Violence & nonviolence
Bil’in
The small West Bank Palestinian village of Bil’in depends on agriculture for its livelihood, but since 1980 has lost some 60% of its farmland to illegal Israeli settlements and the illegal separation wall.
Bil’in’s response? For over four years, after Friday prayers each week, the Bil’in popular committee has organised a nonviolent walk to the wall, often with Israeli and international supporters, to demand access to its land, and has been stopped by Israeli troops…
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…
On 5 June, Brighton magistrates court acquitted me of assaulting a police constable (PC) in the course of his duty at the “Carnival Against the Arms Trade” in Brighton on 4 June 2008. They upheld my defence of self-defence in the face of unlawful and excessive force by the police.
At the demonstration itself, a security breach led to a gate being opened, and protesters flooded into the car park. Massive police numbers were deployed in removing them. I was one of the last people to…
The tragic death of Ian Tomlinson has cast a pall over the public reputation of British policing. As the eyewitness accounts (and photograph) in this issue indicate, and as the legal report compiled by the Climate Camp demonstrates, there was, on 1 April, a systematic pattern of brutal action by the police forces dealing with nonviolent protesters in the City of London.
It is shocking, but nevertheless true, that the mainstream media would not have scrutinised this criminal police…
The atmosphere when I arrived with most of the other campers at 12.30pm and throughout the day was excellent – there were workshops all afternoon, a working kitchen, compost toilets, a farmers market, music - samba, Céilidh, guitars, folk bands – a real carnival feel. The event was entirely peaceful all day with the police calm and friendly, some walking through the camp, at least one holding a daffodil and at least one seen hugging a protester!
At 7pm, the mood changed…
Reactions have been mixed to The Baader-Meinhof Complex, a new film encapsulating the history of the ruthless German urban guerrilla group. The Red Army Faction (RAF), founded in 1970, led by Andreas Baader and radical journalist Ulrike Meinhof, killed more than 30 people.
Meinhof’s daughter, journalist Bettina Roehl, has called the film’s portrayal of her mother’s crimes the “worst-case scenario”: “it would not be possible to top its hero worship.” “It glorifies brutal killers as…
The title of this book, and the reputation of its author, suggests it could be a welcome addition to a peace activist’s bookshelf. However for anyone interested specifically in pacifism, rather than just peace, it is a profoundly annoying and disappointing book. Perhaps the stark use of a nuclear disarmament symbol on the cover, when much of the book is nothing to do with nuclear weapons specifically, should have been a warning of the muddle inside.
Another clue – for people who…
Between May and December of 1961 nearly 60 Freedom Rides took place across the southern states of America. The Riders came from a variety of backgrounds and crossed age, gender, race, geographical, professional, religious and political boundaries.
Their aim was to challenge in a nonviolent way the state laws which segregated blacks and whites in the transport systems of the southern states. Riders travelled side by side on interstate buses, defied segregation laws in the public…
During the Indian struggle for independence, Mohandas Gandhi gained many followers, including a Muslim Pashtun (or Pathan) from what is now Pakistan, named Abdul Ghaffar Khan, who organised a powerful nonviolent movement. – Eds
Gandhi had been talking about the nonviolence of the strong, that it was for the brave, the courageous. The idea developed into the notion of an army of Pathans, renowned for their ferocity but without weapons. They would be disciplined, wear uniform…
Hundreds of thousands of people in the world engage in nonviolent struggle. Be it a labour strike, a boycott of a business, or an attempt to overthrow an oppressive state, people are practicing nonviolent methods to resolve their disputes. Considering the extent to which the technique is used, it is surprising how little literature exists to help activists to go about their campaigns.
Few have done more to help demystify nonviolent action and make it a practicable activity than Gene…
Rarely is involvement with the military associated with nonviolence training and the ideals of Dr. Martin Luther King. However, as Peace News recently reported, this is the case in Dimona, Israel, where the African Hebrew Israelites of Jerusalem are not only sending their youth to fight in the Israeli Defense Force but also running the Dr. Martin Luther King/SCLC-Ben Ammi Institute for a New Humanity.
Brother Gamariyahu, the interim director at the Institute, confirmed to Peace News…
Flying Close to the Sun tells how Cathy Wilkerson transformed herself from a nice middle class girl to a violent revolutionary. Describing how she became involved in left-wing politics as a student, the book charts her developing understanding of the political issues of the 1960s and ’70s and how she begins to see violence as a possible tool to respond to injustice.
Wilkerson is at her best when she describes the debates around the formation of the Weather Underground and the…
As Peace News went to press, the official death toll in Lhasa rose to 22 - generally assumed to be a massive under-estimate - and solidarity demonstrations were taking place around the world.
On 22 March, a Free Tibet Campaign march in London pressured China into allowing the Red Cross back into Tibet to treat people hurt in the violence. The day before, more than 30 protesters broke into the Chinese embassy in Delhi after foreign journalists were expelled from Tibet to…
With the highest rate of inflation anywhere in the world - currently 100,000% - the Zimbabwean economy has been in free-fall for several years, creating massive social unrest and chronic food shortages.
With elections due this month, and both the opposition MDC (Move- ment for Democratic Change) Party and the ruling ZANU-PF now split into two camps, the danger of escalating political violence is imminent.
At the heart of this conflict, the Fellowship of Reconciliation Zimbab-…
The theme of this issue - and of Peace News in general - is “the power of nonviolence”.
As this issue goes to press, Peter Gelderloos, the author of How Nonviolence Protects The State (partially reviewed in PN2487-8), begins a UK speaking tour devoted to denigrating the power of nonviolence (tour details on p16).
Peace News welcomes debate, and therefore we welcome Peter Gelderloos to the UK, despite our profound disagreements with him on strategy and principle.…
