This week, Michael and Stephanie welcome Dr. Wim Laven, professor, author, board member of the International Peace Research Association and the Peace and Justice Studies Association, and Editor in Chief of Peace Chronicle magazine. Wim’s work looks at the immense power of forgiveness as well as the very real difficulties involved in the act of forgiving. How does forgiving release us and allow us to move forward? What are the conditions needed for meaningful forgiveness? How can we forgive the unforgivable?&nbsp; People are figuring out, you know, and being coached by their friends and their family and their spiritual advisors and so forth, that in order to live their best lives, they’re going to have to release some of these injustices, despite the fact that it’s completely unfair, right? Like police departments pulling over people just because of the color of their skin or just because they’ve profiled them to match descriptions of whatever prejudicial bias they would like to monitor. But being angry about it, staying angry about it, is having harmful consequences. In that capacity, the police officer is just following orders and we know that just following orders has been used as a defence about some of the most heinous crimes in history. But it really is. It’s the system or the structure that’s creating those outcomes. I don&#8217;t know how much the student is aware that what they&#8217;re doing is forgiving the racism in America, but I do know that they are aware that if they stay angry, then they’ll be unemployed. And they’re finding ways to get over that – at least to the degree that they&#8217;re able to function, you know? It’s challenging stuff. I think that there are some people that would say that that’s not really forgiveness. I would. I do. I think that I’ve learned a lot from my students sharing their experiences and their practices for how they get through the critical injustices in the world. Wim’s work with students in prison and all over the world illuminates the way in which forgiving plays an essential role in helping individuals to release anger so that they can live more freely and fully. At the level of society, Wim shows how forgiving can work to dismantle power structures that allow for, even encourage cruel, unjust and violent actions. Forgiving is not easy, but it is a powerful force which, when harnessed, allows for deep and lasting transformation. Transcript archived at Waging No<a href="https:...

Adobe stock Nonviolence and utopian thinking go hand in hand, or so argues Safoora Arbab on this week’s episode of Nonviolence Radio. Utopian thinking is about what is possible, not what is impossible, she posits, and when coupled with nonviolence, we have both a roadmap and a means for achieving a more balanced and inclusive political identity. The goal may be “ever receding” as Gandhi said, and yet, without the clarity that utopian thinking can provide, nonviolence cannot fulfill its higher capacity to engage with long-term systems’ transformation.&nbsp; Michael Nagler begins the show with his Nonviolence Report for the week.&nbsp; Transcript archived at Waging Nonviolence.

How does the way that we live contribute to a nonviolent society? As the pace of society speeds up, fewer and fewer people are finding fulfillment in the promise of a world that is based on advancing technology, consumerism, and depersonalization. Yet there are pockets of nonviolence-oriented people around the world who are experimenting with community life as a solution to our society’s ills. While this does not mean that there will not be any conflicts (remember, conflict is natural&#8211;violence is not), or that the experiment is perfect (for Gandhi, all was an experiment, a learning opportunity), it is precisely in community living infused with high ideals like those of the nonviolent path, that we can see ourselves and our human potential more clearly.&nbsp; In this episode of Nonviolence Radio we speak with Tim Anderson, a full-time resident of a nonviolence-oriented community in the South of France, founded by Lanza del Vasto, an Italian follower of the Gandhian path.&nbsp; In the Nonviolence Report, Michael Nagler makes the radical case for restorative justice because of the impact of retribution on the human psyche and our societal development; and Stephanie shares an article from Waging Nonviolence by Robert Levering about Daniel Ellsberg’s conversion to nonviolence, and a press release from the Shanti Sena Network on their upcoming gathering, to which all are invited! Transcript archived at Waging Nonviolence.

