Nonviolence: “Nonviolence is the personal practice of being harmless to self and others under every condition. It comes from the belief that hurting people, animals or the environment is unnecessary to achieve an outcome and refers to a general philosophy of abstention from violence.” From Wikipedia
Vision for our community. Imagine this…
We have learned to be nonviolent in every way in our community. It has been a blast learning about strategic nonviolence so we can have classes on this topic at our learning center. We apply these principles as we help change the government in our local Madison County and Huntsville where there is a lot of corruption.
All of us are part of the War Tax Resisters, because we don’t want to pay taxes to contribute to war. Being part of an egalitarian, non-profit community is really helpful to make this easy.
It is so much fun to learn how to communicate with each other using methods like Nonviolent Communication which we have refined to be even more nonviolent, and we are teaching about this in our learning center.
We love going all together to war protests when they happen in Fayetteville, and showing how a vegan community can also be anti-war.
We are taking ideas from Grandi and his community so we can live as nonviolently as possible, including buying locally, and doing our best to make sure whatever we buy is not exploiting anyone.
We love doing podcasts and interviewing leaders in the field of nonviolence. Dialogue with proponents of nonviolence always includes encouraging people to adopt veganism as a part of the nonviolent way. Leaders of influential nonviolent groups are now becoming vegan and encouraging members to do the same!
Resources:
Ghandi and Nonviolence: An article about nonviolence.
Principled Nonviolence: “Principled nonviolence is not merely a strategy nor the recourse of the weak, it is a positive force that does not manifest its full potential until it is adopted on principle. Often its practitioners feel that it expresses something fundamental about human nature, and who they wish to become as individuals.” From an article from Metta Center
Civil Disobedience and Jesus: An article/video proving that Jesus supported civil disobedience as a nonviolent way of opposing unjust laws. This is one of my favorite blogs.
History of Nonviolence in Intentional Communities: This is a great article that demonstrates that the Anabaptist tradition of Christianity, which is the only Christian tradition that consistently promotes non-violence as Jesus taught, is alive and well in communities even today. Of course there are secular communities as well. We can definitely learn from these communities Read more here.
Being nonviolent in thought, word and deed: This article by a Benedictine monk encouraged me to keep aspiring to this goal. “What would it take for us actually never to have a violent thought? Not only not to act violently against my brother or sister, not only not to call him a fool––but not even to be angry with her! That is really where Jesus is calling us to, that kind of compassion. And that is what Psalm 51, which we chant every Friday and use often during Lent, is praying for: Create a clean heart in me, O God. Read more here.
What if someone is attacking me or a loved one? This is the main question asked about nonviolence. This article holds one of the best explanations I have ever read: “Interpersonal violence and our range of responses to it are complex and require additional examination. I hope that the model of assertive resistance drawing on martial arts which I have outlined provides a practical answer to the “what would you do?” question, and that it will prompt further work on the problem of interpersonal violence.
My story
The first time I can remember being introduced to the idea of nonviolence was when I met Cliff, who is now my former husband, friend, and neighbor. He told me he had been a conscientious objector during the Vietnam War, and how the Lutheran church he was attending criticized him for having a table where he petitioned for the end of the war. That was one of the reasons he left the Christian church.
Somehow I missed most of the news about the Vietnam War, being heavily steeped in school culture as well as church activities. So I was glad to have Cliff’s influence in so many areas of my life, including nonviolence.
I can’t remember when I first learned about Gandhi. It seems like I would have run across information about him when I traveled 13 months overseas, including 3 months in India. But I don’t remember. How I wish I had focused on learning more. I did learn the word Satyagraha, a policy of passive political resistance, especially that advocated by Mahatma Gandhi against British rule in India, when I was in Sri Lanka. I don’t think the meaning sank in.
I did experience nonviolent resistance when I was traveling in the Swat Valley in Pakistan. I was walking in the forest with a new friend, a young man from Germany. 3 young men who were holding rifles came close to us and motioned for me to go into a little hut. I was terrified. My friend stood in front of me with his arms upraised and said in English, “You will have to go through me to get to her.” They put their guns down and walked away peacefully.
I think I got a deep message just then–nonviolence (rather than passivity) works.
Why can’t I remember when nonviolence became a priority? It must have been important when I first started learning about intentional communities when I was 21. Cliff and I started dreaming of starting one, and surely we thought about the importance of nonviolence.
Watching the move Gandhi when it first came out in 1982. I was enthralled. I had read about Gandhi before, but I think after that I was hooked.
I remember borrowing a tape series–maybe 18 years ago–that was about Christian nonviolence. I was deeply touched by the Catholic priest who spoke about how the just war theory was not congruent with Jesus teachings of nonviolence. I’m pretty sure the priest was Emmanuel Charles McCarthy.
Although I was not a Christian at the time, I still was drawn to Jesus, and was glad to hear that his true teachings were that of peace. I still remember how the priest said that he used a mantra, “Jesus Christ Agape Love” to help him stay centered in nonviolence. I still use that mantra today.
I have long been drawn to the Quakers, who come from the Anabaptist peace church tradition. I learned about them at the same time I learned about consensus decision making. I collaborated on some music projects with Linda Williams, and she was part of the Church of the Brethren, another peace denomination. So over 30 years ago, I wished I could believe the doctrines of Christianity in order to belong to her church.
When I learned about strategic nonviolence developed by Gene Sharp, I was very intrigued. Nonviolence was not only a spiritual, Biblical precept, but also very practical.
I attended a Kingian nonviolence workshop at the East Point Academy in Oakland, where I first met some Direct Action Everywhere members. One of the reasons I was attracted to DxE was because their leaders were required to take this 2 day workshop. I was in DxE for 2 1/2 years and participated in many nonviolent direct action actions. Up until June 2019, I thought working with DxE would be my main focus–that is how important I thought nonviolent direct action was. Healthy community that embodies nonviolence was not happening there, and thus I want to create that here in the community I envision in the Ozarks.
Every DxE conference I have attended has had some form of nonviolence training. I attended an advanced workshop on Gandhian nonviolence at the 2018 Animal Liberation Conference.
For decades, I’ve wanted to take classes in Aikido, because I heard that it was the most nonviolent martial arts. I still would like to learn more about martial arts only so I can defend myself and others against attack.
When I learned about Nonviolent Communication 31 years ago, I was drawn to the name. I have taken courses on and off over the past 3 decades and was blessed to have this skill when raising my two children.
I used to resist Gandhi’s advice, “Be the change you want to see happen.” But especially in the past year, I have realized that I want more than anything to be nonviolent in thought, word and deed.
After 28 years, I still remember attending a lecture by Matthew Fox, a theologian who at the time I respected greatly. During the question/answer time, I asked the question, “Why do people who are so great–like Gandhi, Lincoln, and Martin Luther King, Jr. have such major character flaws.” I don’t remember the answer–but I know that what was on my heart was that if I ever attained greatness in any area, I would not want to have inconsistencies in my life. Two of the people I asked about were the most famous proponents of nonviolence.
The beautiful thing about living in community is that we who value nonviolence can find ways of practicing it with each other, and can be accountable to each other to make sure that our thoughts, words and deeds are truly nonviolent. I look forward to that day. In community, we can all help each other see things in ourselves that we might not see otherwise.
