Nonviolence in the Workplace - "The Real Rulers are the Toiling Millions!"

Not long before India's independence from British Rule and Gandhi's death, Gandhi reminded us that "the real rulers are the toiling millions."  Have you ever considered the importance of nonviolence in the workplace in order to truly have democratic rule in the larger society?  We are doomed in our efforts to create democracy, justice and peace in the larger society unless we transform our local workplaces into a nonviolent system.  This is especially true in a capitalist world order that inevitably includes violence.  But how should this transformation take place?  What nonviolent history can we look to guide us?  Join us to explore this further.

Workshop Details

July 10, 2025, 2-3:30 Pacific Time, on Zoom

Attendance is free, donations are appreciated

Optional Prep Materials

• Bridging union organizing with nonviolence principles | Metta Center for Nonviolence

• How we are winning teacher strikes with social justice unionism | Fellowship Magazine

• Why we need a new SNCC to tackle today's burning injustices - IPRA Peace Search | IPRA Peace Search

Instructor Bio

Erik Olson Fernández has many years of experience organizing for nonviolent social change as a community organizer and in the labor movement with healthcare and public education unions.  Like Gandhi, he is trained as an attorney but has focused on organizing the masses for nonviolent social change instead of the law.   This focus is motivated by the experiences of growing up with a single mother from Mexico and a commitment to change the unjust economic and social structure that produced the poverty he grew up in while living in the richest nation on earth.