WEBVTT

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[Music]

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The problems of our world
can’t be solved piecemeal.

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Only a deep change will make it possible
to live in harmony

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with nature

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with one another

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and most importantly

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within ourselves.

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Fortunately, that change is happening.

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Nonviolence, to me, is the source of power.

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And the power is actually in each person.

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One thing we have in common as individuals

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as human beings

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is the power to show love.

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The basis of nonviolence is love.

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And first of all, in order to have love

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you have to have a heart.

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And each person has a heart.

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My point is, when you step out of the shower,
you’re fully armed.

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[Music]

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It seems like every one of us has this big library
of humanity and nonviolence inside.

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To be able to meet the human being inside you
and to discuss with him about yourself.

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Nonviolence is to be an artist of your humanity.

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To bring the best of you.

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Not just by solving problems, but also by living,
by experiencing, by practicing.

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It’s about your humanity is my weapon.

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And I have to be able to bring you to that place.

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To me, one of the core principles of nonviolence

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this core worldview of nonviolence
is this unwavering faith in humanity

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and in the goodness of people.

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No matter how much harm
someone may have committed

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that the possibility of transformation
and the possibility of resilience is always there.

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Ali Abu Awwad: My brother was
very violently murdered by Israeli soldiers.

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One year after, my mother,
receiving a phone call

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from a very religious Jewish Israeli father
that his son was kidnapped and killed by Hamas

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telling us that there is a group of parents

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Israeli parents, who have lost
some of their family members

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and are willing to come and pay condolences.

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I was born in 72.

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And that meeting happened in 2001.

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That was the first time in my life
that I saw an Israeli crying.

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And then my mother was crying with the same
color of tears with a Jewish mother in my home.

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That touched me deep.

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Because I told myself if these people who paid
the highest price can stand for my right

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and can understand what does it mean
to lose someone

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so everyone can?

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I realized that justice is this step

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when we decide to give up being the victim
of the victimizers

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and not to be in this prison
of hatred and victimhood.

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The work of forgiveness,
the work letting go

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the work of healing through our own traumas,
I think, is so important in nonviolence.

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I think oftentimes, even when we think of
nonviolent movements

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we think of how do we fix those people out there?

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And there’s a time and a place for that,
absolutely.

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There’s a lot of things out there
that do need to be changed.

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And at the same time,
I think a lot of the work of nonviolence

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is about owning the ways
in which we contribute to harm

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and the ways in which we contribute
to systems of violence.

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[Music]

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We didn’t respect you.

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We polluted your earth.

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We’ve hurt you in so many ways.

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We\'ve come to say that we are sorry.

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We are at your service and we beg
for your forgiveness.

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[Native American ululation.]

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[Native American drumming and singing]

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We lose sight of the fact that we ourselves are beings
that want to be in good relationships with each other

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and sometimes it’s easy for us to be hateful
and to be angry at everyone.

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But it’s always possible to reach the core
of who we are.

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I just recognize that that there’s no one
that I can’t learn something from.

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As we try to make a difference,
it’s important that in our certainty

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we don’t eliminate those who disagree with us.

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And I love nonviolence because it is a way
that you can show up boldly and passionately

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and try new things.

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Nonviolence makes me look for a solution
that is win/win.

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A solution that’s not zero sum.

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A solution that recognizes too if we don’t
figure out how to share this planet

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with people of different or similar truth claims
that we can also have a lose/lose.

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We are continually inviting people to really work
with the two hands of nonviolence.

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Barbara Deming, the late feminist writer
talked about activists.

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The two hands of nonviolence being
on the one hand

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I will not cooperate with your injustice

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but I’m open to you as a human being.

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I think this is the job description of the 21st century.

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Nonviolence has been with us as long as
we\'ve been human.

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It’s a legacy we can all claim.

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And if we do, we can repair and transform
the world.

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So, why don’t we hear more about it?

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There had been no systematic studies
on the comparative effectiveness

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of nonviolent and violent struggle.

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There have been plenty of studies comparing the
effectiveness of different types of violent struggle

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but nobody had ever studied
the empirical comparison

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between nonviolent and violent methods of
struggle by civilian actors.

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Very few people actually look at the full range of
strategic options including nonviolent ones

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and compare them against the violent ones.

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And this is something that my whole life’s work
now is seeking to remedy.

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Michael: It all started really with the Tiananmen Square
episode when those students were massacred.

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It hurt me very much.

