Reporting on a nonviolent event? Interested in making your own media? We’ve compiled these resources to serve you:

Would you like to interview someone from the Metta Center about a nonviolent event or movement? Contact us at info@mettacenter.org or call 707.774.6299

Visit our blog here.

Interested in news sources that support nonviolence? Scroll down.

 

 

 

 

Here is a list of glossary terms for nonviolence to get started.  

 Nonviolence has been expanding rapidly throughout the world, but it is still a very new idea scarcely touched on in either the mainstream media or our educational institutions.  Journalists and activists alike should know some basic facts about nonviolent action to understand this potentially world-changing development and its potential.

  • While it is possible, and often effective, merely to protest an unjust regime without resorting to physical violence, this growing phenomenon is only the tip of the iceberg of nonviolent power.  In Gandhi’s compelling challenge, “It’s not nonviolence until you love your enemy.”
  •  The key to deeper and longer-lasting success in nonviolence is to not confuse the person with the action.  A nonviolent actor will always be aware that compassion and reason are latent even in the most irate opponent.  The more one clings to that awareness, avoiding as far as possible any sign of disrespect to the opponents person, the more effective she or he will be in resisting the latter’s unjust action.  Therefore,
  • People who are really nonviolent believe that every conflict has an outcome favorable to both sides — a “win/win” solution is always possible and should always be sought.
  • While immediate goals are of course important — dislodging a brutal regime before it does more damage to life, for example, the more nonviolent a group is the more it will work toward long-term results, e.g. winning over the opposition so that former enemies become friends.  Note that this, like all the principles noted here, applies on any scale, from the individual to the international.
  • Because relationships are as important than concrete outcomes, or even moreso, in nonviolence, as Gandhi’s biographer B.R. Nanda put it, “it is perfectly possible to lose the battle as a part of winning the war.”

 

  • If you are in the category of Media Professionals and Journalists:  

One of the real missing links in creating a violence-free world is “interpretation”: though nonviolent actions and movements are becoming more common, public awareness of what they mean — if not of their very existence — lags far behind.  Therefore journalists can play a powerful role in facilitating a nonviolent future. Read more here. . . 

 

  • If you are in the category of Activist: 
Activists must be prepared to talk to the media about nonviolence as much as they must be prepared to engage in respectful nonviolent action. How to do both? Read more here. . . 

  • If you use social media: Tips on How to Use Social Media to Promote Nonviolence:
The social media revolutions can be more effective for furthering the purposes of nonviolence if we do the following: Read more here. . . 

Do you have an article you would like to share with the world? Contact PeaceVoice (PeaceVoiceDirector@gmail.com ) with PeaceVoice in your subject line. Metta has seen blogs from PeaceVoice get out to sites such as Common Dreams, Truthout, and local newspapers from West Virginia to Louisiana!

 

 

 

 Nonviolence in the News–a few practical resources

(click on images to access sites)

 

The Nonviolent Action Network is a meta-site with feeds on nonviolence from all over the web, including some blogs listed below. Highly recommended!

 

 

reporting on the year’s censored stories (some may not even make “progressive” news sites), and are well worth the read. They also host a weekly radio show on KPFA.

 

 

 

 

Voices for Creative Nonviolence is a great site to learn about actions they are taking, stories that need to be shared with a wide audience.

 

 

A good site to find information about nonviolence movements around the world. Check out “Love in Action” on their site (that was Metta’s contribution!). You can also read their posts on the first blog listed, Nonviolent Action Network.

 

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