Historical overview of nonviolence

From 1939 to 1949

Étienne GodinotTranslation : Claudia McKenny Engström

- 12.07.2015

Leonid Pliouchtch

Born in 1939, Ukrainian mathematician. Actively participates in a human rights defense movement in the Soviet Union. Creator and strongest member of the clandestine network for the distribution of forbidden works, the samizdat.

In 1969, becomes a member of the Initiative Group for the defense of Human rights in the USSR. Arrested in 1972, accused of causing unrest and spreading anti-soviet propaganda, condemned to be confined to the psychiatric ward of Dniepropetrovsk.

Freed in January 1976. Thanks to the collective international action of Committees of mathematicians, psychiatrists, unions, Amnesty International and the Ukrainian Diaspora, emigrates to France with his family, where he becomes a French citizen.

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Leonid Pliouchtch

“Our conscience is what links us all together. As it develops or become corrupt, it allows us to win or lose. The price of the challenge is lucidity. And this lucidity will only assert itself in reciprocity. (…)

The common menace is totalitarianism : fighting where it rules is not enough, it must also be prevented before it can even be born. Is that not the common fight? (…)

All wild ducks, wherever they come from or are going, have no other choice that to fly upwind. That is why Bukowski and I fly together against upwind.”

Elias Chacour

Born in 1939. Palestinian Arab, citizen of Israel, archbishop of Acre, Haifa, Nazareth and Galilea of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church.

Originally from the village of Biram, which he must flee at age 8 when his parents’ house is destroyed by Israeli Yishuv(“settlement”) forces.

Founder and teacher of the Mar Elias Educational Institutions, near Haifa, first Arab university within Israel, which teaches more than 2000 Jewish, Muslim, Druze and Christians.

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Elias Chacour

Organized many marches and actions for peace, especially following the Sabra and Chatila massacres, and gave lectures on every continent on peace in the Middle East.

Tireless militant for peace and Israeli-Palestinian reconciliation, proclaims, as did his mother, that Jews and Palestinians are “blood brothers”.

“Israel responds the beastliness of terrorism, which really only represents a tiny minority of the people of Palestine, by a collective punishment. Gaza is closed off, and so is the West Band. A school, a hospital, work, freedom to move, those are radical antidotes against extremism. Peace without justice is an empty slogan.”

Photo : The Wall of Shame around the West Bank

Jean-Marie Muller

Born in 1939, French philosopher, lecturer, teacher, theoretician and practitioner of nonviolence, author of more than 30 books on the subject. Initiates in 1974 the Mouvementpour une Alternative Non-violente (MAN) to inscribe nonviolence into the political scope, rather than just the religious scope. Head of research at the l’Institut de recherche sur la Résolution Non-violente des Conflits (IRNC) after 1985.

Militant actions for conscientious objection in 1967 with Jean Desbois and Jean-Pierre Perrin, against the nuclear weapon in 1973 in Mururoa and in 2012 for the Larzac. Manages a study on “civil dissuasion” in 1985 at the request of the Defense minister Charles Hernu. Travels, contacts, symposiums and lectures un the U.S.A., Poland, Africa, Latin America, the Middle East (Lebanon, Palestine, Iraq, Jordan, Syria).

Jean-Marie Muller

“Violence pushes us to destroy bridges and build walls. Nonviolence allows us to deconstruct walls and build bridges. Sadly, it is more complicated to build bridges than walls : gravity must be overcome.”

“ The Berlin wall fell under the pressure of nonviolent resistance by the men and women of in the civil societies of the East, which had taken great risks to conquer their dignity and freedom.”

“To bring down the Jerusalem Wall, realism should incite Palestinians to choose a nonviolent strategy.”

“The walls in the hearts of men are the walls of ideologies, prejudice, rancor, resentment, fear.”

Miguel Angel Estrella

Born in 1940. Internationally renowned Argentinean classical pianist.

Kidnapped in December 1977 by military junta for his social activism, tortured during a month and imprisoned for two years in Uruguay. During his imprisonment, continues to play the piano on a virtual and mute keyboard. Freed in 1980 thanks to pressure from the international community.

With help from Yves Haguenauer, Simone Signoret, Danielle Mitterand, etc., founds in 1982 Musica Esparanza to “allow music to serve the human community and each person’s dignity”.

