Sat, Jul 09, 2005
Nonviolence Trainers’ Resource Manual
Just released in May of 2005 by the Australian Nonviolence Training Project, this 200+ page Trainers’ Resource Manual offers a comprehensive reference for people who want to facilitate change through activist education.
Available in both hard-copy and downloadable pdf format, the Resource Manual is a resource for trainers, campaigners, organisers and community workers who want to design and deliver empowering workshops in the tradition of nonviolent social change.
The organisation of the manual comes from a framework for nonviolence training that was developed by members of the Nonviolence Training Project Working Group prior to a Nonviolence Skillshare for Trainers. The content areas within this framework are: Defining nonviolence, Power and conflict, Learning from other movements, Strategic Frameworks, Nonviolence and communication, Working in groups and Preparing for nonviolent action. More than 50 training tools have been collected and categorised according to the framework.
Online Book - Psychology for Peace Activists
This online book Psychology for Peace Activists was written by Dr. David Adams. Adams retired in 2001 from UNESCO where he was the Director of the Unit for the International Year for the Culture of Peace, proclaimed for the Year 2000 by the United Nations General Assembly. Following a career as Professor of Psychology for 23 years at Wesleyan University (Connecticut, USA), he had come to UNESCO in 1992 to develop the Culture of Peace Programme as an supplement and alternative to military peacekeeping operations. His responsibilities have included development of national culture of peace projects, research and development of the culture of peace concept and training in peace-building and conflict resolution. 
This quote from the beginning of the book explains what it contains;
To begin the development of the new psychology, I have sought in the first section to gain lessons from the lives of our fore-runners, the great U.S. peace activists of the 20th Century. In their autobiographies we find the steps of their consciousness development and the psychological difficulties that they faced at each step. Six steps - and corresponding sets of difficulties - may be distinguished, and we will consider each one of them in turn: values and purpose vs. alienation; anger vs. fear and pessimism; action vs. armchair theorizing; affiliation vs. anarchism; integration vs. burnout; and world-historic consciousness vs. sectarianism.
To foresee the questions that will be asked of the new psychology, in the second section I have sought its root causes in the economic and political changes that have brought peace to the top of the historical agenda.
The concluding section of the book outlines the tasks of the new psychology. The new psychology can develop only through the efforts of many people including activists, psychologists and, most especially, psychologists who are activists. Therefore the final section of this book is addressed not only to peace activists, but also to professional psychologists and young people who will become the psychologists of the future. All of us must work together to create the new psychology and carry out its great historical tasks.
Fri, Jul 08, 2005
Introduction to ADR from the Department of the Navy
The Department of the Navy (DON) has posted a new overview of Alternative Dispute Resolution. This 45 minute presentation introduces ADR theories, techniques and uses of ADR by the DON. It spans many areas of DON activity, including procurement, environmental protection, workplace, and assistance to service members. Video clips allow you to hear directly from:
- The Department of the Navys General Counsel
- The Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Civilian Human Resources)
- The Chairman and an Administrative Judge from the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals
- Environmental Program Managers from the Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Environmental Protection Agency Region 4 and the State of Florida
- A Deputy EEO Officer from Military Sealift Command, who also serves as a Navy Certified Mediator
- A Major serving in a Marine Corps Legal Assistance Office
For people interested in workplace disputes, you will find a step-by-step explanation of a workplace mediation.