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My colleagues and I in the nonviolence field

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we’d noticed that they\'re making certain tactical
errors that could easily have been adjusted.

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But in those days, there was no internet.

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We couldn\'t just ring them up.

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So, we thought, “Well, you know,
I hope it’ll work out for the best.”

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And it worked out for the worst.

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We\'re trying to help people practice nonviolence
more safely and more effectively.

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But behind that, we\'re also trying to build
a nonviolent culture in which the general public

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not necessarily activists will understand
what nonviolence is

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and know that they have a big array of resources
embedded in that power

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which we could deploy to basically
build a better world.

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Tiffany: In South Sudan we have teams around
the country who are working on what are called

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“Protection of civilian sites.”

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Two of our colleagues happened to be
right where this was starting.

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They had gone in that day to organize.

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They were going to do some work with a group of
women when this all started.

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A large crowd of people banging
against the perimeter gate.

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We could hear stones coming over
after a couple of minutes.

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And then ultimately, gunshots.

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We were trying to encourage people
to move with us.

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It became unsafe to keep going.

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If you keep running, you’re going to get shot
in the back.

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There were around nine children
and four women who were also just looking around

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you know, like didn’t really know what to do.

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So, we just encouraged them
to go in the tent with us.

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And you could hear the gunshots.

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You could smell the gun powder.

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You could hear the casings falling on the ground.

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There were at least three to four attempts
just trying to get us out.

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People with weapons coming in and saying,
“You guys go.

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You guys go.”

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And we said, “We\'re not leaving.”

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After a long time, the women,
they perceived they were safe.

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They immediately came out,
so we came out with them.

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They were able to present this particular
approach and hold onto it.

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And at one point, really have like a few minute
conversation with somebody

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explaining their position, that that’s
what it was that created that space.

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And so, in the end of what was a very terrible day,
at least these 14 women and children were safe.

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If we had a gun in those instances
and not been like an unarmed peacekeeper

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we probably would have been killed.

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You can be assertive without being aggressive.

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Being confronted with five people with sticks,
axes, pistols, automatic rifles

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we have different tools.

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We have different weapons, if you will.

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Nonviolence is a powerful thing.

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It’s underappreciated and underestimated that it
can have a transformative effect, you know.

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It can change the stakes.

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[Women singing]

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When we talk about unarmed civilian protection,
the use of unarmed strategies and tools

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implemented by civilians to increase security
and to decrease violence

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it is a pragmatic practical approach to the realities
of violence that is having direct impact.

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It’s saving lives.

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This is not us being, you know, peace activists

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who are very idealistic, and we hope unicorns
and rainbows will rule the world one day.

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This is hard work.

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There’s nothing easy about it, but it works.

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The way that one fights a struggle
really does help to determine

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the way the country will look in the aftermath.

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Nonviolent campaigns are about ten times likelier
to usher in democratic institutions

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within five years after the end of the conflict
compared with violent insurgencies.

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They\'re also four times more likely to usher in
these institutions, even when they fail.

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So, nonviolent campaigns are creating a type

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of oppositional activities or political space that
couldn\'t have occurred in their absence.

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From 1900 to 2006, campaigns that relied on
mass nonviolent struggle

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were twice as effective as the violent ones.

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They were also becoming more effective
over time.

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So, since about the 1960s nonviolent resistance
has become

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a much more powerful force for change
than violent resistance.

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And it’s also becoming far more frequent.

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One of the big myths that’s busted
through our data

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is that nonviolent resistance takes longer to
achieve results than violent insurgency.

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In fact, what we find is strikingly the opposite,
that nonviolent campaigns, fully mobilized

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typically take about three years to run their course

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whereas violent insurgencies
take about nine to ten years.

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From 2010 to 2014, we see more new onsets of
mass nonviolent action around the world

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than we saw in the entire decade of the 1990s.

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[Singing]

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Nonviolent resistance is more powerful
and effective

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and becoming the choice de jour, so to speak.

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Whereas violent resistance is going out of style
in a major way.

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[Music]

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Gandhi: I do dimly perceive that while everything around me
is ever-changing, ever-dying.

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There is underlying all that change

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a living power that is changeless

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that holds all together

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that creates

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resolves

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and recreates.

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Michael: “Nonviolence is as old as the hills.”

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That’s a direct quote from Gandhi.

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What Gandhi did that was different was to give it
a local habitation and a name.

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So, he had this contest in 1908
and they came up with the word satyagraha

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which means, “Clinging to truth.”

