Historical overview of nonviolence
From 1939 to 1949
Étienne Godinot
Translation : Claudia McKenny Engström
- 12.07.2015
Leonid Pliouchtch
Born in 1939, Ukrainian mathematician. Actively participates in a
human rights defense movement in the Soviet Union. Creator
and strongest member of the clandestine network for the
distribution of forbidden works, the samizdat.
In 1969, becomes a member of the Initiative Group for the
defense of Human rights in the USSR. Arrested in 1972, accused
of causing unrest and spreading anti-soviet propaganda,
condemned to be confined to the psychiatric ward of
Dniepropetrovsk.
Freed in January 1976. Thanks to the collective international
action of Committees of mathematicians, psychiatrists, unions,
Amnesty International and the Ukrainian Diaspora, emigrates to
France with his family, where he becomes a French citizen.
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Leonid Pliouchtch
“Our conscience is what links us all together. As it
develops or become corrupt, it allows us to win or lose.
The price of the challenge is lucidity. And this lucidity will
only assert itself in reciprocity. (…)
The common menace is totalitarianism : fighting where it
rules is not enough, it must also be prevented before it
can even be born. Is that not the common fight? (…)
All wild ducks, wherever they come from or are going,
have no other choice that to fly upwind. That is why
Bukowski and I fly together against upwind.”
Elias Chacour
Born in 1939. Palestinian Arab, citizen of Israel, archbishop of
Acre, Haifa, Nazareth and Galilea of the Melkite Greek
Catholic Church.
Originally from the village of Biram, which he must flee at age
8 when his parents’ house is destroyed by Israeli Yishuv
(“settlement”) forces.
Founder and teacher of the Mar Elias Educational Institutions,
near Haifa, first Arab university within Israel, which teaches
more than 2000 Jewish, Muslim, Druze and Christians.
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Elias Chacour
Organized many marches and actions for peace, especially
following the Sabra and Chatila massacres, and gave lectures on
every continent on peace in the Middle East.
Tireless militant for peace and Israeli-Palestinian reconciliation,
proclaims, as did his mother, that Jews and Palestinians are
“blood brothers”.
“Israel responds the beastliness of terrorism, which really only
represents a tiny minority of the people of Palestine, by a
collective punishment. Gaza is closed off, and so is the West
Band. A school, a hospital, work, freedom to move, those are
radical antidotes against extremism. Peace without justice is an
empty slogan.”
Photo : The Wall of Shame around the West Bank
Jean-Marie Muller
Born in 1939, French philosopher, lecturer, teacher,
theoretician and practitioner of nonviolence, author of more
than 30 books on the subject. Initiates in 1974 the Mouvement
pour une Alternative Non-violente (MAN) to inscribe
nonviolence into the political scope, rather than just the
religious scope. Head of research at the l’Institut de recherche
sur la Résolution Non-violente des Conflits (IRNC) after 1985.
Militant actions for conscientious objection in 1967 with Jean
Desbois and Jean-Pierre Perrin, against the nuclear weapon in
1973 in Mururoa and in 2012 for the Larzac. Manages a study
on “civil dissuasion” in 1985 at the request of the Defense
minister Charles Hernu. Travels, contacts, symposiums and
lectures un the U.S.A., Poland, Africa, Latin America, the
Middle East (Lebanon, Palestine, Iraq, Jordan, Syria).
Jean-Marie Muller
“Violence pushes us to destroy bridges and build walls. Nonviolence
allows us to deconstruct walls and build bridges. Sadly, it is more
complicated to build bridges than walls : gravity must be overcome.”
“ The Berlin wall fell under the pressure of nonviolent resistance by
the men and women of in the civil societies of the East, which had
taken great risks to conquer their dignity and freedom.”
“To bring down the Jerusalem Wall, realism should incite Palestinians
to choose a nonviolent strategy.”
“The walls in the hearts of men are the walls of
ideologies, prejudice, rancor, resentment, fear.”
Miguel Angel Estrella
Born in 1940. Internationally renowned Argentinean classical
pianist.
Kidnapped in December 1977 by military junta for his social
activism, tortured during a month and imprisoned for two
years in Uruguay. During his imprisonment, continues to play
the piano on a virtual and mute keyboard. Freed in 1980
thanks to pressure from the international community.
With help from Yves Haguenauer, Simone Signoret, Danielle
Mitterand, etc., founds in 1982 Musica Esparanza to “allow
music to serve the human community and each person’s
dignity”.
