Donald Rothberg first gives an account of the connection between the core of Buddhist practice and the nonviolent traditions of Gandhi and King. He then poses the common critique of nonviolence—that it doesn’t work with dictators, authoritarian governments, and situations of pervasive violence, that “it wouldn’t work with Hitler,” while telling some stories of actual highly effective nonviolent resistance against the Nazis. Tiffany Easthom, the Executive Director of the Nonviolent Peaceforce, an organization working to protect civilians and foster dialogue in situations of violence, then gives an extended account of the organization’s work, with a PowerPoint presentation (attached pdf file available at this site). She covers both the basic principles and strategies of the organization and a number of accounts of its work in various countries where there is violence, ranging from South Sudan to Syria to Myanmar.
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