Advancing Nonviolence and Social Transformation; Heather Eaton; Lauren Levesque

Edited by

Heather Eaton [+–]

St. Paul University, Ottawa, Canada

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Heather Eaton is a Full Professor in Conflict Studies program at Saint Paul University, Ottawa, Canada. She completed an interdisciplinary Ph.D. in ecology, feminism and religion. Dr. Eaton has engaged with inter-religious responses to the ecological crisis, the relationship among ecological, feminist and liberation theologies, and connections between religion and science. She has also been involved in conferences, workshops, teaching and publishing in these areas. Her authored and edited books include: The Intellectual Journey of Thomas Berry: Imagining the Earth Community (2014), Ecological Awareness: Exploring Religion, Ethics and Aesthetics with Sigurd Bergmann (2011), Introducing Ecofeminist Theologies (2005) and Ecofeminism and Globalization: Exploring Religion, Culture, Context (2003) with Lois Ann Lorentzen. She has also published numerous academic articles. She is on the board of the journal Worldviews: Global Religions, Environment and Culture, the steering committee of the Religion and Ecology session of the American Academy of Religion, and past president of the Canadian Theological Society. Her recent work includes: a) the intersection of religion, science and ecology and specifically among evolution, Earth dynamics and religious imagination; b) peace and conflict studies on gender, ecology, religion; c) animal rights; and d) nonviolence.

Lauren Michelle Levesque [+–]

Saint Paul University, Ottawa, Canada

Lauren Michelle Levesque received her doctorate from Saint Paul University, Ottawa, Canada in the fall of 2013. Her dissertation examined the dynamics of contemporary protest music performances, spirituality, and violence in the context of the ‘war on terror’. Upon completion of her PhD, she was awarded a one-year postdoctoral fellowship with the Improvisation, Community, and Social Practice (ICASP) project at the University of Guelph, Guelph, Canada. Dr. Levesque currently holds a sessional Lecturer position at Saint Paul University. She teaches a range of courses in the Faculty of Theology and the Faculty of Human Sciences: methods in spirituality, feminist ethics, and trauma, healing and reconciliation. Her research interests include: nonviolence, arts-based research, and creative modalities of grassroots peacebuilding.

Advancing Nonviolence and Social Transformation is organized into five sections. The first section is a set of essays on various historical and contemporary perspectives on nonviolence. The second section consists of essays on philosophical and theoretical explorations of the topic. The third and fourth sections expand the scope of nonviolence into the areas of thought and action, including Indigenous resistance, student protests, human trafficking, intimate partner violence and ecological issues. The final section takes nonviolence into the study of wonder, music, education and hope. The book will be useful to anyone working in the theories and practices of social change.

Preliminaries

Foreword [+–] xi-xii

Elizabeth May FREE

Green Party of Canada

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Elizabeth May is the Leader of the Green Party of Canada and its first elected Member of Parliament, representing Saanich-Gulf Islands in southern Vancouver Island, British-Colombia. She is a longtime advocate for social justice, the environment, economic issues and human rights. She is also a lawyer, author and an Officer of the Order of Canada.

Foreword by Elizabeth May, the Leader of the Green Party of Canada.

Acknowledgements [+–] xiii

Heather Eaton,Lauren Michelle Levesque FREE

St. Paul University, Ottawa, Canada

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Saint Paul University, Ottawa, Canada

Nonviolence is emerging as a topic of great interest in activist, academic and community settings. In particular, nonviolence is being recognized as a necessary component of constructive and sustainable social change. This book considers nonviolence in relationship to specific social, political, ecological and spiritual issues. Through case studies and examinations of social resistance, gender, the arts, and education, it provides specialists and non-specialists with a solid introduction to the importance and relevance of nonviolence in various contexts. Advancing Nonviolence and Social Transformation is organized into five sections. The first section is a set of essays on various historical and contemporary perspectives on nonviolence. The second section consists of essays on philosophical and theoretical explorations of the topic. The third and fourth sections expand the scope of nonviolence into the areas of thought and action, including Indigenous resistance, student protests, human trafficking, intimate partner violence and ecological issues. The final section takes nonviolence into the study of wonder, music, education and hope. The book will be useful to anyone working in the theories and practices of social change.