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Miguel Angel Estrella
This non-profit organization supported human rights groups in South Africa during
the apartheid, Solidarnosc in Poland, the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo in
Argentina, and works today with developing literacy and training.
The ESMA, mechanical school of the Marine Corps and former torture centre of the
Argentinean dictatorship, currently houses the Museum for Human rights and a
school for popular music directed by Mariano Berroeta, son of a man who
disappeared after being tortured in this place.
“I feel no hatred towards those who tortured me. (…) I am not afraid of death. The
daily examination of my conscience, to see what I have done well or where I have
failed, ask advice from my living relatives and my dearest
diseased, always makes me feel that we will meet again.”
Photo : The Escuela Superior de Mecanica de la Armada (ESMA)
in Buenos Aires, where 5 000 people “disappeared”
Adam Roberts
Born in 1940, English scholar and researcher, president of the
British Academy, professor emeritus in political sciences and
international relations at Oxford University.
Coordinates and publishes as early as 1963 works concerning
nonviolent civil resistance as an alternative to military defense.
Author of books about civil resistance from Gandhi to today,
including in Iran, South Africa and Eastern Europe during
communism.
Relatively far from his initial analysis, considers possible for
nonviolent civil resistance and an armed defense by the people
to cohabitate, especially in the event that nuclear dissuasion
should fail.
Ken Saro-Wiwa
(1941-1995), Nigerian environmentalist, spokesman and later
president of the MOvement for the Survival of the Ogoni People
(MOSOP), created in order to combat environmental misuse and
damages caused by oil companies in the Niger delta. The MOSOP
organized a pacific demonstration on 4th January 1993 with around
300 000 people, more than half of the Ogoni population.
Awarded the alternative Nobel Prize in 1994, a few months after
being arrested by Sani Abacha’s regime. Following a trail,
condemned and hanged on 10th November 1995 in the prison of
Port-Harcourt, together with 8 other MOSOP militants.
“Oil exploration has transformed the Ogoni territories into a giant
waste land. The lands, rivers and streams are constantly polluted;
the atmosphere is poisoned. The lands have been devastated by
acid rains and leaking or bursting of hydrocarbons.”
Luis Perez Aguirre
(1941-2001). Uruguayan Jesuit, philosopher and theologian.
After the military coup in 1973, shelters in his community
abandoned children and helps prostitutes from the streets of
Montevideo. In 1979, publishes an independent magazine
called La Plaza.
Coordinator of the Servicio Paz y Justicia in Uruguay after 1980,
works to support the families of those who disappeared,
organizes cooperatives, unions and associations.
Arrested in 1983 and tortured 17 hours in a row. Imprisoned and
kidnapped several times. Fasts during 19 days to invite the
population to find solutions for the country during a day of
national reflexion.
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Luis Perez Aguirre
“Only reconciliation will allow us to break free from the vicious
circle of vengeance.
Reconciliation is the capacity to act humanly by forgiving
one’s enemy.
That does not mean that justice should be denied and that all
must be forgotten, but we have to look beyond that.
Reconciliation is more than an egalitarian justice which would
give each part what it deserves.
It is the capacity to overcome our suffering and show the
possibility human beings have to resist evil.”
Joan Baez
Born in 1941. American singer. At the age of 16, refuses to take
part in training exercises for evacuation towards anti-bomb shelters
during the Cold War.
Takes part in the civil rights movement lead by M. L. King (sings
“We shall overcome !” in Washington in 1963), against the war in
Vietnam. Militant for Amnesty International, denounces human
rights violations in South Africa, Vietnam, China, sings in Sarajevo
in 1993 in a bombed out hotel, with gunshots ringing outside.
Funds a research centre on nonviolence in Palo Alto.
“ The word peace is a shapeless word, detestable in the end.
Marines are there for peace. China is for peace. People think that
peace can simply fall out of the sky. ”
Vladimir Bukovsky
Born in 1942, Russian, dissident of the soviet regime,
imprisoned for over 12 years, between 1963 and 1976, in
reeducation work camps, psychiatric institutions and prisons.
One of the first to denounce psychiatric internment as a medium
of political control for the dictatorship.
Freed during an exchange of political prisoners for the Chilean
communist Luis Corvalan at Zurich airport on the 18th December
1976.
