandparents, children, peace walkers, people who look like you of life Working
○
and people who don’t. Imagine that in the afternoon you join others in a
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and struggling is
○
blockade of the gates of Y12, sitting in the road, arms linked.
○
“Imagine you are arrested by the police and taken to jail. As you imagine
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how you become
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these scenes, open yourself up to your fears. What things scare you? What
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makes you uncomfortable? Sit with these feelings for a few minutes.” happy When you
Give participants some time to be quiet and reflective. Then invite them to ○
○
○
○ look back on your
listen to the words of these men and women. Read each quote (one person may
○
life you should
○
read all or you may have a different reader for each), leaving a few minutes of
○
silence at the end of each reading. These readings come from Speak Truth to Power:
○
have changed the
○
Human Rights Defenders who are Changing our World, by Kerry Kennedy Cuomo.
○
world somehow ”
○
○
Senal Sarihan
○
Ms. Sarihan is a teacher, lawyer, union organizer, mother from Turkey. She has
○
○
been imprisoned and tortured for her writing and political activities.
Courage is a way of life. Working and struggling is how you become happy. When you
look back on your life, you should have changed the world somehow. Of course humans are
scared; being scared is a very human feeling. But you can’t live being scared. You have to
overcome. And you know that those who are against you are really scared of you. You are
not doing this because of courage, you’re not ever thinking about courage. It has simply
become your way of like. Sometimes I am really scared – for my children. But how nice it
will be if they have a mother that they can be proud of. So I struggle, until the end, so that
they can be proud of me.
Bobby Muller
Bobby Muller is a Nobel Peace Prize winner for the Campaign to Ban Land
Mines and a Vietnam veteran.
Courage for me means swimming against the tide. To go on in the face of adversity. To
be willing to expose yourself to failure and ridicule. You have to be conscious of the fact that
continued…
17

18. you’re at risk and aware of what you can lose – to then go forward is a courageous act. To
just act blindly, that’s not courageous. Loss is not only reputation and money, it’s security
and possibly your life. And if you go in and face those risks and threats I think that’s
greatness. You’re doing it not because you’re gonna get applauded at some point down the
road or rewarded but because it’s right.
Marian Wright Edelman
Ms Edelman is the founder of Children’s Defense Fund and was active in the
Civil Rights movement, particularly in Mississippi.
Courage is just hanging in there when you get scared to death. One of the things that
I remember about Dr. King is how as a young person he could always look scared to death.
Look at his face in many of his pictures, he is depressed. He often did not know what he
was going to do next. I remember him saying how terrified he was of the police dogs in the
back of the car when he was being taken out to rural Georgia after being arrested. And in
my little college diary, the first time I met him, I must have written down half of the
speech he gave, about how you don’t have to see the whole stairway to take the first step.
You can be scared but shouldn’t let it paralyze you. And he used to say over and over
again, “If you can’t run, walk; if you can’t walk, crawl; if you can’t crawl, just keep
moving.” That reflects courage. There comes a point in life when you look around and
decide that this is not what life’s about. It is not what God meant for you. And you have to
change things. And if that means dying, that’s fine. But it is not living. Otis Moss used
○
If I were sitting an analogy recently that the worst thing to happen to a bird is not to kill it, it’s to clip its
○
○
wings, to clip its tongue. Many people were terrified in the civil rights days but terror is a
○
by myself part of living in an unjust system. I felt that when I went to Crossroads, the Cape Town
○
○
camp out in South Africa. When I saw those young people, I saw myself thirty years
○
isolated I would earlier, and I knew they would just not stop. That’s courage – acting despite it all.
○
○
have gone crazy
○
Helen Prejean
○
Sr. Helen Prejean is a Catholic religious who works with death row inmates
○
But the minute I
○
and their families.