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Miguel Angel Estrella

This non-profit organization supported human rights groups in South Africa during the apartheid, Solidarnosc in Poland, the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo in Argentina, and works today with developing literacy and training.

The ESMA, mechanical school of the Marine Corps and former torture centre of the Argentinean dictatorship, currently houses the Museum for Human rights and a school for popular music directed by Mariano Berroeta, son of a man who disappeared after being tortured in this place.

“I feel no hatred towards those who tortured me. (…) I am not afraid of death. The daily examination of my conscience, to see what I have done well or where I have failed, ask advice from my living relatives and my dearest diseased, always makes me feel that we will meet again.”

Photo : The Escuela Superior de Mecanica de la Armada (ESMA) in Buenos Aires, where 5 000 people “disappeared”

Adam Roberts

Born in 1940, English scholar and researcher, president of the British Academy, professor emeritus in political sciences and international relations at Oxford University.

Coordinates and publishes as early as 1963 works concerning nonviolent civil resistance as an alternative to military defense. Author of books about civil resistance from Gandhi to today, including in Iran, South Africa and Eastern Europe during communism.

Relatively far from his initial analysis, considers possible for nonviolent civil resistance and an armed defense by the people to cohabitate, especially in the event that nuclear dissuasion should fail.

Ken Saro-Wiwa

(1941-1995), Nigerian environmentalist, spokesman and later president of the MOvement for the Survival of the Ogoni People(MOSOP), created in order to combat environmental misuse and damages caused by oil companies in the Niger delta. The MOSOP organized a pacific demonstration on 4th January 1993 with around 300 000 people, more than half of the Ogoni population.

Awarded the alternative Nobel Prize in 1994, a few months after being arrested by Sani Abacha’s regime. Following a trail, condemned and hanged on 10th November 1995 in the prison of Port-Harcourt, together with 8 other MOSOP militants.

“Oil exploration has transformed the Ogoni territories into a giant waste land. The lands, rivers and streams are constantly polluted; the atmosphere is poisoned. The lands have been devastated by acid rains and leaking or bursting of hydrocarbons.”

Luis Perez Aguirre

(1941-2001). Uruguayan Jesuit, philosopher and theologian. After the military coup in 1973, shelters in his community abandoned children and helps prostitutes from the streets of Montevideo. In 1979, publishes an independent magazine called La Plaza.

Coordinator of the Servicio Paz y Justicia in Uruguay after 1980, works to support the families of those who disappeared, organizes cooperatives, unions and associations.

Arrested in 1983 and tortured 17 hours in a row. Imprisoned and kidnapped several times. Fasts during 19 days to invite the population to find solutions for the country during a day of national reflexion.../..

Luis Perez Aguirre

“Only reconciliation will allow us to break free from the vicious circle of vengeance. Reconciliation is the capacity to act humanly by forgiving one’s enemy.That does not mean that justice should be denied and that all must be forgotten, but we have to look beyond that. Reconciliation is more than an egalitarian justice which would give each part what it deserves.It is the capacity to overcome our suffering and show the possibility human beings have to resist evil.”

Joan Baez

Born in 1941. American singer. At the age of 16, refuses to take part in training exercises for evacuation towards anti-bomb shelters during the Cold War.

Takes part in the civil rights movement lead by M. L. King (sings “We shall overcome !” in Washington in 1963), against the war in Vietnam. Militant for Amnesty International, denounces human rights violations in South Africa, Vietnam, China, sings in Sarajevo in 1993 in a bombed out hotel, with gunshots ringing outside.

Funds a research centre on nonviolence in Palo Alto.

“ The word peace is a shapeless word, detestable in the end. Marines are there for peace. China is for peace. People think that peace can simply fall out of the sky. ”

Vladimir Bukovsky

Born in 1942, Russian, dissident of the soviet regime, imprisoned for over 12 years, between 1963 and 1976, in reeducation work camps, psychiatric institutions and prisons. One of the first to denounce psychiatric internment as a medium of political control for the dictatorship.

Freed during an exchange of political prisoners for the Chilean communist Luis Corvalan at Zurich airport on the 18th December 1976.