“ Neither the gun, nor the tanks, nor the atomic bomb create
power, and power does not depend on them. Power is born from
man’s docility when he accepts to obey. ”
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Vladimir Bukovsky
When a journalist asks : “ How many political prisoners
do you believe there are in the URSS?”, he answers:
“250 million ! ”
To the question : “ What would you like to say to Brejnev
on his birthday ? ”, he answers: “ I wish he could be
exchanged for Pinochet ! ”
“Humour is a way to defend ourselves and retaliate. I am
a pessimist. Do you know the story of the pessimist and
the optimist who meet ?: ‘Ah la la, the pessimist
complains, we’re in deep shit, it couldn’t be worse!’. ‘Of
course it could, of course it could!’, answers the
optimist.”
Vincent Roussel
Born in 1942, Frenchman, teacher and holder of the “Agrégation”
for mathematics. Cofounder of the Mouvement pour une
Alternative Non-violente (MAN). Coordinator, in the 1970’s, of the
national action refusing to redistribute taxes in support of the
peasants of the Larzac, which contributed to the illegal
construction of the sheep pen in La Blaquière.
President of the non-profit organization Non-violence Actualité,
which publishes and manages the resource centre of the same
name. Involved in the Coordination pour l’éducation à la nonviolence et à la paix (“Coordination for an education promoting
nonviolence and peace”).
“If violence creates desires for revenge, nonviolence gives a real
chance of long-term reconciliation with one’s adversary. (…)
Violence is not inevitable, it is not innate. All behavior can be
educated, and it is our duty to help the younger ones adopt a
more pacific attitude. ”
Charles Rojzman
Born in 1942, Frenchman, son of Polish Jewish immigrants. Psychosociologist, practicing philosopher, teacher in France and in the U.S.
created and developed “social therapy”, an interdisciplinary method
with three main aims :
1 – a psychology based on links to prevent and cure violence,
2 – solving problems thanks to collective intelligence,
3 – a new education for democracy.
Intervenes in difficult neighborhoods and conflict zones around the
world (collective traumas, reconciliation).
“ With relational difficulties, responsibilities must always be
discovered. There is not always an innocent party on one side and a
guilty party on the other, but often a problematic interaction between
the two. ”
Lech Walesa
Born in 1943, Polish. Metal work in the Gdansk shipyard. Main
leader of the protest in the 1980, which resulted in the creation of
Solidarnosc, a union struggling against the communist state to
defend workers’ rights and democracy. President of Solidarnosc
from 1981 to 1990.
Nobel Prize for Peace in 1983. President of the Republic from
1990 to 1996.
“ You can win with tanks and missiles, but you can win more with
truth and honesty. We haven’t fired a single gunshot. I believe that
the 20th and 21st centuries should be shaped on a fight just like
ours. It is a new weapon. Actually, no, it is an ancient weapon, but
it is very efficient and perfectly suited for the needs of the 21st
century. ”
Mubarak Awad
Palestinian born in 1943. When his house ends up in no man’s
land in between the belligerent parties in 1948, he finds refuge
in the old city of Jerusalem. After his secondary school, he goes
to the U.S., where he becomes a doctor of psychology and an
American citizen. Creates a support program for handicapped or
mistreated children.
During a trip to Palestine in 1985, founds the Palestinian centre
for the Study of Nonviolence. Before the first Intifada, lectures
and publishes articles concerning nonviolence as a form of
resistance in the face of Israeli occupation. Deported by Israel in
June 1988, he returns to the U.S.
“ My grandfather was killed, my father was killed. My mother
said to me ‘Never kill, never harm, never insult’. ”
Christian Mellon
Born in 1943, French Jesuit. Master’s degree in Peace Studies
at Bradford University (G.B.). Cofounder and editor-in-chief of
the magazine Alternatives Non-violentes (1973-1989), former
secretary of the Peace and justice commission of the French
episcopate (1997-2004), member of the Centre de recherche
et d’action sociale (CERAS).
“The current vigor of ideologies promoting exclusion and of
religious fanaticism, the disintegration of the social fabric, the
withdrawal into national egotisms, the rise of
populism, everything goes to discourage us
to believe in a spontaneous progress of our
societies towards democracy and the
nonviolent conflict resolution. Nonviolence
must be an educational project, it must be
taught and researched.”