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But in ancient India, there had been a term called,
“Ahimsa,”

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which means the absence of an intention to harm.

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What it really means

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the creative power that’s generated when
you have controlled any intention to harm.

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Now, that term translated literally into English

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which happened sometime in the late 1920s
became \"Nonviolent.\"

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So, that shows you, we’ve had a word for violence
since the Latin language.

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But we haven’t had a word for nonviolence
before 1920.

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That shows you how far behind the curve
we have been.

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And it also shows you why we overlook the thing,
even when it’s right in front of our noses.

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What kind of self-concept as a species
do we have?

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We humans, we think of ourselves, traditionally,
at least in Western society

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as driven by selfishness and competition

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and we aggressively pursue these goals.

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And that needs to be reflected in our society.

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Our society should reflect these
competitive tendencies.

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That’s sort of the capitalist system.

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That’s how it operates, and sort of unbridled
competition is a good thing for society.

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And it’s sort of interesting how in 2008
when that whole system collapsed financially

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and we saw that unbridled competition
is not going to fix the job that we wanted to do

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how people started to think differently.

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That gave us an opening to start talking about
empathy and cooperation in a different way.

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Protests are spreading from cyberspace
to streets all the country.

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50 cities now from Salt Lake City to Topeka
to Knoxville.

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We’ve been telling ourselves the same old story
at least since the industrial revolution

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that we\'re all separate physical beings whose
needs are in competition.

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But based on scientific breakthroughs
that started a century ago

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and whose significance is now catching on

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scientists, academics and activists
are calling this the old story

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and giving us an entirely different
and more realistic vision for the future.

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Cooperation is actually very widespread
in the animal kingdom.

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There’s actually very few animals who survive
without some form of cooperation.

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This whole notion that deep down we are bad
and we need to work very hard to be good

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that’s an idea that’s sort of out of the window now.

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The new story is building on that.

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It’s saying we\'re not inherently separate.

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As the scientific research continues to expand in
the areas of quantum physics and so on

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they\'re learning more and more –
the science community –

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about how interconnected all of the life is.

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In 1986, a group of scientists
from around the world convened

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and they issued the Seville Statement.

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They said, “There’s nothing in our DNA
that says that we are predisposed to violence.\"

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It’s also scientifically incorrect to say
that we are separate.

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That’s just not true.

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And the more you can realize
how connected life is

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It makes it even more important to engage
in these nonviolent practices.

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And it also helps you understand
why it’s so effective.

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There is something that connects all of us.

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So when we are helping other people
we are helping ourselves.

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Cooperation is just as much a part of us
as competition.

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And every disaster proves that.

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Often, in evolution, the cooperative mode
was driven by disasters.

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In our trainings, we get the question a lot
that isn’t violence just part of human nature?

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And I used to struggle with that question
until I heard a guy named Paul Chappell speak.

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Paul Chappell is a graduate of
the Military Academy at West Point

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and is now a peace activist.

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And he once told me that every study
that has ever been conducted on violence

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shows that violence is traumatic.

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Even if you\'re not a direct participant in it

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just witnessing violence can cause PTSD,
trauma, depression, anxiety

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all these permanent disorders.

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And yet, not a single person has ever been

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traumatized by an act of love
or an act of compassion.

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And he says, that to him, that is evidence
that violence is not part of our human nature.

00:22:52.600 --> 00:22:56.100
That the things that fulfill us as human beings

00:22:56.100 --> 00:23:01.500
that bring us closer to our potential –
love and understanding and community.

00:23:01.500 --> 00:23:10.200
That those things are our truest nature
as human beings.

00:23:10.200 --> 00:23:15.400
Michael: If you start from the assumption
that everybody has a good core in their nature

00:23:15.400 --> 00:23:17.700
that we\'re all deeply interconnected

00:23:17.700 --> 00:23:24.000
that there is no problem which cannot be
resolved to the benefit of all parties.

00:23:24.000 --> 00:23:27.400
If you start with those assumptions,
and even if you don’t believe them

00:23:27.400 --> 00:23:33.600
you take them on as the hypothesis,
as assumptions, and you test them.

00:23:33.600 --> 00:23:50.900
And you find out that it works.

00:23:50.900 --> 00:23:55.500
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory has
designed 50% of the U.S. nuclear arsenal.

00:23:55.500 --> 00:24:03.400
And some of us troop out there on occasion
and engage in nonviolent action.

