Tag Archives: activism

Village Game – A Practice in Nonviolence

Background

This simulation is originally adapted by Karen Ridd, Training for Change, in Thailand, 1995, from a game led by Pom, Thai student and grassroots environmental activist, 1994. The exercise was sourced from 350.org, a international grassroots movement advocating for dismantling the fossil fuel industry and building a world of community-centered renewable energy for all. 350.org provides trainings and resources for facilitators already involved in the climate change movement or those just starting out.

Context

This activity is best suited for high school students, college-age students, and adults. This activity can be conducted in 45 minutes, but more time is recommended to have a more robust discussion and debrief following the activity. This simulation can be delivered as a stand-alone activity, but it is best suited as an activity in supplement to discussion of nonviolent tactics, movements, or specific group goals.

This activity is best done with at least 2 facilitators, but if the activity is delivered in a shorter timeframe (>45 minutes) there should be one facilitator per group. Groups can be anywhere 3-10 but smaller groups are recommended.

Goals

The goal of this training are to provide an opportunity for participants to experience nonviolent action. This can be utilized in a variety of ways included:

  • Experiential learning for students studying nonviolent movements
  • Opportunity for budding activists to experience a situation where their community is threatened and action needs to be taken
  • Team building for existing or new activists groups to practice collective action
  • Scenario planning for real life situations participants may face

This activity also provides groups an opportunity to build their ideal community and share their experience and values. Please note that this might not be well suited for participant groups who have experience significant community destruction that has not address as it may be triggering.

Implementation

The below implementation is the adapted 45 minute delivery of the the village game. Village game run times are typically between 1-2 hours.

Set Up: Activity should be set up in advance. Set up tables with newspaper and numerous markers. This activity can also be done on the floor if desired. If you attackers will be using markers instead of tearing newspapers exclude red marker for your participants. Attackers will use red markers during their attack. Newspapers can be prepped with landmarks such as rivers, mountains, roads as needed to get the participants started.

Introduction (3 minutes): Prime the group by establishing that there are no rules besides physical violence/destruction of property in this activity. Expanded ground rules may need to be set given the location and context, but it is imperative to emphasis creativity for this exercise especially with unexperienced groups. Divide participants into groups consisting of at least three individuals and and assign a facilitator to each group (this will be referred to as village facilitator). If participants are known before the delivery time can be saved by making assignments in advance.

Building Villages (10 minutes): Prompt villagers to begin making their dream village. This can be done in the plenary or by the village facilitator. Encourage creativity and connection to the village by prompting questions as needed. Peaceful music can be turned on to create a more immersive simulation. It is critical during this portion of that participants get ideas onto their newspaper. Inform participants that they will be presenting their village to the other village groups.

Touring Villages (5 minutes): Have groups hold their newspaper village up and talk about the important features of their village for one minute. Groups can also walk around and “tour” the other villages.

Revising Villages (2 minutes): Invite participants to return to their village and add any remaining items as desired. Ask participants to remove chairs if tables are being used. Facilitators who who are playing the role of attackers should change their outfit in some way such as adding a tie or clipboard to denote their changed role. If there enough facilitators, attackers should be in addition to village facilitators.

Village Attack/Defense (10 minutes): Music should be changed to construction, destruction, or other appropriate sound track depending on the antagonist role. Attackers should introduce themselves to the whole group and explain who/what they are. Some antagonist examples are: Oil/Fracking company, Corporation, Government group, or another group with asymmetrical power.

Attackers will then begin destroying villages by scribbling out or ripping off different sections of the newspaper village. Keep the attacks minimal to avoiding overly-distressing villagers or causing them to give up. Attackers should move away from the village to give them time to plan/recover between attacks. Village facilitators can begin prompting participants that they can be creative in their reactions or asking them questions about the attack.

Attackers should return to the village as many times as needed to destroy more sections of the village. As time continues and if participants do not take action, village facilitators can prompt the participants with ideas to prevent further attacks. Potential ideas are: negotiating, sitting on the village (if on the floor), covering the village up, blocking the attackers from the village, picking the village up and hiding it from the attackers. Attacks should continue until villagers successful stop attackers or time finishes. If there is more time is available the activity should continue until attack is successful stopped.

Debrief (10 minutes): Depending on the purpose of the simulation debrief discussion should be adjusted. Below are some example debrief ideas depending on the goal of the simulation. Since debrief time is so short facilitators should provide participants with a resources or additional ideas to explore on their own. If time allows or additional activities are planned alongside this simulation the debrief can be more expansive.

  • Experiential learning for students studying nonviolent movements
    • Ask participants about barriers to action in saving their village. Connect barriers to nonviolence movement participants have studied.
    • Explore conversation about ideas that surfaced versus reading about nonviolence versus participating and nonviolence simulation.
  • Opportunity for budding activists to experience a situation where their community is threatened and action needs to be taken
    • Ask participants about their inital reactions or feelings that surfaced in this activity?
    • Explore how participants felt during the village destruction and what prompted them to act.
    • Provide resources to nonviolent tactics or action steps if participants wish to become involved in activist settings.
  • Team building for existing or new activists groups to practice collective action
    • Ask participant how it felt to collective build their ideal village and what they learned about their fellow participants.
    • Ask participants about the group dynamics while under stress in this activity. Have them explore how group actions effect nonviolent movements.
  • Scenario planning for real life situations participants may face
    • Discuss what worked and what didn’t work and apply to participants’ context. Provide resources or ideas about nonviolent tactics.
    • Explore the differences that might occur in the simulation versus real situation. Additional role playing may be utilized or participants can share learnings from their experiences.

Resources

These resources are not expansive, but rather a starting place for facilitators that will depend on context and participants.