Introduction

Current Trends and New Perspectives on Nonviolent Theories [+–] 1-15

Heather Eaton £17.50

St. Paul University, Ottawa, Canada

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This introduction to the volume poses the question of how to best talk about nonviolence in the current geopolitical context and outlines the goals of this book, which are to affirm and expand the thinking on nonviolence. The viewpoint is that nonviolence is both a theoretical and practical option for resisting violence and for constructive social change. The chapter also relates the origins of the book.

Part I: Historical Perspectives

Chapter 1. Religion and Nonviolence [+–] 19-35

Christopher Key Chapple £17.50

Loyola Marymount University

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Christopher Key Chapple is Doshi Professor of Indic and Comparative Theology and Director of the Master of Arts in Yoga Studies at Loyola Marymount University. A specialist in the Religions of India, he has published more than fifteen books on Yoga, Jainism, and Buddhism as well as on Asian religions and ecology. He edits the journal Worldviews: Global Religions, Culture, and Ecology (Brill). He serves on the advisory boards for the Ahimsa Center (Pomona), the Center for Jaina Studies (SOAS, London), and the Forum on Religion and Ecology (Yale).

This chapter offers a broad overview of various religions and nonviolence by Christopher Key Chapple, a scholar of Jainism and nonviolence.

Chapter 2. The Gandhian Vision of Democracy [+–] 36-47

Ramin Jahanbegloo £17.50

York University

Ramin Jahanbegloo is an Iranian-Canadian philosopher. He received his B.A. and M.A. in Philosophy, History and Political Science and later his Ph.D. in Philosophy from the Sorbonne University. In 1993 he taught at the Academy of Philosophy in Tehran. He has been a researcher at the French Institute for Iranian Studies and a fellow at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at Harvard University. Ramin Jahanbegloo served as the head of the Department of Contemporary Studies of the Cultural Research Centre in Tehran and, in 2006-07, he was the Rajni Kothari Professor in Democracy at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies in New Delhi, India. He is the author of more than 24 books in Persian, English, and French on philosophy, comparative politics and nonviolence. Among his books are Conversations with Isaiah Berlin (Phoenix, 2000), Iran: Between Tradition and Modernity (Lexington Books, 2004), Gandhi: Aux Sources de la Nonviolence (Felin 1999),Penser la Nonviolence ( UNESCO 1999), The Clash of Intolerances ( Har-Anand 2007), India Revisited (Oxford University Press, 2007) and The Spirit of India (Penguin 2008) Beyond Violence (Har-Anand 2009) The Gandhian Moment (Harvard University Press 2013),Democracy in Iran (Palgrave 2013) Introduction to Nonviolence(Palgrave 2014) and lately his autobiography entitled: Time Will Say Nothing (University of Regina Press 2014). He was arrested in April 2006 at the Tehran airport, as he was about to leave the country to attend an international conference. He was placed in solitary confinement in a security wing of Evin prison for 125 days. He is presently an Associate Professor of Political Science and a Noor-York Visiting Chair in Islamic Studies at York University and an advisory board member of PEN Canada. Ramin Jahanbegloo is the recipient of the 2009 Peace Prize awarded by the Association for the United Nations in Spain for his extensive academic works in promoting dialogue between cultures and his advocacy for nonviolence. He is also the winner of the Josep Palau i Fabre International Essay Prize in 2012.

Gandhian expert, Ramin Jahanbegloo from Iran, presents a Gandhian vision of democracy.