○
see a half dozen How did Hemingway put it? “Courage is grace under pressure,” Courage for me is
○
○
very close to integrity. It means doing what you need to. Acting. Getting out there to
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of my colleagues change things. I don’t call it courage when I accompany someone to execution. That is an
○
○
act of love. Though they may be courageous in the way they go to their death, holding on
well it’s a jolly
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to their dignity when they die. But for me, courage comes more in tackling the American
○
○
day—I don’t feel system and believing and hoping in people so that we continue to change things. Courage
○
is that steadfastness to continue – even if it means that you are going to be threatened.
○
scared at all
○
Like when we did our first walks in Louisiana we would get these threatening calls, “You
○
bleeding-heart liberal, you murder-loving people,” or “I’m gonna give a donation to the
○
group in the form of quarters that are going to be melted down into bullets.” And cars
stopped, and people gave you the finger, and they yelled at you. Because violence really
does trigger violence. The whole thing of execution is “Get him, get him.”
My dream is that human rights is what’s going to bring us into the new millennium,
that the more and more we grow into the sense of community, our respect for each other,
the dignity of people, that we can learn much better how to build a society. It comes back
to me, the goodness, and that goodness inspires, energizes. You know how when Jesus was
executed he said “Father forgive them, they know not what they are doing?” I really think
that lack of consciousness and awareness is what makes us so insensitive to each other, and
so we do these things to each other. If we bring people to consciousness and their own best
hearts, they will respond. And so that is what we have to do.
Asma Jahangir
Ms. Jahangir and her sister Hina Jilani are at the forefront of women’s and
human rights movements in Pakistan. Ms. Jahangir has been the subject of violent
attacks and surveillance for years.
I honestly tell you, I have been able to overcome fear. It was not easy. But every time I
18

19. felt frightened I would go to the home of the Human Rights Commission’s director. I would
invite all our friends there and we would have a good laugh. A sense of humor and the
warmth of the people around has made me survive. If I were sitting by myself, isolated, I
would have gone crazy. But the minute I see a half-dozen of my colleagues, well, it’s a jolly
day—I don’t feel scared at all. Of course, our families have to pay the price for our commit-
ment, I feel no guilt about it at all. I have thought about it very carefully.
I think that if I die tomorrow my children will be well looked after. They have a very
good father. They have three grandparents who are still alive. They have an aunt who is not
married. They are nearly grown, my children: 23, 21 and 17. So in terms of building their
values (which is what I was most interested in as their mother), they’ve got that. They have
to learn to live in a society that is very brutal and very violent. There is no guarantee for
anything, and I think my children understand that now, appreciate it. They are very
worried for me. I have had to sit them down, and explain to them, and even sometimes joke
with them and say, “Okay, now what I am going to do is get myself insurance, so when I
die you will be rich kids.” They have gone through psychological trauma but they have
dealt with it. It has made them stronger people.
Once seven armed people came into my mother’s house (where [my sister] Hina lives),
looking to kill me and my children. And they took my brother, my sister-in-law, my sister
and their kids as hostages. Hina had fortunately just left the house in the morning with my
mother. We always joke with her that it was one hour to mincemeat. But is was really very
scary. That was one time that I was really upset about my family, extremely upset.
And I appreciate very much that my brother and sister, especially, because they are not
human rights activists, have never said, “Give up.” Never, ever have they said that this
danger they experienced was because of me. That has been such a source of strength for me.
They make me feel so proud. How can they be so decent about it? How can they be so
understanding? It makes me more brave that there are people like them in this world.
Closing: Invite people to share fears as they want.
What is your greatest fear about participating in the action at Y12? How did hearing
any of these people change your thoughts or feelings?
ROLE PLAYING
Time needed: 20 minutes for Hassle Lines
20 minutes per affinity group scenario role play.
