Dear Beloved Community,

Please join us at the Metta Center for another exciting and convivial Hope Tank (being in receptive silence from 730 to 830AM, then the potluck breakfast and discussion from 830AM to 11AM) this coming Friday, March 19, when activist, visionary and social entrepreneur Pano Kroko will be visiting us to explore Human Rights in the Age of Climate.

We are honored to be able to learn about Pano’s perspective on the matter: “opposing views and coexistence, on my experience of religious tolerance in a time of murderous conflicts on a siege mentality of a choked-to-death city and people exercising basic human rights in practice – against all odds.  It was my ‘finest hour’. From my Sarajevo peace work experiences and elsewhere – and in my humble opinion – great conflicts breed greatness of the human spirit. Where you see the incredible lows, you can see the amazing heights of life…“

If you would like to learn more about Pano, we invite you to read his blog where you can find pragmatic ideas ranging from Global Commons to Free Wireless to Citizenship of the World:

• “So after creating mobile innovations and numerous companies, wireless pioneering businesses and common wealth – I recycle it all and share the wealth with the network of need. A far more satisfactory pursuit as you also discover every time you give with meaning.”
• “… not only because capital and intelligence have no home land and recognize no borders – but mainly because today Data and Information as well as labour and the Environment and those pesky CO2 molecules ppmv recognize no borders either. We live and die in a closed loop ecosystem. Let’s act as if we understand the entropy of it.  Because there exists a great need specifically for the informed global public to understand that.”
• “Citizens of the Earth without a national flag are the future of our survival.”
• “Inspiration will surely hit as to what You can do to better your own Life – and by virtue of your positive choices – our lives shall improve too.”
• “Let’s build the International_Ocean_Station together, developing open-source technologies to intelligently inhabit the oceans. [Open Sailing]“

Hope Tank Ahoy! :-)

Resources and more after the jump… Continue Reading Anarchism and Nonviolence: Exploring Common Ground»

Please join us on Monday, February 15, 2010 at 5:00pm at La Peña Cultural Center in Berkeley for a talk by Colombia’s courageous lawyer Adriana Castaño Roman, youth activist and human rights defender, activist with the Medellín Youth Network since 1996.

Please see poster for details!

The Search for a Nonviolent Future has been published in Arabic! Soon to be distributed in Syria, Morocco, Jordan, and Lebanon. We are also working on connections in — yes — Iraq, through our friends in La’Onf, and Palestine.

On Wednesday, Dec. 16th, Metta is hosting a preview screening of The Orange Revolution, at the USF campus in San Francisco, (click here, or the image at right, for a larger view of the poster. More about the film here.) Please join us at 7pm in Cowell Hall room 133. After the (refreshments and) screening,  Michael Nagler, Political Scientist and Metta board member Cynthia Boaz, and Mideast expert Stephen Zunes will discuss this film and the event that it describes: the latest, but doubtless not the last “Velvet Revolution.”  Join us for a great film experience and lively discussion of how nonviolence, in the form of “people power,” is transforming our world.  Oh, and help spread the word!