Chapter 3. Power Perfected in Weakness: The Paradox of Fighting for Peace [+–] 48-65

Alain Tschudin £17.50

Dr Alain Tschudin is a registered psychologist with Ph.D.s in Psychology and in Ethics. He was a Swiss Academy Post-doctoral Fellow at Cambridge and oversaw the Conflict Transformation & Peace Studies Programme at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, for several years. He has broad research and community engagement interests and has worked for various Universities in Africa and Europe, the European Commission, local and iNGOs and as CEO of a leadership development agency. More recently he served as lead consultant for Save the Children and as the inter-agency Child Protection Assessment Coordinator for UNICEF in Northern Syria. He has an adjunct association with the International Centre of Non-violence (ICON) and the Peacebuilding Programme at the Durban University of Technology and is Executive Director of the SADC office of Good Governance Africa, an NGO dedicated to enhancing governance on the continent.

Alain Tschudin, scholar and human rights advocate from South Africa, offers rich insights into Gandhi, ahimsa, and nonviolence.

Chapter 4. A Brief History of the Power of Nonviolence in Canada [+–] 66-77

Tamara Lorincz £17.50

Tamara Lorincz has an MA in International Politics and Security Studies from the Department of Peace Studies at the University of Bradford, UK. She was awarded the Rotary International World Peace Fellowship for 2013-2014. In 2014, Tamara was a senior researcher for the International Peace Bureau in Geneva, Switzerland and authored the report, Demilitarization for Deep Decarbonization. Tamara is on the national board of the Canadian Voice of Women for Peace and on the international advisory committee of the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space. She is also a member of the Women’s International League for Peace & Freedom. Tamara’s research interests include peace history and activism, militarism, defence policies and procurement, nonviolence and nuclear disarmament.

Tamara Lorincz presents a historical overview of the importance of nonviolence in Canada.

Chapter 5. Gandhi in Action: Nonviolent Movements, Gandhi, and Contemporary Challenges [+–] 78-94

Rajagopal P. V.,Jill Carr-Harris £17.50

Rajagopal P.V. of Ekta Parishad is the foremost leader, teacher, and practitioner of nonviolence in India. From South India, Rajagopal began his work on nonviolence when he spent six years working in the Chambal region. He spent 15 years working with Indian rural youth through nonviolent and community building training programs. In 1993, Rajagopal became the Secretary of the Gandhi Peace Foundation. In 2007, he organized and led a large nonviolent march, Janadesh, where 25,000 people walked from Gwalior to Delhi. In 2012, after preparing for four years, Rajagopal organized a similar, although larger, nonviolent march where 100,000 people walked, again from Gwalior to Delhi, for land reform, and were successful in negotiating their requirements for sustainable land regulations. Rajagopal, along with the work of Ekta Parishad, is a world leader on nonviolent struggles, training and actions.

International Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence and Peace

Jill Carr-Harris has worked with Ekta Parishad and Rajagopal for over 20 years. During this time she has been a part of the women’s move- ment building, training and empowerment, and gender policy research in India, Bangladesh, and the Philippines. She was one of the prominent women leaders of the most signi cant land-rights marches for landless poor women in post-independence India. She has worked on many inter- national solidarity projects. She has founded and led civil-society orga- nizations in India on agrarian reform as well as gender equality. She has spent the last 30 years in India, much of the time assisting poor women and marginalized communities in the Hindi belt. She is currently the Director of the International Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence and Peace (IGINP) in South India, an organization designed to train people in nonviolent leadership and social action.

This section ends with some personal thoughts from Rajagopal P.V. and Jill Carr-Harris

Part II: Philosophical and Theoretical Considerations

Chapter 6. Violence and Power: A Reading of Hannah Arendt’s Distinction between Violence and Power [+–] 97-111

Sophie Cloutier £17.50

Saint-Paul University

Sophie Cloutier is associate professor in the faculty of Philosophy and the School of Public Ethics and Governance at Saint-Paul University. Her main area of research is political philosophy and public ethics. She has published several articles on Hannah Arendt’s thought, multiculturalism, hospitality and ethics of care. She has also edited and contributed to the book Le temps de l’hospitalité. Réception de l’oeuvre de Daniel Innerarity (PUL 2015).