Moustafa Djemilev
Born in 1943, leader of the Crimean Tatars, a Turkish speaking and
Muslim people (today around 280 000 people) deported to
Uzbekistan by Stalin in 1944. Cofounder of “Azatlyk”, the Tatar Youth
Union, in 1961. Between 1966 and 1986, is arrested six times by the
soviet authorities for anti-soviet activities, serves 10 years in prisons
and work camps, then freed under strict surveillance. In 1986,
manages to obtain the return of Tatars to Crimea. Elected president
of the Mejlis (“Assembly”), the political representation of Crimean
Tatars, in 1989.
Member of the Ukrainian Parliament since 1998. Living in Kiev,
denounces the incorporation of Crimea into the Russian federation
with the help of pro-Russian separatists in 2014.
“ An essential thing for me is that I have always encouraged
nonviolence. We fought for decades to come home, but without
every shedding a single drop of blood. ”
Photo below : Flag of the Crimean Tatars
Alfred Bour
Born in 1943, French catholic priest, former president of the
Mouvement International de Reconciliation(MIR). After 1995, works
within the Bureau pour le service de la non-violence in the Rwandan
diocese of Butare, also operates in Burundi and the Democratic
Republic of Congo. Works for the reconciliation of populations
following the genocide and massacres of 1994.
As part of the Groupe Jean Goss, cofounds the bilingual magazine
Ikiguzi Cy’Amahoro – The Price of Peace, translates into Rwandan
Martin Luther King’s “Strenght to Love”.
Oser la non- violence
active
Manuel pédagogique
Une force au service
de la paix
Alfred Bour
Cofounder of the Rwandan organization Family of Peace Umuryango w'Amahoro, whose 500 members work to develop
nonviolence and peace. Delivered over two hundred certificates
allowing university graduates to teach active nonviolence (two years
of group life + training for nonviolence). Several groups, each of
about 30 to 50 people, were born from this work.
Christian Führer
German born in 1943, pastor of the Sant Nikolaus church in
Leipzig. Every Monday, leads prayers for peace. On 9th October
1989, two days after harshly repressed riots, defying the secret
police taken by surprise, leads a peaceful and silent group of
70 000 people carrying a lit candle (photo below) after mass. One
month later, on 9th November, a giant demonstration in Berlin leads
to the fall of the Wall.
In 1991, leads an initiative to facilitate the integration of
unemployed workers. His parish puts together language and IT
courses. Denounces the damages caused by market economy and
its obsession with profit.
“ Whether in the movement against the communist regime in 1989,
in the war in Iraq in 2003 or in the job market reform in 2004, our
experience is that atheists blend with believers.”
Ibrahim Rugova
(1944-2006). Kosovare writer and politician. 2 years at the EHESS in
Paris. Elected president of the Association des écrivains du Kossovo
in 1988.
When the Serb Slobodan Milosevic abolishes the autonomy of the
province where 90 % of the population is Albanian, in 1989, creates
the Democratic League of Kosovo. On 24th May 1992, after
clandestine general elections, is elected president of the
unrecognized Republic of Kosovo, whose government in exile is
based in Geneva.
His nonviolent approach earns him the nickname “Gandhi of the
Balkans”. The Democratic League leads the resistance to Serbian
oppression and organizes a parallel society (clandestine schools,
dispensaries and Parliament).
Official president of Kosovo from March 2002 to January 2006.
Hilke Tromp
Born in 1944 ?, Dutch scholar and researcher, former Director
of the Institute of Polemology in Groningen university, professor
of peace research and international relations.
Member of the Dutch governmental commission for the study of
civil defense, active between 1976 and 1980.
“ Nonviolent defense has already worked. In many cases,
people without weapon or military organization and who had no
notion of strategy imagined and put into practice efficient
mediums to hinder the military occupation of their country. In
the Netherlands, for example, the nonviolent resistance
between 1940 and 1945 was probably more efficient than the
violent resistance, which lead to retaliation. ”
Maired Corrigan-Maguire
Born in 1944. Nonviolent militant from Ulster. In August 1976, a
car of IRA activists, chased by British soldiers, runs over her
sister’s three children. Together with Betty Williams, present at
the time of the accident, organizes the Women’s Peace
Movement to denounce violence from both parties.
35 000 women from both communities rally in the streets of
Belfast.
Nobel Prize for Peace in 1976 together with Betty Williams for
their reconciliation efforts in Ulster.
