Our Principles

If you would like support from the Resistance Guide and our network, we would love for you to affiliate with us as a Resistance Circle. Affiliation is not exclusive—you’re welcome join us and continue working with Indivisible or any other existing group. To affiliate with Resistance Guide, we ask that you use these principles in your work. These principles are our basic agreements that bind us together and define us as Resistance Circles. Actions that violate these principles are not Resistance Circle actions. It is all of our responsibility to ensure that they are followed by every member of a Resistance Circle:

We are one piece of the puzzle. Resistance circles, the movements we participate in, and the individuals that form our community, are each only one piece of the puzzle. In order to transform the unjust systems around us, we appreciate and celebrate the many distinct roles that must be filled and types of action that are taken.

We are a nonviolent movement. We embody nonviolent discipline knowing this is the only way to win the hearts and minds of the American community.

We are a movement of volunteers. We do not accept money from sources seeking to influence Resistance Circles, and stipends are used exclusively to increase volunteers’ capacity to meet the needs of the movement at a given time. We recognize and applaud the many different forms that sacrifice and risk can take.

We focus on what unites rather than what divides us. We are individuals who are differently affiliated, but together we act as a Resistance Circle. Organizational representatives are welcome to participate so long as their organization explicitly agrees to adhere to the principles of Resistance Guide.

We connect through vulnerability. We have found that telling honest and vulnerable stories about our experiences is a powerful way to reconnect with ourselves and each other. We support each other to reach deeper into our stories over time. We value leadership that is rooted in vulnerability, empathy and support.

We show up for each other when we take risks. People who have experienced more oppression often have to take on more risk to step into movement leadership. We give support to our leaders in proportion to the amount of risk they are taking on.

Diversity is our most precious resource. Like in a biodiverse ecology, we are stronger and more resilient with our differences. No one person, and no one group of people has all the answers. We bring people together across differences of identity and experience to enrich our learnings and our lives, and because our shared movements can be greater than the sum of our parts. Because we understand the richness of diverse identities, we celebrate and welcome participants of all races, ethnicities, class backgrounds, and sexual and gender identities.