100 Years of NonViolence

[keltic63]

http://www.nyc-dop.com/gandhi/

I heard a soundbite about this being the 100th anniversary of nonviolence on NPR today. Interesting that Gandhi's speech was on 9-11-1906

[Daniel]

Hmmmm. There are no coincidences in my book. Fascinating.

[Joe Brummer]

Please take the time to download the film. It says it will take hours and it really takes minutes if you have DSL or cable.

The film also features an interview with Teny Gross from the Institute for the Study and Practice of Nonviolence, Ani Di Franco, and Others.....

It is powerful and really shows the value of nonviolence in today's society!

The Institute for the Study and Practice of Nonviolence is the place that trained me to be a trainer of nonviolence. I am happy to say I work with them, and support them.

Download the film here (http://www.skinthatcares.com/), it is about 10 minutes and brought tears to my eyes!

[kara speltz]

This is a reflection I wrote and sent to a number of friends concerning the three anniversaries occurring on September 11th. Kara

Sept. 11th marks 3 important anniversaries that reflect on issues of violence and nonviolence. Five years ago, the U.S. experienced a staggering and disturbing attack. It has been said by some, that because the U.S. hasn't exerience a modern day war on its own soil, the American people don't comprehend the devastation of war. Five years ago, we Americans did experience that devastation. It left us stunned but unfortunately it did not deter our national will for revenge.

33 years ago today, the first demoncratically elected Marxist, Salvador Allende was overthrown and murdered at the instigation of the U.S. government. The Chilean people suffered at the hands of a vicious dictator, General Pinochet for 17 years, finally ousting him in 1990. The number of Chilean's murdered at the hands of Pinochet is staggering. After such an oppressive government the will of the people finally prevailed and Chileans are regaining their freedoms.

100 years ago today, saw the launch of one of the most successful nonviolent movements of all time . Gandi's resistance in South Africa. It started a movement that is still going today. Gandhi & M.L. King helped us understand the awesome power of love and resistance together.

As I thought of these 3 anniversaries, I thought of something my friend Jim Loney wrote just months after his rescue from captivity having been held for four months. He wrote, "I am confronted with a great paradox. I, the Christian pacifist peacemaker, am alive, am free because of the very institutions I believe are contrary to Christian teaching.

"Christ teaches us to love our enemies, do good to those who harm us, pray for those who persecute us. He calls us to accept suffering before we inflict injury. He calls us to pick up the cross and to lay down the sword.

"We will most certainly fail in this call. I did. And I'll fail again. This does not change Christ's teaching that violence itself is the tomb, violence is the dead end.

"Peace won through the barrel of a gun might be a victory, but it is not peace. Our captors have guns and they ruled over us. Our rescuers had bigger guns and ruled over our captors. We were freed, but the rule of the gun stayed.

I'm learning that there are many kinds of prisons and many kinds of tombs. Prisons of the mind, the heart, the body. Tombs of despair, fear confusion. Tombs within tombs and prisons within prisons.

"There are no easy answers. We must all find our way through a broken world, struggling with the paradox of call and failure. My captivity and rescue have helped me to catch a glimpse of how powerful the force of Resurrection is. God seeks us wherever we are, reaches for us in whatever darkness we inhabit. May we reach for each other with the same persistence. The tomb is not the final word."

Thank you Jim for your persistance and commitment to nonviolence. I hope you find his words as inspirational as I did.

Kara