|
| |
What is the Season for Nonviolence?
Convened by the
Association for Global New Thought and Dr. Arun Gandhi of the Gandhi
Institute for Nonviolence, The Season for Nonviolence commemorates the
64 days, January 30 through April 4th, between the memorial
anniversaries of Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King. Jr.
The Season's
purpose is to create an awareness of nonviolent principles and practice
as a powerful way to heal, transform and empower people's lives and
their communities. An educational and community action campaign
demonstrates that every person can move the world in the direction of
peace through their daily nonviolent choice and action. |
January 30th
through
April 4th
2007
 |
64 Days, 64 Ways
For the duration of the Season, Sacred Threads
Spiritual Center of Toledo will be
participating by offering a different way each day that you can practice
the principles of nonviolence in your life, with others, and in your
community.
|
|
Join us in 2007 for 64 more days and 64 more
ways to create a more peaceful planet. |
|
|
Learn More About SNV
|
Pledge for NonViolence
I pledge from this day onward to do my best to lead a non-violent
life, in all that I say and do. I will not engage in acts of physical,
emotional, or verbal violence toward others or myself. I will become
aware of the biases and prejudices I still hold against people who are
different from myself and take authentic action to correct these. I will
not actively or passively participate in mockery, gossip, or cruelty
that could harm another, especially of a different race, religion,
ethnic group or sexual orientation. I will treat all living things and
our Earth home with dignity and respect. By making this pledge I become
an emissary of non-violence and peace. |
|
|
|
As a human family we are asking the question:
'How
can any act of violence be recognized as a solution to the consequences
of violence that we face today?' Violent actions and reactions are the
scars of social, educational, and economic wounds... the voices of a
spiritually inarticulate culture.
The practice of nonviolence is initiated by choice
and cultivated through agreement. The time has come to agree upon this
as a global community - as if our lives, and those of our children's
children, depended on it. Our vision is of a better world for all human
beings.
To this end, we undertake Gandhi & King: A
Season for Nonviolence by applying our efforts and resources to
identifying, then bringing focus the spectrum of grassroots projects and
programs by individuals and organizations who are pro-actualizing a
peaceful social order. |
Be
the change
you want to see in the world.
Gandhi
At the
center of nonviolence stands the principle of love.
King |
Our purpose is to create an awareness of nonviolent
principles and practice as a powerful way to heal, transform and empower
our lives and communities.
Through an educational and community action
campaign, we honor those who use nonviolence to build a community that
honors the dignity and worth of every human being.
We are demonstrating that every person can move the
world in the direction of peace through their daily nonviolent choice
and action. |
 |
|
|
Gandhi's Principles on Public Policy:
Truth and truthfulness: Unconditional commitment to be
truthful and authentic.
Ahimsa (nonviolence) in relationship at all levels: One
must also accept the fact that all forms of violence cannot be totally
eliminated.
Trusteeship: Each one of us has a unique talent; however, we
do not own it but serve as trustee; our talent must be used as much for
the sake of others as for ourselves.
Constructive Action: Once acknowledged and balanced, we must
use our talents to empower others in creating social change as a whole
community.
Gandhi's Principles on Personal Policy
Respect: To respect others and accept the interdependence and
interconnectedness of all life.
Understanding: We must begin to understand the
'whys' of being
here, both for ourselves & others.
Acceptance: Out of respect and understanding, we can begin to
accept one another's differences.
Appreciating Differences: To move beyond acceptance into
appreciation and celebration of differences. |
Quotes from the wisdom of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Nonviolent resistance does not seek to defeat or
humiliate the opponent, but to win his friendship and understanding.
I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love
will have the final word in reality.
We will have to repent in
this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad
people but for the appalling silence of the good people.
We must build dikes of courage to hold back the flood
of fear.
Occasionally in life there are those moments of
unutterable fulfillment which cannot be completely explained by those
symbols called words. Their meanings can only be articulated by the
inaudible language of the heart.
We must combine the toughness of the serpent with the
softness of the dove, a tough mind and a tender heart.
|
King's Principles
of Nonviolence
Nonviolence is a way of life for courageous people.
Nonviolence seeks to win friendship and understanding.
Nonviolence seeks to defeat injustices, not people.
Nonviolence holds that suffering for a cause can educate and
transform.
Nonviolence chooses love instead of hate.
Nonviolence holds that the universe is on the side of justice and
that right will prevail.