“ Neither the gun, nor the tanks, nor the atomic bomb create power, and power does not depend on them. Power is born from man’s docility when he accepts to obey. ”

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Vladimir Bukovsky

When a journalist asks : “ How many political prisoners do you believe there are in the URSS?”, he answers: “250 million ! ”

To the question : “ What would you like to say to Brejnevon his birthday ? ”, he answers: “ I wish he could be exchanged for Pinochet ! ”

“Humour is a way to defend ourselves and retaliate. I am a pessimist. Do you know the story of the pessimist and the optimist who meet ?: ‘Ah la la, the pessimist complains, we’re in deep shit, it couldn’t be worse!’. ‘Of course it could, of course it could!’, answers the optimist.”

Vincent Roussel

Born in 1942, Frenchman, teacher and holder of the “Agrégation” for mathematics. Cofounder of the Mouvement pour uneAlternative Non-violente (MAN). Coordinator, in the 1970’s, of the national action refusing to redistribute taxes in support of the peasants of the Larzac, which contributed to the illegal construction of the sheep pen in La Blaquière.

President of the non-profit organization Non-violence Actualité, which publishes and manages the resource centre of the same name. Involved in the Coordination pour l’éducation à la non-violence et à la paix (“Coordination for an education promoting nonviolence and peace”).

“If violence creates desires for revenge, nonviolence gives a real chance of long-term reconciliation with one’s adversary. (…) Violence is not inevitable, it is not innate. All behavior can be educated, and it is our duty to help the younger ones adopt a more pacific attitude. ”

Charles Rojzman

Born in 1942, Frenchman, son of Polish Jewish immigrants. Psycho-sociologist, practicing philosopher, teacher in France and in the U.S. created and developed “social therapy”, an interdisciplinary method with three main aims : 1 – a psychology based on links to prevent and cure violence, 2 – solving problems thanks to collective intelligence, 3 – a new education for democracy.

Intervenes in difficult neighborhoods and conflict zones around the world (collective traumas, reconciliation).

“ With relational difficulties, responsibilities must always be discovered. There is not always an innocent party on one side and a guilty party on the other, but often a problematic interaction between the two. ”

Lech Walesa

Born in 1943, Polish. Metal work in the Gdansk shipyard. Main leader of the protest in the 1980, which resulted in the creation of Solidarnosc, a union struggling against the communist state to defend workers’ rights and democracy. President of Solidarnoscfrom 1981 to 1990.

Nobel Prize for Peace in 1983. President of the Republic from 1990 to 1996.

“ You can win with tanks and missiles, but you can win more with truth and honesty. We haven’t fired a single gunshot. I believe that the 20th and 21st centuries should be shaped on a fight just like ours. It is a new weapon. Actually, no, it is an ancient weapon, but it is very efficient and perfectly suited for the needs of the 21st

century. ”

Mubarak Awad

Palestinian born in 1943. When his house ends up in no man’s land in between the belligerent parties in 1948, he finds refuge in the old city of Jerusalem. After his secondary school, he goes to the U.S., where he becomes a doctor of psychology and an American citizen. Creates a support program for handicapped or mistreated children.

During a trip to Palestine in 1985, founds the Palestinian centrefor the Study of Nonviolence. Before the first Intifada, lectures and publishes articles concerning nonviolence as a form of resistance in the face of Israeli occupation. Deported by Israel in June 1988, he returns to the U.S.

“ My grandfather was killed, my father was killed. My mother said to me ‘Never kill, never harm, never insult’. ”

Christian Mellon

Born in 1943, French Jesuit. Master’s degree in Peace Studies at Bradford University (G.B.). Cofounder and editor-in-chief of the magazine Alternatives Non-violentes (1973-1989), former secretary of the Peace and justice commission of the French episcopate (1997-2004), member of the Centre de rechercheet d’action sociale (CERAS).

“The current vigor of ideologies promoting exclusion and of religious fanaticism, the disintegration of the social fabric, the

withdrawal into national egotisms, the rise of populism, everything goes to discourage us to believe in a spontaneous progress of our societies towards democracy and the nonviolent conflict resolution. Nonviolence must be an educational project, it must be taught and researched.”