00:24:03.400 --> 00:24:04.800
One time a group of us went out

00:24:04.800 --> 00:24:08.100
and we said we were going to lay in the street
in front of the south gate

00:24:08.100 --> 00:24:13.800
and not get up when they ordered us to
as a symbol of our noncooperation.

00:24:13.800 --> 00:24:18.600
But after a while a police officer comes over
and says, “Okay, now I want you to get up.

00:24:18.600 --> 00:24:19.200
You\'re under arrest.”

00:24:19.200 --> 00:24:23.800
I actually told him,
“Oh, I’m sorry, I can’t do that today.”

00:24:23.800 --> 00:24:28.100
So, he grabs my arm
and just kind of tugged me and pulled me up.

00:24:28.100 --> 00:24:32.900
His commanding officer
across the street says

00:24:32.900 --> 00:24:37.000
“Don’t full around with that guy.
Just break his wrist.”

00:24:37.000 --> 00:24:44.400
And so, just automatically,
he starts to break my wrist.

00:24:44.400 --> 00:24:49.300
And something came to me at that point.

00:24:49.300 --> 00:24:53.900
In addition to the pain I was feeling in my wrist,
I just kind of leaned up a little bit.

00:24:53.900 --> 00:25:00.700
Didn’t get up, but I leaned up and I said,
“You don’t have to do that.

00:25:00.700 --> 00:25:03.800
You don’t have to break my wrist.”

00:25:03.800 --> 00:25:06.500
And the guy was suddenly very confused.

00:25:06.500 --> 00:25:09.500
And he continued to try to twist my –

00:25:09.500 --> 00:25:12.300
and then he let go.

00:25:12.300 --> 00:25:14.900
So, this guy has given my wrist back to me.

00:25:14.900 --> 00:25:19.200
So, I feel like I want to give him something,
so I get up.

00:25:19.200 --> 00:25:21.200
And I walk with him.

00:25:21.200 --> 00:25:27.500
We\'re walking along to the police van
and he turns to me – really, he turns to me

00:25:27.500 --> 00:25:34.100
and he says, “Thank you so much for telling me
I didn’t have to break your wrist.

00:25:34.100 --> 00:25:36.300
I didn’t want to break your wrist.

00:25:36.300 --> 00:25:39.100
But I got an order and that’s what I do.

00:25:39.100 --> 00:25:41.800
But you broke the spell.

00:25:41.800 --> 00:25:46.800
And I said, “Well.”
I said, “Great.”

00:25:46.800 --> 00:25:52.600
And we ended up having a wonderful half-hour
conversation about our lives.

00:25:52.600 --> 00:25:58.200
Those kinds of moments
have shown me what’s possible.

00:25:58.200 --> 00:26:02.400
What we have been calling, “The nonviolent moment,”
or the “Nonviolent effect,”

00:26:02.400 --> 00:26:06.900
actually has a physiological component.

00:26:06.900 --> 00:26:09.200
A physiological pathway.

00:26:09.200 --> 00:26:12.700
So, let’s say that you are threatening me

00:26:12.700 --> 00:26:20.300
and I do the nonviolent conversion in my mind
or my heart or wherever that goes on.

00:26:20.300 --> 00:26:24.800
And I act towards you with respect
on the one hand

00:26:24.800 --> 00:26:30.100
but with refusal to comply with your unjust command
on the other hand.

00:26:30.100 --> 00:26:33.800
I am now in a very different mental state
from what you expected.

00:26:33.800 --> 00:26:39.000
My mental state is actually being mapped
in your brain.

00:26:39.000 --> 00:26:42.700
Marco Iacoboni: You have in your brain some cells
that control your own muscles

00:26:42.700 --> 00:26:47.800
but that also when you\'re just watching
the actions of others fire up.

00:26:47.800 --> 00:26:50.600
As if by watching the actions of other people

00:26:50.600 --> 00:26:55.100
you are seeing your own actions
reflected by a mirror.

00:26:55.100 --> 00:26:58.900
What you need to do is to suppress
your immediate tendency to react

00:26:58.900 --> 00:27:00.700
and to be aggressive yourself.

00:27:00.700 --> 00:27:04.600
If you\'re able to suppress that
and to become the mirror

00:27:04.600 --> 00:27:08.800
then inevitably you\'re going to have to induce
in the other person

00:27:08.800 --> 00:27:13.100
some form of mirroring of your calm demeanor
which would probably dampen

00:27:13.100 --> 00:27:15.600
the aggression level of that individual.