Supplies needed: nothing for Hassle Lines
written instructions for scenarios, if you want to use them
(can just orally instruct each group)
After talking about the principles of nonviolence and what they mean to us
personally, we have used role-playing exercises to practice using the
principles. People some times have a hard time getting into the roles,
but these exercises are helpful in identifying our fears about direct
action and about engaging with people who don’t agree with us. Hassle
lines allow short explorations of how to remain personally nonviolent in
tense situations. The affinity group role plays allow people to practice
supporting each other in situations as they unfold. Both are useful
explorations and exercises.
HASSLE LINE ROLE PLAY
Hassle lines are short exercises, especially if you are disciplined
about the de-briefing time. Even though they are quick, they can be
intense; passions tend to surface quickly. Explain that during the hassle
19

20. line exercise participants might identify that moment in a tense situation where
they are about to break from their nonviolent commitment—when someone
pushes your button or takes it a little bit too far. It is good to feel where that point
is and learn to handle it, to train ourselves, to develop some “muscle memory” we
can rely on when we are in a real situation.
HASSLE LINE SCENARIOS
1. You are at a demonstration calling for an end to nuclear
weapons, and a counter-protester begins to hassle you for
what you’re doing.
2. You are standing at a demonstration in Oak Ridge
calling for an end to nuclear weapons manufacture at the
Y12 plant, and a member of the community begins to hassle
you for being there and disturbing the peace of the commu-
nity.
3. You are legally and peacefully protesting nuclear
weapons production, and a police officer begins to threaten
you with violence or with arrest.
Facilitator instructions:
Have people form two lines, facing each other. Each person standing in the
line should be facing one partner in the other line. Each line will take one side of
the scenario, ie. protesters on the left and counter protesters on the right. After
assigning roles, allow fifteen seconds or so to get in character. Instruct the groups
to interact with each other in their “character” for the next two minutes. (If you
see things getting too intense, or if you see people running out of steam, you may
stop early). At the end of that time, take a few minutes to debrief the experience.
After each role-play, we take a minute or two to debrief.
Ask each side how it felt to be in their role. (Usually, the roles we are most
uncomfortable with are the hardest for us.)
Ask the hasslers if a protestor did something that disarmed them and was
particularly effective.
Ask protesters if the hasslers did something that pushed their buttons and made
them want to react violently (or caused them to act violently).
Ask everyone to reflect on what tactics or techniques or responses they
saw or experienced that they might use themselves in a hostile situa-
tion.
Reverse the roles, either using the same “scenario” or a different one. Allow
interaction for 3-4 minutes, followed by debriefing again.
AFFINITY GROUP SCENARIOS
Scenarios/The scene
1. You are at Y12 on Hiroshima Day. There is a group of peaceful demonstra-
tors walking past a group of counter-protesters as part of the march from Bissell
Park to Y12. The counter-protesters call themselves “Citizen Soldiers for the
Atomic Bomb.” Their cars are decorated with slogans like “USS VENGEANCE.”
They believe that the Bomb is their right, a gift from God that saved their own
family members’ lives. They call on the “God of justice” to strikedown their
20

21. opponents. The counter-protesters begin to harrass people who are walking by
them.
2. You are at Y12 on Hiroshima Day. There is an affinity group risking arrest
on the highway. They have linked arms and are sitting in the middle of the road.
There are observers on the side of the road. There is a group of police who are
arresting the protesters. The police begin roughing up protesters as they arrest
them. When one protester complains, the police knock her to the ground and begin
to strike her with billy clubs.
3. You are at Y12 on Hiroshima Day. There is a group of protesters blocking a
roadway and a group of supporters on the side of the road, supporting the action.
There are police observing all this. Suddenly, people among the supporters on the
side of the road begin to provoke the crowd to violence.
Facilitator instructions: Divide the group into two or three sections, depending
on the needs of the scenario. Take each group aside and give them their roles. Don’t
tell each group what the other will be doing, just encourage them to act out the
characters they’ve been given. Part of the value of the exercise is to experience
what happens.
After giving each group a couple minutes to get set, begin the scenario.
Allow it to run for 5 minutes or so, as you see what people are going to do. Stop it
before people get hurt and when it seems there has been enough action for good
learning and discussion.