In 2007, supports the nonviolent resistance of the Bil’in
Palestinians. Takes part in the peace fleet intercepted by the
Israeli army protesting against the blockade of Gaza.
Chico Mendes
(1944-1988). Brazilian. From the age of 11, is a seringuiero,
agricultural worker specialized in extracting latex from rubber
trees.
Leads many struggles to protect the Amazonian forest and its
populations, as part of the Xapuri Union of Rural Laborers,
and then of the Labor Party. Amongst other things, defended
small landowners ruined by the fall of the price of latex
against big cattle breeders attempting to by their lands.
During nonviolent protests, pacifically disarms the guards
paid by the big owners.
Assassinated on order of a rich landowner.
“At first, I thought I was fighting to save rubber trees. Then I
thought I was fighting to save the Amazonian forest. Now, I
know I am fighting for mankind.”
Jean-Marie Vincent
Jean-Pierre Louis
Haitian catholic priests, amongst many others…
J.-M. V.: (1945-1994) Active supporter of the emancipation of
peasants. General Director of Caritas in Cap-Haïtien. Initiates
development funds and cooperatives. After the 1991 putsch, takes
part in the creation of emergency solidarity funds to help those
persecuted and the internal refugees. Assassinated on 28th August
1994.
J.-P. L.: (“Ti Jean”, - 1998) Leads and founds several youth
organizations, leads a real struggle to reform civil status in Haiti.
Fights beside peasants’ and women’s organizations. Cofounder of
the Groupe d’Appui des Rapatriés et Réfugiés. Assassinated on 3rd
August 1998.
Aung San Suu Kyi
Born in 1945, Burmese. Representative of the nonviolent
opposition to the dictatorship present in her country since 1962.
Placed under house arrest un July 1989. Becomes the leader of
the National League for Democracy in 1990. Wins (59 %) the
elections in 1990, but the army never gave civilians back their
power.
Nobel Prize for Peace in 1991. Freed in November 2010, elected
member of parliament in April 2012, is allowed to leave her
country for the first time in 28 years in may 2012.
“ It is not power that corrupts but fear. Fear of losing power
corrupts those who wield it and fear of the scourge of power
corrupts those who are subject to it. But no state mechanism can
stop courage from reappearing again and again. ”
Steve Biko
(1946-1977), back South African militant, cofounder and first
president of the South African Students Organisation, initiator of the
Black Consciousness Movement. Chooses nonviolence for its
efficiency. Imprisoned, banished, put in house arrest, and finally held
incommunicado for 101 days. Defies the injunction not to leave the
country and travels around the Eastern Cape.
Arrested on 18th August 1977, tortures, dies in custody, officially
following a hunger strike. The police admits it was murder in the late
1990’s.
“ The most powerful weapon in the hands of any oppressor, is the
mind of the oppressed ! (…)So as a prelude Whites must be made to
realize that they are only human, not superior. Same with Blacks.
They must be made to realize that they are also human, not inferior. ”
Peter Ackerman
Born in 1946, American doctor of international relations at the
Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy (studies with Gene
Sharp, author of a PhD: “Strategic aspects of Nonviolent
Resistance Movements”). From 1978 to 1990, director of an
investment bank. In 1990, invited researcher of the International
Institute for Strategic Studies in London.
Founding president of the International Center on Nonviolent
Conflict (ICNC); member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
President of the board of directors of Freedom House from
September 2005 to 2009. Member of the board of the Council on
Foreign Relations.
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Peter Ackerman et Jack DuVall
J. D. : American Air Force officer, former television director, former
director of corporate relations of the University of Chicago,
consultant for the President of the United States. Producer of the
film “A Force more powerful” about nonviolent strategy, developed
into a TV series and video games, and “Bringing down a dictator”,
which studies in particular the strategies used by Otpor ! to bring
down Milosevic. Administrator of the Albert Einstein Institution
founded by Gene Sharp.
Together, Ackerman and DuVall create the International Center on
Nonviolent Conflict (ICNC), which develops and encourages the
use of nonviolent strategies based on civilian action to solve
conflicts, put into place or defend democratic states, respectful of
Human rights.
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Peter Ackerman et Jack DuVall
The main actions of the ICNC are to :
- Raise the general opinion’s awareness with help of lectures,
televised or radio interviews, the production, distribution and
translation of films, books, articles and educational material;
- Encourage politicians and the media to become take into account
nonviolent movements;
- Train militants in nonviolent action during sessions.
