Direct Action! Education for Resistance and Rebellion
Thu 18 Sep – Thu 13 Nov 2025 NZDT
Direct Action! Training for Resistance and Rebellion
Check out the course webpage for more details!
Direct action gets the job done! From climate to immigration, activists have been freeing us all through vigorous challenges to power. This class will bring together activists and experts from across a range of issues to talk about their experiences planning and carrying out a range of actions, from climate action in Aotearoa to nonviolent civil resistance against rising fascism. With a focus on the practical, this class will explore what works, why it works – and how to keep yourself and your community safe when taking direct action. Guest speakers include Spencer Sunshine, Joel Bellman ... and more to be announced soon!
Your Facilitators
The Dark Times Academy team!
Zoom sessions
18 September - 13 November
NZST: Thursday 12:00 noon
EDT: Wednesday 8:00 pm
PDT: Wednesday 5:00 pm
AEST: Thursday 10:00 am
Note: Daylight saving time will happen in multiple places during this course! We will follow the time change in Aotearoa New Zealand. Please check the time for each week below using the link to confirm for your location!
Class Outline
This class is different from our usual offerings!
Each week will have a new expert guest in to answer the questions: Why choose direct action? and What role do you see direct action playing in creating a better world?
Students will be sent a short, recorded interview with the guest before class, and then we will sit down as a group and talk with the guest about their ideas, their work, and what they think we should all be doing in this moment. If you've been feeling hopeless or unsure how to help, this class will leave you with a broad range of evidence-informed perspectives and ideas for what you can do to create a better world.
- Week 1 18 September
- Week 2 25 September
- Week 3 2 October
- Week 4 9 October
BREAK WEEK! 16 October
- Week 5 23 October
- Week 6 30 October
- Week 7 6 November
- Week 8 13 November
Class Project (TO DISCUSS)
Classes like this can feel heavy sometimes--but action helps us to redirect our energy into doing the work of making a better world. As part of this class, we will be offering the opportunity for the class to decide on shared optional project aimed at making a cooler world. We will discuss the options and make a plan together--in the past Mandy's classes have created learning games, planned events, and developed submissions to political leaders. What we do will be up to the students who enrol!