Nobody is born nonviolent

World without Wars and without Violence aims to develop a worldwide commitment to nonviolence as a methodology of action, as a social system and as a lifestyle. Its objective is to achieve a world free of wars as well as physical, economic, racial, religious, sexual, psychological, ecological and moral violence. “Human beings are historical beings whose mode of social action changes their own nature” (Silo). This is the root of both our responsibility and our freedom. And it opens our future.

Nobody is born violent... Or nonviolent for that matter. So Gandhi's "Be the change you want to see in the world" is a great invitation to get rid of the rubbish this violent system has fed us and transform ourselves into the intentional beings that can create the world we all want. See the
Active Nonviolence Training (ANVT) exercises. World without Wars and without Violence international site is on www.worldwithoutwars.org/

Thursday, 16 June 2011

ANVT 6 - Personal Experience of Violence

This workshop can be done as a personal reflection but it is richer in experience if shared with friend, or used in preparation of nonviolent campaigns.

Personal experience of violence

  1. What is violence from an experiential point of view.
  2. What is your own experience of violence, whether as victim or as perpetrator.  Classify the experience according to the type of violence:  Physical, Economic, Psychological, Racial, Religious, Ecological, Sexual, Age-related, etc 
  1. Describe the types of violence that worry you the most, whether you are directly involved or not.  Describe how this affects your image of the future.
  1. Discuss with others alternative ways to respond to situations of violence. Think how people you admire for their non-violent position would deal with such situations.
  2. Conclusions.  What are the common elements that make violence an important issue in people’s lives?  What are the common elements that make violence recede? 
  3. Plan for the week.  Make a plan to start to affect, positively, a situation of violence that is troubling you at the moment. 

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