Nonviolence (Also see Peace, Conflict Resolution, Organizing & Activism)

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“Teenagers Organize Peace and Justice Activities”

December 3, 2017 GlenAnderson 0

Our culture wants us to be afraid of Muslims, homeless people, immigrants – and young people. The Olympia Fellowship of Reconciliation’s August 2011 TV program gives you an opportunity to meet four teen-agers and a 21-year-old who is working with them. You can decide whether to fear them – or to respect them. But don’t decide until you have had the opportunity to get to know them during this hour. Every year starting in 2001 the Western Washington Fellowship of Reconciliation’s staff and volunteers have developed and carried out some creative and ambitious training for a select number of Puget […]

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TV: “Occupy Wall Street, Olympia and Everywhere”

December 3, 2017 GlenAnderson 0

The democracy movement that swept Tunisia, Egypt, and many countries in the Arab world in 2011 also was demanding a fair economy instead of corruption by cronies in unaccountable governments. (See the Olympia FOR’s July 2011 TV program posted at www.olympiafor.org). Los Indignados in Spain, the anti-austerity protests in Greece, and other actions around the world are also related to this movement for democracy, human rights, and a humane economy. And now – with similar consciousness and demands – the Occupy Wall Street movement has swept the U.S., resulting in hundreds of local “Occupy” encampments, protests and other grassroots activities. […]

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TV: “Strategy and Creativity for Grassroots Power”

December 3, 2017 GlenAnderson 0

Throughout our nation’s history, the best political and social changes have been organized through grassroots movements. In the modern era too, if we are to make progress on the issues we care about – peace, social justice, a humane economy, environmental stewardship, and so forth – we must learn how to strategize, organize and build effective grassroots movements. The Olympia Fellowship of Reconciliation’s March 2012 TV program focuses on this.  During this interview we explore broad insights and strategies for making positive changes in our political and social systems. Our guest is Bill Moyer from the Backbone Campaign — (206) 408-8058 […]

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TV: “Interfaith Voices for Peace”

December 2, 2017 GlenAnderson 0

When discussing current events – in news media and in comments by politicians and ordinary people – we often hear people speak negatively about other people’s religions. They make broad accusations based on the actions of one or a few persons. Actually – even though some individuals fall short – the authentic beliefs and teachings of various religious faiths actually support profound respect for all human beings, profound compassion, and peace. The Olympia Fellowship of Reconciliation’s June 2012 TV program explores humane truths in four different faiths: Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism. We explore how the scriptures and other writings […]

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TV: “Nonviolence in the Real World”

December 2, 2017 GlenAnderson 0

It’s typical to assume that danger requires a “fight or flight” response: Either use violence or run away. When applied to foreign policy this leads us to rely on militarism and war. Domestically we end up with people arming themselves, passing “stand your ground” gun laws, and getting into fights. Movies and much of popular culture (and our foreign policy) rely upon “the Myth of Redemptive Violence,” the notion that prob-lems can be solved only by an ultimate confrontation in which the “good” person uses violence to triumph over the “evil” one. Movies show this as a shootout on a […]

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TV: “Militarism Is the Problem, Not the Solution”

December 2, 2017 GlenAnderson 0

Since World War II – and especially since the Soviet Union collapsed more than 20 year ago – the US has been the world’s #1 military power. And, indeed, the US has used that military power continuously since the 1940s in many places throughout the world. The justifying buzz word has always been “national security” – as if a bigger military, more nuclear weapons, and more military attacks on other countries would make our nation more secure. But even after all of this, Americans still feel insecure. Indeed, when you look at how the US interacts with other nations around […]

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TV: “Effective Grassroots Organizing”

December 2, 2017 GlenAnderson 0

Throughout our nation’s history, the best things we have accomplished for the public well-being have resulted from organizing grassroots movements. We organized grassroots political pressure to end slavery, achieve women’s right to vote, create environmental consciousness, pass laws to protect our environment, end child labor, and establish worker rights, ad-vance equal rights for gays and lesbians, and so forth. All of these came about because people organized from the grassroots up and built movements that nonviolently forced the people on top to change. If we were more skilled in grassroots organizing, we could accomplish a lot more! The Olympia Fellowship […]

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3 Ways to Improve Our Outreach

December 2, 2017 GlenAnderson 0

We could make much more progress in working for peace, social justice, environmental issues, and other issues we care about if we were to be more savvy in how we do outreach to the public. To read a practical 5-page resource in Word format at THIS LINK:  3 Ways to Improve Our Outreach To read it in .pdf format at THIS LINK:  3 Ways to Improve Our Outreach.docx

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“Restorative Justice and Restorative Practices”

November 30, 2017 GlenAnderson 0

Everybody knows that our criminal justice system is dysfunctional in many ways. Despite paying lip service to victims, the current system does practically nothing for them and focuses almost entirely on punishing offenders. Despite paying lip service to – QUOTE “corrections” UNQUOTE, the current system does NOT correct behavior, but merely punishes it. Jails and prisons diminish the inmates’ ability to live civilly, brutalize them, and turn them into hardened criminals. The Olympia Fellowship of Reconciliation’s April 2010 TV program explores “Restorative Justice” – a totally fresh alternative to our criminal justice system.  We also explore applying similar “Restorative Practices” […]

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The power of nonviolent noncooperation

November 25, 2017 GlenAnderson 0

“The underlying fact that we tend to overlook is that while systems do not listen to people very well, they are made up of the very people to whom they do not listen. The existence of a given system depends upon the cooperation of all those who do not benefit from it and all who are hurt by it, as well as upon the smaller number of people who gain status or wealth from it. If those of us who protest the injustice of our system were instead to withdraw our support from the system, then change would begin.” —Shelley […]