There are those who believe that the “Colour Revolutions” in CIS (Commonwealth of
Independent States) are part of a strategy elaborated by Washington. Many American
NGOs liked to the CIA and other organs of the US authorities (Freedom House, Soros
Foundation, Albert Einstein Institution, etc) are indeed known to consult and finance
pro-democracy militants. The ICNC refutes any involvement of its own, insisting that the
revolutions were the result of the people’s action in the concerned countries, and only
that.
Adam Michnik
Born in 1946, Polish historian of Jewish descent, journalist,
essayist. Cofounder together with Jacek Kuron of the Workers’
Defence Committee (KOR) in 1976.
Between 1977 and 1989, editor of the clandestine publications
Biuletyn Informacyjny, Zapis, Krytyka and member of the greatest
clandestine publishing company in Poland, NOWa. From 1980
onwards, adviser of the union Solidarosc.
Imprisoned during 6 years because of his activities as a dissent of
the communist regime. Director of the Gazeta Wyborcza, the most
important national daily newspaper in Poland.
Defines nonviolence as: “a pinch of dignity, a pinch of freedom, a
pinch of fraternity and daily mouthful of truth.”
Louis Campana
Frenchman born in Italy in 1946, Compagnon de l’Arche from 1970
to 1978, member of the communauté de la Théophanie until 1990,
sales representative until 2000. In 2001, creates Shanti, a non-profit
organization aiming to promote nonviolence through films.
In 2006, founds Gandhi International, an organization which shows
the topicality of Gandhi’s intuitions concerning the challenges in the
3rd millennium and which participated in the international
mobilization of 2012 to support the Indian movement Ekta Parishad.
In 2007, creates the association Shanti Orissa, which aims to help
the tribal populations of Orissa acquire more autonomy.
“To become action, the indignation felt in the face of the reign of
money and of the economic war must understand the source of
violence, egotism and greed. Being sated blocks the heart and
leads to spiritual death. ”
Jeff Halper
Born in 1946, American and Jewish anthropologist, author,
lecturer and political militant, living in Israel since 1973.
Cofounder and coordinator of the Israeli Committee Against
House Demolitions (ICAHD), which resists the Israeli policies
which lead to the systematic destruction of Palestinian homes
in occupied territories. The militants block bulldozers and
collect money to rebuild the houses exactly where they were
destroyed.
“Of 28 000 destroyed houses since 1997 in East Jerusalem
and in the Jordan valley, only about 600 were destroyed for
security reasons. (…) The situation is getting worse, but we
have made the Palestinian question one that concerns the
entire world. I believe in the possibility of a two nation state.”
Jerzy Popieluszko
(1947-1984), Polish priest, chosen in August 1980 to be chaplain of
the Huta Warzava steelworks in Warsaw.
From May 1982, three months after Jaruselski’s coup, defies the
state of war by celebrating a “patriotic mass” every last Sunday of
the month in front of thousands of people, denounces the lies of the
official propaganda and political imprisonment. Under surveillance
his entire life and incarcerated in December 1983. In June 1984,
like the clandestine leaders of Solidarnosc, encourages abstention
at the municipal elections.
Kidnapped on 19th October 1984 by three Security Police officers,
beaten to death and thrown into the Vistula. More than 500 000
were present at his funeral.
“ The idea which needs weapons to support itself is destined to
disappear. ”
Richard Pétris
Frenchman born in 1947, graduates from Sciences Po, civilian
cooperator in Vietnam, manager at the BNP bank, committed to
helping refugees.
In 1998, creates in Grenoble the Ecole de la Paix with the idea that
peace is not only defined by the absence of war, but that it is
progressively built and needs specific competences.
The Ecole has three main focuses:
- Education : creation of books and educational material, travelling
exhibitions, training teachers, talks in schools, etc.;
- International mediation : solidarity and cooperation actions to
build peace;
- Research: understanding the mechanisms of war and peace;
analysis; publications.
Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo, José Ramos-Horta
Xanana Gusmão
C. F. X. Belo, born in 1948, catholic bishop of Dili, capital of East
Timor. Spokesman of the oppressed population, there being no local
political authority.
J. Ramos-Horta, born in 1949, second president of the Democratic
Republic of East Timor from 2007 to 2012.
Both awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1996 for their research of
a pacific and equitable solution to the conflict in East Timor.