This essay analyzes what seems like a curious paradox: that violence is powerless, in order to present the functional limits of violent action in the political sphere. Following Hannah Arendt, especially her distinction between power and violence, Cloutier argues that violence is regarded as a substitute for power by the excluded and that violence is not a valid political category per se. Violence may have an impact on liberation from oppression, but it must be surpassed. The exchange of role between the oppressed and the oppressors is not sufficient to become free; to be free does not mean to be a persecutor but to live among equals. And violence should play no role in the political relations among equals.

Chapter 7. Victory: A Vacuous Concept? [+–] 112-125

Richard Feist £17.50

Saint Paul University in Ottawa, Canada

Richard Feist is an associate professor of philosophy in the Faculty of Human Sciences and Philosophy at Saint Paul University in Ottawa, Canada. He has published articles in the philosophy of science, metaphysics, ethics and war. He is currently working on a study of victory and just war theory as well as several articles in metaphysics and ethics.

Richard Feist, philosophical ethicist, looks at the just-war theory and ponders if war can be fought in an ethical manner.

Chapter 8. Reflecting on Gandhian Nonviolence: Is it a Counsel of Perfection for Religious Virtuosi? [+–] 126-134

Noel A. Salmond £17.50

Carleton University

Noel Salmond is Associate Professor in the College of the Humanities at Carleton University. He has a doctorate in Asian Religions from McGill University and teaches in this area as well as courses on environmental thought and religion.

Noel Salmond, a Gandhi and Hindu expert, examines idealistic elements of nonviolence and explores Gandhi’s understandings of nonviolence as both practicable and practical.

Chapter 9. No to War and Yes to So Much More: Pope Francis, Principled Nonviolence, and Positive Peace [+–] 135-152

Christopher Hrynkow £17.50

St. Thomas More College,
University of Saskatchewan

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Dr. Christopher Hrynkow holds a PhD (Peace and Conflict Studies, St. Paul’s College, University of Manitoba) and a ThD (Christian Ethics jointly awarded by the University of St. Michael College, the Toronto School of Theology, and the University of Toronto). Hrynkow is Associate Professor in Religion and Culture at St. Thomas More College, University of Saskatchewan. There, he teaches courses in Religious Studies, Catholic Studies, Peace Studies, and Critical Perspectives on Social Justice and the Common Good. Hrynkow is Department Head, Undergraduate Chair, and Graduate Chair in Religion and Culture for the University of Saskatchewan.

With reference to both Pope Francis’ peacebuilding efforts and his contributions to Catholic Social Teaching, this chapter maps some of the confluences among key concepts in Peace Studies and the current bishop of Rome’s peace witness. In particular, the Peace Studies concepts of principled nonviolence and positive peace are presented as antidotes to structural and direct violence. These concepts are employed in the mapping of both Francis’ involvement in geo-political peacebuilding and a selection of his insights from Evangelii Gaudium and Laudato Si’. The conclusion suggests the existence of mutually enhancing feedback loops among Pope Francis’ peace witness, principled nonviolence, and positive peace, which hold the potential to help grow socio-ecological flourishing in this world.

Part III: Nonviolence and Social Resistance

Chapter 10. Indigenous Voices [+–] 155-163

Tara Williamson,Glen Coulthard,Jessica Gordan,Nina Wilson,Syliva McAdam,Sheelah McLean,Waneek Horn-Miller £17.50

Opaskwayak Cree Nation and Trent University

Tara Williamson, JD, is a member of the Opaskwayak Cree Nation and was raised in Gaabishkigamaag (Swan Lake, Manitoba). She holds degrees in social work, law, and Indigenous governance. Williamson was a professor at Fleming College in Peterborough and currently teaches at Trent University in Indigenous Studies.

