Nonviolent Action + Campaigns

War Resisters League believes change happens through the implementation of revolutionary nonviolence. Nonviolent Direct Action (NVDA) is powerful. There are many dramatic images of nonviolent action; indeed, the ability to dramatize an issue is one of the strengths of nonviolence. However, this drama doesn't just happen. It gestates – in groups or cells of activists, in discussions, in training sessions, in reflecting on previous experiences, in planning, in experimenting, in making contacts.

As a century-old organization, War Resisters League has been training for, and doing, nonviolent direct actions since the 1940's. We ground ourselves in what groups around the world, in the War Resisters International community, have done and how they have done it. As a radical organization, we go to the roots, not only of the problems but also the solutions. WRL declares its commitment to “strive nonviolently for the removal of all the causes of war, including racism, sexism and all forms of exploitation.” While addressing the root causes of war, we also nurture the roots of nonviolent action, recognizing that blooms will be stronger if we root ourselves in nonviolent direct action training and history.

We do not try to present a definitive model, but to suggest methods that have worked in various contexts, that can be adapted by creative nonviolent activists in their own situations. We want to share these lessons with you.