This talk will explore a paradox in the nonviolent resistance movements today: while such movements are now more common than in any other period in recorded human history, they have also been defeated at a higher rate than at any other point in the last 70 years. Dr. Chenoweth will offer several explanations for this seeming paradox and discuss a path forward for nonviolent resistance movements seeking to build their advantage.
Erica Chenoweth, Ph.D. is the Frank Stanton Professor of the First Amendment at Harvard Kennedy School and a Susan S. and Kenneth L. Wallach Professor at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. Chenoweth directs the Nonviolent Action Lab at Harvard’s Carr Center for Human Rights Policy, where they study political violence and its alternatives. Foreign Policy magazine ranked Chenoweth among the Top 100 Global Thinkers in 2013 for their efforts to promote the empirical study of nonviolent resistance. Learn more about Dr. Chenoweth here.
Nonviolent action has been proven as the most effective way to create systemic change, and yet the principles and strategies are often times a mystery to many. Join us as we explore some concrete practices and strategies in building nonviolent movements for change.
As university faculty and staff, how can you best support students who are working to create change? Learn some of the basics of nonviolent movement strategy so that you can both understand what you may be witnessing on your campus and how best to support it, as well as exploring how to institutionalize nonviolent practices within your department.
Kazu Haga is the founder and coordinator of the East Point Peace Academy, a core member of the Ahimsa collective and the Yet-To-Be-Named Network and author of the book Healing Resistance: A Radically Different Response to Harm. He is an experienced trainer, certified in several methodologies of nonviolence and restorative justice. Having received training from elders including Dr. Bernard Lafayette, Rev. James Lawson and Joanna Macy, he teaches nonviolence, conflict reconciliation, restorative justice, organizing and mindfulness in prisons and jails, high schools and youth groups, and with activist communities around the country.
Kazu was introduced to the work of social change and nonviolence in 1998, when at the age of 17 he participated in the Interfaith Pilgrimage of the Middle Passage; a 6-month walking journey from Massachusetts to New Orleans to retrace the slave trade. He spent a year studying nonviolence and Buddhism while living in monasteries throughout South Asia, and returned to the US at age 19 to begin a lifelong path in social justice work.
He spent 10 years working in social justice philanthropy, while directly being involved in and playing leading roles in many movements. He became an active nonviolence trainer in the global justice movement of the late 1990s, and has since led hundreds of workshops worldwide.
He is the recipient of several awards including the Martin Luther King Jr. award and the Gil Lopez Award for Peacemaking.
Kazu is an avid meditator and enjoys being in nature, particularly with his dog. He is a die-hard fan of the Boston Celtics and of mixed martial arts, the latter of which he is still sometimes conflicted about.
He resides in Oakland, CA.
Claude AnShin Thomas is a Vietnam combat veteran turned Zen Buddhist monk, author, and speaker who will explore the difference between the ideas of peace, non-violence, and pacifism and a commitment to the reality of “active" non-violence.
Nonviolence is a spiritual journey, a way of life, a method for social change, and a universal ethic. Pope Francis has increasingly called on the Church and the world to embrace Gospel nonviolence in our lives and in the struggle for a more just, peaceful and sustainable world. This presentation will explore how the Church is responding to this call – and how we can all be part of this nonviolent shift.
Ken Butigan, PhD, is a senior lecturer in the Peace, Justice and Conflict Studies Program at DePaul University in Chicago. He has played a pivotal role in movements for social change and has published a series of books on peace and nonviolence, including Nonviolent Lives and From Violence to Wholeness. He serves on the Executive Committee of Pax Christi International’s Catholic Nonviolence Initiative, which has collaborated with the Vatican in co-sponsoring two landmark conferences on nonviolence in Rome. He has also worked for three decades with Pace e Bene Nonviolence Service, which has trained tens of thousands of people in the power of nonviolent change and which organizes Campaign Nonviolence, a long-term, nationwide effort seeking to foster a nonviolent culture of free from war, poverty, racism and environmental destruction.