Nonviolence 101 Class In Session

Where are the nonviolent alternatives to the 9 proposed military bases in Afghanistan?

By Michael Nagler and Stephanie Van Hook, syndicated by Peace Voice on May 15, 2013.

Earlier this week, Hamid Karzai confirmed that the United States will build nine new military bases in Afghanistan, including a strategic base at the border with Iran, with White House spokesman Jay Carney assuring us that these nine new bases will not be permanent. Their role will mainly be to strengthen and train the Afghan military; our only question is whether they even entertained any non-military options? With our media, it’s hard to tell.

One of the disservices done to the American public by the corporate media is the framing of this recent decision. As in numerous other reports, we are fed a series of top-down decisions like this one with language suggesting that they are in the best interest of American families and the strength of the nation, and that they are not open to discussion. As usual, the implicit bias from the top is that we citizens are ignorant and powerless; if they do not provide a violent, armed, militarized solution, the US has nothing else to offer. But it is their ignorance and powerlessness that we are seeing, not our own.

There is a Zen saying about a reed in the wind, how it bends while a ‘strong’ tree can break. This truth is echoed by the prolific folksinger, Ani Difranco when she notes in her inimitable way that “buildings and bridges are made to bend with the wind/ what doesn’t bend breaks.” It’s practical wisdom, and very pertinent. As more everyday citizens become interested in exploring nonviolent solutions worldwide, this short-sighted and deadly dichotomy between violence or passivity of the U.S. government exposes its fatal flaw—an inability or an unwillingness adapt and evolve with the growing consciousness of people around the world. Structures simply have to evolve as people grow in consciousness if they do not want to face obsolescence; we created them to serve us, after all, and we are an adaptive species. In other words, if our systems are rigid and violent, it is our responsibility to see that they adapt, or step aside. There is a growing consciousness of a co-creative, life sustaining spectrum that encourages empathy and solidarity and makes everyone safer. Our growing awareness of our interconnection, if only through technology and climate/ecological understanding, points a way out to us from destruction to restoration, from harming to healing, and from profiteering to peacebuilding. Acting on this consciousness of nonviolence, and creating institutional structures to serve it will be a major step forward for everyone; and it is more than just a reprioritization of our values: it’s a rediscovery of who we are.

Read the rest of this op-ed here. . .

 

Events Calendar

Heard of NPR? Metta has become interested in community radio, so we’re hosting Peace Paradigm Radio- PPR- every other Friday at 1 pm on KWMR Point Reyes Station. It streams on the web at KWMR.ORG and you can listen to past shows at this page on our site. Peace Paradigm Radio: What you can tune into when you tune out from the corporate mass media.

 

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Video Pick

A fascinating talk on the deeper principles and strategies of nonviolence, including an overview of the Roadmap (see above tab) by Metta co-founder, Michael Nagler at the 2012 Lake Junaluska Peace Conference.

 

 

 

Metta Project Spotlight

Una Promesa de No Violencia

trans. by Sonia Rafael & Gemma Tarrés Colom

Creyendo como creemos que la vida es un todo interconectado y que existe una armonía ineludible entre los medios y los fines, y convencidos por la probada eficacia de la lucha no violenta por una causa justa, nosotros prometemos lo siguiente:

  • Mientras estemos comprometidos en acciones asociadas con nuestro movimiento, nos abstendremos de usar la violencia con lo que escribimos, decimos, y en la medida de lo posible, incluso con el pensamiento.
  • Vamos a ser conscientes de que nuestros rivales son los sistemas y no las personas. Y de que nuestra meta es convencer, siempre que nos sea posible, en vez de coaccionar. Por lo tanto, no nos permitiremos usar un lenguaje abusivo o gestos amenazantes hacia nadie.
  • No nos limitaremos a separar lo que consideremos injusto, sin al mismo tiempo, ofrecer una alternativa positiva.
  • Cuando tengamos éxito, no presumiremos de nuestra “victoria”, ni añadiremos un tema nuevo a la lucha.
  • Para mantener nuestra propia dignidad y control, no aportaremos, o en la medida de lo posible, permitiremos que otros aporten intoxicantes a una acción.
  • Asumiremos la responsabilidad de controlar a los que podrían tratar de desviarse del carácter no violento de nuestra acción, sin recurrir a sus propias tácticas.
  • Como preparación para una lucha a largo plazo en este espíritu, nos prepararemos aprendiendo todo lo que podamos acerca de la historia, la teoría y la promesa futura de la no violencia.
  • Al mismo tiempo, minimizaremos nuestra exposición a los medios de comunicación comerciales, con su mensaje deshumanizante de violencia y de consumismo.

Read the English Version Here. 

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