The Decade Challenge

by Janet Chisholm

From Violence to Wholeness: Nonviolence Training

The Nobel Peace Laureates and the UN have called on people and nations across the world to build a culture of peace and nonviolence. The challenge is daunting. It means addressing what is possibly the greatest spiritual crisis in the United States today: violence in all of its dimensions. In the face of such a challenge, where does one start?

Consider nonviolence training.

Participants in FOR nonviolence training have enthusiastically endorsed the experience:

"It was life-changing!"

"I feel more confident and empowered that I can help change the world."

"The most important thing I learned was peacemaking is for the long haul and about changing structures."

"Nonviolence is power more powerful than destructive power..."

FOR's nonviolence training program serves adults and intergenerational groups. It focuses on the deep understanding and practice of active nonviolence, and on movement strategy and action planning. The program began in June 2002, using and adapting the From Violence to Wholeness curriculum guide created by the Pace e Bene Nonviolence Service. To learn about nonviolence training already scheduled, see the FOR website or call the office. To arrange nonviolence training for a community group, email jchisholm@forusa.org or call the office. An inviting community group handles all logistics, covers basic expenses for two facilitators, and arranges for fifteen to eighteen contact hours with participants. The next training for facilitators is June 5-8, 2003, at Kirkridge in Bangor, Pennsylvania. (610) 588-1793 or www.kirkridge.org.

Nonviolence training is vital both for understanding nonviolence and for planning a successful movement, according to Bill Moyer. Basing himself on forty years of study, Moyer developed a detailed analysis and strategic framework to help evaluate and structure social movements. (Bill Moyer, Doing Democracy: The MAP Model for Organizing Social Movements, available from FOR.)

For the activist, nonviolence training is a way to deepen one's understanding and principled commitment. It can nurture long-time social justice workers who seek re-centering, reflection, or a deepening in nonviolence to sustain them over the long haul. Moyer persuasively warns that many experienced activists are "take-off junkies" who know how to create new social initiatives, but not how to stick with long-term movements that progress through a series of stages to win actual, positive change. Instead, they quickly conclude that their movement is failing and their efforts are futile, which weakens the movement and leads them to burn out, drop out, and become cynical. He also warns that activists who become frozen in the "rebel" role will damage the movement, because during some stages they will alienate the public. To be successful, a nonviolent movement must be able to mobilize the majority, which requires that it be attractive for newcomers to join—not frightening, weird, aggressive, or violent itself.

For those outside the peace movement who are seeking a better understanding of nonviolence, tools for action, and a committed community, nonviolence training provides an entry point. We know from Moyer's analysis that we must increase the number of people committed to nonviolent action. We cannot afford to be a small, proud, and self-righteous group. Moyer warns that "the national power of social movements comes from the strength of its local groups; national social movements are only as powerful as their grassroots..." In addition, he argues that the central issue of any social movement is the struggle to win over the public and gain active support of the great majority of the populace, which ultimately holds the power to either preserve the status quo or create change. We will not succeed by only appealing to the elites to change, for power ultimately resides in the mass of the population, who must be won over. And as the issues become popular, the movement must help develop citizen involvement programs that bring larger numbers of people into direct contradiction of official policies. Change will be built only from the bottom up!

The Fellowship of Reconciliation's nonviolence training program strengthens and expands the circle of people who are empowered and dedicated to working in communities to take nonviolent action and build a culture of justice and reconciliation. Participants experience active nonviolence as a spiritual journey that requires ongoing reflection and action. It is a holistic and inductive approach to learning designed to open safe space for individuals to draw on their own wisdom and experience and to co-create meaning, insight, and new creative action. In an atmosphere of mutual respect, they explore four main themes: Violence, Nonviolence, Social Movement Analysis, and Community-Building. They assemble a toolbox of practical techniques for sustaining themselves, working in community, and planning action. The sessions utilize a variety of media and include small group work, interactive exercises, role-plays, readings, brainstorming, discussion, reflection on stories of transformation, ritual and meditation.

Facing the Challenge of the Decade, where does one start? Perhaps we best begin by transforming ourselves.