Sunday, September 13, 2009

Introducing the Center for Nonviolent Solutions...


One of my professor-mentors, Mike True, author of numerous books on literature and nonviolence including An Energy Field More Intense Than War: The Nonviolent Tradition and American Literature, has spearheaded his own nonviolent campaigns in education and in the world. He has been doing some institution-building. The Center for Nonviolent Solutions now has its own web site, which is chock full of resources to spread the word and deed of nonviolence.

Mike True is also available for lectures; listed below are some of his topics.

Michael True, Professor Emeritus, Assumption College, and the author and editor of twelve books, including An Energy Field More Intense Than War and The Nonviolent Tradition, 1995, and People Power: 50 Peacemakers and Their Communities, 2007.

I. The American Tradition of Nonviolence

A slide/lecture, with commentary and handouts, about resisting injustice, resolving conflict, and bringing about social change without killing, from the 17th century to the present. A narrative on the abolitionist, workers’, women's, civil rights, and Catholic Worker movements: William Penn, Abigail Kelley Foster, Henry David Thoreau, Eugene Victor Debs, Jane Addams, Dorothy Day, Martin Luther King, etc.

II. The Story of Global Nonviolence (People-Power) 1980-2000

A slide/lecture, with commentary and handouts, on the achievements of nonviolent direct action : Greenham Common Women, Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, Solidarity, the overthrow of Marcos in the Philippines, democratic uprising in China, firmeza permanente (persistent resistance) in Latin America, the Plowshares and School of Americas Watch.

III. Poetry and Resistance: A Celebration

A reading and discussion of contemporary American poems reflecting struggles for social justice and community building: Poems by Walt Whitman, Denise Levertov, William Stafford, Muriel Rukeyser, Stanley Kunitz, Karl Shapiro, Lucille Clifton, Mary Oliver, Bruce Weigl, etc.

The Center provides speakers on a variety of topics related to creating nonviolent solutions. Contact us with your specific needs and we will be glad to arrange for a qualified speaker to address your group.

No comments: