A term coined by Michael Nagler to parallel the euphemism ‘collateral damage’ used by the military to refer to (while implicitly denying the tragedy of) the civilians who are killed or injured in increasing numbers in modern armed conflict — even by ’smart’ bombs!  Collateral healing refers to the fact that since nonviolence injects positive energy into a situation it will always produce positive results of some kind somewhere and at some time.  Just as with the destructive counterpart, we cannot always tell what exactly these results will be.  Unlike collateral damage, however we can always count on their being constructive.

When 35,000 Americans sent a message to the White House to “feed your enemy” when there was a severe famine in China during the Korean War there was no reply.  It was revealed much later, however, that those 35,000 messages enabled President Eisenhower to deny a request by the Joint Chiefs of Staff to commence bombing beyond the Yalu river, i.e., in mainland China — an act that might have precipitated World War Three!

During the longstanding nonviolent campaign by the town of Budrus on the West Bank a wonderful harmony among disparate elements of the community came about as a result of the superordinate ideal of nonviolent struggle.  In this case the campaign was also successful for what it set out to achieve (see work vs. “work”).

In other words, whether a nonviolent action ’succeeds’ or ‘fails’ in the short term with respect to explicit goals it always induces positive changes, or ‘collateral healing.’