Yellowknives Dene First Nation and University of British Columbia

Glen Coulthard, PhD, is a member of the Yellowknives Dene First Nation. He is an assistant professor in the First Nations Studies Program and the Department of Political Science at the University of British Columbia. He has published numerous articles and chapters in contemporary political theory, indigenous thought and politics, and radical social and political thought.

Idle No More

Jessica Gordon is an Indigenous activist and a founder of Idle No More, one of the largest Indigenous mass social movements in Canadian history.

Idle No More

Nina Wilson is an Indigenous activist and a founder of Idle No More, one of the largest Indigenous mass social movements in Canadian history.

Idle No More

Sylvia McAdam (Saysewahum) is an Indigenous activist and a founder of Idle No More, one of the largest Indigenous mass social movements in Canadian history.

Idle No More

Sheelah McLean is an Indigenous activist and a founder of Idle No More, one of the largest Indigenous mass social movements in Canadian history.

Kahnawake Mohawk Member, Sports Personality and Broadcaster

Waneek Horn-Miller is a Mohawk from the Kahnawake Mohawk Territory. She is an Olympic athlete, a sports commentator, and a motivational speaker.

Chapter 11. Sex, Gender and Non-Violent Resistance to Human Trafficking: An NGO’s Response [+–] 164-187

Eileen Kerwin Jones £17.50

John Abbott College, Montreal

Eileen Kerwin Jones has a background in public health, midwifery and ethics. She has worked nationally and internationally in the fields of health and education. Eileen is a founding member of PACT-Ottawa, an Ottawa-based NGO challenging contemporary slavery and human trafficking. Eileen teaches in the Humanities Department of John Abbott College, Montreal, where she is the Coordinator of the Certificate in Women’s Studies and Gender Relations.

Chapter explores the links between the social construction of sex and gender and the structural violence of human trafficking for sexual exploitation. I first provide an overview of feminist insights on sex and gender and indicate areas of consensus that can empower non-violent resistance to gender-based violence. In particular I refer to the feminist works of Martha Nussbaum and bell hooks. Drawing upon Johan Galtung’s pioneering work on structural violence, I then posit that Nussbaum and hooks are important interlocutors with Galtung in shaping a more robust concept of peace and non-violent resistance to gender-based violence. Finally, I explore research on human trafficking for sexual exploitation recently conducted by the NGO, PACT-Ottawa; I highlight the non-violent resistance to gender-based violence inspired by this research.

Chapter 12: Women Seeking Safety: Nonviolent Responses to Intimate Partner Violence [+–] 188-200

Catherine Ruth Holtmann £17.50

University of New Brunswick

Catherine Holtmann is Associate Professor in the Sociology Department and the Director of the Muriel McQueen Fergusson Centre for Family Violence Research at the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada. Her research interests lie in the areas of religion, gender, ethnicity, immigrants and domestic violence. Cathy is a member of the RAVE (Religion and Violence E-Learning) Project team which provides online training and resources for communities of faith interested in addressing the problem of domestic violence in their midst (www.theraveproject.org). She is also active in the Catholic Network for Women’s Equality (CNWE) in Canada (www.cnwe.org).

This chapter explores elements of nonviolent, feminist and religious responses to intimate partner violence. It begins with a definition of intimate partner violence and some statistics outlining its prevalence globally and in Canada. The chapter continues with an overview of the Canadian feminist movement’s work on the problem of intimate partner violence as well as some of the responses developed in the subfield of religion and domestic violence. The latter half of the chapter introduces the results from the author’s own research program, which can further assist religious groups and women’s shelter workers help women of faith in seeking safety as they join in the collaborative work of nonviolent resistance to intimate partner violence.

