A. Learning about START

“A Guide to Organizing a START Group,” April, 2007, 134 pages (at 250 words/page — 54 written pages).

Carefully read Chapter 1 and Sections 2.A through 2.F (47 pages). Skim Sections 2.G, 2.H, and the rest of the chapters.

http://www.startguide.org/guide/g00.html [access on-line]

or

http://www.startguide.org/docs/STARTGuide.pdf [to print or download]

Chapter 1 provides an overview of the START course. Chapters 2 and 3 provide suggestions for structure and process. The rest of the study guide offers background information and other resources.

“Study Circle Democracy,” by Cecile Andrews, Yes! Magazine, Winter 2003, 3 p.

http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/what-would-democracy-look-like/study-circle-democracy

To believe in democracy, you need to believe in the power of people to find answers to the problems they’re facing. This includes: inspiring and motivating people to care about the common good; helping people learn to trust their own judgment and speak out; helping people think critically; and helping people learn to work with others in a cooperative, collegial manner to bring about change.

Common Security Clubs: Coming Together to Prepare for Economic Change, 2009.

http://localcircles.org/

A 5-session group to discuss the current economic crisis, how it is touching us personally, and what we can do about it, personally and politically.

Engage: Exploring Nonviolent Living, by Pace e Bene, 2006.

http://paceebene.org/book/engage

A 12-session course to explores nonviolent options for transforming our lives, our communities, and our larger world.

“Solutions to Violence Class,” by Colman McCarthy, San Antonio Peacecenter.

http://www.salsa.net/peace/conv/index.html

An 8-session class using classics in peace and justice literature to teach peacemaking.

Northwest Earth Institute

http://www.nwei.org/discussion_courses

Offers a series of discussion courses on sustainable living, voluntary simplicity, deep ecology, and global trade.

“Challenging Corporate Power, Asserting the People’s Rights,” 10-session study group from the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF), 1999.

http://www.wilpf.org/CPOWER_10sessions

A 10-session course to learn how corporations use their illegitimate constitutional “rights” and powers to define our law, politics, jurisprudence, work, technologies, food, and communities.

Financial Integrity, New Roadmap Foundation

http://www.financialintegrity.org/index.php?title=Discussion_Groups

An 8-session on-line study group for achieving financial integrity based on the book Your Money or Your Life.

Building a Peace System, by Robert A. Irwin (ExPro Press, 1989).

http://www.bmartin.cc/pubs/91BRnvt1.html (Review by Brian Martin, 2 p.)

Irwin’s manual offers a carefully chosen set of readings on topics such as arms control, envisaging and designing a future of peace, and developing change strategies.

“Roots of Change,” International Society for Ecology and Culture (ISEC), $50 for materials.

http://www.localfutures.org/study-circle-program

A study circle program with three goals: 1) to encourage a broad analysis of the origins and workings of the global economy, 2) to promote discussion of the impact of globalization on participants’ own communities and communities around the world, and 3) to generate strategies for effective local action.