TRAINING
Together we can end Political violence
Whether you or your group have experienced a threat or intimidation, you’re part of a group that is at high risk, or are concerned about political violence, we’re here to help you prepare so that you can stay safe and build support through creative action.
Our free trainings help you:
Better understand how political violence can show up in your own communities.
Learn how to identify and undermine political violence.
Awaken imagination about how we might respond in the face of threats or acts of political violence.
Develop skills and strategies to make political violence backfire and grow our power to end political violence.
Let us know How can we help
Use this form to tell us a little bit about what kind of training and support you need
WHAT YOU’LL LEARN
The goal of the “backfire” model is to make sure that when any kind of political violence takes place, perpetrators face high costs for their actions.
When their actions are counterproductive for them,
their actions can be said to backfire.
The costs imposed on perpetrators can take two forms:
Direct losses—including a loss of political support, a loss of social standing, economic losses, and in some cases being held legally accountable.
Increasing support, power, and mobilization by those who oppose political violence
5 PRINCIPLES
Making Political Violence Backfire
In order for injustice to backfire, it must be revealed.
Revealing can happen through research and other forms of evidence gathering, or through detailed interviews with people who have suffered abuse.
Sometimes revealing means creating conditions so that cover-up of a potential abuse is more difficult, such as when activists all carry cameras and plan ahead for sustained documentation of public actions.
The evidence of injustice must be presented in a way that seems credible and that actually gets distributed.
Counter devaluation by humanizing (redeeming) those who have been abused; this reduces the social distance between them and the broader audience.
Provide context and details about the targets’ lives
Elevate their positive values and actions
Have others (especially those in roles that the audience trusts and respects) speak up on their behalf
Anticipate devaluation by conducting advance training and adopting a code of conduct for political activities that inoculates targeted individuals from being provoked by perpetrators
Counter perpetrators’ attempts to reinterpret incidents of injustice by reframing them as unjust.
Document the impact of and damage from the abuse to help neutralize the perpetrators’ narratives
Communicate why the abuse was not justified and why it violates laws or widely held values
Communicate who should be held accountable for the abuse (for example, reframing abuse from an individual problem to a systemic problem)
Remember that while an injustice may seem obvious to activists, it should never be assumed that it is obvious to other audiences
When perpetrators try to divert action into official channels, redirect public outrage toward mobilization.
Remember that public or independent investigations tend to work slowly, focus on technical procedures, rely on experts, and give the appearance that justice will be done. This can result in decreased public mobilization, making inquiries less aggressive in pursuing the truth.
Backfire options include:
supporting the process
criticizing the process
making demands of the process
launching a parallel process
using the institutional process as a campaigning tactic
Resist threats and attempts to reward silence about injustice, turning these into catalysts for more backfire.
Attempts to inhibit public concern by threatening, bribing, intimidating, or otherwise co-opting those who speak out or organize against injustice may extend beyond targeted activists—sometimes perpetrators may further try to silence activists’ family, friends, and colleagues.
Anticipating intimidation and rewards, activists can warn their friends, families, and colleagues of such efforts, prepare to document these efforts, and develop strategies to make them backfire if or when they happen.
Being public about the fact that a group is prepared for threats may actually have a deterrent effect on perpetrators, making them aware ahead of time that such tactics will be used against them in “the court of public opinion,” and possibly also even a court of law.