Chapter 13. Instrumentalizing the Ambiguity of Violence in the Carré Rouge: The Quebec Student Crisis of 2012 [+–] 201-212

Marie Boglari,Martin Samson £17.50

PhD Candidate, Saint Paul University, Ottawa, Canada

Marie Boglari is a PhD candidate in Conflict Studies, a program offered by Saint Paul University. Marie holds a Bachelor and a Master’s degree in Law from Université Catholique de Louvain (Belgium), and a Master’s degree in Conflict Studies from Saint Paul University. Her PhD thesis consists of a qualitative study on the impact of ethnic and nationalist discrimination on the actors of conflict. She teaches at the BA level courses on Social Justice and alternative dispute resolution, and volunteers with Community Mediation Ottawa.

Flinders University

Martin Samson was ordained in Europe after studying a bachelor in metaphysical theology. He has his Master in theological Studies from Flinders university in Adelaide. He also has a post graduate diploma in Adult Education from the University of south Australia.
He is currently a Doctorial Candidate in theology at Flinders University and is writing on the Christology of Rudolf Steiner.
He has published a book on the implications of aligning the Christian festivals with the seasons in the southern hemisphere – towards a global understanding of nature in religion.

Martin Samson and Marie Boglari assess the social and political dynamics of nonviolence in the 2012 student protests in Quebec, Canada.

Part IV: Nonviolence and Ecological Concerns

Chapter 14. Being in ‘Rights’ Relationship with Animals: The Importance of Political Visibility for Animals [+–] 215-226

Nathan Townend £17.50

For the past 10 years Nathan has been working as a scholar, farmer, social activist, and politician. Nathan has an academic background in theology and religious studies, having completed his Bachelor of Theology at Saint Paul University, and his MA in Religious Studies at Queen’s University. Nathan’s academic work has centered on religious responses to environmental crisis, and more recently on understanding how religions continue to influence human relationships with non-human animals.
Beyond the academy Nathan has run for the Green Party of Canada as a federal candidate for MP in the Eastern Ontario riding of Kingston and The Islands; and was also an activist for a labour union representing academic workers at Queen’s University. Currently Nathan operates a small farming business on Amherst Island, where he lives with his wife Anna and their dog Oscar.

This chapter identifies what Gary Francione terms the “moral schizophrenia” of human behaviour toward non-human animals; namely that what humans say about the moral value of animals radically contradicts how animals are often violently treated. This glaring contradiction serves as an opening to provoke the need for advancing new, non-violent relationships with the non-human. Upon tracing the roots of Western ethical discourse on animal welfare and identifying its limitations, I argue that rights discourse and the constituent designation of “personhood” presents one of the more viable and philosophically consistent approaches to the question of how to better advance the cause of nonviolence toward non-human animals. However I conclude that the extension of rights is only a preliminary step, and that such political change must be coupled with expanding horizons for re-imagining the human place in the world, and the corresponding relationships with the other animals who inhabit it.

Chapter 15. Deep Green Violence: Our Animal Bodies as Sites of Resistance [+–] 227-239

Todd LeVasseur £17.50

College of Charleston

Todd LeVasseur is a Visiting Assistant Professor of Religious Studies, and Environmental and Sustainability Studies at the College of Charleston in Charleston, SC, where he also is the QEP Director of “Sustainability Literacy as a Bridge to Addressing 21st Century Problems.” His research focuses on the interactions between cultural values and the natural world, and he has had a variety of journal articles and book chapters published on topics ranging from sustainable agriculture to climate change to ecolinguistics.

Consensus metrics in regards to the health of planetary ecosystems suggest that we are in the midst of the sixth largest extinction crisis, and industrial lifeways are causing a warming of the earth’s atmosphere. The embedded violence of modern industrial lifestyles based on fossil fuels drives rampant consumerism and resource extraction, which comes at the expense of the vulnerable poor and non-human others. Most data suggests that these trends are not sustainable, and very real issues of environmental racism and environmental justice raise important ethical questions about whether humans will have to significantly alter their lifestyles to avert planetary collapse and to generate more holistic, just societies. Some groups interpret this data and maintain that extra-legal tactics might need to be embraced and put into action in order to avoid worst case scenarios. One of the most publicly vocal of these groups, Deep Green Resistance, advocates for decisive ecological warfare precisely for this reason: their analysis of capitalism and understanding of planetary metrics leads them to argue that both above and belowground actions, undertaken in the context of ecological warfare against those who they maintain perpetrate violence against the planet, are required. This chapter investigates their claims, and the political, ethical, and tactical reasons behind them. DGR’s stance that nonviolence protest is not capable in and of itself in averting planetary triage and issues of environmental justice raises important questions that discussions about nonviolence should address.

