As the Lebanese and Israeli people suffer from the horrors of war, what can we say about this catastrophe? How do we make sense of it? We call it what it is: the insanity of violent conflict. Yonatan Shapira is a former elite Israeli helicopter pilot, now a refusnik (combat refuser) who recently co-founded Combatants… read more
Posts by Metta Center
Dharma
Dharma is a Sanskrit word, based on the root √dhŗ, (uphold, support), and can be defined as the law, duty, religion, responsibility, path, or nature, which upholds the underlying order of the universe. Sri Eknath Easwaran has defined it, intriguingly, as “that which makes us secure.” Dharma is a key component of Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and… read more
Trusteeship
Trusteeship is a key component of Gandhian economics that could be called the nonviolent equivalent of ownership. Gandhi borrowed the concept from English law. It means that one is the trustee, not the owner, of one’s possessions, or ultimately one’s talents or capacities. All must be used for the good of society as a whole,… read more
Badshah Khan
Badshah Khan, also written Bacha Khan, full name Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan (1890-1988) was a Muslim follower of Gandhi and a major contributor to the freedom struggle of the 1930s. He was from the Pakhtun (Pashtun, Pakhtoon) area of what was then the North West Frontier Province of India. This devout Muslim raised a nonviolent… read more
Hildegard Goss-Mayr
Together with her husband Jean, Hildegard Goss-Mayr provided significant nonviolent training and organizational expertise to the Philippines People Power movement and nonviolent campaigns throughout Latin America. She is a member and former president of the International Fellowship of Reconciliation and a Gandhian, principled nonviolent activist/trainer. She has written important books about nonviolence and her own experiences, and… read more
Otpor
Otpor (resistance) was a student-led Serbian uprising, which led to the overthrow of Serbian dictator Slobodan Milošević in 2000. The Otpor campaign of civil disobedience was carefully planned with assistance from Gene Sharp and his colleagues. Otpor used nonviolent tactics including a long-term consciousness raising effort with graffiti, flyers, billboards, a rock concert, trade union… read more
Radical Pacifism
Radical pacifism refers to a particular nonviolent movement in the United States in the 1940s and 50s of conscientious objectors (CO’s). These men, who refused to fight in any war and took active steps to undermine the war system, were mostly from the Christian Peace Churches and also were influenced by Gandhi. Radical pacifism began… read more
Third Party Nonviolent Intervention
Third Party Nonviolent Intervention (TPNI) is the term that has arisen for the age-old practice of an outside party intervening in a conflict in an effort to open the space for reconciliation and peacemaking. Some services of TPNI actors can include witnessing, accompaniment, monitoring, interposition, offering good offices, and rumor abatement. Because nonviolent interveners are not… read more
Alay Dangal
Alay dangal, a Filipino term for active nonviolence, means, “to offer dignity.” Although the expression only came into limited use during the Philippines People Power Movement, many of the movement’s actions were quite representative of this ideal. Filipinos who led the uprising treated dictator Marcos’ soldiers as fellow human beings suffering under the same oppressive… read more
Person Power
Person power is a term coined by Michael Nagler to describe the core energy at the heart of any nonviolent social movement. Nonviolence begins with an individual’s conversion of a negative drive to a positive drive. When one person transforms fear, anger, or aggression, into universal love, compassion, and resilience, nonviolence is born. According to… read more
