“I think you get rid of violence only if people see that you have a different way of acting, a different way of struggle”—Gene Sharp I first read The Politics of Nonviolent Action in 1989 as the uprisings in China’s Tiananmen Square were unfolding. Sharp’s analysis highlighted both the power of the student’s actions and the… Read more »
Category: North America
GEORGE LAKEY
“The essence of the work I do is to love.” I know George through various activist projects in the Philadelphia area. I’ve even gone to “folk sings” at his home in West Philly–one of my unfulfilled goals is to join him in singing Handel’s Messiah. But things changed when I attended my first Training for Social… Read more »
JOHN PAUL LEDERACH
“The primary practical task of those working for reconciliation is to help create the space where Truth, Mercy, Justice, and Peace can truly meet and thresh things out…We need to recognize all their concerns as proper, provide them with voices, respond to their fears and needs, and place them in an open and dialogical setting”… Read more »
KEN SEHESTED
“There are a lot more of us out there than anybody knows, and we need to find more ways to stay connected, to instruct and encourage each other, sometimes to argue with each other, because it’s not just the world that refuses to listen—sometimes our churches refuse to listen as well.” Ken is the longtime… Read more »
MYLES HORTON (1905-1990)
“If people have a position on something and you try to argue them into changing it, you’re going to strengthen that position. If you want to change people’s ideas, you shouldn’t try to convince them intellectually. What you need to do is get them into a situation where they’ll have to act on ideas, not… Read more »