Nonviolence: The History of an Idea

Ira Chernus, Professor of religious studies at the University of Colorado at Boulder, has written an introductory book on the history of the idea of nonviolence in the United States. American Nonviolence: The History of An Idea is now available from Orbis Books and is also available free online.

Chapters include: The Anabaptists; The Quakers; William Lloyd Garrison and the Abolitionists; Henry David Thoreau; The Anarchists; World War I: The Crucial Turning Point; Mahatma Gandhi; Reinhold Niebuhr; A. J. Muste; Dorothy Day and the Catholic Worker; Martin Luther King, Jr.; Barbara Deming; and Thich Nhat Hanh.

Harvard's very popular course on justice now available to you online

From their Web site:  Justice is one of the most popular courses in Harvard’s history. Now it’s your turn to take the same journey in moral reflection that has captivated more than 14,000 students, as Harvard opens its classroom to the world.

In this twelve part series, [Michael] Sandel challenges us with difficult moral dilemmas and asks our opinion about the right thing to do. He then asks us to examine our answers in the light of new scenarios. The results are often surprising, revealing that important moral questions are never black and white.

This course also addresses the hot topics of our day—affirmative action, same-sex marriage, patriotism and rights—and Sandel shows us that we can revisit familiar controversies with a fresh perspective.

What Bystanders Do When They Witness Violence

What Bystanders Do When They Witness Violence

Facing History and Ourselves used a "Talk of the Nation" episode as the centerpiece for a lesson plan about bystanders to violence.  We typically discuss this in the first session of the Class of Nonviolence and come around to it again towards the end.  

Another good resource for this topic is the Phil Ochs song, "Outside of a Small Circle of Friends":

US Nobel Peace Prize Anagram Worksheet

Got new software yesterday -- Anagram Genius is the program Dan Brown used to concoct the anagrams in Angels and Demons and now we have it as well. It's first workout was to conduct a learning activity about the Nobel Peace Prize. Barack Obama receives his on December 10, providing a great opening for discussion. Twenty-one US citizens have received the prize since its inception in 1921 and this worksheet challenges the student to unscramble anagrams of their names.

I didn't include the three US organizations who received the prize. Here they are:
Is ill-mannered top banana contaminating?
Poisoner terrifies connivently enchant wrathful paranoia.
I'm an infected, mesmeric eviscerator.

The first sheet of the handout just includes the anagrams. The second sheet has biographies of the 21 recipients, plus an answer key at the bottom. If this is done as a class exercise, you can chop off the answers, if you prefer, and hand them out later. Download the PDF of the Anagrams HERE.

If you are facilitating the Class of Nonviolence,  this exercise would make a nice accompaniment to the session on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964 (his Nobel lecture makes good reading!)  It could also be used with the session on Gandhi, who did not receive the prize. The Nobel Prize Organization has a lively article about Gandhi on their Web site. A good class discussion could be: Should Mohandas Gandhi have received the Nobel Peace Prize? Why or why not?

And the answers to the anagrams above are:
International Campaign to Ban Landmines (1997)
International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (1985)
American Friends Service Committee (1947) 

Brain Teasers

Engaging, transforming and transcending conflict often involves creative thinking. We can train our brains to “think outside the box.” One way is by solving puzzles. Any puzzle will do— anagrams, suduku, crosswords— or brain teasers. We've come up with a one page handout that includes 27 brain teasers. Play with the letters & numbers to find a common word or phrase. Here's an example:

EEEEEEEEEEC

You can download a PDF file of the handout HERE. If you are facilitating the class of nonviolence, handouts like these can be given to the people who show up early. Or, they can be incorporated into the class itself. In the session on Gandhi, for example, we often hand out a sheet of optical illusions to illustrate that there can be more than one version of "truth."

The answer to the puzzler above, by the way, is Tennessee. Ten E - C. Get it?

Conflict Revolution

View more presentations from Victoria Pynchon.

This slide show is from Victoria Pynchon's Settle It Now Negotiation Blog, and is based on a presentation by Dr. Ken Cloke, Conflict Revolution: Mediating Evil, War, Injustice and Terrorism. (I recommend expanding the slide show to full screen to view it properly.)

In Lesson 5 of the Class of Nonviolence, on feminism, peace and power, we typically discuss power relationships; the diagram on slide 26, power, justice and decision making, is an interesting expansion on the "power wheels" that we typically use to launch our discussion of power. Good information here about social change, negotiation -- good info!

How to celebrate the fall of the wall | National Catholic Reporter

How to celebrate the fall of the wall | National Catholic Reporter

Sr. Rose Pacatte wrote a great article for the National Catholic Reporter on how to mark the fall of the Berlin Wall through movies. Her blog is a great source for current films that can often be used to teach peace and Justice.

Pigs Prove to Be Smart, if Not Vain

Pigs Prove to Be Smart, if Not Vain 

 The 8th and final session of the Class of Nonviolence is about  violence and animals. This article from the New York Times covers the new scientific field of "pig cognition." It says in part:

"Even in domesticity, pigs have retained much of their foreboar’s smarts. Dr. Byrne attributes pig intelligence to the same evolutionary pressures that prompted cleverness in primates: social life and food. Wild pigs live in long-term social groups, keeping track of one another as individuals, the better to protect against predation. They also root around for difficult food sources, requiring a dexterity of the snout not unlike the handiness of a monkey." [whole article]

Looking for more about animals? Some good stuff in the New Yorker: 

Hear Them Roar: A brief about Spain granting some apes human rights and a roundup of current books about animal rights.
Swingers: Bonobos are celebrated as peace-loving, matriarchal, and sexually liberated. Are they? 
Birdbrain: The woman behind the world’s chattiest parrots.

 Here's one from Wired Science: Clever Crows Prove Aesop’s Fable Is More Than Fiction
If the crow story interests you, here is a TED video about "The Amazing Intelligence of Crows" with Joshua Klein:

Understanding and Combating War

Understanding and Combating War

This is a resource provided by the Voices Education Project. It is a complilation of writings, music, drama and art inspired by the work of Lucy Dougall in her book War and Peace in Literature: Prose, Drama and Poetry which Illuminate the Problem of War. Here's what you'll find (click on the word "contents" in the menu):

Rina Abbasi Iranian); Anna Akmatova (Russian); Maya Angelou (American); Margaret Atwood (Canadian); W.H. Auden (British/American); Wendell Berry (American); Berthold Brecht (German); Marc Chagall (Russian/French); Stephen Crane (American); Maria Deyana (Croatian); Ralph Waldo Emerson (American); Diana Ferrus (South African); Kahlil Gibran (Lebanese); Frances Ellen Watkins Harper (American); Garrison Keillor (American); Mary Kimani (Kenyan); Krishnamurti (Indian); Denise Levertov (British/American); Vachel Lindsay (American); Holly Near (American); Pablo Neruda (Chilean); Phil Ochs (American); Robert Phillips (American); Playing for Change; Major Michael Davis O’Donnell (American); Violeta Parra Chilean); Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche (Tibetan); Tom Paxton (American); Leroy V. Quintana (American); Carl Sandburg (American); Ben Shahn (Lithuanian/American); Edwin Starr; Richard Stine (American); Simonides (Greek); Sting (British); Wislawa Szmborska (Polish)