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from the July, 2011 issue of Kiai!
10th Anniversary Meditations on Activism Program
By Tony Laden
Parent and Board Member
On September 11, 2001, I had been a Thousand Waves parent for about 6 months. I had watched several dozen junior classes, and proudly seen my 6-year old son test for blue belt. I loved watching (then) Sensei Sarah teach. But in the days after the attacks of September 11, my relationship with Thousand Waves changed.
I found that of all the places my daily life took me to, it was the one where I felt most at home. The atmosphere of peace and calm, when everywhere else was gripped by fear and anger and violence, felt precious, a refuge of sense in a senseless world.
I later learned that I wasn’t alone in feeling this way, and that on the evening of September 11, many of the adult members of the community had gathered spontaneously at Thousand Waves, knowing that this would be the place from which to reflect deeply and sincerely and peacefully about what was happening around them. From that gathering grew what we now call Meditations on Activism, an occasional series of public programs that bring scholars and activists to Thousand Waves to discuss some of the larger ramifications of violence in the world, and how to respond to it in a positive and non-violent way.
This September, as the country marks the 10th anniversary of the attacks with our soldiers still waging war in Afghanistan and elsewhere, Thousand Waves will mark the 10th anniversary of the Meditations on Activism series with a special program on “The Power of Non-Violence.” On Monday evening, September 19, from 7-8:30pm, Professor James Tully of the University of Victoria in British Columbia will discuss Richard Gregg’s The Power of Non-Violence, a book that many in the civil rights movement have used as a manual for non-violent direct action.
Richard Gregg was an American lawyer who traveled to India in the 1930s to work for several years with Mahatma Gandhi during the struggle for Indian Independence. He was thus on hand as Gandhi refined and implemented the techniques and philosophy of non-violent resistance. After coming home, he wrote The Power of Non-Violence to explain in terms familiar to American readers why Gandhi’s techniques were so successful. He describes the practice of non-violent resistance as a kind of moral ju-jitsu, which has the effect of using the oppressor’s willingness to use violence to oppress another against him. He also cautions that the practice of non-violence is no less difficult than the practice of violence, and that effective non-violent resisters require the same kind of martial training and discipline in order to be successful. It is thus a book that speaks to many of the ideas, practices and aims of Thousand Waves, and so an ideal subject for Meditations on Activism.
We are particularly fortunate to have James Tully as our speaker for the evening. Tully is one of the foremost living political theorists in the world today. His work over the past several decades has revolved around two principal themes: how diverse citizens and diverse communities can find ways of living together in harmony and true mutuality with one another, and how academic and philosophical reflection on these matters can enter into conversation with and be shaped and informed by activists working for justice and peace. For the past several years, he has been particularly interested in non-violent movements and the work of Gandhi and Gregg among others as working out a kind of ethos of democratic citizenship. He is the ideal person to lead a public discussion of this forgotten classic of American activism.
Meditations on Activism started because many people who trained at Thousand Waves wanted to find ways to connect their karate training to their desire for a more peaceful world. These are precisely the connections being discussed on Monday evening, September 19th. We hope you will all mark your calendars and make a special effort to participate in this conversation.
INFO ON EVENT
We are encouraging people to read Gregg’s book ahead of the event. Though it is currently out of print, it can be found for free on-line at the website of Non-Violence United:
ttp://www.nonviolenceunited.org/pdf/thepowerofnonviolence0206.pdf.
There will also be several copies available at Thousand Waves.