Ramos-Horta regretted that the prize was not awarded to Xanana
Gusmão (born in 1946), leader of the Timorese resistance,
imprisoned from 1992 to 1999 by the Indonesian government, first
president of East Timor, fully independent since 2002.
Jose Luis (Pepe) Beunza
Born in 1948, Castilian Spaniard, agricultural engineer, known as
Pepe. In January 1971, under Franco’s dictatorship, demands a legal
status for conscientious objectors of the military service. Moves to a
working class neighbourhood of Valencia to help and encourage its
poorest inhabitants, to show one of the tasks which could be given to
objectors. Two trails, two years of prison and 15 months with the
disciplinary battalion in the Sahara between 1971 and 1974.
Supported by the Arch of Lanza del Vasto, Marie Laffranque and Jean
van Lierde.
The first of about a million Spanish objectors and rebels who stood up
against military service until the abolition of obligatory conscription in
May 2002, at which point he received an homage from the Spanish
Parliament and all political parties.
“ To change society and reach justice, nonviolence is the
most powerful weapon. Violence continuously failed in
bringing justice. ”
Rajagopal P.V.
Born in 1948, Indian follower of Gandhi’s principals and antiglobalisation militant, originally from Kerala. Publicly uses only his
first name and not his surname, in protest of the caste system.
Kathakali dancer and later agricultural engineer.
In the Gandhi Express train, which travelled around India during a
year in 1969, for the 100th anniversary of the Mahatma’s birth, is
questioned by many young people and feels compelled to commit to
promoting nonviolent struggles.
From 1970 to 1978, convinces many bandits from Madhya Pradesh,
called dacoits and often ruined peasants, to surrender voluntarily :
they surrender their weapons in front of a portrait of Gandhi.
Organises support from their families during their imprisonment.
Photos : Rajagopal and his wife Jill Carr Harris, Canadian, leader of the Global
Movement, an international nonviolent movement committed to agricultural reform
Rajagopal P.V.
As early as 1980, trains youths in villages to fight against exploitation
and poverty in nonviolent ways, first of all by helping them regain selfconfidence.
Chosen in 1985 by the Supreme Court to investigate slave workers.
Works to rehabilitate thousands of people working in stone quarries,
on building sites for barrages, etc. Founds several institutions and
organisations and, in 1991, a coordination structure called Ekta
Parishad (“Forum for unity”).
This movement mobilises those excluded from society (small
peasants, those landless, tribes, Untouchables) to struggle for
lands and against the hoarding by a minority of natural
resources (land, water, seeds, forests).
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Rajagopal P.V.
In October 2007, JanaDesh march (“the people’s verdict”),
gathering 25 000 victims of social exclusion, from Gwalior to
Delhi. Laws are voted, but they are put into effect with
difficulty or not at all.
During a whole year, starting in October 2011, Rajagopal
journeys across India to mobilize the people. In its wake, an
important international mobilisation.
On 3rd October 2012, the JanSatyagraha march (“Keenness
to truth”) gathers over 45 000 people. On 11th October, a
agreement is signed between Ekta Parishad and the
government.
- The JanaDesh march in October 2007
- The agreement signed on 11th October 2012 with Jairam Ramesh, minister for
Rural Development
-The Le Croisic to Paris march against poverty and for the food sovereignty,
organized from 21st September to 17th October 2012 by the French branch of
Gandhi International, in support of the JanSatyagraha march in India
Rajagopal P.V.
•
“ We do not want to go to prison or to be beaten, but as long
as we do not accept to sacrifice a bit of our own comfort, of
our resources and of our time, nothing will change. (…) It is
our responsibility to act today, otherwise future generations
will not forgive us. ”
Bhopal, 03.02.2010
•
“ Gandhi advocated voluntary simplicity, the rejection of
accumulation. He encouraged not mass-production, but
production by the masses, that is to say manual labor by the
masses. He wanted decisions to be made depending on their
impact on the poorest within our society. All of these ideas
must be taken into account in order to create a nonviolent
economy, a nonviolent society. ” Arvillard, 10.09.2011
Christa Blanke
German born in 1948, services thanks to the food packages
distributed by Care USA to former enemies of World War II.
Lutheran pastor. In 1986, celebrates a mass in front of Hoechst
AG pharmaceutical laboratories against animal testing, collects
30 000 signatures against the consumption of eggs produced in
industrial farms within clerical institutions. In 1988, celebrates her
first live broadcast of a religious mass with animals on Züd
Deutsche Rundfunk.
