August 2nd, 2025
This first week, we will welcome you into the academy and begin to build community together. In this week's session, we’ll introduce ourselves to each other and get grounded in why we’re here. We’re beginning to build community through discussions and setting our intentions for the next three months. While the community will be at the center, we’ll also discuss the very thing we’re here to do–Strategic Nonviolence. Some people view it as a political technique, others as a lifestyle, and some see it as both. How you’ll see it by the end of this process remains to be seen. The bigger lesson this week, I think, is understanding its immense possibilities beyond what we may have been taught, seen on the news, or read about. It is a tool that I believe can be used to bring about the world that we want, be used at every level and facet of strategy and/or statecraft, and help navigate life's complexities. How you choose to engage with it is up to you, but when applied with rigor and purpose, it has an excellent track record.
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Joe Worthy is a community organizer and strategist who works alongside community members to build power through Strategic Nonviolent Action. Partnering with leaders and local groups, he drives systemic change through his roles with the Strategic Nonviolence Academy, the Albert Einstein Institution, and Light House | Black Girl Projects. His support has led to landmark victories, from coaching a community group in Côte d'Ivoire that successfully shut down a coal mine to helping end Zero Tolerance Policies in Boston and expand healthcare for mothers in Mississippi. Previously, at the Children’s Defense Fund, he focused on dismantling the Cradle to Prison Pipeline. Joe studied at Heidelberg University and the University of Oxford and was a Community Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School.
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We begin our journey together by grounding ourselves in our stories of why we’re here, building connections, and developing a beloved community. Our preparation for the work of liberation starts with the conviction that "you belong here", as a beloved community is cultivated through intentional acts of connection. In this first session, we will engage in a foundational practice designed to build trust and shared purpose, exploring five essential conversations—Possibility, Ownership, Dissent, Commitment, and Gifts—to cultivate our cohort from the ground up, starting with our own stories, hopes, and perspectives.
Begin to build authentic relationships and connections among the cohort.
This session is designed to ensure that participants understand the comprehensive scope of strategic nonviolent action by exploring its three fundamental components: obstruction, construction, and transformation. Too often, media and historical accounts only refer to strategic nonviolence through its obstructive elements—methods of protest and persuasion, nonviolent intervention, and the like. However, to effectively wield strategic nonviolence, we must embrace all three elements seamlessly to reach sustainable conclusions in our efforts.
Throughout this session, participants will gain an in-depth understanding of how nonviolent action can effectively obstruct unjust systems and practices, construct new and just alternatives, and transform societal structures and relationships. Through conversations, historical and contemporary examples, and a blend of theoretical insights and practical applications, students will learn how to design and implement facets of Strategic nonviolence.
Participants will be able to independently analyze social issues and design strategic nonviolent Movements that effectively integrate obstruction, construction, and transformation to achieve sustainable and just outcomes. This involves applying the understanding of the three fundamental components of strategic nonviolence to develop comprehensive and effective strategies in new contexts.