Lessons in Nonviolence for the President

Hey satyagrahis (and non-satyagrahis, too, of course — we’re all in this together),

For anyone who is interested in exploring the legitimacy of President Obama’s comments on nonviolence in his Nobel Peace Prize speech, check out this informative, easy article by Eric Stoner, posted on the PJSA blog (that’s the Peace and Justice Studies Association), here.

For a cool commentary on Obama’s charge that “A nonviolent movement could not have halted Hitler’s armies”, here is another PJSA blog by self-confessed old-hippie American peacenik Tom Hastings, who gave Obama a C- for his Nobel speech 🙂

And finally, for a unique article that has Obama ‘in conversation’ with Martin Luther King, Jr., on the topic of nonviolence, check out Randall Amster’s recent post, “Keep Your Eyes on the Peace Prize”, on the Huffington Post site. Well done, Randall!

This topic has been a bit overdiscussed at this point, perhaps, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t more…and more…and more that we can learn about nonviolence by studying Obama’s words and the response they have engendered. May we learn lessons from our forebears’ experience and wisdom, rather than repeating their fights — and their mistakes.

Considering that the president of the U.S. has just accepted the Nobel Peace Prize by giving a speech on the defense of war, there must be something more we have to learn.

Here’s to history, and to paying attention to what it has to teach us.