Following the scenario, debrief as a group. Take each group within the
scenario and ask them what happened, how they felt, what their experience was
like.
After each group has had a chance to debrief, ask participants to reflect and
share what things happened that escalated the violence, what happened that
helped diffuse violence, and how did they or could they act in ways to support and
protect each other when they are really in such a situation.
Be sure that everyone has a chance to debrief.
21

22. Public speeches • Letters of opposition or support • Declarations • Group
Silence ••Renouncing•honors • Lysistratic Prisoners’ strikeExcommunication
embargo Protest strike Farm workers’ strike • nonaction • • Sympathetic strike
or mass petitions • Slogans, caricatures, and symbols • Banners,
••Student strike strike • Withholding orsocial institutions • Stay-at-home •
Working to rule • Withdrawal from withdrawal of allegiance • Literature and
posters, leaflets, pamphlets, and books • Picketing • Prayer and worship
Total personal noncooperation • Sanctuary • Consumers’ boycott •
speeches advocating resistance • Boycott ofOREPA, Oak Ridge
elections • Refusal of assistance to
• Paint as protest • Vigils • Performances of plays and music • Singing •
Lockout • Refusal • Sitdown • Civil disobedience•of “illegitimate” issues
and International Law laws • Mutiny
enforcement agents of industrial assistance Refusal to pay debts or
Marches • Pilgrimages • Motorcades • Mock funerals • Teach-ins • Walk-
O ak Ridge Tennessee is a city deeply commit
ted to violence People don’t walk around whomping each other over the head in
the Wal Mart parking lot here (at least not any more than in other places) Our
violence is more subtle and more outrageous We make thermonuclear weapons
of mass destruction This work of hell is only possible because of the support—
active or tacit—of the community In town there is a virtual taboo on discussing
the Bomb—a silence in effect since the Manhattan Project
The Oak Ridge Environmental effective Our work compelled the
Peace Alliance was founded in on Department of Energy to provide
principles of nonviolence Initially increased protection of the public and
OREPA was a coalition of individuals drove environmental cleanup decisions;
and groups who planned simply to hold we also helped spur institutional
a demonstration which would include changes in the federal government to
the first ever civil disobedience at the enhance effective public participation
Oak Ridge bomb plant Five people in cleanup decisions
were arrested on August In headlines declared that
For the next several years OREPA Oak Ridge was no longer manufactur
held demonstrations which included ing nuclear weapons—OREPA’s focus
nonviolent direct action OREPA also became almost entirely environmental
evolved into a powerful voice for the We still advocated dismantlement and
environment—we schooled ourselves in storage of weapons and weapon
enough science and history and we materials in Oak Ridge
organized enough to be a force to be In DOE announced it was
reckoned with We were scrupulously back in the bomb business—Oak Ridge
careful with facts did our homework made the high tensile strength
used media artfully were fiercely nosecone for the B turning an old
dedicated to our principles and were gravity bomb into a new earth pen
22

23. etrating bomb the first such nuke in Action commemorating sixty years
the US arsenal since the destruction of Hiroshima and
In response OREPA began to Nagasaki by US atomic bombs In
develop the Stop the Bombs campaign addition to cosponsoring the Peace
In a series of actions (seven during Walk from Oak Ridge to the United
the year) brought a variety of voices to Nations this spring OREPA is preparing
Oak Ridge to protest bomb building— for a series of events leading up to and
mothers fathers artists people of including August —a film series an
faith women—more than fifty people Interfaith convocation on the Global
were arrested during the year Nuclear Crisis a puppet workshop and
In the campaign decided to more We will host
focus on two major actions each year hibakusha
and to devote time energy and people survivors of the
resources to educating and organizing Hiroshima bomb
against bomb production in Oak Ridge ing
Martin Sheen narrated a video for us OREPA is
and we hired an organizer and here we pleased to be the
are Attendance at Y actions has primary sponsor of
grown consistently to more than the Stop the Bombs
In April people risked arrest— campaign Our part
twenty one were finally charged by the is educating (we’ll do
state and four by the federal govern more than
ment As one local lawyer said of the presentations this
federal charges “Obviously you are year) organizing and
making a big difference They are really mobilizing people to
scared ” address the global nuclear crisis
We hope they have reason to be It is energizing to see people rising up—
