UCLA Nonviolence and Social Movements M173

This course will present an overview of nonviolence, and its impact on social movements both historically and in contemporary society.

NONVIOLENCE AND SOCIAL MOVEMENTS
Spring Quarter 2014

Labor and Work Place Studies M173,
African American Studies M173, Chicano Studies M173


Class Meeting Time: Tuesday from 3:30 to 6:20 p.m.

Classroom: Royce 362

COURSE SYLLABUS
Course Description
The course will present an overview of nonviolence, and its impact on social movements both historically and in contemporary society. We will explore the historic contributions of the Civil Rights movement and the role of nonviolent action throughout recent U.S. history. We will examine the particular lessons of nonviolence as they impact social movements and social change organizing. Class sessions will include lectures, films, guest speakers, and discussion. Each student will also be required to participate in service learning activities involving nonviolence and social movements today.
Course Outline
April 1 – Class Introduction/The Philosophy of Nonviolence
Introduction to the course, review of syllabus, and class requirements
Definitions and Principles of Nonviolence
Nonviolence as direct action and struggle
Violence in its various forms (war, military action, redemptive and derivative violence, structural and behavioral violence)

Readings: A Force More Powerful (Introduction); Mythology of Violence

April 8 - Nonviolence and the Civil Rights Movement: The Nashville Sit-In Movement
Video Showing: “The Nashville Sit-In Movement”
The role of nonviolence in shaping the Civil Rights Movement
Reading: “A Force More Powerful”, Chapter on India, and “The American South: Campaign for Civil Rights” pp: 305-333.

April 15 - Civil Rights and Labor: The Memphis Sanitation Workers Strike
Video Showing: “At the River I Stand”
Civil Rights and Economic Justice
The Relationship between the Civil Rights Movement and the Labor Movement
Reading: Michael Honey: Martin Luther King, Jr., the Crisis of the Black Working Class, and the Memphis Sanitation Workers Strike, Aldon Morris: The Origins of the Civil Rights Movement.

Students should submit a one-paragraph proposal on your final paper topic.

April 19 -- Forum on Mass Incarceration and Mass Deportation at the UCLA Downtown Labor Center, 675 S. Park View Street, Los Angeles 90017

April 22 – The U.S. Labor Movement, Nonviolence and Social Justice
The Rise of the Labor Movement in the 1930’s
The United Farm Workers Movement and the Role of Nonviolence
The Challenges facing the Labor Movement: Business Unionism vs. Social Justice Unionism
The Transformation of the Los Angeles Labor Movement
Reading: Jeremy Brecher: “Strike”, Susan Ferriss and Ricardo Sandoval: “The Fight in the
Fields”

April 26 – Worker Memorial Day, UCLA Downtown Labor Center, 675 S. Park View Street, Los Angeles 90017

April 29 – Immigrant Students – “Undocumented and Unafraid”
Video Showing: “Undocumented & Unafraid” and “Dream Summer”
The Federal Dream Act, the California Dream Act and DACA
Building a new immigrant youth movement
Sit ins, hunger strikes, civil disobedience, Dream Freedom Ride and Dream Summer

Reading: Undocumented and Unafraid: Tam Tran, Cinthya Felix, & the Immigrant Youth Movement

May 1st – March and Rally for International Workers Day

May 6 – The Women’s Movement
Lessons from the Suffrage Movement, and Contemporary Women’s Struggles
Film: “Iron Jawed Maidens”
The use of nonviolence in the Suffrage Movement
Contemporary struggles for equal rights
Readings: Linda Ford: Alice Paul and the Politics of Nonviolent Protest, Ellen Carol DuBois: The Next Generation

May 13 - Poland’s Solidarity Movement
Video Showing: Poland’s Solidarity Movement
The Solidarity Movement in Gdansk Shipyard
How a labor struggle and creative use of nonviolence toppled an authoritarian regime
South Africa and the overthrow of Apartheid
Egypt and the nonviolent revolution

Reading: A Force More Powerful, pp: 113-174, Teaching for Change: Susan Washington on “Avondale Workers,” Liz Brown on “The Battle in Seattle”


May 20: The Worker Center Movement in Los Angeles Today
Stories from the front lines
What are the lessons from labor and community organizers today?
The role of unions in the movement for social change
The future of the social justice movement
Readings: “Working for Justice: The L.A. Model of Organizing and Advocacy”
Teaching for Change: Gilda Haas on the Figueroa Corridor, Vivian Rothstein on Living Wage, Stephanie Arellano on Justice for Janitors, Jane McAlevey on “Stamford Connecticut”

May 24th - Immigrant Youth Empowerment Conference at UCLA


May 27 – The Anti-Apartheid Movement
Video Showing: Port Elizabeth, South Africa
Mass Mobilization Strategies
International Support to End Apartheid
Reading: A Force More Powerful, pp: 335 - 368, 61 – 113, George Fredrickson: “Nonviolent Resistance to White Supremacy”

June 3 – Nonviolence and the “War on Terror” in Iraq and Afghanistan; The War at Home: Attacks on Civil Liberties
The Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq
Lessons from the anti-Vietnam War Movement
“Homeland Security” and Civil Liberties
Selective Repression
Readings: A Force More Powerful: 397 – 420, Selected Articles on the War Against Iraq and Attacks on Civil Liberties Will Be Distributed

Research Papers and Service Learning Papers Due
Course Requirements
1. SERVICE LEARNING ACTIVITIES: Each student will participate in 15 hours of service learning activities involving nonviolence and social movements in Los Angeles. (This could include transportation time.) There are four major events that will occur in Spring Quarter. We would ask each student to assist with and attend at least two of these events: Forum on Mass Incarceration and Mass Deportation, Worker Memorial Day, May Day, and the Immigrant Youth Empowerment Conference. All four are engaged in contemporary social movements in Los Angeles that embrace the philosophy of nonviolence. Each student is required to write a three-page paper on the activities you worked on, and what you learned from your experience. (1/3 of the grade.)
2. RESEARCH PAPER: Each student will write a 10 - 12 page research paper. Research topic to be approved by the Instructors. Analyze a contemporary social movement, evaluate its use of nonviolent strategy and tactics, describe the power relationships, and evaluate its outcomes or expected outcomes. Please integrate material from lectures, readings, and class discussion in your paper when appropriate. Also, please cite sources and include a minimum of five sources not included in the readings and syllabus. (1/3 of grade)
3. EXAM: There will be a final examination based on the readings, lectures, and material covered in the course. The exam will include multiple choice and true-false questions. (1/3 of grade)
Required Readings
A Force More Powerful, by Peter Ackerman and Jack Duvall is available at the UCLA bookstore ($19.95)
Undocumented and Unafraid: Tam Tran, Cinthya Felix, and the Immigrant Youth Movement, UCLA Labor Center, available in class ($10.00)

Other Selected Articles will be available online.

Suggested Research Paper Topics

The Immigrant Rights Movement
(Federal Dream Act, Deportations, Comprehensive Immigration Reform)

Mass Incarceration
(The War on Drugs, Zero Tolerance in the Schools, Stop and Frisk, Racial Profiling)

Worker Organizing
(Polish Solidarity Union, United Farm Workers, Car Wash Workers, Justice for Janitors)

Lessons from the Civil Rights Movement
(Montgomery Bus Boycott, Lunch Counter Sit-ins, Freedom Rides, Freedom Summer)