Moustafa Djemilev

Born in 1943, leader of the Crimean Tatars, a Turkish speaking and Muslim people (today around 280 000 people) deported to Uzbekistan by Stalin in 1944. Cofounder of “Azatlyk”, the Tatar Youth Union, in 1961. Between 1966 and 1986, is arrested six times by the soviet authorities for anti-soviet activities, serves 10 years in prisons and work camps, then freed under strict surveillance. In 1986, manages to obtain the return of Tatars to Crimea. Elected president of the Mejlis (“Assembly”), the political representation of Crimean Tatars, in 1989.

Member of the Ukrainian Parliament since 1998. Living in Kiev, denounces the incorporation of Crimea into the Russian federation with the help of pro-Russian separatists in 2014.

“ An essential thing for me is that I have always encouraged nonviolence. We fought for decades to come home, but without every shedding a single drop of blood. ”

Photo below : Flag of the Crimean Tatars

Alfred Bour

Born in 1943, French catholic priest, former president of the Mouvement International de Reconciliation(MIR). After 1995, works within the Bureau pour le service de la non-violence in the Rwandan diocese of Butare, also operates in Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Works for the reconciliation of populations following the genocide and massacres of 1994.

As part of the Groupe Jean Goss, cofounds the bilingual magazine Ikiguzi Cy’Amahoro – The Price of Peace, translates into Rwandan Martin Luther King’s “Strenght to Love”.

Cofounder of the Rwandan organization Family of Peace -Umuryango w'Amahoro, whose 500 members work to develop nonviolence and peace. Delivered over two hundred certificates allowing university graduates to teach active nonviolence (two years of group life + training for nonviolence). Several groups, each of about 30 to 50 people, were born from this work.

Oser la non- violence active

Manuel pédagogique

Une force au service de la paix

Alfred Bour

Christian Führer

German born in 1943, pastor of the Sant Nikolaus church in Leipzig. Every Monday, leads prayers for peace. On 9th October 1989, two days after harshly repressed riots, defying the secret police taken by surprise, leads a peaceful and silent group of 70 000 people carrying a lit candle (photo below) after mass. One month later, on 9th November, a giant demonstration in Berlin leads to the fall of the Wall.

In 1991, leads an initiative to facilitate the integration of unemployed workers. His parish puts together language and IT courses. Denounces the damages caused by market economy and its obsession with profit.

“ Whether in the movement against the communist regime in 1989, in the war in Iraq in 2003 or in the job market reform in 2004, our experience is that atheists blend with believers.”

Ibrahim Rugova

(1944-2006). Kosovare writer and politician. 2 years at the EHESS in Paris. Elected president of the Association des écrivains du Kossovoin 1988.

When the Serb Slobodan Milosevic abolishes the autonomy of the province where 90 % of the population is Albanian, in 1989, creates the Democratic League of Kosovo. On 24th May 1992, after clandestine general elections, is elected president of the unrecognized Republic of Kosovo, whose government in exile is based in Geneva.

His nonviolent approach earns him the nickname “Gandhi of the Balkans”. The Democratic League leads the resistance to Serbian oppression and organizes a parallel society (clandestine schools, dispensaries and Parliament).

Official president of Kosovo from March 2002 to January 2006.

Hilke Tromp

Born in 1944 ?, Dutch scholar and researcher, former Director of the Institute of Polemology in Groningen university, professor of peace research and international relations. Member of the Dutch governmental commission for the study of civil defense, active between 1976 and 1980.

“ Nonviolent defense has already worked. In many cases, people without weapon or military organization and who had no notion of strategy imagined and put into practice efficient mediums to hinder the military occupation of their country. In the Netherlands, for example, the nonviolent resistance between 1940 and 1945 was probably more efficient than the violent resistance, which lead to retaliation. ”

Maired Corrigan-Maguire

Born in 1944. Nonviolent militant from Ulster. In August 1976, a car of IRA activists, chased by British soldiers, runs over her sister’s three children. Together with Betty Williams, present at the time of the accident, organizes the Women’s Peace Movement to denounce violence from both parties.

35 000 women from both communities rally in the streets of Belfast.

Nobel Prize for Peace in 1976 together with Betty Williams for their reconciliation efforts in Ulster.

