Noncooperation 101
Intro to Noncooperation
An introductory workshop about noncooperation and authoritarianism
Cases and Stories of Noncooperation
We are focused specifically on noncooperation/noncompliance — there is much much more to know about organizing and activism under an authoritarian. These are just a few of our favorite places to get examples of noncooperation:
- Resist List — a Bluesky account tracking examples of noncooperation right now
- Horizons Project, offers rigorously researched case studies about noncooperation alongside their work as organizers, conveners, facilitators, and sense-makers to these times
- Waging Nonviolence, regularly reporting news on resistance to Musk/Trump.
- A Force More Powerful — movie documentary about nonviolent resistance, including to Nazis and authoritarian regimes
- Bringing Down a Dictator — story of Otpor’s nonviolent removal of Milosevic
Noncooperation Videos
How to resist autocratic regimes: Pillars of support
Daniel Hunter with Choose Democracy walks through how noncooperation as a tool and a tactic can be used to defect pillars of support.
History and Practice of Noncooperation
Political scientist Erica Chenoweth unpacks what makes a successful movement against authoritarianism, and how nonviolent resistance can be used to uphold democracy.
Training Agendas for these times
Sense-making and Vision: how did we get here?
120-minute training
Sense-making and Vision: how did we get here?
120-minute training
Goals:
* preparing people emotionally to be ready to fight back (emotional triage),
* girding people for the long fights ahead by making people feel part of a large resistance community (how to organize under the new threat),
* orienting towards our next steps (you can adapt this to your design — here we’re introducing the “Block and Build” strategy).
This design requires some adaptations for your group, including your specific plans next and some chances for leadership to openly reflect on what they’re taking away from this moment. (People will want to hear from you!)
Strategic Escalation in a Trump Era
120-minute training
Strategic Escalation in a Trump Era
120-minute training
Goals:
* Understand different of actions: symbolic actions, noncooperation (omission), disruption (commission), and alternative cooperation
* How to be more powerful in action design, from humorous street theater to dilemma actions
* Discuss how tactics may shift under a Trump Presidency
* Touch on action safety and maintaining discipline
Hope PV – Responding to Political Violence
120-minute training
Hope PV – Responding to Political Violence
120-minute training
The HOPE guide is designed to help people across the United States counter political violence. It aims to empower individuals and strengthen communities to make political violence backfire against those who incite, threaten, and enact it.
Community responses to political violence can both support victims and impose costs on those who incite and engage in abuse. We need to stand up to those who want to silence our voices, who try to deny us our rights, and who aim to bully their way into political influence through intimidation and violence.
Get updated versions at: Harnessing Our Power to End Political Violence
Action Security and De-escalation
120-minute training
Action Security and De-escalation
120-minute training
Goals:
* how to make actions safer before, during and after an action;
* de-escalation with people on our side and opposition.
How to talk with people you might disagree with
120-minute training
How to talk with people you might disagree with
120-minute training
Goals:
* Learn skills for bridging with unlikely allies:
– reframing condemnatory ways of communicating
– intro to Race/Class Narrative
– asking open ended questions
– sharing personal narratives
* Committing to at least one place where we will practice (e.g. public invitations or deep canvassing or…).
Mutual Aid 101
120-minute training
Mutual Aid 101
120-minute training
Handouts: Mutual Aid 101 Handouts
Goals:
* Understand what mutual aid is and why people do it
* Know the initial steps of starting your own neighborhood pod
* Learn about Pod Mapping
Have additional resources for your own mutual aid work
Materials for Specific Pillars
Faith Pillar: We are stronger than you think
120-minute training
Faith Pillar: We are stronger than you think
120-minute training
Goals:
* Understand our context
(democratic backsliding and the history of authoritarianism here and globally)
* Discuss strategies for countering authoritarianism
* Reflect on lessons we can draw from stories of faith resistance
* Explore ways to take action in the near future
Legal Pillar: Collective Action Against Democratic Backsliding
120-minute training
Legal Pillar: Collective Action Against Democratic Backsliding
120-minute training
A workshop for folks in the legal pillar (judiciary, lawyers, etc) about how collective action has helped stop democratic backsliding
Learn More
Beautiful Trouble, an interconnected web of ideas and creative best practices that puts the power in your hands — tactics, theory, and principles from around the globe
The Horizons Project recognizes the urgency for this kind of movement to come together now in the United States.
The offer case studies about pillars of support, rigorous studies of examples of noncooperation, and videos (like about Pillars of Support or The Brain on Authoritarianism).
Choose Democracy hosts an abundant number of workshops and materials on fighting a coup, including: