One evening in 2012, I talked for hours with Jawdat Said, a Syrian spiritual mystic and author of the first completely nonviolent interpretation of the Koran. His niece, Afra, from the University of Toronto, had recently visited Kensafra, a small town in the north of Syria. Here is a story she shared with me: A… read more
Nonviolence Stories
Protection without Violence: Podcast
At the United Nations on Thursday, 24 May, the missions of Australia and Uruguay hosted a Side Event on “Sustaining Peace and Preventing Violence Through Unarmed Civilian Protection” following an open-ended debate in the Security Council on the protection of civilians. Carmen Lauzon-Garmaytan, an unarmed civilian protector from Mindanao, Yasmin Maydhane who protects civilians in South… read more
The Ultimate Sacrifice – Podcast
Does using nonviolence protect us from getting killed? If we die using nonviolence, what power does it have? Father Kolbe was a prisoner in Auschwitz who stood in to die for another prisoner. Learn about his act of nonviolent courage, his life, and his relevance for the nonviolent path today in this episode. Then stay for… read more
Nonviolence Education: The Story of Broad Rock
The following post was written by Carol Bragg, a graduate of the Metta Center’s Certificate in Nonviolence Studies program. Imagine a school where, each morning, the principal recites one of the principles of nonviolence and asks students to think about that principle throughout the day. Picture a school that has monthly assemblies devoted to one… read more
Who on Earth is Fleck?
It all started with a wrong turn. Earlier, I had decided to walk instead of drive around Berkeley to take care of errands, allowing me to squeeze in a workout. During my fast paced walk, arms swinging by my sides, my mind was running through its favorite designer list of downer interpretations guaranteed to cause… read more
The Sorcerer’s Apprentices
While going through my Dad’s estate last year, I came across a strange artifact I had never seen before—a large, carefully crafted, but empty, wooden spool for wire. It was dated “May ‘44”, and its gross, tare and net weights were measured and recorded by hand, as if its wire had been unusually valuable. Suddenly,… read more
The Man From the North: Story 16
The Man From the North is a fictional writer in Rivera Sun’s novel, The Dandelion Insurrection. The novel takes place in the near future, in “a time that looms around the corner of today,” when a rising police state controlled by the corporate-political elite have plunged the nation into the grip of a hidden dictatorship.… read more
Occupy Radio: Constructive Program
Yesterday, Michael Nagler and Stephanie Van Hook joined Rivera Sun and David Geitgey Sierralupe on Occupy Radio for an exciting conversation about building alternatives and healthy communities. What if we recreate society from the bottom up, from within the culture we know? How can we loosen our dependencies on corporate structures and strive for self-sufficiency… read more
The Man From the North: Story 15
The Man From the North is a fictional writer in Rivera Sun’s novel, The Dandelion Insurrection. The novel takes place in the near future, in “a time that looms around the corner of today,” when a rising police state controlled by the corporate-political elite have plunged the nation into the grip of a hidden dictatorship.… read more
The Man From the North: Story 14
The Man From the North is a fictional writer in Rivera Sun’s novel, The Dandelion Insurrection. The novel takes place in the near future, in “a time that looms around the corner of today,” when a rising police state controlled by the corporate-political elite have plunged the nation into the grip of a hidden dictatorship.… read more