00:27:15.600 --> 00:27:18.500
I believe that in the Western world
we get a lot of things wrong.

00:27:18.500 --> 00:27:22.300
We’re so focused on the individual.

00:27:22.300 --> 00:27:25.100
That is to say, we have the self that is detached.

00:27:25.100 --> 00:27:29.200
Whereas in Eastern philosophies,
there’s this notion of connectedness.

00:27:29.200 --> 00:27:33.800
I think what mirror neurons do when we do
interact like this, I’m no longer Marco.

00:27:33.800 --> 00:27:35.100
You\'re no longer Dalia Lama.

00:27:35.100 --> 00:27:39.200
We are us in this interaction.

00:27:39.200 --> 00:27:43.100
I think that’s an important concept
to remember, to propagate.

00:27:43.100 --> 00:27:47.900
And this could actually increase our potential
for empathy.

00:27:47.900 --> 00:27:49.400
Dalai Lama: Wonderful.

00:27:49.400 --> 00:27:57.000
[Applause]

00:27:57.000 --> 00:28:05.700
I usually believe basic human nature
is gentleness, compassionate.

00:28:05.700 --> 00:28:08.100
So, it seems now you are supporting that.

00:28:08.100 --> 00:28:10.400
Oh, yeah.

00:28:10.400 --> 00:28:14.800
There are disciplines that a person
can practice daily

00:28:14.800 --> 00:28:23.400
that help you deal with the strong emotions
that are going to come up in a serious conflict.

00:28:23.400 --> 00:28:27.000
When you\'re dealing with your own fear
and your own anger

00:28:27.000 --> 00:28:35.200
it’s really pretty easy to deal with somebody else’s
fear and anger that they\'re throwing at you.

00:28:35.200 --> 00:28:37.600
Kazu: We come out of the tradition of
Dr. Bernard Lafayette

00:28:37.600 --> 00:28:40.200
and the leaders of the Nashville Lunch Counter Sit-ins

00:28:40.200 --> 00:28:43.700
who trained under Rev. James Lawson for
months and months and months

00:28:43.700 --> 00:28:45.500
before they took their first step.

00:28:45.500 --> 00:28:49.200
We also come from the tradition of Gandhi who,
with his 78 followers

00:28:49.200 --> 00:28:53.500
lived in an ashram and trained
and disciplined themselves

00:28:53.500 --> 00:28:57.500
and strategized and went through
a 15-year process of self-purification

00:28:57.500 --> 00:29:01.000
before embarking on the Salt March.

00:29:01.000 --> 00:29:07.000
Nonviolent people, they don’t recognize
the necessity of fierce discipline and training

00:29:07.000 --> 00:29:12.200
and strategizing and planning and recruiting

00:29:12.200 --> 00:29:14.900
and doing the kinds of things you do
to have a movement.

00:29:14.900 --> 00:29:21.600
That can’t happen spontaneously.
It has to be done systematically.

00:29:19.700 --> 00:29:36.400
[Shouting and yelling during a training.]

00:29:36.400 --> 00:29:39.200
Most activists have no training
in how to wage peace.

00:29:39.200 --> 00:29:42.200
Most people have no training
on how to wage peace.

00:29:42.200 --> 00:29:44.300
Most people are not taught basic peace skills.

00:29:44.300 --> 00:29:49.200
And what if people were as well-trained
in waging peace as soldiers are in waging war?

00:29:49.200 --> 00:29:54.700
And bringing the same level of discipline
and strategic thinking to the mission of peace

00:29:54.700 --> 00:29:58.900
that the military brings to war.

00:29:58.900 --> 00:30:01.800
David: It ended up with 12 of us.

00:30:01.800 --> 00:30:06.000
We got up our courage,
did additional nonviolent training.

00:30:06.000 --> 00:30:10.300
And went down to a People’s Drugstore
in Arlington, Virginia.

00:30:10.300 --> 00:30:14.500
Sat down at the lunch counter.

00:30:14.500 --> 00:30:17.700
It was the most challenging two days of my life.

00:30:17.700 --> 00:30:22.700
People came up and spat at us in the face.

00:30:22.700 --> 00:30:25.800
People put lit cigarettes down our shirts.

00:30:25.800 --> 00:30:30.900
People called us every name in the book.

00:30:30.900 --> 00:30:34.900
And we would try to respond
in a loving, nonviolent way.

00:30:34.900 --> 00:30:37.700
which was pretty challenging sometimes.

