Nonviolence

Greenville, Mass. (Special to Informed Comment – Feature) – The 19th century origins of Mother’s Day differ vastly in spirit and purpose from celebrations of it in the 20th and 21st centuries. Mother’s Day was first inspired by two women with diverse but compatible social and political purposes. Prior to the Civil War, Ann Reeves […]

Nonviolence

The Tragic U.S. Choice to Prioritize War Over Peacemaking

Medea Benjamin and Nicholas J.S. Davies

( Code Pink ) – In a brilliant Op-Ed published in the New York Times, the Quincy Institute’s Trita Parsi explained how China, with help from Iraq, was able to mediate and resolve the deeply-rooted conflict between Iran and Saudi Arabia, whereas the United States was in no position to do so after siding with […]

Nonviolence

How Russians, Indigenous People and Belarusians are uniting to resist the War in Ukraine

Waging Nonviolence

By Eleftheria Kousta | – ( Waging Nonviolence ) – Anastasia Witts, a U.K.-based arts producer, wasn’t yet out of bed on the morning of Feb. 24 when her phone buzzed with news notifications of Ukraine being invaded. Despite the shock, the first thing she did was post on Facebook: “This war is not in […]

Nonviolence

How local Peace Work changes Culture, Town by Town, Generation by Generation

H. Patricia Hynes

Greenfield, Mass. (Special to Informed Comment) – Signs abound in Greenfield, Massachusetts’ downtown shop windows, among them PEACE, ART NOT WAR, FOOD FOR ALL NOT WAR, SOLAR NOT WAR, MAKE TEA NOT WAR… Why have so many shop owners and institutions, including the Greenfield Library and Greenfield Community Television, agreed to offer their store windows […]

Nonviolence

The Other Way of Celebrating Armistice Day: Soldiers and Vets for Peace

H. Patricia Hynes

Greenfield, Mass. (Special to Informed Comment) – The first Armistice Day November 11, 1919 was a celebration of the moment – the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, 1918 – that the brutality of that first industrial war, World War I, which robbed 40 million soldiers and civilians of life, ended; […]

Nonviolence

Peace Literacy: Every Student Needs It

H. Patricia Hynes

Greenfield, Mass. (Special to Informed Comment) – Philadelphia is “awash in guns”: More people were shot there in 2022, hundreds fatally, than in larger cities including New York and Los Angeles. In this “country’s poorest big city,” most shootings take place in neighborhoods shattered by multiple forms of racial discrimination and endemic poverty. The market […]

Authoritarianism

How Tunisians can instill Democracy in the Face of growing Authoritarianism

Waging Nonviolence

By Craig Brown | – ( Waging Nonviolence ) – As Tunisia’s president Kais Saied takes the country down the path of authoritarianism, opponents faced a quandary about what to do during the July 25 referendum, on a constitution that will hand Saied significant power. Political opponents and civil society organizations considered whether it was […]

Nonviolence

Breaking cycles of violence in South Sudan

Waging Nonviolence

By The Metta Center Team | – ( Waging Nonviolence ) – Peace is made by people; but their work can be greatly improved by organizations. Take, for example, the progressive, non-governmental organization Nonviolent Peaceforce, which is so well represented by former protection officer Hunter Dalli and his dramatic “No” to the endemic violence in […]

Houthi

The mobilization for Yemen is a powerful Model for Today’s Peace Movement

Waging Nonviolence

By Sarah Freeman-Woolpert | – ( Waging Nonviolence ) – From the brutal war in Ukraine to the devastating school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, aggression and mass atrocities seem to define today’s world. Yet, even as we navigate this trauma and tragedy, there are glimmers of hope to be found in the lesser-known stories of […]