George Russell Lakey (born November 2, 1937) is an activist,sociologist, and writer who added academic underpinning to the concept ofnonviolent revolution.[1] He also refined the practice of experiential training for activists which he calls "Direct Education".[2] AQuaker, he has co-founded and led numerous organizations and campaigns for justice and peace.[3]
In the late 1950s, Lakey was active in theban-the-bomb movement,[6] then participated in thecivil rights movement, in 1963 being arrested in a sit-in.[3] The following year he was a trainer forMississippi Freedom Summer and co-authored his first book,A Manual for Direct Action, which was widely used in the South by thecivil rights movement.[7] In 1966 he co-founded the national bodyA Quaker Action Group (AQAG), whose activities took him in 1967 toVietnam to participate in the sailing ship Phoenix's protest action inSouth Vietnam seeking to give medical supplies to the anti-warBuddhist movement there.[8]
In 1970, Lakey was active within AQAG in the successful direct action in thePuerto Rican struggle to stop theU.S. Navy from using the island ofCulebra for target practice.[9] In 1971 he helped foundMovement for a New Society (MNS), a network of autonomous groups working for anonviolent revolution.[10] The network featured living collectives andco-ops as well as participation in national movements of the 1970s and '80s. The network's training program at thePhiladelphia Life Center Association became highly influential in the US and abroad in spreadingPaulo Freire'sPopular education and other participatory training methods.[11]
During the 1970s, he also gave national leadership to theCampaign to Stop theB-1 Bomber and Promote Peace Conversion,[12] which succeeded in persuadingCongress andPresident Carter to de-fund this Air Force program.[13] In 1976 he co-organized Men AgainstPatriarchy, a pioneering anti-sexism movement for men. In 1982 he organized thePennsylvania section of a national labor/community coalition named "Jobs with Peace" and directed that effort for seven years.[14]
In 1973, Lakey came out in public as a gay man, and joined theLGBT movement, becoming part of what he later would call "Gay Liberation's early visionary days."[15][16]
In 1991, he co-founded withPhiladelphia activistBarbara Smith, Training for Change (TfC). Building on previous training at theMartin Luther King Jr. School for Social Change andMovement for a New Society, Training for Change developed a newpedagogy called "Direct Education". Training for Change did trainings and consultations for activists and nongovernmental organizations in 20 countries.[17]
In 2009, Lakey co-founded Earth Quaker Action Team (EQAT), to build a just and sustainable economy through nonviolent direct action campaigns. The group won its first campaign, forcingPNC Bank to stop financingmountaintop removal coal mining inAppalachia. In that campaign, while in his seventies, Lakey was arrested and also led a 200-mile march.[18]
Lakey's first teaching post in higher education was in the Martin Luther King Jr. School of Social Change, a division ofCrozer Theological Seminary inChester, Pennsylvania.[19] Lakey helped formulate the curriculum and then taught there for its first four years, 1965–1969.[20] In this period he systematized the field of "Experiential Nonviolence Training" and the students were supported in efforts to connect field training with theory indirect actions.[21]
A Manual for Direct Action: Strategy and Tactics for Civil Rights and All Other Nonviolent Protest Movements, co-author with Martin Oppenheimer; Chicago IL:Quadrangle Books, 1965
In Place of War: Moving toward a New Society, co-author with theAmerican Friends Service Committee working party; lead author: James E. Bristol) New York City NY:Grossman, 1967
Strategy for a Living Revolution: a World Order Book; New York City:Grossman, and San Francisco CA:W.H. Freeman, 1973
Revised and published asPowerful Peacemaking, Philadelphia, PA:New Society Publishers, 1987
Revised and published asToward a Living Revolution, London, England:Peace News, 2013, then published with the same title in a North American edition byWipf & Stock, 2016 (The central thesis of the above book on nonviolent revolution is found in "A Manifesto for Nonviolent Revolution" also by George Lakey and released byWar Resisters International (WRI), 1975 (see above).)[22]
Leadership for Change, Towards a Feminist Model (co-author with Bruce Kokopeli), Philadelphia, PA:New Society Publishers, no date
Moving toward a New Society (co-author), Philadelphia, PA: New Society Publishers, 1975
No Turning Back: Lesbian and Gay Liberation in the ‘80s (co-author with Erika Thorne), Philadelphia, PA:New Society Publishers, 1983
Grassroots and Nonprofit Leadership: A Guide for Organizations in Changing Times (co-author with Berit Lakey, Rod Napier, and Janice Robinson), Philadelphia, PA:New Society Publishers, 1995; new edition (self-published), 2016; also published in translation in Cairo, Belgrade, and Bangkok
Opening Space for Democracy: Curriculum and Manual for Training for Third Party Nonviolent Intervention; co-author with Daniel Hunter), Philadelphia, PA: Training for Change, 2004
Facilitating Group Learning: Strategies for Success with Diverse Adult Learners. San Francisco CA:Jossey-Bass, 2010
Viking Economics: How the Scandinavians got it right and how we can, too; New York, NY and London, England:Melville House Publishing, 2016
How We Win: A Guide to Nonviolent Direct Action Campaigning; New York, NY and London, England:Melville House Publishing, 2018
Dancing with History: A Life for Peace and Justice; New York, NY:Seven Stories Press, 2022
Internet Development and Writing:
Global Nonviolent Action Database, internet – ongoing[23]
Over 1,000 researched cases from nearly 200 countries with focus on campaigns back toancient Egypt that usednonviolent direct action. Searchable, and includes a narrative for each case. Developed by George Lakey withSwarthmore and other university students, with Swarthmore's Peace and Conflict Studies, the Peace Collection, and the Lang Center for Civic and Social Responsibility.[24]
Living Revolution. column internet website WagingNonviolence.org, ongoing
Waging Nonviolence. Blog (featured columnist) internet website WagingNonviolence.org, ongoing on-line blog where George Lakey has been a regular featured columnist since 2010.