00:30:37.700 --> 00:30:43.400
Toward the end of the second day,
I was meditating on loving your enemy.

00:30:43.400 --> 00:30:47.400
And I heard a guy come up from behind me
and he says,

00:30:47.400 --> 00:30:53.100
“If you don’t get out of this store in two seconds
I’m going to stab this through your heart.”

00:30:53.100 --> 00:30:55.900
And in his hand was a switchblade

00:30:55.900 --> 00:31:00.400
which by that time was half an inch or so
from my heart.

00:31:00.400 --> 00:31:05.000
And I had two seconds to decide,
“Well, do I really believe in nonviolence?

00:31:05.000 --> 00:31:09.600
Or is there any other way I should relate to this guy?”

00:31:09.600 --> 00:31:13.600
And I just looked him in the eyes, and I said,

00:31:13.600 --> 00:31:21.400
“Friend, do what you believe is right,
but I’ll still try to love you.”

00:31:21.400 --> 00:31:23.600
I was 20-years-old at the time.

00:31:23.600 --> 00:31:25.800
And it was kind of miraculous.

00:31:25.800 --> 00:31:28.000
This face that was contorted with hatred

00:31:28.000 --> 00:31:30.100
his jaw began to drop

00:31:30.100 --> 00:31:35.400
and his hand that was shaking like this began to fall
and he left the store.

00:31:35.400 --> 00:31:39.200
Some friendly media people got us out of there
alive across the bridge

00:31:39.200 --> 00:31:41.500
back into Washington D.C.

00:31:41.500 --> 00:31:47.500
and we literally shook for six days whether
we had the courage to go and do it again.

00:31:47.500 --> 00:31:53.900
And on the sixth day, we got a phone call that
the religious and community leaders had met

00:31:53.900 --> 00:32:00.200
and talked with the business leaders
and got a commitment that the drugstores

00:32:00.200 --> 00:32:05.600
and the eating facilities would be open
within ten days.

00:32:05.600 --> 00:32:09.000
Seeing that first-hand,
seeing the power of nonviolence

00:32:09.000 --> 00:32:15.700
and feeling we really have the power
to make history -- to change history.

00:32:15.700 --> 00:32:47.800
[Music]

00:32:49.700 --> 00:32:55.600
Gandhi said, “I have not the shadow of a doubt
that any human being can do what I’ve done.”

00:32:55.600 --> 00:32:58.800
In other words, every one of us can play a role.

00:32:58.800 --> 00:33:00.100
My name is Mica.

00:33:00.100 --> 00:33:01.600
And my name is Valerie.

00:33:01.600 --> 00:33:03.300
We\'re in the 7th Grade.

00:33:03.300 --> 00:33:07.800
The reason why we are here is because we want
a future for our generation.

00:33:07.800 --> 00:33:12.300
Our evolutionary mandate is to move into
peaceful cooperation.

00:33:12.300 --> 00:33:16.500
Because we see now that we\'re destroying
our own infrastructure.

00:33:16.500 --> 00:33:20.500
We\'re destroying the planet we depend on.

00:33:20.500 --> 00:33:26.300
Some would say, like Stephen Hawking, “Well, we
need to get off the planet and colonize elsewhere.”

00:33:26.300 --> 00:33:29.400
And I say to that, “If I were on the Galactic Council

00:33:29.400 --> 00:33:37.700
I wouldn\'t give humans another planet
before we clean this act up.”

00:33:37.700 --> 00:33:42.100
Sherri: My hope lies in creating something new.

00:33:42.100 --> 00:33:48.500
Where I would like to go looks very different from
the places that we\'ve been.

00:33:48.500 --> 00:33:51.400
I want to move beyond those systems.

00:33:51.400 --> 00:33:57.000
I want to actually create something that’s aligned
with my values.

00:33:57.000 --> 00:34:00.000
I want to create something that’s aligned with life.

00:34:00.000 --> 00:34:03.800
I want to create something that’s
aligned with respect

00:34:03.800 --> 00:34:12.500
and this balanced sense of wellbeing for all.

00:34:12.500 --> 00:34:17.200
In ancient India, the great sage Shankara
had this model of the tapatraya

00:34:17.200 --> 00:34:24.000
that there are three sources of suffering –
from the environment, from other people.

00:34:24.000 --> 00:34:28.200
And finally, and most importantly,
within ourselves.

00:34:28.200 --> 00:34:32.200
So, my teacher, Eknath Easwaran,
he kind of turned that around and said,

00:34:32.200 --> 00:34:35.200
“Okay, we need to establish the three harmonies then.”