King's Six Step Process toward Social Change
Information gathering
Education
Personal commitments
Negotiation
Direct Action
Reconciliation and beginning the healing process |
|
|
|
|
General Report on the Gandhi & King
Season For Nonviolence (1998-2005)
|
|
With the exemplary commitment of task force leaders
and volunteers, A Season for Nonviolence, January 30- April 4, 1998-2005
has attained unanticipated goals in a 64 day educational, media and
grassroots campaign inspired by the 50th and 30th memorial anniversaries
of Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
A Season for Nonviolence was co-founded by Arun and
Sunanda Gandhi of the M.K. Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence and a group
of ten ministers forming the Leadership Council of The Association for
Global New Thought, the organization that convenes A Season for
Nonviolence on an annual basis. Its purpose, to focus educational and
media attention on the philosophy of attaining peace through nonviolent
action as demonstrated by Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. This
grassroots campaign is now in its eighth year.
The Objectives
Our objective each year has been to create an
awareness of nonviolent principles and practice as a powerful way to
heal, transform and empower our lives and communities. Through an
educational and community action campaign, we have recognized those who
are using nonviolence to build a community that honors the dignity and
worth of every human being. By identifying 'what works' in these new
models for reconciliation and human harmony, we are demonstrating that
every person can move the world in the direction of peace through their
daily nonviolent choice and action.
Overview of Results
Launching on the January 30th memorial anniversary
of Mahatma Gandhi, A Season for Nonviolence draws to a close on each
year on the King April 4th memorial, having seeded since 1998
substantial activity in 201 cities in 40 states, and 10 countries. Fifty
percent of our United States governors, and many mayors issued official
proclamations for the 64 day period, and over three hundred unique
events and programs have been developed and carried out at the local
level during the Season. Media coverage includes radio and television
broadcasts, PSA and film productions, and print publications at all
levels from local to national press. At least 350 major Peace
organizations, religious, business, arts, and learning institutions have
elected themselves as official co-sponsors of the Season for Nonviolence
initiative. |
There is no way to peace. Peace is the way.
A. J. Muste
Since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that
the defenses of peace must be constructed.
UNESCO
Peace is more precious than a piece of land.
Anwar Sadat
The peace makers shall be called the children of God.
Bible
If you want to make peace, you don't talk to your friends. You talk
to your enemies.
Moshe Dayan
Every kind of peaceful cooperation among men is primarily based on
mutual trust and only secondarily on institutions such as courts of
justice and police.
Albert Einstein
Think not forever of yourselves, O Chiefs, nor of your own
generation. Think of continuing generations of our families, think of
our grandchildren and of those yet unborn, whose faces are coming from
beneath the ground.
T. S. Eliot
|
United Nations Launch-1998-2005
SNV has been launched at the United Nations,
beginning with the inaugural event in 1998. These events brought forth
substantive endorsements and commitments from the UN Secretary General,
Kofi Annan, the U.S. Ambassador to India, the Director General of UNESCO
on behalf of its Culture of Peace AND NONVIOLENCE appeal by the Nobel
Peace Laureates, and Vice President Al Gore. Other notable speakers
included Jesse Jackson, Dr. C.T. Vivian, and Dr. A.T. Ariyaratne of Sri
Lanka. Concurrently on that date, task force leaders collaborated to
create additional celebrations in other major cities. In general, A
Season has received the written support of His Holiness, the Dalai Lama
of Tibet, Coretta Scott King, Dr. Robert Muller, and many other serious
and distinguished individuals from virtually all sectors of the world
leadership community.
The Leadership
The Association for Global New Thought is the
convener of SNV, under the direction of project co chairs Dr. Michael
Beckwith, Rev. Mary Manin Morrissey, and Dr. Roger Teel. Season
co-founders are Arun and Sunanda Gandhi of the M.K. Gandhi Institute for
Nonviolence. Co-directors are: Dr. Bernard Lafayette, former executive
assistant to Dr. King, Alicia Renee Farris of the Michigan Institute for
Nonviolence Education, Dean Lawrence Carter of the MLK Jr. International
Chapel at Morehouse College, Dean James Parks Morton of the Interfaith
Center of New York, and Dr. Richard Deats of the Fellowship of
Reconciliation. Project Director is Barbara Fields Bernstein, Executive
Director of the Association for Global New Thought, Program Director for
the 1993 Parliament of the World's Religions, and for the Synthesis
Dialogues 1999 & 2001 (with His Holiness, the Dalai Lama) in Dharamsala,
India and Trent, Italy.
A Season for Nonviolence is gathering momentum
every year. We see programs and events developing that bridge not only
person-to-person and community to community, but country to country,
uniting groups of people around the world in simple activities that
reflect a "global family for peace." As Gandhi has said, "we must be the
change we wish to see". Perhaps, we are changing the world one person at
a time! |
|
|
|
|
Quotes from the Wisdom of Mahatma Gandhi
I own that I have an immovable faith in God and His
goodness, and an inconsumable passion for truth and love. But, is that
not what every person has latent in him?
