Nonviolence, Professor Michael Nagler proposes, has proven its power against arms and social injustice wherever it has been correctly understood and applied.

Beginning with the achievements of Mahatma Gandhi, and following the legacy of nonviolence through the struggles against Nazism in Europe, racism in America, oppression in China and Latin America, and ethnic conflicts in Africa and Bosnia, Nagler unveils a hidden history.

Nagler dissects recent events such as Kosovo and Tienanmen Square to show how nonviolence operates and why it has sometimes failed. He also draws upon lesser-known actions such as the “Prague Spring,” and the women’s demonstration at Berlin’s Rosenstrasse, to reveal the principles by which nonviolence has turned the tides against mass conflict. He then explores these same principles in the context of the growing violence of American society.

Nagler’s approach is not only historical, but also spiritual.

He argues, drawing upon the experience of Gandhi and other activists, that the shift to nonviolence begins within the individual, through the reshaping and re-visioning of how one understands the world. He then shows how from changes in the individual, changes in the larger community follow.

“Nonviolence often seems to be seen as the tactic of the naive idealist”, – says Professor Michael Nagler, but as he emphasize, they might not be naive, it may really be the strategy of the shrewd and practical among us, who have figuret out a better way, than the carnage of the last century for dealing with our problems.

Professor emeritus Michael Nagler has spoken for campus, religious, and other groups on peace and nonviolence for many years, especially since September 11, 2001.

He has consulted for the U.S. Institute of Peace and many other organizations and is the founder President of the board of the Metta Center for Nonviolence Education.

He has worked on nonviolent intervention since the 1970’s and served on the Interim Steering Committee of the Nonviolent Peaceforce.

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ThePeoplePress.com

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