In 2007, supports the nonviolent resistance of the Bil’inPalestinians. Takes part in the peace fleet intercepted by the Israeli army protesting against the blockade of Gaza.

Chico Mendes

(1944-1988). Brazilian. From the age of 11, is a seringuiero, agricultural worker specialized in extracting latex from rubber trees.

Leads many struggles to protect the Amazonian forest and its populations, as part of the Xapuri Union of Rural Laborers, and then of the Labor Party. Amongst other things, defended small landowners ruined by the fall of the price of latex against big cattle breeders attempting to by their lands.

During nonviolent protests, pacifically disarms the guards paid by the big owners.

Assassinated on order of a rich landowner.

“At first, I thought I was fighting to save rubber trees. Then I thought I was fighting to save the Amazonian forest. Now, I know I am fighting for mankind.”

Jean-Marie VincentJean-Pierre Louis

Haitian catholic priests, amongst many others…

J.-M. V.: (1945-1994) Active supporter of the emancipation of peasants. General Director of Caritas in Cap-Haïtien. Initiates development funds and cooperatives. After the 1991 putsch, takes part in the creation of emergency solidarity funds to help those persecuted and the internal refugees. Assassinated on 28th August 1994.

J.-P. L.: (“Ti Jean”, - 1998) Leads and founds several youth organizations, leads a real struggle to reform civil status in Haiti. Fights beside peasants’ and women’s organizations. Cofounder of the Groupe d’Appui des Rapatriés et Réfugiés. Assassinated on 3rd

August 1998.

Aung San Suu Kyi

Born in 1945, Burmese. Representative of the nonviolent opposition to the dictatorship present in her country since 1962. Placed under house arrest un July 1989. Becomes the leader of the National League for Democracy in 1990. Wins (59 %) the elections in 1990, but the army never gave civilians back their power.

Nobel Prize for Peace in 1991. Freed in November 2010, elected member of parliament in April 2012, is allowed to leave her country for the first time in 28 years in may 2012.

“ It is not power that corrupts but fear. Fear of losing power corrupts those who wield it and fear of the scourge of power corrupts those who are subject to it. But no state mechanism can stop courage from reappearing again and again. ”

Steve Biko

(1946-1977), back South African militant, cofounder and first president of the South African Students Organisation, initiator of the Black Consciousness Movement. Chooses nonviolence for its efficiency. Imprisoned, banished, put in house arrest, and finally held incommunicado for 101 days. Defies the injunction not to leave the country and travels around the Eastern Cape.

Arrested on 18th August 1977, tortures, dies in custody, officially following a hunger strike. The police admits it was murder in the late 1990’s.

“ The most powerful weapon in the hands of any oppressor, is the mind of the oppressed ! (…)So as a prelude Whites must be made to realize that they are only human, not superior. Same with Blacks. They must be made to realize that they are also human, not inferior. ”

Peter Ackerman

Born in 1946, American doctor of international relations at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy (studies with Gene Sharp, author of a PhD: “Strategic aspects of Nonviolent Resistance Movements”). From 1978 to 1990, director of an investment bank. In 1990, invited researcher of the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London.

Founding president of the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict (ICNC); member of the Council on Foreign Relations. President of the board of directors of Freedom House from September 2005 to 2009. Member of the board of the Council on Foreign Relations.

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Peter Ackerman et Jack DuVall

J. D. : American Air Force officer, former television director, former director of corporate relations of the University of Chicago, consultant for the President of the United States. Producer of the film “A Force more powerful” about nonviolent strategy, developed into a TV series and video games, and “Bringing down a dictator”, which studies in particular the strategies used by Otpor ! to bring down Milosevic. Administrator of the Albert Einstein Institutionfounded by Gene Sharp.

Together, Ackerman and DuVall create the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict (ICNC), which develops and encourages the use of nonviolent strategies based on civilian action to solve conflicts, put into place or defend democratic states, respectful of Human rights.

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Peter Ackerman et Jack DuVall

The main actions of the ICNC are to :- Raise the general opinion’s awareness with help of lectures, televised or radio interviews, the production, distribution and translation of films, books, articles and educational material;- Encourage politicians and the media to become take into account nonviolent movements;- Train militants in nonviolent action during sessions.

