Obama is in office… now what? Welcome to the first installment of our Hope Tank podcast! Come join us for breakfast to discuss ideas for moving the world towards the new paradigm of peace and nonviolence.

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Recorded January 30, 2009

Preamble
First, watch this one minute video about a certain kind of power….

What is this power? Some call it love in action; Kenneth Boulding, a peace scholar and activist, called it integrative power. By whatever name, this is the power employed in nonviolence – that when applied to social change can awaken the conscience of an entire people, gain civil rights for an oppressed minority, free a nation from imperialist rule. Through the Metta Mentors program we hope to offer a transformative experience to young aspiring change-makers and equip them with the most powerful force, the weapon of the brave: nonviolence.

What it is
The Metta Mentors program is a 10-week, paid mentorship in Berkeley, California that:

1) pairs students of nonviolence with local partner organizations for practical, social change work, while

2) offering regular guidance from Metta in order to help participants learn about the principles of nonviolence and its effective application to social change work as well as daily life.

In short, Metta Mentors is an immersion program in applied nonviolence.

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“I feel like his campaign swindled the people of the USA into believing his administration would be something it surely will not be. “

On my 72^nd birthday I stood in UC Berkeley’s Sproul Plaza where, many years before, I was passionately involved in the Free Speech Movement, and watched Barack Obama become the 44^th President of the United States.

I had said earlier, “If that man becomes president I will weep tears of joy — but I won’t have any great expectations that that alone will change things.”  Both were true.  However, I don’t entirely hold with the sentiment expressed above that someone recently wrote in to us here at the Metta Center.  Here’s why.

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