Not scared of violence We are not a to put the movement back in the peace
threat to the health and safety of movement
workers or security people and we are In addition to organizing the Stop
not really a threat to the bombs them the Bombs campaign OREPA also
selves But we are a threat to nuclear works to build nonviolent commu
policy and eventually we hope we will nity—we hold weekly peace vigils
be a threat to the support this commu monthly potlucks publish a daily
nity has for bomb building reflection booklet and maintain the
Since thousands of people Peace House in Oak Ridge
have come to Oak Ridge and more than Since our founding OREPA has
have been arrested in civil disobedi been firmly committed to nonviolence
ence actions In OREPA is partici in all of our activities
pating in the Year of Remembrance and
In October of the federal government
seized acres of land in Roane and Anderson counties in east Tennessee The
people who lived there were removed from their property and the communities of
Elza Scarboro and Wheat were replaced by bulldozers and mud—and eventually
four huge industrial complexes devoted to creating materials for the world’s first
atomic bomb It was the Manhattan Project Most of the people who worked on it
had no idea; Oak Ridge was a town born in secrecy Today that time is celebrated
with The Secret City Festival each year
Three major facilities survived the end of the Oak Ridge Reservation
war years and became instrumental in enriched uranium through gaseous
the pursuit of nuclear power—for war diffusion Uranium enrichment at K
and for peace The K site on the west
continued…
23

24. officially ended in ; today buildings dismantlement at Y some stored in
are being decommissioned and the site unsafe conditions
is being “privatized;” DOE operates an Y can’t fulfill its dismantlement
incinerator there and waste companies mission because we are busy building
import waste from states to process more bomb parts Under the DOE’s
and treat it on its way to disposal “Stockpile Life Extension Program” Y
The Oak Ridge National Lab is performing life extension upgrades
known during the war years as X on our current nuclear arsenal Aging
was home to the world’s first full scale warheads are disassembled the canned
operating nuclear reactor It’s original subassemblies returned to Y and
purpose was to create plutonium for parts are refurbished or replaced with
bombs and it served as a model for the new parts When finished the new
huge reactors that would be built at warhead is certified reliable for
Hanford in Washington state After years
the end of WWII the lab diversified It
built experimental reactors produced
radioisotopes for a variety of purposes
trained physicists with hands on
M any people who
live in Oak Ridge are ambivalent about
reactor experience and produced bomb building The work at Y is seen
materials for nuclear weapons as necessary to maintaining economic
But it is Y that carries stability—a myth that has power The
on the wartime legacy truth is that Y could continue to
of death Y produced operate at full capacity for or more
the enriched uranium years if it was dismantling our nuclear
that fueled Little Boy arsenal; and cleaning up the legacy
the bomb that de mess of the past will take that long as
stroyed Hiroshima By well
Y had found a Even those who oppose bomb
different role—building production though are reluctant to
the “canned subassem talk about it publicly The WWII ethos
bly” for the thermo the original don’t ask don’t tell policy
nuclear bomb Also still prevails in Oak Ridge even to the
known as the “second point of hampering environmental and
ary ” the canned subas public health efforts on occasion
sembly made of Outsiders find Oak Ridge perplex
enriched and depleted ing unless they are familiar with the
uranium beryllium lithium deuteride dynamic of a company town When a
and other classified materials is the newspaper series documented suspi
part of the physics package that turns cions of health impacts from waste
an atomic bomb into a thermonuclear operations the local government chose
holocaust to hire a public relations firm to combat
Y has produced the secondary for the allegations rather than push for a
every nuclear weapon in the US thorough study to make sure the
arsenal public’s health is fully protected
Y has other missions as well In its Visiting Oak Ridge in Assis
work for others program Y produces tant Secretary of Energy for Defense
parts for Department of Defense Programs Vic Reis visited Y to cel
projects—Seawolf submarines and ebrate a restart of operations and said
attack jets for instance “As long as this community supports
Y is also the nation’s storehouse the mission of Y we will be here ”
for enriched uranium And Y has as Supporting the mission means not
part of its mission the job of disman asking questions—asking questions can
tling retired nuclear weapons This risk your security clearance or your