There are those who believe that the “Colour Revolutions” in CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) are part of a strategy elaborated by Washington. Many American NGOs liked to the CIA and other organs of the US authorities (Freedom House, Soros Foundation, Albert Einstein Institution, etc) are indeed known to consult and finance pro-democracy militants. The ICNC refutes any involvement of its own, insisting that the revolutions were the result of the people’s action in the concerned countries, and only that.

Adam Michnik

Born in 1946, Polish historian of Jewish descent, journalist, essayist. Cofounder together with Jacek Kuron of the Workers’ Defence Committee (KOR) in 1976.

Between 1977 and 1989, editor of the clandestine publications Biuletyn Informacyjny, Zapis, Krytyka and member of the greatest clandestine publishing company in Poland, NOWa. From 1980 onwards, adviser of the union Solidarosc.

Imprisoned during 6 years because of his activities as a dissent of the communist regime. Director of the Gazeta Wyborcza, the most important national daily newspaper in Poland.

Defines nonviolence as: “a pinch of dignity, a pinch of freedom, a pinch of fraternity and daily mouthful of truth.”

Louis Campana

Frenchman born in Italy in 1946, Compagnon de l’Arche from 1970 to 1978, member of the communauté de la Théophanie until 1990, sales representative until 2000. In 2001, creates Shanti, a non-profit organization aiming to promote nonviolence through films.

In 2006, founds Gandhi International, an organization which shows the topicality of Gandhi’s intuitions concerning the challenges in the 3rd millennium and which participated in the international mobilization of 2012 to support the Indian movement Ekta Parishad. In 2007, creates the association Shanti Orissa, which aims to help the tribal populations of Orissa acquire more autonomy.

“To become action, the indignation felt in the face of the reign of money and of the economic war must understand the source of violence, egotism and greed. Being sated blocks the heart and leads to spiritual death. ”

Jeff Halper

Born in 1946, American and Jewish anthropologist, author, lecturer and political militant, living in Israel since 1973. Cofounder and coordinator of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD), which resists the Israeli policies which lead to the systematic destruction of Palestinian homes in occupied territories. The militants block bulldozers and collect money to rebuild the houses exactly where they were destroyed.

“Of 28 000 destroyed houses since 1997 in East Jerusalem and in the Jordan valley, only about 600 were destroyed for security reasons. (…) The situation is getting worse, but we have made the Palestinian question one that concerns the entire world. I believe in the possibility of a two nation state.”

Jerzy Popieluszko

(1947-1984), Polish priest, chosen in August 1980 to be chaplain of the Huta Warzava steelworks in Warsaw.

From May 1982, three months after Jaruselski’s coup, defies the state of war by celebrating a “patriotic mass” every last Sunday of the month in front of thousands of people, denounces the lies of the official propaganda and political imprisonment. Under surveillance his entire life and incarcerated in December 1983. In June 1984, like the clandestine leaders of Solidarnosc, encourages abstention at the municipal elections.

Kidnapped on 19th October 1984 by three Security Police officers, beaten to death and thrown into the Vistula. More than 500 000 were present at his funeral.

“ The idea which needs weapons to support itself is destined to disappear. ”

Richard Pétris

Frenchman born in 1947, graduates from Sciences Po, civilian cooperator in Vietnam, manager at the BNP bank, committed to helping refugees.

In 1998, creates in Grenoble the Ecole de la Paix with the idea that peace is not only defined by the absence of war, but that it is progressively built and needs specific competences.

The Ecole has three main focuses:- Education : creation of books and educational material, travelling exhibitions, training teachers, talks in schools, etc.;- International mediation : solidarity and cooperation actions to build peace;- Research: understanding the mechanisms of war and peace;

analysis; publications.

Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo, José Ramos-HortaXanana Gusmão

C. F. X. Belo, born in 1948, catholic bishop of Dili, capital of East Timor. Spokesman of the oppressed population, there being no local political authority.

J. Ramos-Horta, born in 1949, second president of the Democratic Republic of East Timor from 2007 to 2012.

Both awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1996 for their research of a pacific and equitable solution to the conflict in East Timor.

