Ruckus trainers Madeline G. and Daniel H. gave a one-day direct action training at Kalamazoo College February 13, 2010. Here’s what Madeline had to say about it:
Daniel and I did a full day intro to Non Violent Direct Action
Training at Kalamazoo College in Kalamazoo MI on Sat. Feb 13th. The training was sponsored by most of the progressive campus groups including, The College Democrats, The Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership, Kaleidescope, POWER, EnvOrg, Students for a Sensible Drug Policy and Amnesty
International. Students from nearby Western MI University and a few community members also attended. They were interested in how they can use NVDA in a variety of settings and exploring the strategic use of NVDA. Over 50 people attended the 6 hour training. Participants repeatedly explored how to use NVDA to build their campaigns and enhance their organizing. We also explored a variety of NVDA tactics.
Highlights included participants self organizing to blockade the trainers (posing as developers) so we could not destroy the "ideal communities" they had created and mapping out all the allies and potential allies in a campaign to figure out what tactics would mobilize potential supporters. We also enjoyed a big group role play – sit-in at the school board meeting.