crucial mission usually goes undone brother in law’s or your neighbors
and there is currently a ten year And without a security clearance you
backlog of retired warheads awaiting can’t work
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25. And there are benefits Supporting half of them do not live in Oak Ridge
the mission means having the best Anderson or Roane counties (The City
schools in the state of Tennessee and of Oak Ridge has around
swimming in the “superpool” in the residents) But for those who do work
summertime there the jobs—median income of
Of the nearly people who  —can hardly be matched in east
work on the Oak Ridge Reservation Tennessee
INTERNATIONAL LAW & NUCLEAR WEAPONS
The Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance (OREPA) believes that the Depart-
ment of Energy and BWXT are in violation of international law and international treaties
at the Y12 nuclear weapons plant in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.
Materials Needed
Use letter size copies (appendix) to make enlarged copies of 3 charts: The
Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty; Findings of the International Court of Justice;
Article VI, Constitution of the U.S.
Make copies of the brochure: International Law & Nuclear Weapons to hand
out (brochure is in Appendix).
Copy of one or more “Excerpts from Court Statement”
Directions
Use the 3 large charts for giving information about International Law.
Provide opportunity for discussion and/or questions. Select one or more of the
Court Statements to be read loudly and slowly by individuals from the group.
Hand out the brochure on “International Law & Nuclear Weapons.”
Facilitator presents information something along these lines
There are 4 basic documents for our belief that the United States is violat-
ing international law and treaties by making bombs at Y12 in Oak Ridge. The first
three of these documents provide the legal foundation for action; the fourth
establishes an obligation to act.
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26. The Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty—In 1968 the United States entered, with
150 other nations (now up to 189), into the nuclear nonproliferation treaty (NPT),
promising to pursue negotiations leading to complete disarmament at an early
date.
The NPT entered into force in March, 1970. Article VI of the NPT imposes an
obligation on those states which possessed nuclear weapons in 1970—“All parties
to the treaty undertake to pursue negotiations in good faith on effective mea-
sures relating to the cessation of the nuclear arms race at an early date and to
nuclear disarmament, and on a treaty on general and complete disarmament
under strict and effective international control.”—to achieve a precise result:
Nuclear disarmament in all its aspects. Article VI requires states to achieve nuclear
disarmament through good faith negotiations. Talking is not enough, the talk must
lead to action.
Findings of the International Court of Justice—-In 1996, the International Court of
Justice (World Court), the highest and most authoritative court in the world on the
questions of International Law issued an opinion that held that “the threat or use
of nuclear weapons would generally be contrary to the rules of international law
○
We understand applicable in armed conflict, and in particular the principles and rule of humani-
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tarian law.” The World Court further admonished the maintenance and building of
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the Nuremberg nuclear weapons as a violation of Article VI of the NPT. In the Court’s view,
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“elimination of nuclear weapons is the only adequate response to the dilemma and
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Principles to hold risks posed by the nuclear age.”
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individual citizens
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United States Constitution—-International treaties and agreements have the
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○
responsible for force of law in the United States. Article VI of the U.S. Constitution asserts that the
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Constitution and “all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority
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actions of the of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the judges in every
○
○
state shall be bound thereby.”
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state in which they In other words, international treaties are binding on the government, its
○
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courts, and the citizens of the United States. They are not just international law;
live if those
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they have become our law.
