By Kat Kanning

In the 1940s, the Congress for Racial Equality began holding training sessions for nonviolent civil rights demonstrators. Training sessions focused on how to remain nonviolent during often heated interactions with the police. These types of training sessions continue today, used by peace activists and other nonviolent protesters to gain valuable skills in dealing with the potentially violent situations encountered when resisting an armed authority figure. Now, libertarians in New Hampshire have their own stripe of nonviolent resistance training.

Begun by Mike Barskey of Derry, PiMP (Practice Makes Perfect) training offers libertarian activists roleplaying sessions for various types of encounters with law enforcement.

Mike Barskey (Photo by Tom Sawyer)

The first session was held on February 21st in Grafton with 16 activists in attendance. In libertarian fashion, there was no set agenda. Participants suggested the type of encounter each wished to role-play. The scenarios in this first session focused mainly on traffic stops, but there was one scenario playing out a court scene, and much discussion about how to handle oneself in jail. Roleplaying protests did not come up in this session, but is another possibility for future seminars.

How each scenario played out had much to do with the individual goal of the roleplayer involved. Some wished to diffuse the situation and avoid a ticket, some wished to ramp it up and fight for rights they felt were being violated. Some wished to play out complete noncooperation.

Russell Kanning commented on the seminar, “I thought the cops were very realistic -- meaning unsettling for most role-players.” Lloyd Danforth added, “I had a lot of fun but will continue to feel each situation out, act as pleasant as I can, and try to drive away.” Bob Constantine said, “Knowing what you hope to accomplish is a good thing. For instance maybe you simply want the interaction to end ASAP or there may be times when you will be more assertive with your rights or trying to prove a point. In cases that you envision yourself as a freedom fighter, the cop may simply see you as a royal pain in the ass and may act accordingly. Not every situation has the same elements therefore some of our "answers" are more like guidelines and you have to decide which ones to use depending on the variables. There are no pat answers.

I would have been a better cop if you'd have had a chocolate cruller there...”

Attendee Teri Kaneshiro had this to say about the seminar, “I thought it was very informative, and very helpful to observe the differences in responses. Bob was scary as a cop because he was so realistic. Lauren, and Jim were also great as cops. Really, everyone who participated was just awesome. Geez, you'd almost think we'd all had real experience with this kind of thing. The critiquing was perfect as it allowed different viewpoints and suggestions to be discussed. Also, getting at the core, deciding what one's true intent in the situation was, made a difference is how each person handled their scene.

I really benefited from the question/answer portion that we engaged in with those that have gone to jail. Having at least some foreknowledge about the various situations I might find myself in some day took the edge off the fear of the unknown. Also, everyone's honesty about what they felt, fear, despair, etc., was very inspiring.

I think this was well worth the time and effort that everyone put in, and would appreciate doing it again.”

PiMP Training
http://www.pimpmyactivism.info
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UM_waMZ1v64
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOCmxUK-lw8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FP7I8_uau4

Nonviolence Training
http://www.nonviolencetraining.org/

Embassy of Heaven Jail Guide
http://goingtojail.embassyofheaven.com/