Together with her husband Michael, founds in 1989 Aktion Kirche
und Tiere (“Chruch and Animals Action”) and in 1998 Animals’
Angels against transportation of living animals.
“ 200 years ago, the Church stayed quiet on the subject of slave
trade because they were black. 80 years ago, it stayed silent
about anti-Semitism because they were only Jews. Today, the
Church stays quiet about animal mistreatment because they are
only animals. ”
Hervé Ott
Frenchman born in 1949, Masters degree in protestant theology.
Conscientious objector, illegally occupies the Cun farm (acquired
by the French state in order to extend the Larzac military camp)
together with 4 other objectors in October 1975, in order to
suggest the creation of a research and training center for
nonviolent resistance.
Forced of the lands, the Cun team builds and animates from 1977
to 2001 a new centre functioning thanks to renewable resources.
The seminars, international meetings and community initiatives it
accommodates make the place a life-size laboratory.
Many courses and seminars in countries going through crises
(South Pacific, Africa, Middle East, and… Parisian suburbs) with
liberation movements, to learn to defend Human rights, resist civil
war, become a social worker.
../..
Hervé Ott
In 2001, creates the Institut Européen Conflits Cultures Coopération
(IECCC) and develops a “Constructive transformation and Approach
of Conflicts” (ATCC). Teaches and accompanies in the private and
public sectors, institutions as well as private individuals. Co-leads
teacher training and publishes “Guides to raising awareness
concerning the dynamics and transformations in conflicts”.
The guides, or “Cahiers”
Mediation, civil initiatives. Civil courage. Learning to take part in
public problems in a violent context. Conflicts, always violent ? For a
culture of peace. Mimicry. From Nonviolence to the approach and
constructive transformation of conflicts. Social leaders. Leading
multi-actor projects and transforming conflicts. Ideas to change the
feeling of helplessness and violence in conflicts.
Marie-Pierre Bovy
Frenchwoman born in 1949, professional pianist, singer, choir
master. Member during 25 years of Lanza del Vasto’s Arche
together with her husband Pierrot Bovy, wood sculptor, died of
cancer. Part of the initiative which resulted in the creation of the
Coordination de l’Action Non-Violent de l’Arche (CANVA), which she
leads from 1986 to 1992, and Stop Essais from 1990 to 2000.
President of the Mouvement International de la Réconciliation (MIR
France) from 1986 to 1992 and of the International Fellowship of
Réconcilaition (IFOR) from 1992 to 1996. Organizes the seminar on
Gandhi in Montpellier in January 1998. Today, helps with personal
development ( “Liberating the armors” method).
“Gandhi’s nonviolence, thanks to all of those who carried on with it,
defended it and accepted to pay its price sometimes to death, has
turned out to be a universal medium for emancipation and liberation,
adoptable by all those oppressed.”
Étienne Godinot
Born in 1949, Law graduate, worked in human resources, as well as
creating and leading projects. Member and co-founder of Mouvement
pour une Alternative Non-violente (MAN) since 1974 and of the Institut
de recherche sur la Résolution Non-violente des Conflits (IRNC) since
1985.
“Faced with the three main challenges of humanity today – the
environmental challenge, poverty and underdevelopment, defense and
armed conflicts – nonviolence suggests answers which must be put into
practical urgently.
In the long walk through human history, nonviolence, as a way of acting
towards one’s fellow man as well as nature, as a form of wisdom in life
and thought, but also as a political philosophy and collective strategy
against injustice, is an evident, essential and urgent condition for the
humanization of our world.”
Charles Patterson
Born in 1949 ?, American historian, therapist, editor, history
professor at Columbia University in New York. Studied the Civil
Rights movement in the USA and the extermination of the
European Jews by Nazism. His book “Eternal Treblinka” studies
the need for domination felt by humans over animals.
Denounces the way man gave himself the right to exterminate or
enslave other species.
Claims that animal oppression is a model for all other oppression,
and that the comparison of the oppressed to beasts is a
necessary step on the way to annihilate them.
“The organization of work in the slaughterhouses of Chicago
inspired Henry Ford, who was himself admired by Hitler. This
model can be found in all Nazi extermination camps, where
everything was arranged so as to petrify the victims, confuse
them and cut their murder into simple and repetitive tasks to
trivialize the assassins’ action.”
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