Work without faith is like an attempt to reach the
bottom of a bottomless pit. I can easily put up with the denial of the
world, but any denial by me of my God is unthinkable.
I may be a despicable person, but when Truth speaks
through me I am invincible.
Often in my progress I have had faint glimpses of the
Absolute Truth, God; and daily the conviction is growing upon me that He
alone is real and all else is unreal.
I can see that in the midst of darkness light
persists. Hence I gather that God is Life, Truth, Light. He is Love. He
is the Supreme good.
I call God long-suffering and patient precisely
because He permits evil in the world. I know that He has no evil in Him
and yet if there is evil, He is the author of it and yet untouched by
it.
The purer I try to become, the nearer to God I feel
myself to be. How much more should I be near to Him when my faith is not
a mere apology, as it is today, but has become as immovable as the
Himalayas and as white and bright as the snows on their peaks.
As food is necessary for the body, prayer is
necessary for the soul. Prayer is an impossibility without a living
faith in the presence of God within. God demands nothing less than
complete self-surrender as the price for the only real freedom that is
worth having.
For me the Voice of God, the Conscience, of Truth, or
the Inner Voice or " the Still Small Voice" mean one and the same thing.
The rays of the sun are many through refraction. But
they have the same source. I cannot, therefore, detach myself from the
wickedest soul... nor may I be denied identity with the most virtuous.
|
The Eighth Annual Gandhi & King
Season for Nonviolence
Compassionate Activism for Global Healing
Today, perhaps more than any time in our past, we
are in need of another way of looking at the world where we can choose
whether we want to experience peace or continuing cycles of violence.
Since conflict is inevitable, the issue is how we resolve conflict. As
we embark upon an intense and precarious course in which we seek
justice, love and empathy rather than fear and hate, the question of the
hour is this: how much longer can we really afford to wait for others to
develop enlightened options that can help us move toward a true and
lasting peace?
Without the exemplary commitment of spiritually
unified citizen peacemakers like you, transformation will not arise
within the human family of all nations, in whose lives the answers will
play out-- for better or for worse. We believe in our hearts that a key
to the conscious evolution of our species is, here and now, in our
hands. In the face of grief, terror, anger, and injustice, how shall we
respond? Could it be true that our hard work in consciousness over the
past many years has been nothing more or less than training for this
crisis?
If there was ever a time to find ways of no longer
recycling our anger, letting go of our grievances, refusing to trade an
"eye for an eye," and releasing the painful past, it is truly now. Like
it or not, we are on a long road; thankfully, we are walking it with
hundreds of thousands who share our convictions.
We are preparing now for the
Tenth Annual Gandhi &
King Season for Nonviolence, January 30 - April 4, 2007. It is no accident
that the Association for Global New Thought, in collaboration with Arun
and Sunanda Gandhi, co-founded this grassroots awareness campaign in
1998 to honor the memorial anniversaries of Arun's grandfather, Mahatma
Gandhi, and Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The events of the past
three years have given us, in no uncertain terms, the assignments to
which we shall apply our years of training as a collaborative network.
During the past seven Seasons, our passion has been
to create an awareness of nonviolent principles and practice as a
powerful way to heal, transform and empower our lives and communities.
Through an educational and community action campaign, we have recognized
those who are using nonviolence to build a community that honors the
dignity and worth of every human being. By identifying
'what works' in
these new models for reconciliation and human harmony, we are
demonstrating that every person can move the world in the direction of
peace through their daily nonviolent choice and action. Since 1998 three
hundred unique events and programs have been developed and carried out
at the local level in 205 cities in 40 states, and 10 countries. Fifty
percent of our United States governors issued official proclamations for
the 64 day period. Mainstream public media of all kinds has responded to
the call. At least 350 major Peace organizations, religious, business,
arts, and learning institutions have elected themselves as official
co-sponsors of the Season for Nonviolence initiative.
Season has been launched six times at the United
Nations with endorsements from UN Secretary General and 2001 Nobel Peace
Laureate, Kofi Annan, the U.S. Ambassador to India, the Director General
of UNESCO, His Holiness, the Dalai Lama of Tibet, Coretta Scott King,
and former Vice President Al Gore.
Season for Nonviolence is co-founded by the M.K.
