Since 1989: The Concept of Global Non-Violence and its Implications for Peace Research

Introduction -

    We're bound to each other with unknown thread, a stitch of red corpuscles sewing up the globe. - Piotr Summer

    We are all part of one another. - Barbara Deming

    We have seen this in Rangoon, Seoul, Kwangju, Manila, Beijing, Bangkok, and even Tokyo. Men and women, young and old, many meeting for the first time and by chance in tear gas fog, find each other comrades. - Muto Ichiyol

Anyone paying close attention to developments in non-violence since 1989, the theme for the Nonviolence Commission Sessions at IPRA '96, almost inevitably comes across a concept that is relatively new in the literature, the concept of 'global nonviolence.' And however wary one may be of this grandiose term, it may serve some useful purpose in discourse about recent movements for social change, as well as for the future. In the discussion that follows, I shall try to explore its meaning. My purpose is to suggest its usefulness for naming and understanding initiatives for peace and campaigns for social justice, as issues and communities converge in new ways around the globe.

Two Plots of Nonviolence Stories: From the Streets of Bangkok to the Forests of Thailand

Introduction -

    Salman Rushdie's novel Haroun and the Sea of Stories, began when Rashid Khalifa, Haroun's father who was the great story-teller of Alifbay, opened his mouth to tell a story and found that it was as empty as his heart. The story is about Haroun' s search to fight the Prince of Silence, Khattam-Shud, and return the magic of story-telling to humankind.

Brown Beret - Could this be a Chicano Peace Brigade?

Introduction -

    The Brown Berets came into existence in 1967 in Los Angeles soon after the Black Panther Party was founded for self defence in 1966 in Oakland, California. Similar in organisational zeal and mission, the Brown Berets focused on the mobilisation and unification of Chicanos for self defence against police brutality. However, its primary objective remained on the youth in the barrios with heavy emphasis on education.

One Million Kilometres for Peace: Five Years of Peace Action in Cambodia

Introduction -

    After the United Nations' most costly peace initiative has come and gone, ordinary people continue to pursue the path of peacemaking in Cambodia. The most visible and inspiring manifestation of this pursuit of peace by peaceful means is the annual Dhammayietra, a mass cross-country walk for peace and reconciliation which has covered one million kilometres.

Nonviolent Action in African Liberation Struggles

Introduction -

   Despite the stereotype of the African continent as an area of violent conflict, the region also has an impressive tradition of nonviolent resistance and other unarmed challenges to authoritarianism. Indeed, this phenomenon appears to be increasing in recent years. The term unarmed insurrections, in this case, refers to organised popular resistance to government authority which-either consciously or by necessity-eschews the use of weapons of modern warfare. Tactics may include strikes, boycotts, mass demonstrations, the popular contestation of public space, tax refusal, destruction of symbols of government authority (such as official identification cards), refusal to obey official orders (such as curfew restrictions), and the creation of alternative institutions for political legitimacy and social organisation.

Lithuania: from Nonviolent Liberation Towards Nonviolent Defence.

Introduction -

    A nation that had won freedom without the force of arms should be able to keep it too without the force of arms,' said Gandhi in 1947 !Gandhi began his advocacy of nonviolent resistance to aggression in the 1930s. In 1940 he proposed to the Working Committee of the Indian National Congress to opt for the non-military defence policy and to fully exploit the experience already gained. He saw in this, India's mission in the world. Even though the Congress did not accept the proposal, the idea has been attracting the growing attention of scholars and the international community. However, in spite of the interest shown in civilian defence (CD) by scholars and some politicians, there is no country in the world where it is employed as an alternative to military defence.

El Salvador: In Search of a Nonviolent Peace

Introduction -

    El Salvador epitomised the madness of the Cold War. Although the internal conflict in £1 Salvador had little to do with the Cold War, the country became one of the "hot" battlefields. The Soviet Union, ready to exploit mayhem in the United States' backyard, smuggled weapons into the region.  The United States, determined to block all Soviet penetration, sponsored what can be called a "convulsion of violence" in El Salvador.