00:34:35.200 --> 00:34:37.400
Harmony 1 – with the outer world, yes.

00:34:37.400 --> 00:34:39.500
Harmony 2 – with other beings.

00:34:39.500 --> 00:34:48.100
Most important and actual starting point
is the harmony within ourselves.

00:34:48.100 --> 00:34:57.800
To do that first part,
we recommend five steps.

00:34:57.800 --> 00:35:00.300
Avoid violent media.

00:35:00.300 --> 00:35:06.400
We have so many alternatives today.

00:35:06.400 --> 00:35:10.000
We need people to get involved in this work.

00:35:10.000 --> 00:35:20.500
Which inspires our communities to understand
that are effective ways of dealing with conflicts.

00:35:20.500 --> 00:35:30.900
Take up a spiritual practice.

00:35:30.900 --> 00:35:37.900
Try to relate personally, wherever you can.

00:35:37.900 --> 00:35:43.000
And from there, that harmonic energy
can be radiated out

00:35:43.000 --> 00:35:45.200
into our relationships with other people.

00:35:45.200 --> 00:35:51.900
And then finally, to the whole world.

00:35:51.900 --> 00:35:54.500
We’re on the river with
a couple hundred kayakers

00:35:54.500 --> 00:35:58.700
who have staged in front of the Fennica –
that’s an icebreaking ship for Shell Oil.

00:35:58.700 --> 00:36:00.500
It’s behind that tarp.

00:36:00.500 --> 00:36:04.600
Now, these folks here today, very lively chanting,
“Climate justice.

00:36:04.600 --> 00:36:06.200
Shell no, we won’t go.”

00:36:06.200 --> 00:36:09.800
And they have banners also saying,
“Save the Arctic,” and other sentiments.

00:36:09.800 --> 00:36:32.000
[Music]

00:36:32.000 --> 00:36:35.400
Avoid commercial media.

00:36:35.400 --> 00:36:41.100
Learn about nonviolence by reading about
it’s rich history and taking a training.

00:36:41.100 --> 00:36:46.300
Take up a spiritual practice, such as meditation.

00:36:46.300 --> 00:36:51.100
Find a personal connection with people around you.

00:36:51.100 --> 00:36:54.000
Find where your special skills
meet the world’s urgent needs

00:36:54.000 --> 00:36:57.100
and find a project to work on.

00:36:57.100 --> 00:37:01.600
We\'re in a time where it is no longer us versus them,
but it’s all of us or none.

00:37:01.600 --> 00:37:03.600
And everyone has something to contribute.

00:37:03.600 --> 00:37:11.100
So, identifying what people want to give,
be it time, money, ideas, other things

00:37:11.100 --> 00:37:23.800
is a way that we can build how wide
a nonviolent movement can be.

00:37:23.800 --> 00:37:28.800
Nonviolence can be practiced individually
in our day-to-day interactions.

00:37:28.800 --> 00:37:30.300
But don’t stop there.

00:37:30.300 --> 00:37:35.600
There are all these institutions
that put nonviolence into the picture.

00:37:35.600 --> 00:37:40.000
In the country we have restorative justice
in schools and in prisons.

00:37:40.000 --> 00:37:45.000
It’s a way for someone to take accountability
and be brought back into the community

00:37:45.000 --> 00:37:48.300
so that they can repair the harm
that has been done.

00:37:48.300 --> 00:37:52.300
They’re able to sit down with the people
that had been harmed.

00:37:52.300 --> 00:37:56.900
And somebody to kind of mediate
that conversation.

00:37:56.900 --> 00:38:01.300
And everybody can come to sort of
middle ground.

00:38:01.300 --> 00:38:02.500
I use a lot of “I” statements.

00:38:02.500 --> 00:38:06.300
I try not to point the figure
and say, “You’re doing this.”

00:38:06.300 --> 00:38:07.300
Or, “You make me feel a certain way.”

00:38:07.300 --> 00:38:14.300
Try and say, “I see at as,”
or, “I feel that it could go this way.”

00:38:14.300 --> 00:38:18.800
It’s really trying not to point the finger
and make somebody feel cornered

00:38:18.800 --> 00:38:22.600
because that’s how conflict starts.

00:38:22.600 --> 00:38:28.500
Michael: Internationally even,
we have civilian peacekeeping.

