Jenny Gaiawyn
This Handbook has been put together by an international committee with the aim of creating a useful tool for those working for social change. However, unlike many similar books birthed in British or North American activist movements, this one is written from a global perspective and is all the richer for it, providing a broader view of both how nonviolent actions can be used and the type of people who are involved in such activism.
Written in a clear and succinct style, it’s a…
Once you get past the introduction – which is poorly written and unfocused, with most of the important information repeated in the main body of the book – Long Time Passing is just what it says on the cover: a country by country breakdown of the effects of war and terror on mothers, families and society.
Each chapter – covering Palestine, Israel, Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Syria and the US – starts with a well-referenced history of recent events that have briefly appeared in the…
In response to the continual, daily attacks, three pieces of nonviolent action by Palestinians have marked a tactical shift in resistance to the occupation.
On 3 November women surrounded a mosque in Beit Hanoun where men were sheltering from the Israeli military. To widespread international condemnation, the soldiers opened fire on the women, killing two and injuring at least 10. A couple of weeks later, hundreds of civilians surrounded two houses that were about to be destroyed by…
One form of control commonly used by the Israeli military is to carry out night-time raids on people's homes, dragging away family members - often for little or no reason. When there is suspicion that this is going to happen, perhaps because the same families are repeatedly targeted, internationals sometimes stay in the house - their presence can often offer some protection.
In Balata Refugee Camp, east of Nablus, I stayed overnight in a family home where the father had been arrested…
Spirited Living is an essay written from the 2004 Swarthmore Lecture in which Simon Fisher, an experienced peace worker, lends a personal viewpoint to a call for Quakers to become more actively involved in peace activism or conflict transformation.
From the first chapter, the current status of the overall Quaker movement is challenged. It is represented as a somewhat confused and benign force in the global peace movement. The brief history of the Quakers given, including…
One Voice is a compilation of two pieces by the renowned pacifist Vera Brittain, written during World War II. The first, Humiliation with Honour, is a reproduction of a series of letters from mother to son. The second, Seeds of Chaos, provides detailed and gruelling evidence of the human and cultural destruction stemming from the “obliteration bombing” policy adopted by the RAF in the 1940s. A foreword by her daughter, Shirley Williams, and introduction by Y Aleksandra…
This Guide is easy to understand and provides a good introduction to the steadily growing and varied fields of ethical careers. The articles and profiles cover the public and private sectors as well as voluntary work, and advice is given not only on how to get involved in the more obviously ethical careers such as environmental consultants and community workers, but introducing the growing opportunities offered as more and more companies, even “evil multinationals”, create corporate…
An important part of nonviolence is respect for the sanctity of life and the rejection of behaviour that humiliates or degrades other humans.
People all around the world make nonviolence a part of their life, work and activism, yet it is a minority who extend the practice to include animals.
Concurrently there are people who campaign for the right of animals not to be mistreated whilst seeming to ignore the same abuses when they are used against people.
I believe that…
