Michael N. Nagler - The Nonviolence Handbook: A Guide for Practical Action

A Guide for Practical Action

MICHAEL N. NAGLER

The Nonviolence Handbook

Copyright 2014 by Michael N. Nagler
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First Edition
Paperback print edition ISBN 978-1-62656-145-8
PDF e-book ISBN 978-1-62656-146-5
IDPF e-book ISBN 978-1-62656-147-2

2014-1

Interior design/art: Laura Lind Design. Editor: Todd Manza. Cover design: Kirk DouPonce, DogEared Design. Proofreader: Henri Bensussen. Production service: Linda Jupiter Productions. Indexer: Linda Webster.

For all those who have the faith that
humanity can be redeemed by nonviolence
and the courage to prove it.

Nonviolence is the greatest power humankind
has been endowed with.

Mahatma Gandhi

I was honored when Professor Nagler approached me to write a foreword for this excellent book, both because of the books timelinessthere is an urgent need for nonviolence in every possible application todayand because he is so eminently qualified to write it.

Over the past twelve years, we have seen the United States take military action to attempt to resolve political issues in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Pakistan, Somalia, and Yemen. The disastrous results of those military actions underscore the value of a different approach to conflict resolution both nationally and internationally. Michael Naglers manual on nonviolence is a healthy reminder that there are alternatives to violence.

Im writing this foreword to The Nonviolence Handbook while on a trip in Northeast Asia. In two of the countries Ive visited, citizens are using nonviolent tactics to challenge actions of their governmentsthe very situation on which Professor Nagler primarily focuses (though many others come under review). For instance, in Japan, where the war article of the Japanese constitution is under attack, Japanese citizens have formed Article 9 defense committees in every village and every suburb to rally support for the constitution that has successfully kept them out of wars and military actions since World War II.

In South Korea, Jeju Island is the site of a remarkable nonviolent struggle against the building of a naval base for South Korean and American Aegis ballistic missile defense systems. Here, for the past seven years, the citizens of Gangjeong village have challenged their governments destruction of a pristine marine area and a mammoth, ancient lava rock formation for the construction of the naval base. They have used a variety of tactics, including building peace camps on the remarkable rock formation called Gurumbei, forming human blockades at base entrances, boarding barges transporting huge concrete blocks intended for a breakwater on unique coral heads, climbing and occupying huge construction cranes, and forming human chains of thousands of people around the base.

So far, these herculean nonviolent efforts have not succeeded in stopping the construction of the naval base. On the other hand, on the island of Okinawa, where for the past twenty years citizens have challenged U.S. and Japanese government use of the island for 75 percent of Americas Japanese military presence, their long protest has finally resulted in the process of removing ten thousand U.S. military personnel from the island.

Citizens around the world are looking for ways to challenge harmful government policies and to address many other forms of injustice. The Nonviolence Handbook points us toward those ways. Anyone who can give us some pointers on practicing nonviolence more safely and effectively is doing humankind a service. But Professor Nagler is not just anyone in this field. His unusual expertise enables him to clearly explain the compelling, inspiring theory of nonviolence, its higher vision of humanity, and selected key episodes from its dramatic history. In the end we have, exactly as the subtitle suggests, a guide to the kind of action that the world so urgently needs.

I know courage when I see it, and I have seen more courage in the brave, determined citizens cited in Professor Naglers examplesas well as those I myself have witnessedthan in the heavily armed forces arrayed against them. That courage, complemented by the knowledge of the skillful use of nonviolence, as provided in this handbook, is a recipe for a world of peace and justice. I hope that many people will use this book to help us build that world.

Ann Wright
Col. U.S. Army (Ret.)
Recipient, State Department Award for Heroism

The twentieth century left us a double legacy. On the one hand, it was a time of great cruelty and violence; on the other hand, and perhaps from that very crucible of violence, we saw manifestations of a new kind of poweror rather, new uses of an ageold powerthat can lead humanity to a far better future. In the years since Mahatma Gandhi demonstrated the power of nonviolence to free India from colonial rule and Martin Luther King Jr. employed it to liberate people of color from some of their oppression in the United States, countless peoples around the worldfrom Manila to Moscow, Cape Town to Cairo, and in the Occupy movements worldwidehave had varying degrees of success using one or another aspect of nonviolence to loosen the bonds of exploitation and oppression.

The practice of nonviolence touches on something fundamental about human nature, about who we wish to be as individuals or as a people. Gandhi stated simply, Nonviolence is the law of our species.

We might contrast this with the appallingly high rates of depression, substance abuse, and suicide among todays American servicemen and women. As one of them told a documentary filmmaker, I no longer like who I am. I lost my soul in Iraq. Another told a friend of mine, who was on his way to the Middle East as part of a Christian Peacemaker team, I am still haunted by the things we did I would give anything to be able to go back and undo some of the things we did. But I cant. But at least I can thank you with all my heart for doing what you do. Through these words, which are a testimony to human nature, we glimpse both the costs of violating that aspect of our nature and the path toward its redemption.