00:38:28.500 --> 00:38:31.900
Thanks to the work of Nonviolent Peaceforce
and some other groups

00:38:31.900 --> 00:38:35.500
Like Metta peace teams
and Christian Peacemaker Teams

00:38:35.500 --> 00:38:37.100
Peace Brigades International

00:38:37.100 --> 00:38:45.200
The United Nations is actually starting to take
a serious look at Unarmed Civilian Peacekeeping.

00:38:45.200 --> 00:38:50.800
Mel Duncan. I represent Nonviolent Peaceforce, U.S.

00:38:50.800 --> 00:38:55.900
We are here today to urge you to include
Unarmed Civilian Protection

00:38:55.900 --> 00:39:01.900
as a recommended activity within
the state foreign operations

00:39:01.900 --> 00:39:04.300
and related programs budget for 2020

00:39:04.300 --> 00:39:07.000
including in the following programs –

00:39:07.000 --> 00:39:08.300
Women, Peace and Security

00:39:08.300 --> 00:39:11.300
Transition Initiatives.

00:39:11.300 --> 00:39:18.300
The Office of Reconciliation in South Sudan.

00:39:18.300 --> 00:39:20.000
The more that we apply nonviolence

00:39:20.000 --> 00:39:24.500
and the more that we use Unarmed Civilian Protection
in areas of violent conflict

00:39:24.500 --> 00:39:29.100
the more that we see behavioral change
where decisions made

00:39:29.100 --> 00:39:32.800
at the interpersonal and the inter
and intracommunal level

00:39:32.800 --> 00:39:37.000
local governance levels, and moving on up
to larger decision-making

00:39:37.000 --> 00:39:40.400
start taking on the characteristics of nonviolence.

00:39:40.400 --> 00:39:49.500
And characteristics of constructive change
rather than destructive change.

00:39:49.500 --> 00:39:53.700
I request respectfully that we have
a hearing in this committee

00:39:53.700 --> 00:39:55.900
where we bring the Attorney General before us

00:39:55.900 --> 00:40:00.300
to tell us what we are doing with these camps
on the southern border.

00:40:00.300 --> 00:40:01.000
We have to think big.

00:40:01.000 --> 00:40:02.700
Sojourner Truth didn\'t think small.

00:40:02.700 --> 00:40:03.800
Martin Luther King didn’t.

00:40:03.800 --> 00:40:04.800
Gandhi didn’t.

00:40:04.800 --> 00:40:10.900
They had big, bold ideas.

00:40:10.900 --> 00:40:15.400
And I want our young people to not get cynical
about having big bold ideas

00:40:15.400 --> 00:40:19.300
and to really be willing to fight with love.

00:40:19.300 --> 00:40:20.300
We are united.

00:40:20.300 --> 00:40:23.200
We are called the United States of America
for that reason.

00:40:23.200 --> 00:40:25.900
Together, we are whole. Together we are one.

00:40:25.900 --> 00:40:27.900
Look to your left and look to your right.

00:40:27.900 --> 00:40:30.300
Brothers and sisters is what I see.

00:40:30.300 --> 00:40:33.200
It’s actually patriotic to fight for peace.

00:40:33.200 --> 00:40:42.500
And to de-militarize, de-nuclearize, and to think
about national security as economic security

00:40:42.500 --> 00:40:44.800
domestic security, peace and justice.

00:40:44.800 --> 00:40:49.600
I mean these are not separated concepts.

00:40:49.600 --> 00:40:52.200
Erica: Governments have spent billions and billions
of dollars

00:40:52.200 --> 00:40:56.600
getting violent science right in the past 400 years.

00:40:56.600 --> 00:41:10.600
And I think that it’s time that we invest some time
and energy into alternatives.

00:41:10.600 --> 00:41:14.200
Rivera: We actually don’t have 100 years
to figure this out.

00:41:14.200 --> 00:41:15.200
We don’t have that luxury of time.

00:41:15.200 --> 00:41:23.000
We have actually things on our plate in this
moment on earth – like the climate crisis.

00:41:23.000 --> 00:41:34.200
It is a ticking clock on those of us who would like to see
nonviolence make some significant changes in this world.

00:41:34.200 --> 00:41:40.500
So, what are we waiting for?

00:41:40.500 --> 00:42:27.500
[Music]

00:42:27.500 --> 00:42:30.600
I and some others are beginning to believe that

00:42:30.600 --> 00:42:40.700
not only is nonviolence a natural endowment for the human being,
it is the defining endowment of the human being.