Nonviolent Direct Action

Quaker Direct Action was founded in October 2025 by a group of Minnesota Quakers who saw that many Friends in the area were wanting a coordinated and more direct Quaker response to various social and political issues and to the rapid and radical political changes our country is undergoing.

Building on decades of Quaker involvement in nonviolent social change movements and inspired in part by George Lakey’s book “How We Win”, we are a community of those Friends and “fellow travelers” who together engage in direct action campaigns and their wide variety of tactics.

There are many ways people can participate in or otherwise support Quaker Direct Action.  We seek to be a support community of people with a range of experience in nonviolent action and experiences in life.

One of our main priorities is to help form and develop Quaker Action Teams.

Quaker Action Teams 

Quaker Action Teams (QATs) are the core of QDA’s program. They convene to address a specific issue, educate themselves about the issue, receive training for nonviolent action, develop a strategy for nonviolent action campaign, and conduct the campaign. A QAT may start with as few as four people and grow as needed. Once formed, QATs become sponsored by QDA, are guided by QDA policies,

When a Quaker Action Team is sponsored by QDA, we provide these services, allowing the QAT to focus on running its campaign.

1. Direct assistance in organizing and guiding each campaign at every stage of its development.

2. Leadership development - keeping track of action roles and other leadership roles filled by individuals, identifying individual affinities, making recommendations for future leadership roles.

3. Training -- General training for participating in QDA and conducting campaigns.  Training for action.

4. Fundraising, bookkeeping, and fiscal agency.

5. Data management.

6. Communications and networking, including press releases and publicity.

7. Identification of local resources (legal help, etc.).

8. Organizing gatherings including an annual gathering for the entire QDA community to come together for workshops, social interaction, and community building.