Interviews: on Movements and Campaigns MARIA J
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A MAGAZINE FOR PRACTICAL IDEALISTS Winter/Spring 2018 the strategy issue TOM HASTINGS Interviews: on movements and campaigns MARIA J. STEPHAN MIKI KASHTAN CLAYBORNE CARSON on responsibility for the whole Courage, complemented by the knowledge of skillful nonviolence, as provided in this handbook, is a recipe for a world of peace and justice. ~ Ann Wright, Col. US Army (ret) and recipient of the US State Department Award for Heroism Support your local bookseller with your purchase of a print copy. Nonviolence Handbook: A Guide for Practical Action is also available as Amazon Audible and Kindle books. 2 nonviolence our deepest gratitude The Metta Center for Nonviolence, publisher of Nonviolence, thanks all the volunteers who share their love and help spread the mission of creating a nonviolent future. This issue of Nonviolence was made possible, in part, by generous support from the following people: KEN DAVIS & KATHY POOLER TODD DIEHL RAFI & WAHEEDA DUDEKULA ANNA IKEDA JOHN LEWIS RICH MEYER MICHAEL & VICKI MILLICAN MICHAEL NAGLER LORIN PETERS THUY PHAM JAMES PHOENIX BERT SACKS JEANINE SAPERSTEIN JIM SCHUYLER JOHN WADE SUSAN FISCHER WILHELM nonviolence 3 featured inside Illustration via Pixabay Principle & Strategy Person Power & Unity 8 Strategy: The How & the Why 22 Finding Resolve, Making Peace Michael N. Nagler articulates what strategy is Lamisa Mustafa, who is Muslim, gives us all about—and why it matters. a personal take on determination. 12 Lessons from Gandhi 50 Responsibility for the Whole Anna Ikeda highlights key aspects of Gandhi’s Miki Kashtan writes about nonviolence strategy-based successes. leadership and the power of connection. 58 Strategy Resources Michael N. Nagler provides a list of resources to learn more about strategy. Violent revolutions usually only mean a change of personnel at the top. ~ Petra Kelly Photo courtesy of Clayborne Carson 4 nonviolence Photo by Josh Schmitt via Flickr Photo by Fibonacci Blue via Flickr Interviews & Insights Scholarship & Culture 18 Q&A: Maria J. Stephan 32 Permaculture Leads Nonviolence The nonviolence scholar and author offers Matt Powers explores the relationship between some sharp analyses for Metta Center staff. nature’s abundance and nonviolence. 36 Q&A Clayborne Carson 34 Conflict Escalation Curve The history professor discusses our present Stephanie Steiner emphasizes the importance moment with staff at the Metta Center. of recognizing the stages of conflict. 42 Challenges in the Congo 40 GNAD & Core Lessons Jean de Dieu Alingwi sheds light on movement Tom Hastings turns to the Global Nonviolent issues in the Central African nation. Action Database for invaluable insights. 46 How to Sustain the Movement to Win Paul Engler and Sophie Pollock reflect on Poetry two major case studies in US history. 54 What to Know About Nonviolence 15 Like This We March Stephanie Van Hook illustrates nonviolence as Poem by Ira Batra Garde a humanizing force. 29 The lotus grows out of the mud 56 One Hundred Year Plan Poem by Becky Thompson The Metta Center for Nonviolence offers steps for achieving a nonviolent world. nonviolence 5 nonviolence PUBLISHER The Metta Center for Nonviolence EDITOR & CREATIVE DIRECTOR Kimberlyn David WINTER/SPRING 2018 CONTRIBUTORS Designer Miroslava Sobot Writers Taylor Anderson-Stevenson Jean de Dieu Alingwi Paul Engler Tom Hastings Anna Ikeda Miki Kashtan Lamisa Mustafa Michael N. Nagler Sophie Lasoff Matt Powers Stephanie Steiner Stephanie Van Hook Poets Ira Batra Garde Becky Thompson HOW TO REACH US MAILING ADDRESS The Metta Center for Nonviolence 205 Keller Street, Suite 202D Petaluma, CA 94952 PHONE NUMBER 707-774-6299 WEBSITE www.mettacenter.org All contributors maintain the rights to their work as they choose, though the publisher generally uses Creative Commons licensing (CC BY-NC-ND). Please request permission to reproduce any part of Nonviolence, in whole or part. For additional information about the Metta Center for Nonviolence, please email us: [email protected]. 6 nonviolence editor’s letter You must not lose faith in humanity. ~ Mahatma Gandhi Photo: Kaique Rocha, via Flickr Life is an A question that no campaign or movement can really afford to interconnected whole forgo asking is: What’s our ultimate goal, and how do we get of inestimable worth. there? To borrow wisdom from a quote attributed to Benjamin Franklin: If we’re not preparing for campaign/movement success, we’re preparing for failure. Hence this issue’s theme: Strategy. As Michael Nagler asks in his opening article (“Strategy: The How & the Why”): Military planners have their strategy whizzes, so where are the Sun Tzus of nonviolence? Anna Ikeda follows on that line of thought with “On Strategy: Lessons from Gandhi,” in which she shows that Gandhi’s successes weren’t a matter of happenstance; they resulted from his mastery with planning and implementing actions. How can we know what