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citizens have a free
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The Nuremberg Charter defines crimes against peace as preparations for wars of
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moral choice
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aggression or wars that violate international treaties. War crimes are violations of
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the customs or laws of war, including but not limited to: “wanton destruction of
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cities, towns or villages, or devastation not justified by military necessity.” Crimes
against humanity are defined in the Nuremberg Charter as “inhumane acts
committed against any civilian population.”
The use of weapons being built at Y12 would violate all three of these prin-
ciples.
And Principle Seven, the last one, says that simple complicity in the commis-
sion of a crime against peace, a war crime, or a crime against humanity is itself a
crime under the international law.
We understand the Nuremberg Principles to hold individual citizens respon-
sible for actions of the state in which they live if those citizens have a free moral
choice. Not only are those who actively participate in Peace crimes, War Crimes or
Crimes Against Humanity held responsible, but those who are complicit in such
crimes are equally culpable.
Dr. Karen Parker, international law expert, states that a four-point test of a
weapon’s legal status is based on the laws of war found in binding international
treaties. Taken together, the Geneva Conventions, the Hague Regulations and the
Nuremberg Charter form the basis of Dr. Parker’s test: 1) Weapons must be
limited to the war zone; 2) Weapons must not continue to kill long after a war has
ended; 3) Weapons must not be unduly inhumane; and 4) Weapons may not cause
long-term damage to the natural environment. continued…
26

27. Facilitator
OREPA believes that the Department of Energy and BWXT are in violation of
international law and international treaties at the Y12 nuclear weapons plant in Oak
Ridge, Tennessee. Our actions seek to uphold international laws and treaty obligations
(which supercede local, state, and federal laws in the United States).
We believe strongly that acts of civil disobedience at the Y12 nuclear weapons plant
provide an opportunity to educate people that the United States is violating the Nuclear
Nonproliferation Treaty and disregarding the United States Constitution. There are
opportunities to bring this lawless situation to police officers, judges, prosecutors, juries,
attendees and the public in general. Despite the fact we present international law in court
to uphold these truths, we are found guilty.
You now have the opportunity to listen to some excerpts from statements defendants
have given in court after being charged at the Y12 nuclear weapons plant.
EXCERPTS FROM STATEMENTS GIVEN IN COURT
David
If a house is burning, one has the legal right to break and enter in order to
save lives. I don’t want to be sensationalistic, but it seems to me our collective
home is on fire. As we further commit to upgrade, develop and proliferate nuclear
weapons, we prepare for a fire threatening our world and all its inhabitants.
As a responsible citizen, I am compelled to action to help awaken both myself
and our citizenry…We seem committed to stoke the fires of hate, distrust and
violence with the intensification of militarism and nuclear weapons development.
It is my civic duty to affirm a commitment to nonviolence, truth, justice, freedom
and love.
Our country is clearly in violation of international law. International law,
universal law, and humane law dictate that as U.S. citizens it is our civic responsi-
bility to commit ourselves to not only rescue the child in the
fire, but to prevent the fire than can annihilate our beloved
world.
Brenda
I entered the property of the Y12 National Security
Complex to deliver the message that continued production
of nuclear weapons is a violation of international law and
that weapons production, including the life extension
upgrade of the W87 warhead, profits corporations and
drains massive resources from social services for citizens of
this country.
I believe that it is my responsibility as a citizen to speak
out about crimes against humanity, of which the use or
threat to use nuclear weapons is one. The Nuremberg
Principles holds that those who remain silent are complicit
in such crimes.
The production of nuclear weapons is contrary to
Article VI of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, to which
the United States is a signatory and which, according to the
U.S. Constitution, has the force of law. It is the U.S. govern-
ment and its contracting corporations such as BWXT
Bechtel that are breaking the law, not the citizens who are using nonviolent means
to speak out against nuclear weapons production.
continued…
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