Chapter 16. Nurturing Peace by Subverting Violence in the Larger Community [+–] 240-262

Paul Waldau £17.50

Canisius College, Buffalo, New York

Paul Waldau is an educator, scholar and activist working at the intersection of animal studies, law, ethics, religion, and cultural studies. A Professor at Canisius College in Buffalo, New York, Paul is the Director of the Master of Science graduate program in Anthrozoology for which he has been the lead faculty member since the program’s founding in 2011. Paul has also taught Animal Law at Harvard Law School (2002-2014) and courses regarding ethics and animals in Harvard’s Summer School since 2009. The former Director of the Center for Animals and Public Policy, Paul taught veterinary ethics and public policy at Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine for more than a decade. He has completed five books, the most recent of which are Animal Studies—An Introduction (2013 Oxford University Press) and Animal Rights (2011 Oxford University Press). He is also co-editor of A Communion of Subjects: Animals in Religion, Science, and Ethics (2006 Columbia University Press) and An Elephant in the Room: The Science and Well-being of Elephants in Captivity (2008 Center for Animals and Public Policy). His first book was The Specter of Speciesism: Buddhist and Christian Views of Animals (2001 Oxford University Press).

Animal rights lawyer and scholar Paul Waldau argues that humans’ capabilities to care for others must extend beyond human-centeredness and include the greater than human world.

Part V: Nonviolence and Future Directions

Chapter 17. Wondering about Wonder as an Antidote to Our Violence against Earth [+–] 265-280

Simon Appolloni £17.50

University of Toronto

Simon’s research investigates the relationships humans nurture with nature – often through a religious lens and/or through the appropriation of new science – with a view to finding avenues of harmonious living between humans and the natural world and amongst humans. He currently teaches as a sessional instructor at University of Toronto, Humber College and Brock University

Simon Appolloni, religion and ecology scholar, explores the potential of wonder to act as a correction to violence by cultivating a deep sense of interdependence with all life.

Chapter 18. Music and Nonviolence: Reflections on Possibility and Hope [+–] 282-291

Lauren Michelle Levesque £17.50

Saint Paul University, Ottawa, Canada

Lauren Michelle Levesque’s brings her academic and personal expertise in spir- ituality, music, nonviolence, and social change to consider how nonviolence together with music can be seen as insightful and creative energies than can influence the social imagination.

Chapter 19. The Case for Child Honouring [+–] 292-309

Raffi Cavoukian £17.50

Music Producer, Author and Ecology Advocate

Raffi Cavoukian is a music producer, author, entrepreneur, and ecology advocate. He is the recipient of numerous honours, including the Global 500 Roll and the Order of Canada. He holds three honorary degrees and is a member of the Club of Budapest. In a career spanning four decades, Raffi has refused all commercial endorsement offers and has never taken part in direct advertising to children. He is a passionate supporter of a commercial-free childhood. In 2006, he was awarded the Fred Rogers Integrity Award for this work. In 2010, Raffi founded the Centre for Child Honouring on Salt Spring Island, BC, a global movement that views honouring children as the best way to create sustainable, peacemaking cultures. In 2013, he wrote Lightweb Darkweb: Three Reasons to Reform Social Media Before It Re-Forms Us. This book offers three reasons for social media reform – safety, intelligence, and sustainability – and Raffi highlights children’s developmental needs as a key missing consideration in the digital revolution.