Ramos-Horta regretted that the prize was not awarded to XananaGusmão (born in 1946), leader of the Timorese resistance, imprisoned from 1992 to 1999 by the Indonesian government, first president of East Timor, fully independent since 2002.

Jose Luis (Pepe) Beunza

Born in 1948, Castilian Spaniard, agricultural engineer, known as Pepe. In January 1971, under Franco’s dictatorship, demands a legal status for conscientious objectors of the military service. Moves to a working class neighbourhood of Valencia to help and encourage its poorest inhabitants, to show one of the tasks which could be given to objectors. Two trails, two years of prison and 15 months with the disciplinary battalion in the Sahara between 1971 and 1974. Supported by the Arch of Lanza del Vasto, Marie Laffranque and Jean van Lierde.

The first of about a million Spanish objectors and rebels who stood up against military service until the abolition of obligatory conscription in May 2002, at which point he received an homage from the Spanish Parliament and all political parties.

“ To change society and reach justice, nonviolence is the most powerful weapon. Violence continuously failed in bringing justice. ”

Rajagopal P.V.

Born in 1948, Indian follower of Gandhi’s principals and anti-globalisation militant, originally from Kerala. Publicly uses only his first name and not his surname, in protest of the caste system. Kathakali dancer and later agricultural engineer.

In the Gandhi Express train, which travelled around India during a year in 1969, for the 100th anniversary of the Mahatma’s birth, is questioned by many young people and feels compelled to commit to promoting nonviolent struggles.

From 1970 to 1978, convinces many bandits from Madhya Pradesh, called dacoits and often ruined peasants, to surrender voluntarily : they surrender their weapons in front of a portrait of Gandhi. Organises support from their families during their imprisonment.

Photos : Rajagopal and his wife Jill Carr Harris, Canadian, leader of the Global Movement, an international nonviolent movement committed to agricultural reform

Rajagopal P.V.

As early as 1980, trains youths in villages to fight against exploitation and poverty in nonviolent ways, first of all by helping them regain self-confidence.

Chosen in 1985 by the Supreme Court to investigate slave workers. Works to rehabilitate thousands of people working in stone quarries, on building sites for barrages, etc. Founds several institutions and organisations and, in 1991, a coordination structure called EktaParishad (“Forum for unity”).

This movement mobilises those excluded from society (small peasants, those landless, tribes, Untouchables) to struggle for lands and against the hoarding by a minority of natural resources (land, water, seeds, forests).

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Rajagopal P.V.

In October 2007, JanaDesh march (“the people’s verdict”), gathering 25 000 victims of social exclusion, from Gwalior to Delhi. Laws are voted, but they are put into effect with difficulty or not at all.

During a whole year, starting in October 2011, Rajagopaljourneys across India to mobilize the people. In its wake, an important international mobilisation.

On 3rd October 2012, the JanSatyagraha march (“Keenness to truth”) gathers over 45 000 people. On 11th October, a agreement is signed between Ekta Parishad and the government.

- The JanaDesh march in October 2007- The agreement signed on 11th October 2012 with Jairam Ramesh, minister for Rural Development-The Le Croisic to Paris march against poverty and for the food sovereignty, organized from 21st September to 17th October 2012 by the French branch of Gandhi International, in support of the JanSatyagraha march in India

Rajagopal P.V.

• “ We do not want to go to prison or to be beaten, but as long as we do not accept to sacrifice a bit of our own comfort, of our resources and of our time, nothing will change. (…) It is our responsibility to act today, otherwise future generations will not forgive us. ” Bhopal, 03.02.2010

• “ Gandhi advocated voluntary simplicity, the rejection of accumulation. He encouraged not mass-production, but production by the masses, that is to say manual labor by the masses. He wanted decisions to be made depending on their impact on the poorest within our society. All of these ideas must be taken into account in order to create a nonviolent economy, a nonviolent society. ” Arvillard, 10.09.2011

Christa Blanke

German born in 1948, services thanks to the food packages distributed by Care USA to former enemies of World War II. Lutheran pastor. In 1986, celebrates a mass in front of Hoechst AG pharmaceutical laboratories against animal testing, collects 30 000 signatures against the consumption of eggs produced in industrial farms within clerical institutions. In 1988, celebrates her first live broadcast of a religious mass with animals on ZüdDeutsche Rundfunk.