Gandhi Institute with AGNT, and convened by Association for Global New
Thought. Co-Directors are: Arun and Sunanda Gandhi co-founders of the
M.K. Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence, Dr. Bernard Lafayette, former
executive assistant to Dr. King, Alicia Renee Farris of the Michigan
Institute for Nonviolence Education, Dean Lawrence Carter of the MLK Jr.
International Chapel at Morehouse College, and Dr. Richard Deats of the
Fellowship of Reconciliation. Project Director is Barbara Fields
Bernstein, Executive Director of the Association for Global New Thought.
The National Task Force Coordinator is Carolyn Pester
This year we are introducing into our program the
groundbreaking work of Riane Eisler and the Spiritual Alliance Against
Intimate Violence (SAIV). SAIV's mission is nothing less than to bring
about a fundamental transformation of beliefs and institutions that have
produced an unsustainable way of life, including the chronic reliance on
violence by men over women, and adults over children. Not surprisingly,
though still not strategically identified and addressed, we find this
societal norm most prevalent in cultures and subcultures that are
militarily aggressive and endorse violence [NOT large-scale war] as the
means to resolve conflict.
The goal of the SAIV project is to engage families,
nations, cultures, and leaders around the world to help build
foundations for cultures of peace. Intimate violence is a training
ground for intranational as well as international violence, affecting
people and communities in every region. It has become an issue of
critical importance to human development and human survival. Yet women
and children everywhere are abused and terrorized and living in unsafe
conditions, and this modeling and teaching of violence as a means of
imposing ones will continues to be given only minimal attention by
world leaders and policies. The acceptance or condoning of intimate
violence is deeply embedded in societies where we see violence accepted
on a community, national and international level. Change must occur at
the core of the society, the family unit, for it to truly occur at the
global level.
We are introducing SAIV in conjunction with a
powerful new tool to help accelerate the personal and social
transformation needed to build cultures of peace: a 9-week guide for
reflection, discussion, and action based on Riane Eislers award-winning
new book, The Power of Partnership. Beginning with the day-to-day family
and other intimate relations where people worldwide first learn and
continually practice relations based on mutual respect and nonviolence,
or fear-based top-down rankings ultimately maintained through violence,
The Power of Partnership is a practical guide to more peaceful,
equitable, and sustainable ways of living on this Earth. We invite you
to use the new information and tools offered by SAIV and The Power of
Partnership as stepping stones on our path towards living in peace. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
His-Holiness, the Dalai Lama of Tibet
I think the time has come to make it clear that nonviolence is
the only way, the proper way, to solve the problems among humanity. Of
course there are always conflicts, but peace, or nonviolence does not
mean that we are indifferent to them just because we are friendly and
sensitive to others, or seem passive.
We have to solve the problems of humankind. I am trying to
solve some of these serious problems myself, by promoting nonviolence. I
am doing this to show the right way, the nonviolent way to solutions on
an individual level--on family, community, national and international
levels. The promotion of nonviolence ultimately reveals the awareness of
how destructive other so-called solutions are, and in the meantime,
shows us a way out of violence. Through nonviolence we can see that it
is possible to solve all our problems by means of dialogue. This is the
truly human way to proceed.
I believe this is the right time to promote nonviolence in
various ways and means. And it is our responsibility to do so. Both
Gandhiji and Martin Luther King are inspiring examples of the power and
truth of nonviolence and the actions that arise from them. They not only
embraced nonviolence in principle, but implemented it in action. Both
gave their lives for this precious vision.
This Season for Nonviolence is a very good tool to remind us of
their witness, but also of the large unfinished work we have together in
transforming awareness on our planet.
From a personal conversation with Brother Wayne
Teasdale, September 16, 1997 Dharamsala, India
|
Nothing can bring you peace but yourself; nothing,
but the triumph of principles.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
There never was a good war or a bad peace.
Benjamin Franklin
It is easier to lead men to combat, stirring up their
passion, than to restrain them and direct them toward the patient labors
of peace.
Andre Gide
Nothing in the world is more flexible and yielding
than water. Yet when it attacks the firm and the strong, none can
withstand it, because they have no way to change it. So the flexible
overcome the adamant, the yielding overcome the forceful. Everyone knows
this, but no one can do it.
The softest things in the world overcome the hardest
things in the world.
Lao Tse
Hatred does not cease by hatred, but only by love;
this is the eternal rule.
We are what we think. All that we are arises with our
thoughts. With our thoughts, We make our world.
Buddha
|
Coretta Scott King
In the 'Season for Nonviolence' Initiative, the Association fro
Global New Thought has made a significant contribution to creating a
more compassionate and peaceful world by educating people in the
principles of nonviolence advocated by Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther
King, Jr. and other peacemakers.
