2008 "Nonviolence as a Way of Life" Conference
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Click here for the schedule of workshops
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Our Message
Nonviolence is effective
Nonviolence can be simple and easy
Nonviolence is working everywhere
You get win-win-win-win results from nonviolence
Nonviolence can be fun
Nonviolence uplifts the human spirit
Nonviolence heals the source of the problem
Nonviolence can be a way of life
Vision and Hopes for the 2008 Conference
- To provide participants with a sense of hope, purpose, and meaning by focusing on practical, easy, and useful ways of incorporating nonviolence in one’s daily life so as to support the vision of a peaceful world. We envision participants coming away from the conference equipped with a toolbox of techniques for nonviolent living which they can use to dismantle despair and build a culture of peace and justice.
- To exchange dreams, hopes, visions, insights, inspirations, and aspirations.
- To increase awareness and build lasting friendships and connections based on the understanding that nonviolent action builds community. Nonviolence encompasses many values such as love, harmony, interrelatedness, exchanging individual and collective wisdom, productive communication, bonding, shared intention, collective experience, co-education, bridge-building, coalescence, and synergy. We all offer pieces of the truth and all have something to contribute.
- To create a sense of community among a multitude of organizations by providing ample opportunities for networking among likeminded participants working towards nonviolence in some area of human life. The four day immersion in the future we are creating will concentrate and amplify our collective energy.
- To facilitate individual journeys from despair to empowerment and positive action by providing opportunities for acknowledging/honoring despair, grief and mourning, as well as offering safe spaces for overcoming fear, and for conflict resolution, healing, redemption, restoration, and restitution.
- To facilitate an understanding of holistic, nonviolent social change and to increase awareness of how participants might more effectively become involved in such change through offering fresh clarity about successful, proven programs in nonviolent conflict resolution. One hope is that conference participants will gain greater clarity about the role of their actions in the context of global social change.
- To re-energize the existing nonviolent movement, by re-motivating and re-energizing individuals and organizations. To support powerful contributions to nonviolent social change based on moral courage, selfless leadership, and committed participation.
- To bridge the old and the new by facilitating participants in forming new alliances, new ideas, new strategies, new ways, new awareness, new tactics, new convictions, new friends, new commitments.
- To introduce the usefulness of nonviolence as a way of life to those who may have not used it in their lives before.
- To provide a lot of fun through numerous celebratory, inspirational activities designed to inspire plenty of humor and laughter!