stage of a conflict we’re in? Stephanie Steiner breaks it down in “Conflict Escalation Curve: A Practical Model.” Her piece underscores a vital fact: identifying the stages of conflict is a major part of developing an effective strategy. We can always learn from flaws in campaign and movement planning. Jean de Dieu Alingwi’s “Key Elements & Challenges with Nonviolent Movements & Campaigns in the Democratic Republic of the Congo” shows what activists are up against in the Central African nation—and what activists elsewhere would be wise to avoid. Some bittersweet news: This is our last print issue of Nonviolence. Thanks for joining us for these three years of publishing adventures. We plan to continue sharing stories and analyses at nonviolencemag.org, not to mention the Metta Center’s bi- weekly Nonviolence Radio show. Want to broadcast your campaign/ movement news? Send it our way: [email protected]. KIMBERLYN DAVID Editor & Creative Director nonviolence 7 Principle & Strategy Strategy: The How & the Why by MICHAEL N. NAGLER Military planners have their Klauswitzes and Sun Tzus. Where is the Sun Tzu of nonviolence? George Lakey has been planning and executing gained by being able to compromise on inessentials), nonviolent campaigns for decades. These days he often b) how we are going to make decisions, and c) how we talks with people coming into the movement for the are going to handle Antifa-like groups who want to add first time. They include people who are used to making violence to the mix (of critical importance these days, business plans, retirement plans, and all kinds of plans. unfortunately). They wouldn’t dream of launching a business or their Then, if it’s well-timed and well-planned, a retirement without one, but when George asks them demonstration or protest can be built up to a campaign, about their plan for their nonviolent efforts he gets a and a campaign to a movement. None of this will blank stare. There is a widespread misconception that happen without careful planning; in other words, a you don’t plan nonviolence, it just happens. It’s not a strategy. What is your final goal, or vision; what steps science. If you’re lucky, it works. do you plan to get you there; how will you deal with Protests, demonstrations, marches, and the like are at contingencies—including unforeseen opportunities— best the beginning, not the end, of action that’s going along the way? Military planners have their Klauswitzes to make an appreciable difference. Think of the huge and Sun Tzus. Where is the Sun Tzu of nonviolence? worldwide turnout against the US invasion of Iraq in At the Metta Center for Nonviolence, we have long 2003. George W. Bush, the US president at the time, been occupied with the question of strategy. The airily dismissed it—the largest worldwide popular following tips and guidelines were gleaned from our demonstration in history—as a “focus group.” Such a study of movements past and present. Most of these galling insult could make us very angry, but it’s more tips and guidelines have been built into our Roadmap important that it make us determined. For a successful (see the opposite page for an illustration). The demonstration we have to know a) what’s essential to clever reader will detect signs of Gandhi’s influence us and what’s negotiable (think how much Gandhi throughout the scheme. 8 nonviolence A JUST & SUSTAINABLE WORLD We all want a more peaceful and equitable society. Imagine what we can accomplish by strategically building a movement of movements together. To facilitate that, Metta Center for Nonviolence created Roadmap, a set of tools to: • Develop strategic thinking toward the realization of campaign goals • Connect with others • Train in nonviolence principles Avoid the commercial mass media Learn about Share the nonviolence New Story Develop Build a spiritual personable practice relationships Roadmap provides the unity, strategy and nonviolent power for an unstoppable movement. Organizations are endorsing Roadmap and helping build the movement of movements. For details on how your organization, community group or even yourself can collaborate, email Metta Center for Nonviolence: nonviolence 9 [email protected]. Photo via StockSnap The general idea of the Roadmap’s three circles is to The center circle contains five things anyone can do move through them centrifugally, from inside out. toward personal empowerment and, if you will, peace (Gandhians will recognize his principle of svadeshi, or warriorhood: localism). Of course, some issues can’t wait; as Joanna 1. Free your mind from commercial mass media; just Macy points out, “stopping the worst of the damage” boycott it. Our culture promotes violence in every must be a high priority at times like these. But when time allows we try to work on personal empowerment, way possible, subtle and obvious, and the main then constructive program (CP), and finally to direct vehicle of our culture has been the mass media resistance where that’s still needed.