Nonviolence

Can ‘Spiritual Left’ Make The Change They Wish To See?

April 19, 2017 Arielle Levites, www.religiondispatches.org Create! Left, Nonviolence

By Arielle Levites for Religion Dispatches - Over the last twenty-five years, as more and more Americans cease affiliating with any particular religion or church, they increasingly identify with an alternative religious sensibility: “spirituality.” Approximately one in five Americans consider themselves “spiritual-but-not-religious.” While the practice of American spirituality is diverse and decentralized, my research shows that there are many common features in its expression, from yoga studios to mindfulness seminars. It may not surprise you to learn that the spiritual-but-not-religious heavily favor the Democratic Party. A survey conducted by the Pew Research Center in 2012 found that Americans who identify as spiritual-but-not-religious are twice as likely to lean Democratic as they are to lean Republican (62% to 31%). But what kind of political activism does spirituality promote? The culture of American spirituality tends to emphasize civic action through emotional self-development. Spiritual practitioners argue that we can best change the world through changing ourselves. If we properly govern our own emotional responses, lowering negative emotion while cultivating positive emotion we make our country a better place...

Night After Day In Afghanistan

March 26, 2017 Dr. Hakim, www.ourjourneytosmile.com Create! Afghanistan, Education, Nonviolence, Peace

By Dr. Hakim for the Afghan Peace Volunteers. Dr. Hakim runs the Afghan Peace Volunteers. Here is the most recent message that they sent about the important work they are doing to survive, heal and build community: I’m so often caught up in the daily concerns of work and the wars raging across Afghanistan and many parts of the world that I forget how remarkable it is that at the Borderfree Nonviolence Community Centre in Kabul, 19 small teams with more than 70 active Afghan Peace Volunteers are putting nonviolence into microscopic but concrete practice. There’s also the pulsating energy from 100 eager street kids ready to change themselves. All these ‘small people’ with ‘big souls’ touch me. They move my days and nights.

The Protesting Priest

March 5, 2017 Angela Ufheil, www.urban-plains.com Resist! Catholic Workers, Nonviolence, Wars and Militarism

By Angela Ufheil for Urban Plains. Each year, the Andrews Air Force Base hosts an open house. Thousands visit the Maryland base to see the latest in aircraft technology. Pilots perform aerial stunts. Soldiers give talks. And in 1998, five activists, known as the Gods of Metal Plowshares Five, attacked a military bomber. An interpretation of Roman Catholicism allows for the destruction of property in the name of pacifism. That’s where the Plowshares movement came from. The movement aligned with Frank’s goals perfectly. When the first Plowshares action took place in 1980 — a group of eight damaged a nuclear warhead and poured blood onto documents and files — Frank knew he’d one day participate. Most Plowshares protests involved active resistance to war. In this case, active resistance isn’t just writing letters and making a few calls. It means trespassing on military property. It means pouring blood. It means breaking things.

Standing Rock Lives On As A Model For Peaceful Resistance

February 25, 2017 Four Arrows, www.truth-out.org Resist! Nonviolence, Peace, Standing Rock

By Four Arrows for Truthout - Oppressive legislation is aimed at ending grassroots resistance, the bedrock requirement for sustaining democracy. In an op-ed in the Guardian, Douglas Williams writes that it is not just the media, judiciary or electoral systems that are being undermined: "What is ignored is the effect that the Trump administration will have on the social movements, which serve as pillars of the resistance. If these fall, our democracy will be irreparably harmed." In response to the "water is life" spiritual movement in Standing Rock, lawmakers in 10 states have proposed oppressive legislation. In North Dakota, a bill was proposed to let someone get away with running over a protester, after a cop on a snowmobile ran over a Water Protector. Earlier this month, the North Dakota State Senate passed a bill 33-12, making it illegal for a protester to wear a mask, whether to protect the face from cold or pepper spray.

