POLITICAL VIOLENCE: OUR LANDSCAPE
The overview section of the online Backfire in Action course introduces nonviolent action as a powerful response to political violence and its role in fostering change. Through videos, interactive content, and expert insights, participants will explore guiding principles, historical and modern examples of nonviolent resistance, and practical tools to help communities stay safe, protect each other, and organize for lasting impact.
Introduction and overview of this online course:
No matter who you are, whom you love, or what you believe, you should be free to participate in the decisions and policies that affect your life, your family and your community. That’s the promise of democracy that the majority of Americans believe in, just as the vast majority of Americans believe that political violence is never okay. Harnessing Our Power to End Political Violence (HOPE-PV) is an initiative to help people throughout the country prepare to make political violence backfire on those that incite, enable, and enact it.
Political violence is not new, but it’s been on the rise. While virtually no one is exempt from being targeted, Black people, LGBTQ+ people, women, people in rural communities, and elected officials from every party have disproportionately experienced political violence. The goal of every act of political violence is to spread fear and stifle participation. For too long, a few people and political actors have used threats, intimidation, and even physical violence to divide, distract, and silence us while our freedoms are stripped away.
But we can stop it. Ordinary people have always made it clear: political violence ends here. For generations people have worked together nonviolently to protect each other, and to increase support for their causes.
From the people that marched in Selma for dignity and rights, to small town neighbors proclaiming that “Love Lives Here!” to stop hate groups from marching, artists, teachers, grandparents, people of faith, veterans, military families, and more have found creative ways to protect each other and mobilize support. Each of those actions embodies hope that the freedom, fairness, and participation we all need.
By working together to learn and apply time-tested lessons, you can prepare to stay safe and powerful. Join the many of us committing to take courageous nonviolent action.
First Exposure Training (FET) Goals
The purpose of the FET is to begin to make the lessons from the Harnessing Our Power to End Political Violence guide practical for people organizing at the local, state, and national level. It’s meant to be a first touchpoint for people seeking to stand up to those who want to silence voices, deny rights, undermine our shared values, and bully their way into political influence.
At the end of this 2-hour training, people will be able to:
Build understanding of the contours of political violence, especially in our own contexts
Awaken imagination about how we might assertively respond in the face of threats or acts of political violence
Explore concepts that can help us identify and undermine political violence
Practice tools and approaches you can use at home right now or in a moment of crisis
Connect with others who are also working to interrupt political violence
Celebrate the ways our communities have creatively resisted political violence
Political violence is a direct assault on US democracy, the Constitution, and the rights and freedoms of people across the nation. It does enormous damage, and it is increasing.
For a country with a population of over 330 million people, relatively few in the United States are directly physically attacked for their political views or activities. However, when these incidents happen, fear ripples outward among public officials and communities and significantly undermines democracy.
Equally damaging is the growing number of threats made to people based on their political views, professional responsibilities, or politicized identity. Virtually no one is exempt from being targeted. Threats are directed at non-partisan election workers; elected officials of both major parties; professionals in schools, healthcare, and libraries; clergy; journalists; members of the judiciary and juries; historically marginalized groups; members of law enforcement; non-profit organizations; businesses; and ordinary people and activists simply exercising their constitutional rights.
Harnessing Our Power to End Political Violence is a guide, and an initiative, for communities across the United States who are fed up with this.
It’s for people who are deeply concerned about how political violence affects our lives, and our country, and who want to organize nonviolently to protect communities and uphold democracy.
The vast majority of people in the US—in cities and small towns, across party lines, and from all walks of life—oppose political violence. Together, we need to push back against a very small, but loud, segment of our population that wants to bully their way into political influence through incitement, threats, physical intimidation, and acts of violence.
To learn more, go to endpoliticalviolence.org, where you can download the Harnessing our Power to End Political Violence organizing guide, find other learning and educational resources, and request trainings for your community.
Why we’re here:
Build understanding of the contours of political violence, especially in our own contexts
Awaken imagination about how we might assertively respond in the face of threats or acts of political violence
Explore concepts that can help us identify and undermine political violence
Practice tools and approaches you can use at home right now or in a moment of crisis
Celebrate the ways our communities have creatively resisted political violence
Guiding principles
This initiative is co-designed by a collaborative of multigenerational, multi-racial community organizers and movement leaders. Together, we uplift the power of strategic nonviolent action, and acknowledge the chronic burden that maintaining nonviolent discipline has placed on the most at-risk and marginalized communities throughout our history. This is why we center voices and support leadership from communities directly and historically targeted by political violence. Everyone has a role in making political violence backfire, and not everyone’s role will be the same. We model a process where everyone feels like they can be involved.
Definition of nonviolent action
Nonviolent action: Waging struggle for political, economic, or social objectives without the use or threat of violence. It can include protest, sit-ins, strikes, boycotts, and civil disobedience.
Source: Merriman, Hardy and Nicola Barrach-Yousefi, Glossary of Civil Resistance, International Center on Nonviolent Conflict. 2021.
Why nonviolent action?
Mass participation: Nonviolent tactics can engage a broader range of participants.
Efficacy: Research has shown that nonviolent campaigns are twice as effective as violent ones at achieving their goals.
Moral authority: Maintaining nonviolent discipline in the face of violence draws greater public support.
