INQ 300 Applying Nonviolence in the World Today

Most Americans can recite the names of famous generals and historic battles. Some can also name champions of nonviolence like Martin Luther King, or Dorothy Day, or recall the struggles for peace and justice that run like a thread through U.S. history. But little attention is paid to the intellectual tradition of nonviolence. Ira Chernus surveys the evolution of this idea from the Colonial Era up to today, focusing on representative movements (Anabaptists, Quakers, Anarchists, Progressives) and key individuals (Thoreau, Niebuhr, Day, A.J. Muste, King), including non-Americans like Mohandas Gandhi or Thich Nhat Hanh, who have helped form the idea of nonviolence in the United States. An essential guide for both students and activists.

In this volume, Peter Ackerman, an authority on non-violent strategy, and Jack DuVall, a veteran writer, show how popular movements used non-violent action to overthrow dictators, obstruct military invaders and secure human rights in country after country, over the past century. A cavalcade of far-flung locations and history-changing crises, the book depicts how non-violent sanctions such as protests, strikes and boycotts separate brutal regimes from their means of control. It tells inside stories - how Danes out-manoeuvered the Nazis, Solidarity defeated Polish communism, and mass action removed a Chilean dictator. It also shows how non-violent power is changing the world today, from Burma to Serbia. Covering characters such as Leo Tolstoy and Mohandas Gandhi, Lech Walesa and the mothers of the disappeared in Argentina, the book is a companion to a feature-length documentary showing at film festivals worldwide.

Is there room for nonviolence in a time of conflict and mass violence exacerbated by economic crisis? Drawing on the legend and lessons of Gandhi, Cortright traces the history of nonviolent social activism through the twentieth century to the civil rights movement, the Vietnam era, and up to the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Gaza. Gandhi and Beyond offers a critical evaluation and refinement of Gandhi's message, laying the foundation for a renewed and deepened dedication to nonviolence as the universal path to social progress.In the second edition of this popular book, a new prologue and concluding chapter situate the message of nonviolence in recent events and document the effectiveness of nonviolent methods of political change. Cortright's poignant "Letter to a Palestinian Student" points toward a radical new strategy for achieving justice and peace in the Middle East. This book offers pathways of hope not only for a new American presidential administration but for the world.