When You Brag That The Women’s Marches Were Nonviolent

February 7, 2017 Ijeoma Oluo, www.theestablishment.co Strategize! March, Nonviolence, Women

By Ijeoma Oluo for The Establishment - When you brag that your protests had no arrests, I wonder what you think that says about you. “When someone asks me about violence… I just find it incredible. Because what it means is that the person asking that question has absolutely no idea what black people have gone through — what black people have experienced in this country — since the time the first black person was kidnapped from the shores of Africa.” — Angela Davis

America: It’s Going To Be A Wild Ride

January 22, 2017 Bruce Gagnon, www.space4peace.com Strategize! Nonviolence, Solidarity, Trump, US Empire

By Bruce Gagnon for the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space. I watched Donald Trump's inaugural speech yesterday with three other housemates and none of us were impressed. He's living in another age - I see Trump trying to hang on to the long passed time of American military supremacy and economic domination. One last gasp before the US empire crashes under the weight of its own hypocrisy and contradictions. He said a few things that were decent but one must question them as pure political rhetoric as just a quick review of his cabinet appointments (full of corporate operatives) strongly undercuts his claims that he will return the power to the people that the 'elites in Washington' have unfairly taken from them. Trump blames other nations (especially China) for 'stealing our jobs' but we all know that it was the absolute greed of the corporations that drove them to close production plants across America and move jobs to places overseas where labor was cheaper and environmental regulations were virtually non-existent.

Newsletter – The Consent Of The Governed

January 7, 2017 Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese, www.popularresistance.org Newsletter Cooperatives, Democracy, illegitimate government, Indigenous Peoples, Neoliberalism, New Economy, Nonviolence, Propaganda, Rojava, Russia, Ungovernable, Venezuela, Wealth Ineqaulity, Worker Cooperatives, Zapatistas

By Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese. Governments function because of the consent of the governed. When a government does not serve the needs or interests of the people, it loses its legitimacy and no longer deserves the consent of the people.Plutocracy defined We have argued for a long time that current governments at all levels - local, state and federal -function primarily to benefit the wealthy. Academics have proven that the United States is a plutocracy - rule of, by and for the wealthy. It is time for us to withdraw our consent. Let's consider how to do that and what protections will be needed. When a government loses the consent of the people, all it has left to wield to keep its power is repression and force. Cooperation Jackson and the Malcolm X Grassroots Organizing Movement, is calling for "a program of noncompliance and noncooperation on both the federal and state levels." We have entered a new era, a presidency of protest and an increasing illegitimate government. We have the power to withdraw our consent from hate and exploitation and build love and prosperity.

Speak Out Against Trump

December 11, 2016 George Payne, www.popularresistance.org Organize! Nonviolence, Trump

By George Payne of Gandhi Earth Keepers International. Rochester, NY - Denouncing the President-elect is not an act of disunity. Where would the United States be without ordinary citizens speaking up and questioning the policies and decisions of their elected leaders? After-all, we are a nation born out of dissent rather than conformity. I am not willing to extend Donald Trump the benefit of the doubt. He is not my President. He is not my representative. He is not my fellow American. Trump lost my confidence when he mocked the disabled and then lied about his intentions. He lost my allegiance when he threatened to put a political opponent in jail. He lost my trust when he bragged about sexual molestation of women.

Newsletter – Standing Rock And American Genocide

December 4, 2016 Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese, www.popularresistance.org Newsletter #NoDAPL, Indigenous Rights, Nonviolence, Oil and Gas, Pipelines, Solidarity, Sovereignty, Standing Rock, Water

By Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese. As we write this newsletter, we are driving to North Dakota to volunteer at Standing Rock. We have been wanting to go for many months but could not because of our commitment to organizing to stop the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and our political work outside of Popular Resistance. We were planning to join a team from Baltimore in late December, but recent events made us decide that it was more important to go ourselves now. For a while, a profound sense of the importance of this moment has been growing within us. There are and have been many fights against fossil fuel infrastructure, but this one is different. Given the history of the country, the crises we all face on many levels and the direction that we are going - growing revolt and an increasingly repressive government - the fight at Standing Rock feels like a major turning point.

Inspiration For Nonviolence: The Battle Of Seattle

November 30, 2016 Rivera Sun, http://www.paceebene.org Strategize! Battle of Seattle, Nonviolence, WTO

By Rivera Sun for Campaign Nonviolence. On November 30th, 1999, the World Trade Organization was scheduled to conduct a summit in Seattle, WA. Due to the intervention of activists, the meetings took place amidst widespread resistance, protest, and disruption. Although the acts of property damage, violence, and the violent repression tactics of the police were widely publicized, a number of on-the-ground nonviolent activists urge us to question the narrative of violence, and dig deeper into the nonviolent side of the story. Organizer David Solnit wrote, "It was a moment when organized resistance became a genuine popular uprising, successfully shutting down the opening day of the WTO meeting, taking over the downtown core of a major American city, and contributing to the collapse of negotiations that would have increased poverty, destruction, and misery around the world."

