Events in recent years such as the Arab Spring, Occupy movements and “Umbrella Revolution” in Hong Kong, have contributed to highlighting various ways in which people form movements to bring about political and social changes they desire, despite the oppression they face from their own governments. Images of repression and violence, like the ones of Hong Kong police brutally halting protesters using pepper sprays, flood the internet. Through the internet and social media, we are able to become witnesses of such events abroad and add our voices to support those activists, as part of an international community.
That those groups are often nonviolent and peaceful, while the state and police use violence to repress them, may seem to indicate that the one side is good and the other bad. Many also associate nonviolent action with “moral force.” Yet in reality, those movements pose more complexity.
Tord Dellsén lives in Gothenburg, Sweden’s second-largest (and incredibly picturesque) city. He is our volunteer coordinator for the Daily Metta App project, which he also serves with his programming and documentation skills.
We’ve situated restorative practices as components of developing 