UNESCO
A letter dated 13 March 1997 was sent to you from Mrs. Francine
Fournier, Assistant Director-General for Social and Human Sciences,
stating that UNESCO would be happy to be associated with this initiative
honoring Gandhi and King as great defenders of non-violence.
UNESCO: Head of the Division on Human Rights,
Democracy and Peace
Dr. Robert Muller, former Assistant Secretary General to the UN
I fully endorse the Season for Nonviolence, an important step
towards a century and millennium of nonviolence which should be
proclaimed by the United Nations during the world celebration of the
year 2000. |
| |
|
|
|
|
Universal Declaration on
Non-Violence:
The Incompatibility of Religion and War
October 7, 1990
This document is an attempt to set forth a vision of nonviolence
within the context of an emerging global civilization in which all forms
of violence, especially War, are totally unacceptable as a means to
settle disputes within and among nations, groups and persons. This new
vision of civilization is global in scope, universal in culture, and
based on love and compassion, the highest moral, spiritual principles of
the various historical religions. Its universal nature acknowledges the
essential fact of modern life: the interdependence of nations,
economies, ecologies, cultures and religious traditions.
As members of religious groups throughout the world, we are
increasingly aware of our responsibility to promote Peace in our age and
in the ages to come. Nevertheless, we recognize that in the history of
the human family, people of various religions, acting officially in the
name of their respective traditions, have either initiated or
collaborated in organized and systematic violence or War. These actions
have at times been directed against other religious traditions, groups
and nations, as well as within particular religious traditions. This
pattern of behavior is totally inappropriate for spiritual persons and
communities.
Therefore, as members of world religions, we declare before the
human family that:
Religion can no longer be an accomplice to War, to terrorism, or to
any other forms of violence, organized or spontaneous, perpetuated by
the human will against any member of the human family. Because this
family is one, global and interrelated, our actions must be consistent
with this identity. We recognize the right and duty of governments to
defend the security of their people and to relieve those afflicted by
exploitation and persecution. Nevertheless, we declare that religion
must not permit itself to be used by any state, group or organization
for the purpose of supporting violent aggression for nationalistic gain.
We have an obligation to explore social and political alternatives to
actions and reactions which inflict suffering and destruction, and to
promote a new vision of society--one in which War has no place in
resolving disputes between and among states, organizations and
religions.
In making this declaration we, the signatories, commit ourselves to
embrace this vision. We call upon all the members of our respective
traditions to embrace this vision. We urge our members and all peoples
to use every moral means to dissuade their governments from engaging in
War, terrorism, and violations of fundamental human rights. We strongly
encourage the United Nations Organization to employ all available
resources toward the development of peaceful methods for resolving
conflict among nations.
Our declaration is intended to choose and sustain an emerging global
society in which non-violence is pre-eminent as a value in all human
relations. We offer this vision of Peace, mindful of the late M.K.
Gandhi's 'Truth Weapon,' Satyagraha, and of the words of Pope Paul VI to
the United Nations in October of 1965: 'No
more War; War never again!'
Signatories
His Holiness the Dalai Lama of Tibet
Fr. Thomas Keating
the members of Monastic Interreligious Dialogue
(formerly the North American Center for East-West Dialogue)
Bro. Wayne Teasdale
Barbara Fields Bernstein
Brian P. Muldoon
Barbara Marx-Hubbard |
Social advance depends as much upon the process through which it is
secured as upon the result itself
Jane Addams
Peace and friendship with all mankind is our wisest policy, and I
wish we may be permitted to pursue it.
Thomas Jefferson
Yes, we are all different. Different customs, different foods,
different mannerisms, different languages, but not so different that we
cannot get along with one another. If we will disagree without being
disagreeable.
J. Martin Kohe
Nonviolence is the supreme law of life.
Indian Proverb
Peace with a club in hand is war.
Portuguese Proverb
We must build a new world, a far better world -- one in which the
eternal dignity of man is respected.
Harry S. Truman
They are not following dharma who resort to violence to achieve
their purpose. But those who lead others through nonviolent means,
knowing right and wrong, may be called guardians of the dharma.
Buddha
Violence does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer
falls into the pit which he digs for another.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.
Salvor Hardin |
| |
|
|
|
That old law about 'an eye for an eye' leaves
everybody blind. The time is always right to do the right thing.
King |
I am giving you a bit of my experience and that of my
companions when I say that he who has experienced the magic of prayer
may do without food for days together but not for a single moment
without prayer. For without prayer there is no inward peace.
Gandhi |
A nation that continues year after year to spend more
money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is
approaching spiritual death.
King |
|
|
