Guest Editorial: Campaign Nonviolence

by Pace e Bene

Campaign Nonviolence logo; courtesy of Pace e Bene

We are constantly being astonished these days at the amazing discoveries in the field of violence. But I maintain that far more undreamt of and seemingly impossible discoveries will be made in the field of nonviolence.”

M. K. Gandhi

The Campaign Nonviolence Pledge commits us to begin or renew our efforts to take up the way of active nonviolence practiced by Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. Everyone is invited to take the Campaign Nonviolence Pledge and join this new movement for peace with justice for humanity and creation. Organizations, groups, schools and religious communities are invited to endorse Campaign Nonviolence and to actively collaborate in building this movement.

Statement of Purpose: Campaign Nonviolence is a new movement taking a stand against the widespread violence and injustice we face today by promoting and activating the power of nonviolence in our lives, our communities, our nation, and our world. Together we will take action for nonviolence change including nationwide nonviolent action in fall 2014.

At this critical turning point we are called to become people of nonviolence working to transform our world of violence into a new nonviolent culture where people everywhere practice nonviolence toward themselves, one another, and the earth and its inhabitants. To support this long-term goal, Campaign Nonviolence is launching a movement integrating education, action, and networking for nonviolent change.

Education: Campaign Nonviolence will publish resources, organize study groups, hold workshops and speaking events, and use social media and traditional media to spread the message of nonviolence far and wide and to train campaign participants.

Action: Campaign Nonviolence will take nonviolent action to help build this culture of nonviolence, focused first on dismantling the U.S. drones program; confronting systems that keep people in poverty; and stopping the destruction of the environment. Nationally coordinated nonviolent actions will be held before the 2014 Congressional elections calling for these policy shifts. Between now and then, Campaign Nonviolence is organizing across the U.S. to take nationally coordinated, nonviolent action in fall 2014 and beyond. Join us!

Networking: Campaign Nonviolence will grow by building a network of organizations, peace and justice groups, schools, religious communities, and people of faith and conscience to help mainstream nonviolence and to collaborate in transforming the nation and the world into a culture of active nonviolence. Campaign Nonviolence will also partner with other organizations and individuals to develop a national nonviolence trainers network.

We are committed to:

  • Practicing nonviolence toward ourselves.
  • Practicing nonviolence toward all others.
  • Practicing nonviolence by joining the global movement to abolish war, end poverty, stop the destruction of the earth, and foster a just and peaceful world for all.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Pace e Bene was founded in 1989, and currently has offices and associates in Oakland, Los Angeles, Chicago, Las Vegas, Washington, DC (Metro Area), Montreal, Australia, and Nigeria, and a growing number of partners and trainers in the U.S. and around the world. Their stated mission is “to work with individuals, organizations, and movements to strengthen efforts to end war, protect human rights, challenge injustice, and meet today’s profound spiritual task: to build a more just and peaceful world.” Please consult their website for further information, and for a list of affiliates worldwide.


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“When planted in the garden, the mustard seed, smallest of all the seeds, became a large tree, and birds came and made their home there.” Luke 13:19

“For me whatever is in the atoms and molecules is in the universe. I believe in the saying that what is in the microcosm of one’s self is reflected in the macrocosm.” M. Gandhi