What Scott taught

During his visit to Australia, Scott's intention was to travel and meet new people - "maybe a little snorkling, learn to surf and maybe network with some activists". While he told his Australian friends he saw his trip to Australia as a chance to take a break from activism, he soon found himself giving talks and co-present workshops to local activists on his experience campaigning against the Iraq war in his home state of Texas - "the belly of the beast".

The key message of Scott's workshops was that, against seemingly insurmountable the odds, the US peace movement was actually succeeding. Local activists, shocked to hear that more than half of the American population opposed the continued occupation of Iraq, were hungry for information about new strategies emerging from the US peace movement.

During his time in Australia, Scott co-facilitated workshops on the following topics:

Nonviolent direct action

Nonviolent methods have been used by throughout history and right across the world to challenge injustice. Dictators have been toppled, environmental values protected, rights won for women, workers and indigenous people and wars resisted, all without the use of weapons or violence. So widespread is its use that some describe nonviolence as "the politics of ordinary people".
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Battle of the Story

The Battle of the Story is a framework for designing social change campaigns developed by the Smartmeme Collective. According to Smartmeme, social change campaigns often fall into the trap of bombarding the public with fact after fact without "framing" the information for their audience.
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The Movement Action Plan

The Movement Action Plan is a "strategic framework", outlined by US activist Bill Moyer in his book Doing Democracy. A veteran of the civil rights and peace movements, Moyer was shocked to discover that the organisers of one of the largest nonviolent direct actions in US history - the 1977 nonviolent blockade of the Seabrook nuclear plant by over 1,400 people - felt that they had failed in their efforts.
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Strategic organising

Strategic organising is best described as the crafting of a clear strategy for community mobilization and social change. Instead of simply "going from action to action" without clear goals, strategic organising addresses immediate community priorities, builds power by mobilising citizens, is framed by core citizen values and challenges structural inequalities.
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Activist training

Organisations which provide training for activists in Australia and the US include:

Smartmeme

The SmartMeme collective works to support grassroots movements with strategy and training resources, values based communications tools and meme campaigning. www.smartmeme.com

Training for Change

Training for Change helps groups stand up for justice, peace and the environment through strategic nonviolence. www.trainingforchange.org

The Change Agency

The Change Agency provides resources, research and training for effective community action. www.thechangeagency.org

Nonviolence Training Project

The Nonviolence Training Project supports activists through organising and promoting nonviolence training, developing resources and organising professional development opportunities for trainers. www.nonviolence.org.au