Freedom Trainers is a nonprofit educational organization that teaches people how to use collective noncooperation and nonviolent civil resistance to defend democracy and counter authoritarianism. Its work focuses on translating historical research about successful resistance movements into practical training materials that communities, organizers, workers, educators, and ordinary citizens can use.
The organization emphasizes the principle that authoritarian systems depend on cooperation from institutions and individuals. Freedom Trainers teaches participants how workers, businesses, civil servants, schools, faith communities, media organizations, unions, legal professionals, and other parts of society can act collectively when democratic institutions or fundamental rights are threatened. Its educational approach draws on historical examples of nonviolent resistance in countries including Serbia, Chile, Poland, and the Philippines.
Freedom Trainers offers free online workshops covering civil resistance, collective noncooperation, community strike readiness, election defense, and nonviolent direct action. Recorded trainings are also available for people who cannot participate in live sessions. Organizations and community groups can request workshops tailored to their needs.
A major feature of the website is its extensive Noncooperation Library, which contains dozens of publicly available training materials, presentations, handouts, videos, case studies, worksheets, and organizing toolkits. Resources address economic pressure campaigns, boycotts, strikes, mutual aid, action security, de escalation, election protection, civil service, labor organizing, faith communities, jury participation, political violence, and strategic escalation.
The library also includes resources specifically designed for different sectors of society. Materials are available for educators, federal workers, labor unions, legal professionals, businesses, faith communities, students, artists, veterans, military families, and mutual aid organizers. This approach helps participants understand how their existing workplaces, institutions, and communities can become important sources of democratic resilience.
Election protection is another significant area of the organization’s work. Freedom Trainers provides election defense scenarios, training presentations, messaging resources, volunteer opportunities, accountability toolkits, and a People’s Election Playbook intended to help communities prepare for potential election interference and protect democratic participation.
Freedom Trainers states that it is committed to lawful, nonviolent action. Its materials are provided for educational purposes and include resources from both the organization itself and outside organizations.
For the Resistance Directory, Freedom Trainers is an especially useful education and training resource because it goes beyond explaining democratic resistance and provides concrete learning materials that communities can use themselves. Its combination of free trainings, downloadable curricula, historical case studies, organizing tools, and sector specific resources makes it a strong starting point for people who want to learn how organized nonviolent movements work.
Key Features
- Provides free training in collective noncooperation and nonviolent civil resistance.
- Maintains an extensive open source Noncooperation Library.
- Offers live virtual workshops and recorded training sessions.
- Provides election defense training and organizing resources.
- Includes resources for economic pressure campaigns and boycotts.
- Offers community strike readiness education.
- Provides mutual aid and community organizing training.
- Includes action security and de escalation resources.
- Offers specialized materials for workers, educators, civil servants, faith communities, legal professionals, students, and other groups.
- Uses historical resistance movements as case studies for modern organizing.
- Provides downloadable slides, handouts, worksheets, toolkits, videos, and training curricula.
- Allows organizations and community groups to request workshops.