Together with her husband Michael, founds in 1989 Aktion Kircheund Tiere (“Chruch and Animals Action”) and in 1998 Animals’ Angels against transportation of living animals.

“ 200 years ago, the Church stayed quiet on the subject of slave trade because they were black. 80 years ago, it stayed silent about anti-Semitism because they were only Jews. Today, the Church stays quiet about animal mistreatment because they are only animals. ”

Hervé Ott

Frenchman born in 1949, Masters degree in protestant theology. Conscientious objector, illegally occupies the Cun farm (acquired by the French state in order to extend the Larzac military camp) together with 4 other objectors in October 1975, in order to suggest the creation of a research and training center for nonviolent resistance.

Forced of the lands, the Cun team builds and animates from 1977 to 2001 a new centre functioning thanks to renewable resources. The seminars, international meetings and community initiatives it accommodates make the place a life-size laboratory.

Many courses and seminars in countries going through crises (South Pacific, Africa, Middle East, and… Parisian suburbs) with liberation movements, to learn to defend Human rights, resist civil war, become a social worker.

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Hervé Ott

In 2001, creates the Institut Européen Conflits Cultures Coopération(IECCC) and develops a “Constructive transformation and Approach of Conflicts” (ATCC). Teaches and accompanies in the private and public sectors, institutions as well as private individuals. Co-leads teacher training and publishes “Guides to raising awareness concerning the dynamics and transformations in conflicts”.

The guides, or “Cahiers”

Mediation, civil initiatives. Civil courage. Learning to take part in public problems in a violent context. Conflicts, always violent ? For a culture of peace. Mimicry. From Nonviolence to the approach and constructive transformation of conflicts. Social leaders. Leading multi-actor projects and transforming conflicts. Ideas to change the feeling of helplessness and violence in conflicts.

Marie-Pierre Bovy

Frenchwoman born in 1949, professional pianist, singer, choir master. Member during 25 years of Lanza del Vasto’s Archetogether with her husband Pierrot Bovy, wood sculptor, died of cancer. Part of the initiative which resulted in the creation of the Coordination de l’Action Non-Violent de l’Arche (CANVA), which she leads from 1986 to 1992, and Stop Essais from 1990 to 2000.

President of the Mouvement International de la Réconciliation (MIR France) from 1986 to 1992 and of the International Fellowship of Réconcilaition (IFOR) from 1992 to 1996. Organizes the seminar on Gandhi in Montpellier in January 1998. Today, helps with personal development ( “Liberating the armors” method).

“Gandhi’s nonviolence, thanks to all of those who carried on with it, defended it and accepted to pay its price sometimes to death, has turned out to be a universal medium for emancipation and liberation, adoptable by all those oppressed.”

Étienne Godinot

Born in 1949, Law graduate, worked in human resources, as well as creating and leading projects. Member and co-founder of Mouvement pour une Alternative Non-violente (MAN) since 1974 and of the Institut de recherche sur la Résolution Non-violente des Conflits (IRNC) since1985.

“Faced with the three main challenges of humanity today – the environmental challenge, poverty and underdevelopment, defense and armed conflicts – nonviolence suggests answers which must be put into practical urgently. In the long walk through human history, nonviolence, as a way of acting towards one’s fellow man as well as nature, as a form of wisdom in life and thought, but also as a political philosophy and collective strategy against injustice, is an evident, essential and urgent condition for the humanization of our world.”

Charles Patterson

Born in 1949 ?, American historian, therapist, editor, history professor at Columbia University in New York. Studied the Civil Rights movement in the USA and the extermination of the European Jews by Nazism. His book “Eternal Treblinka” studies the need for domination felt by humans over animals.

Denounces the way man gave himself the right to exterminate or enslave other species.

Claims that animal oppression is a model for all other oppression, and that the comparison of the oppressed to beasts is a necessary step on the way to annihilate them.

“The organization of work in the slaughterhouses of Chicago inspired Henry Ford, who was himself admired by Hitler. This model can be found in all Nazi extermination camps, where everything was arranged so as to petrify the victims, confuse them and cut their murder into simple and repetitive tasks to trivialize the assassins’ action.” ■