This week, Nonviolence Radio hosts Mubarak Awad, founder of the National Youth Advocate Program, which provides alternative foster care and counseling to &#8220;at risk&#8221; youth and their families. He is also the founder of the Palestinian Center for the Study of Nonviolence in Jerusalem and of Nonviolence International, which works with groups and organizations all over the world. Michael asks Mubarak about his path from Palestine to the US, about his early work with kids in prison, about his long commitment to nonviolence (sparked by his mom), and about the recent violence in the MIddle East. Mubarak goes to the deep and entrenched roots of the problems between Palestinians and Israelis and finds clarity and hope: There is always an alternative. It doesn’t matter what is the conflict, what is the problem, you have to create an alternative. Many times, people will come to [Palestinian Center for the Study of Nonviolence] and they would say, “The Israeli soldiers, the Israeli settlers came and uproot all our olive trees that are hundreds of years old.” And I said, “Okay, so what do you want me to do? Is it to find those trees and bring them back?” They said, “No, we don’t know where they’re at.” I said, “Okay, let’s get groups together. Let’s get even Israelis with us and let’s go.” And they took 100 trees, 1000 trees. We&#8217;ll plant 4000 trees so that in years to come, we&#8217;ll have more trees than the original. And that’s how we start. He highlights the need for both sides to listen and respect each other, however different their individual beliefs might be, “Our idea of understanding is first to respect other peoples’ beliefs. It doesn’t matter if you believe in it or not, they believe in it. That’s an important thing.” He stresses the need for equality amongst all people, “The Israelis have to see that they are not better or worse than the Palestinians, we are equal to them. That equality is important.”  Creative solutions, respect and equality are all, according to Mubarak, essential aspects of living, active, effective  nonviolence. Transcript is archived at Waging Nonviolence

A statue of James Farmer on the University of Mary Washington campus. (Flickr/Caitlin Murphy) The legacy of Mahatma Gandhi goes well beyond the Indian Freedom Struggle. He has influenced countless movements and struggles for freedom and democracy around the world, decolonization struggles, including the civil rights movement within the United States. We speak with P. Anand Rao who is a professor of Communications and Digital Studies at the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, Virginia. I reached out to Rao to see if he could talk to us a little bit about what research he’s done into this connection between Gandhi and the civil rights movement. And also, how it ties into the legacy of James Farmer. I also happen to be an alum of Mary Washington. So, I was very excited to find on a listserv that I’m a part of, M.K.Gandi.org, that a professor from Mary Washington wrote a piece for his local newspaper about the influence of Gandhi on the civil rights movement. As I started to reflect back, I remembered there was a statue right across from the building where I studied philosophy (the Classics, Philosophy and Religion department) of a great Civil Rights leader, James Farmer. And I thought, “Well, maybe it isn’t unlikely that a professor from Mary Washington would be speaking about the civil rights movement and Gandhi, given that there’s actually a deep legacy between the University of Mary Washington and the civil rights leader, James Farmer. Read the transcript at Waging Nonviolence.

Nonviolence is happening all over the world, though it’s underreported in the mass media. The Nonviolence Report with Michael Nagler will give the news in nonviolence, events, and analysis which might even inspire you to take action where you live. 00:23 Intro 00:55 Master of Sustainable Peacebuilding Course 01:36 Third Harmony Screening in Jalgaon 02:06 Meta Peace Team Trainings 03:18 Campaign Nonviolence workshops 03:38 Stephen Zunes Sudan&#8217;s 2019 Revolution 04:41 Digital Nonviolence Talk 05:28 Housing Solution Summit 06:12 Votercade for John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Day 06:46 Protests of Berlin&#8217;s repeal of “rent cap” 07:43 People&#8217;s Choice Communications 09:11 First Global Scientist Rebellion Play Global Scientist Rebellion – civil disobedience at Downing Street 10:06 Diana Wilson &#8211; hunger strike 11:42 Coal Miners Union transition 13:31 <a href="https://www.nonviolentpeaceforce.org/blog/english-press-clips/941-civilians-protecting-civilians" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"...

