http://pro-libertate.net/20160810/306-read-nonviolence ( )

I liked Richard Dryfus as a reader, however I did wish they would have had him pick up the pace a bit. I thought it was read too slowly. The content was as expected - the author talked about the positive aspects of nonviolence, and several successful practicioners including Martin Luthur King, Ghandi, and individuals from past wars. Nice to have something to wish for, but the world is still a long way from achieving such a lofty goal. ( )

Non-violence in secular & religious societies & nations.

I didn't particularly enjoy Kurlansky's book on nonviolence--although his facts are accurate, they are often incomplete and his tone is snarky throughout. Someone whose introduction to nonviolence is this book is likely to reject the whole business. ( )

Non-Violence: The History of a Dangerous Idea by Mark Kurlansky. Epiphany library section 7 B: The Church in the World, Politics/War/Peace. Foreword by His Holiness The Dalai Lama. This book begins by defining non-violence. It is not pacifism, because pacifism is passive, where non-violence is active. When Jesus said “turn the other cheek” he was preaching pacifism, but when he said that an enemy should be won over through the power of love, he was preaching nonviolence. Practitioners of nonviolence like Jesus are seen as enemies of the state because states achieve and maintain power through violence or its threat (invasion, war, “big stick” policies, repression).
The author discusses the relationship throughout history between nation-states and their use of force to gain power. He discusses how violence is like a virus that spreads because people motivated by fear do not act well. However, warfare produces peace activists, and a good place to find them is in a group of war veterans! Can you figure out why this is so? I also found it very telling that as long as a group of nonviolent resisters remains nonviolent they win, but the minute they repay violence with violence, they have lost.
Kurlansky also discusses those who have worked proactively for nonviolence – Christ, Quakers, the Maoris of New Zealand, Gandhi, Mandela, the Polish Solidarity movement, and conscientious objectors. Kurlansky discusses the idea of a “just war,” and the hard lessons America learned in Vietnam.
This book showed me how national leaders throughout history have advocated violence (usually calling it by more palatable names like “patriotism,” or labeling other nations “evil empires”) to maintain power. Such tacit acceptance of violence is something we can learn to listen for, “under the radar” so to speak, and identify in our own time. For example, when my brother was drafted during the Vietnam era, I know much of my mother’s anxiety centered not only in the threat that he might be killed, but that he was being trained to use violence to possibly kill other human beings – something my parents continually stressed was wrong throughout our childhoods. This book also got me thinking about the strength of those who resist violence knowing they will suffer physically or mentally because of it. Nonviolent resistance can be an incredibly powerful moral tool. Watch the film Gandhi if you doubt me. This makes me want to rewatch that film. The last few pages of this book list 25 lessons about violence and nonviolence, the last two being: the miracle is that despite all of society’s promotion of warfare, most soldiers find warfare to be a wrenching departure from their own moral values, and that the hard work of beginning a movement to end war has already been done.
Read this book – I believe much of it will ring true to you. While somewhat controversial, this book is timely because it is ALWAYS a good time to work for peace and understanding. Life on planet Earth depends upon our ability to wage peace. ( )