Renowned and celebrated singer, songwriter, and child advocate Raffi Cavoukian underscores the needs and rights of children. From his co-edited book, Child Honouring: How to Turn this World Around, Cavoukian identifies nonviolence as a key tenet of a child-honouring society.

Chapter 20. Violence, Nonviolence, Anti-violence and Contra-Violence in Environmental Education Practice [+–] 310-321

Richard Kool £17.50

Royal Roads University

Richard Kool founded the MA program in Environmental Education and Communication at Royal Roads University in Victoria British Columbia in 2003. His interests have ranged widely, and his publications include studies on ciliated protozoans, whales and dinosaurs, museums education and exhibits, and pedagogical, psychological and philosophical dimensions of environmental education.

In the last chapter, environmental educator and academic Richard Kool argues that environmental educators must deliberate nonviolence, anti-violence, and contra-violence in order to confront a dominant culture in which environmental violence is accepted as normal and necessary.

End Matter

Bibliography [+–] 322-350

Heather Eaton,Lauren Michelle Levesque FREE

St. Paul University, Ottawa, Canada

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Saint Paul University, Ottawa, Canada

Index [+–] 351-364

Heather Eaton,Lauren Michelle Levesque FREE

St. Paul University, Ottawa, Canada

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Saint Paul University, Ottawa, Canada

Reviews

Provides an invaluable contribution in making the case for a better world and a nonviolent future. By drawing together thinkers and doers across a wide range of disciplines, Heather Eaton and Lauren Michelle Levesque have created a solid analysis for social change.
Elizabeth May, Leader, Green Party Canada

Active nonviolence is the basis for the culture of peace now struggling to replace the old culture of war. Here is a studious, penetrating examination of the many sides of nonviolence. Students and civil society activists will benefit from this book.
Hon. Douglas Roche, former Canadian Senator and Ambassador for Disarmament

Nonviolence is the most important--and most neglected--path forward for humanity, and this breathtaking new collection offers many new insights into the way of nonviolence for our troubled world. I hope many will read it, discuss it, and share it widely so that together we can 'advance nonviolence' for positive social transformation for justice, disarmament and peace. We can all become nonviolent. We can all work for a more nonviolent world. We can all join the global grassroots movement for a new future of nonviolence. This wise book is a gift that can help us with the task ahead.
John Dear, activist, author, and Nobel Peace Prize Nominee

A book that will prove useful for a wide range of readers. Those interested in nonviolence will find in it a thought-provoking and stimulating read, one that deepens their practice. Educators will have another potential text to use, and certainly a fine resource from which to draw readings. Moreover, activists interested in effective social change will find fodder for improving their work.
Peace Research: the Canadian Journal of Peace and Conflict Studies

The book strikes an overall balance between the breadth of its topics and the depth of its analyses. The book advances the theorization and practice of nonviolence while avoiding any idealization of nonviolence as a panacea or one-size-fits-all solution. Contributing to academic and activist engagements with nonviolence, this anthology does an exemplary job of crossing disciplinary boundaries to provide a comprehensive account of a complex topic that touches everyone, all humans and indeed the whole Earth community. For personal and professional use by anyone concerned about facilitating positive social change, this book is worth reading, discussing, sharing, and enacting.
Worldviews

This book is well organized, critical, and an important read for those looking to make change and shun violence as a viable long-term solution to a new society. My own work on trauma and peacebuilding has been enriched through a reading of this work and I could see myself using some of the book’s cogent arguments and articles as I continue to teach conflict transformation and transitional justice at my university.
Peace & Change

A much-needed contribution to scholarship on nonviolence. Brings great value in its attention to making louder critical discussions about nonviolence and providing new lenses for the reader to see nonviolence as a necessary approach to constructive and peaceful social transformation.
International Journal on World Peace

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Books and Journals in Humanities, Social Science and Performing Arts

Heather Eaton [+–]

St. Paul University, Ottawa, Canada

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Lauren Michelle Levesque [+–]

Saint Paul University, Ottawa, Canada

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