By Rivera Sun
Charlie Kirk’s murder. School shootings in Minneapolis and Denver. Genocide in Gaza. Russia’s war in Ukraine. Violence is everywhere. It’s frightening and heartbreaking.
No one likes violence. Do they?
In truth, our culture sends out very mixed messages when it comes to violence. We glorify it in movies. We fantasize about it in video games. We pour billions of dollars into weapons and guns each year. We pour billions into police and efforts to stop it. We justify it (when used by people on ‘our side’). We denounce it (when used by the ‘other side’). We criminalize it. We profit from it. We are traumatized by it.
It doesn’t have to be this way. And this week, tens of thousands of people are taking action to end violence in all its forms.
Campaign Nonviolence Action Days is underway an impressive 5,595+ actions and events across the United States and around the world working to “build a culture of peace and active nonviolence, free from war, poverty, racism, and environmental destruction.”
Stretching across the 12 days between the International Day of Peace on September 21 and the International Day of Nonviolence on October 2, this worldwide effort brings together over 100 groups and organizations who are working on different aspects of a culture of active nonviolence.
They are stopping fist fights. They are fostering social skills to prevent bullying. They are keeping people safe in war zones.
They are also tackling systemic violence – the policies and systems that cause harm.
They’re doing mutual aid and sharing food to prevent hunger. They’re campaigning for affordable healthcare. They’re cleaning up trash and addressing pollution. They’re calling for renewable energy to replace fossil fuels.
The tens of thousands of people moving into action this week are showing that nonviolence is not passivity. It is not doing nothing. It is active, powerful, and transformative. It is not merely the absence of violence – it is the presence of solutions. Nonviolence is a word that encompasses a broad toolbox of skills and policies that heal, liberate, transform, empower, and offer us better ways to deal with the pressing issues of our times.
Campaign Nonviolence began in 2014 with 240 actions across the United States. Now in its 12th year, the immense effort of 5,595+ actions and events brings together students, educators, faith communities, activists, artists, community leaders, nonprofits, families, civic leaders, and many others. This year, organizers are working on the theme of “practicing nonviolence toward self, others, world, and earth.”
With international efforts like World Wellness Weekend, people are practicing self-care by attending some of the 10,000 free health and wellness sessions as a way to reduce harm to one’s body, mind, and spirit.
With groups like Cure Violence, Nonviolent Peaceforce, DC Peace Team, Sandy Hook Promise, and United Religions Initiative, people are training in violence prevention and de-escalation skills as a way of stopping fights and attacks. They also have hundreds of street teams deployed everywhere from local neighborhoods to war zones to refugee camps, working to keep people safer.
With visibility actions like street demonstrations, overpass banner brigades, postering, and vigils, they brought awareness to hot button issues like immigration raids, trans rights, the genocide in Gaza, and rising authoritarianism.
With participation in efforts like World Cleanup Day, SunDay, Draw the Line, Make Billionaires Pay, Climate Film Festival, and the Fossil Fuel Nonproliferation Treaty, people are working to stop the extreme violence of the climate crisis.
Many groups participate in Peace Day events on September 21, holding rallies, vigils, anti-war and anti-militarism actions, opposing nuclear weapons, and calling for ceasefires. On October 2, the International Day of Nonviolence and the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi, people are engaging educational events to teach about active nonviolence. These include film screenings, talks and lectures, webinars, trainings, art events, and creative teach-ins using a set of 12 coloring pages on historic nonviolent campaigns.
Campaign Nonviolence takes the broad view that violence can be physical, systemic, and cultural. It causes harm directly – such as with bullets and bombs – and indirectly through policies that cause hunger, poverty, toxic pollution, inequality, discrimination, etc. Violence is also fomented by cultural beliefs and attitudes, such as racism, sexism, homophobic or transphobic views, xenophobia, classism, and more.
Violence may be everywhere … but nonviolence is, too. Campaign Nonviolence helps to illuminate that people want a different kind of culture, society, and world – and they’re willing to take action to get it.
“Nonviolence is a way of life for courageous people,” said Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. And courageously, we can shift our culture toward it. We can shift how we respond to conflicts in-person and in the streets. We can implement policies that help people, not harm them. We can engage our society in changing its cultural views away from hate and discrimination, and toward respect and understanding. We can advocate for and support human rights, democracy, ecological sustainability, economic justice, racial justice, and peace and justice for all.
Campaign Nonviolence empowers tens of thousands of people each year to use nonviolent tools to construct nonviolent solutions in a world longing for change. “Means are ends in the making,” said Mahatma Gandhi. If we want a nonviolent world, we must build it through those means.
Rivera Sun, syndicated by PeaceVoice, has written numerous books, including The Dandelion Insurrection and the award-winning Ari Ara Series. She is the editor of Nonviolence News, Program Coordinator for Campaign Nonviolence, and a nationwide trainer in strategy for nonviolent campaigns.
