Two Hands of Nonviolence

Principle:

Nonviolence entails both resistance to injustice and acceptance of the humanity of those inflicting it. Activist/writer Barbara Deming (1917-1984) gifted us with the image of the “two hands of nonviolence” which expresses a fundamental paradox at the heart of nonviolence, holding up one hand we say, “I will not submit to your injustice,” while offering an open hand, we say, “I am open to you as a human being.” Indeed, it is because we value that person that we want to prevent them from harming others and in the process harming themselves.

Here is the exact quote from Deming, from her essay Revolution and Equilibrium,

"With one hand we say to one who is angry, or to an oppressor, or to an unjust system, ‘Stop what you are doing. I refuse to honor the role you are choosing to play. I refuse to obey you. I refuse to cooperate with your demands. I refuse to build the walls and the bombs. I refuse to pay for the guns. With this hand I will even interfere with the wrong you are doing. I want to disrupt it.’

"But then the advocate of nonviolence raises the other hand. It is raised outstretched—maybe with love and sympathy, maybe not—but always outstretched… With this hand we say, ‘I won’t let go of you or cast you out of the human race. I have faith that you can make a better choice than you are making now, and I’ll be here when you are ready. Like it or not, we are part of one another.’"

Reflection:

Hold up your hands in the “Two Hands” gesture. Close your eyes and imagine how you would translate this into action toward a person (or persons) with whom you are in conflict. Do not anticipate any particular response from the other person, but notice what changes inside of yourself. Notice how withholding the negative energies inside yourself (the open hand) leads to a creative resistance that does not dehumanize.