Inner Voices and Outer Positions: Women in Peacemaking

Introduction -

    Those of us with some Quaker background are very familiar with the concept of the inner voice - that voice which speaks to us with insistent clarity once we have learned to listen for it, making us absolutely certain of our callings, of particular courses of action we should embark on. Each individual, of course, has her or his own inner voice, therefore the hearing, but again, we do have to learn to listen. In the larger socio-political context, Quakers speak of consensus, the coming together and blending of the individual voices and visions. But in the politics with which most of us have to live, of course, most voices go unheard, and certain male visions - those of the people in power-prevail. Women's voices and visions are pushed aside, ....

Nonviolent Alternatives Among the Enga of Papua New Guinea Highlands

Introduction -

    For several years I have been engaged in participatory action research (PAR) to discover nonviolent alternatives to II tribal fighting" among the Engans in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea. PAR seeks to involve people directly in research into their own society I moving through several cycles of inquiry I reflection and action.

Nonviolence in Kosovo - Establishing a Dependency Relationship

Introduction -

    A process of abrogating Kosovo's autonomous status in the Yugoslav Federation was begun by the Republic of Serbia in 1987. This culminated in the adoption of a new constitution by the Serbian Republic in 1989 that abolished all aspects of Kosovo's autonomy. Kosovo's judiciary, police force and provincial administration were brought under direct control of Belgrade, while Kosovo' s Provincial Assembly was abolished. These events played an undoubted influence in accelerating the breakup of Yugoslavia. There has since been a sustained campaign of nonviolent action waged in Kosovo by its Albanian majority protesting the erosion of Kosovo's autonomy. 

Environmental Racism: Australia, Shell & Nigeria

Introduction -

    As an Ogoni person, I do wish that Shell never ever came to our land. They have destroyed our society, but we in MOSOP [Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People] intend to see that we restore some dignity to ourselves and conserve what is left of our environment and natural resources. We intend to tell the world the real costs of the oil they are buying. People have lost loved ones for this oil. Widows have been created because of the search for oil. Orphans abound in Ogoni because people need oil in their cars in America. Shell oil contains our blood. It should be avoided by every person of conscience. In that way we may persuade Shell to behave responsibly. In that way we may persuade Shell to stop the practice of environmental racism, because what they do in Ogoni they don't do in Europe or in America. 

Men's Health: Social Policy and the New Man

Introduction -

    Should a previously unknown disease sweep across Australia - a disease striking indiscriminately at the rich and the poor, the idle and the industrious, the foolhardy and the wise, a disease whose effects were severe enough to reduce the life span of sufferers by a full six years - national medical resources would surely be directed as a matter of urgency to identify and resolve the crisis. Should this disease affect only one section of society - one ethnic type, or one socioeconomic class - a spirit of compassion and support would surely be extended to the afflicted group. Should it then be discovered that medical priorities were knowingly being directed towards other segments of society, that no effort at all was being made to mitigate or even investigate the calamity, there would surely be national outrage so intense that leaders and policy makers would be banished in disgrace. 

The Medicalisation of Deviance

Introduction -

    Scattered throughout a recently published Annual Report of the NSW Mental Health Review Tribunal are repeated references to a perception by members of the Tribunal that involuntary commitment to mental hospitals is being erroneously restricted. The Mental Health Review Tribunal is a quasi-judicial body constituted under the NSW Mental Health Act with some 29 designated responsibilities for hearing appeals and reviewing the cases of detained mental patients. As the Act currently stands people who are judged to be mentally ill or mentally disordered by a medical practitioner can only be 'scheduled' into a mental hospital against their will if there is a risk they might cause serious physical harm to themselves or other people. This requirement of dangerousness can only be downgraded when the symptoms of mental illness concern disorders of mood in which case serious risk to the person s finances or reputation can also be considered.