.border { border:5px solid rgb(52 167 164); } .round{ background: rgb(36 102 101); border-radius: 20%; color: white; margin: 1 1 2 0; } .round:focus { background: rgb(214 94 40); outline-style: none; } .round:hover { background:rgb(52 167 164); transform: scale(1.1); } 00:42 Chauvin Verdict 01:35 Healing Our City &#8212; Darnell Moore for Ma&#8217;Khia Bryant 07:58 &#8220;Madman with a Sword” analogy 08:39 Restorative Justice 09:18 Nonviolence and the case of the extremely ruthless opponent 10:56 Resources 11:02 Free Bystander Intervention &#038; De-escalation Trainings 11:29 For Goodness Sake: Music for the Nonviolent Future 12:11 Planned Actions for Campaign Nonviolence Action Week 12:45 Rivera Sun&#8217;s Upcoming Events 12:55 Sustaining Peace Project 13:20 <a href="https://cfpeace.org/the-israeli-palestinian-memorial-ceremony/#m...

“Share the Day” – this is a translation of a greeting from the ocean world of Shora which was a world created by Joan Slonczewski. She’s a science fiction writer and professor at Kenyon College. This is from her 1986 novel, A Door Into Ocean. The book describes a society of people who are committed to nonviolence at a very, very deep level – and not just an emotional, sentimental kind of ‘do no harm’ nonviolence, but one that is a really deeply transformed view of what it means to be human. And with that, what’s really at stake when we turn to or away from the nonviolent path. Read the transcript at Waging Nonviolence.

.border { border:5px solid rgb(52 167 164); } .round{ background: rgb(36 102 101); border-radius: 20%; color: white; margin: 1 1 2 0; } .round:focus { background: rgb(214 94 40); outline-style: none; } .round:hover { background:rgb(52 167 164); transform: scale(1.1); } 00:00 Nonviolence Radio &#8211; Hollaback! 08:59 Five D&#8217;s of Bystander Intervention 33:20 Trainings. * Webinar with Michael Beer at ICNC. * NV Tactics Social Media and More Tool Kit * Nonviolent Tactics Database Submissions * Webinar at James Lawson Institute * Michael Beer – Civil Resistance Tactics of the 21st Century * Gene Sharp&#8217;s 198 Methods 36:27 &#8220;Restless as Mercury&#8221; 38:04 Yellow Finch Blockade of Mountain Valley Pipeline 39:52 Jesuit Fr. Steve Kelly 42:39 MLB All-Star Games Moved From Georgia 44:17 Judge Throws Out Charges Against Activists 45:31 <a href="https://www.greenpeace.

How Hollaback! is Creating a Culture of Community Accountability and Mutual Respect: An Interview with Emily May. Emily May is co-founder of Hollaback!. In the two weeks immediately following the Georgia attack that killed 8 people, 6 of them Asian women, over 40,000 people signed up for trainings in bystander intervention with an incredible organization called Hollaback! They’re really leaders in the world of bystander intervention as a tool to end harassment, teaching a framework known as the “Five Ds” (Distract, Delegate, Document, Delay, and Direct) which many groups who do similar work borrow from them. According to Emily May, Hollaback!’s Co-Founder and Executive Director,&nbsp; “It’s something that all of us can do to take care of each other when harassment happens that slowly but surely chips away at the institutions that underlie it – the institutions of racism and sexism and homophobia that allow it to proliferate to the extent to which it has.” She adds, however, that bystander intervention is only one piece of the solution, noting that we have to also turn to restorative and transformative justice, and “solutions we haven’t even imagined yet.” I had the opportunity to speak with May from her Brooklyn office for Nonviolence Radio about showing up for community, the 5 Ds, why they don’t recommend calling the police, the power of sharing our stories (they have an App for that!), and the importance of ‘resourcing’ organizations like Hollaback!. Read the transcript at Waging Nonviolence.