A Force More Powerful

An In-Depth Review

http://www.aforcemorepowerful.org/

A Force More Powerful is a two-part documentary series on one of the 20th century’s most important and least known stories—how non-violent power overcame oppression and authoritarian rule. In South Africa in 1907, Mohandas Gandhi led Indian immigrants in a nonviolent fight for rights denied them by white rulers. The power that Gandhi pioneered has been used by underdogs on every continent and in every decade of the 20th century, to fight for their rights and freedom.This exercise is designed to make use of all the components of A Force More Powerful — television, print, and Web site — as resources and to actively engage students and faculty in a “hands-on” learning experience.

Students will learn about:

• the nature of power;
• the role of strategic nonviolent action in seeking human rights and self-determination;
• the relationship between building people’s movements and developing a civil society;
• the role of non-governmental institutions in maintaining and altering the balance of power within a society.

Review In Progress Dec 2 2006 by LXPK

A Force More Powerful is interesting indeed. I just ordered the Force More Powerful game with the book, the 2-part documentary series DVD and the extra Bringing Down A Dictator DVD. It arrived in a manilla envelope.

I first began absorbing the Instruction Manual. The game mechanics described in the manual sound awfully clever and instructive. So many factors and strategic ramifications are modeled with such exceptional detail that I feel you could learn a lot about activism just by reading the instruction book.

I started reading a passage in the book. The history of the meteoric rise of the Solidarity movement under Communist Polish rule inspired me only to dash my hope against the wall with the violent crackdown that decapitated the leadership of a 10 million member movement overnight. I haven't picked it up again yet to find out how the story ends, but I've already learned so much about activist strategy from the book's analysis of their story that I can't wait to finish the book.

OTPOR's "ideological commisar" started CANVAS and specializes in training activists and writing materials
http://www.canvasopedia.org/content/weaponry/ars_conv-prob.htm


Ivan Marovic: A founder of Otpor, Marovic was one of the most public of the organization’s members, speaking often at rallies and marches. In May of 2000, Marovic led a march to Central Prison and used a bullhorn to demand information on the welfare of protestors arrested following Information Minister Goran Matic’s denunciation of Otpor members as terrorists. As Otpor’s representative in the Democratic Opposition of Serbia (DOS), Marovic took part in planning and preparations for elections and protests that took place after Milosevic attempted to falsify ballots.

After the successful democratic transition in Serbia, Marovic began consulting with various pro-democracy groups worldwide and became one of the leading trainers in the field of strategic nonviolent conflict. He lives in Belgrade where he heads The Center for Nonviolent Resistance, which he founded.

In 2004 Marovic was tapped by the filmmakers at York Zimmerman Inc. to bring his skills as a strategist and his passion for video games to the design phase of A Force More Powerful – the Game of Nonviolent Strategy, a computer game that was released to the public in March 2006.