A Holy Devotion to Peace

Getting to Know David Hartsough

“Friends, as you see, I am well protected by the police as they take me off to jail.” - David Hartsough

This episode of Nonviolence Radio welcomes David Hartsough, long time nonviolent activist, former executive director of PeaceWorkers and co-founder of Nonviolent Peaceforce. Stephanie and Michael talk with David about his early exposure to the power of nonviolence through his parents and early upbringing, his later activism in the Civil Rights Movement in the US and abroad in Sarajevo and Gaza – to name just a few places he’s worked bravely and lovingly for peace. Throughout their conversation, one sees David’s fundamental commitment to the principles and practice of nonviolence, from resistance to oppression through boycotts and sit-ins to the creative work of constructive program in which people actively build an alternative to the existing power structure. By the end of the interview, David makes it clear how natural and accessible nonviolence is to everyone:

Well, I think every person has the potential to respond to nonviolence. The problem is most of us never try. And that's certainly not what people get taught in the schools. It's not what our newspapers tell us. It's not what our president and vice president or congress people tell us. But I think the people that were in the civil rights and the freedom movement in the 60s realized that. 

Nonviolence doesn’t ask us to be anything but our most human and humane selves – and while not difficult, it does call on us to find models and examples of behavior outside of what much of our current media reports.

Transcript archived at Waging Nonviolence