Seeking The True Path

November 25, 2016 Robert J. Burrowes, www.popularresistance.org Educate! Children, Nonviolence

By Robert J. Burrowes. One of the more subtle manifestations of the intimate link between (unconscious) human emotions and behaviour is illustrated by the simple concept of choice and how this is so often reduced to a dichotomy between two bad options. In such circumstances, most people choose whatever they consider to be ‘the lesser evil’. But how often are there only two options, even if they appear ‘good’ and ‘bad’? Frankly, I cannot think of one circumstance in which my choices are limited to two, however good or bad they appear to be. Why does this belief in just two options arise? When we are born, our evolutionary inheritance includes a phenomenally powerful capacity to feel a complex range of emotions.

Gandhi: ‘My Life Is My Message’

October 2, 2016 Robert J. Burrowes, www.popularresistance.org Organize! Gandhi, Nonviolence, Peace

By Robert J. Burrowes. As most of the world ignores or hypocritically celebrates the 147th birthday of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi on the International Day of Nonviolence on 2 October, some of us will quietly acknowledge his life by continuing to build the world that he envisioned. When asked for his message for the world, Gandhi responded with the now famous line 'My life is my message' reflecting his lifelong struggle against violence. Gandhi's life was dotted with many memorable quotes but one that is less well known is this: 'You may never know what results come of your actions but if you do nothing there will be no results'. Fortunately, there are many committed people who have identified the importance of taking action to end the violence in our world...

Anti-Drone Activists Say “Enough War”

September 30, 2016 Sharon Delgado, www.sharondelgado.org Resist! Afghanistan, Drones, Nonviolence, Wars and Militarism

By Sharon Delgado for Campaign Nonviolence. Before we were arrested, each of us explained what we have had enough of. I explained that I have had enough of drone warfare. (Beale is the home of the Global Hawk Drone, a surveillance drone that identifies targets for armed Predator and Reaper drones.) I have also had enough of the U.S. Air Force Vision for 2020, which is geared toward “full spectrum dominance” for the purpose of “protecting U.S. interests and investments” as “the globalization of the world economy… continues, with a widening between “haves” and “have-nots.” I have had enough of the U.S. military enforcing a global order that is enriching the already wealthy, protecting the privileged, exploiting those who are vulnerable, causing massive suffering, and destroying this beautiful earth. #Enough war. #Enough “accidental” (or incidental) killing of children. #Enough suffering. #Enough extrajudicial killing. #Enough.

Weeks Of #NoDAPL Solidarity Actions Planned

September 6, 2016 Melinda Tuhus, www.beyondextremeenergy.org Resist! #NoDAPL, Dakota Access Pipeline, Nonviolence, Oil and Gas

By Melinda Tuhus for Beyond Extreme Energy. North Dakota - Our Native American brothers, sisters, relations & settler supporters have assembled at the Sacred Stone Camp and are converging with hundreds of Indigenous Tribal Nations and thousands of Water Protectors at Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in North Dakota. They are holding the line against construction of a pipeline that would carry highly flammable, fracked oil from the Bakken oil fields in that state to Illinois. The pipeline would go under the Missouri River, and protesters — referring to themselves as “protectors” and holding signs such as “Water is Life” — are carrying out radical non-violent resistance. Their numbers swell daily at the Camp of the Sacred Stones and the Red Warriors Camp.

New Occupation At Mississippi Entrance To Dakota Access Pipeline

September 6, 2016 Frank Cordaro, www.popularresistance.org Resist! #NoDAPL, Dakota Access Pipeline, Nonviolence, Pipeline

By Frank Cordaro of the Des Moines Catholic Worker. Jessica Reznicek out of jail and is now starting a “24/7” occupation of the Dakota Access pipeline Mississippi entrance just north of Keokuk IA. DM Catholic Worker Jess Reznicek was arrested twice earlier this week for blocking traffic at this Dakota Access pipeline entrance on the Mississippi. In hopes to get more people to join her, Jess changed her presence from blocking traffic in and out of the site to setting up her tent and starting a 24 hr / 7 days a week occupation of the entrance. Jess got permission from the property owner to set her tent up and welcomes others to join her in the same nonviolent spirit.

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