Nonkilling Arts Research Committee Letter: Vol. 2, N. 2 (Mar-Apr 2018)

Bimestrially sent from our site: Nonkilling.org.

"Nonkilling art explores the spirit and practice of how to prevent, respond to, and to improve individual, social, and global well-being beyond killing." —Glenn D. Paige

Dear NKARC members and friends,

Thanks for sharing the material for this Issue, most of it relates to art, civil society and protest. The artist not only reacts to power and its result on the marginalized but provides spaces to express challenges through performative arts. The alt.theatre ‘s Michelle MacArthur in her editorial on “Protest and Performance” included in this issue writes that these two fuse to create art because they are able to "see the world that doesn't exist." They are performative because they also make that world. That applies as well to other forms of artistic creativity.

Almost every work you sent or pointed my way, whether poetry, comments on film, books, reviews etc have similar underpinnings. The Jan-April quarter is always a poignant one as it reminds us of two nonviolent peace champions - Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Their Satyagraha and civil disobedience were creatively performative and continue to be pursued by civil society globally to bring societal change. In his book 'Stride Towards Freedom', referring to his Indian mentor, Dr. King writes about the nonviolent resistance philosophy of Gandhi: "I came to feel that this was the only morally and practically sound method open to oppressed people in their struggle for freedom." 

Their death anniversaries, Gandhi (30 January) and MLK (4 April) are so close that one of the Canadian groups in Edmonton, Alberta has a 64 day project of nonviolent peace and justice, with focus on raising awareness of the two peace champions’ universal humanist ethics. I also make a mention of these two giant peace leaders in a short piece below in connection with my visit last month to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tennessee.

There is so much focus on power structures in our society that we tend to forget the continual transformative work which goes on around us. The peace studies with focus on nonviolence and nonkilling have evolved over past five decades, Gene Sharp's work on nonviolent political action related to civil resistance, Johan Galtung's work on the root causes of conflict and its transformation, and Glenn D. Paige's nonkilling society paradigm are three pillars that will continue to serve as foundation for peace studies. A colleague suggested that there should have been a Nobel Peace Prize for Peace Studies, the first one to have been awarded to these three peace research pioneers. Professor Gene Sharp age 90 died on 28 January 2018 in Boston, Mass USA. RIP Professor Sharp.

Since the last letter, you’ve sent my way material that touches on wide ranging Nonkilling inspirations expressed through poetry, documentary film making, story telling, song, non-fiction writing, journalism etc.

1. Nonkilling poetry

(i) Pounding of the drum

by Suzanne Doerge
(inspired by last year’s million strong Women’s March on Washington)

for days after her return,
when she heard the pounding
of a nail in something being built
of a jar thumped against the counter to loosen the lid
of a shovel pounced on the sidewalk to crack the ice
of a child banging toys on the carpeted floor
of her fingers thumping the printer while waiting the print
of the feet behind her on the street,
she was certain she heard the rhythmic beat
of the drums in the Women's March on Washington
at home and around the globe,
refusing to go still.
doon, doon, doon..doon, doon, doon

Released for the rights of women,
the rights of all, the call to action
in small towns and cities,
universities and factories,
on mountain tops and deep valleys,
inside themselves and all around.
doon, da-da, doon, da-da, doon, da-doon

Answering to the beat of the heart of the earth,
for days that grew into months, into years.
doon, doon, doon.doon, doon, doon
Resounding to the rhythm
of a people resolute
of a people on the move.
doon, da-da, doon, da-da, doon, da-doon

(ii) Peace Games

by Peter Shutt
(from Point Edition, English translation from German: Germain Droogenbroodt – Stanley H. Barkan)

The children in the yard
played war,
they played their war
loud and shrill.
From the window
I called them:
“For once, play peace!”
I hoped they would
make less noise then.
The children below
in the courtyard were enthusiastic:
"Let's play peace!"
They roared
out of one mouth.
And deliberated,
what they would have to do
guessed and argued
once again,
and then called
a little one
up to my window:
"Uncle, how does one play peace?"

Ithaca515

(iii) Standing with Pablo

by David Krieger

Like the three tenors, like three pillars,
there are three Pablos for peace:
Picasso, Neruda and Peredes.

The first painted Guernica, the second
wrote poems as an act of peace.
The third refuses to fight in Iraq.

There is talk about the conscience of mankind.
But there is no such thing, only
the conscience of each individual.

Pablo Picasso painted the horrors of war,
Pablo Neruda wrote poems of love and decency,
Pablo Peredes refused to kill or be killed

The three Pablos are comrades against arms.
They stand together for human dignity.
Should we not stand with them?

(iv) PEACE everywhere : let´s show we dare. How? A Checklist

by Francisco Gomes de Matos
(an important check list below to help make us believe that peace is possible and a human right for all people. )

PEACE.....

at home ?  Sustaining   family harmony

at school ? Composing an educational symphony

at work  ? Learning to negotiate dignifyingly

at worship place ? Engaging in deepest meditation

in diplomacy ?  Applying constructive mediation

in security ?    Adding Nonviolence/Nonkilling approaches

In international relations ?   Probing intercultural understanding

In science centers/programs ?  Multiplying LIFE-supporting projects

In technology ?  Developing  life-enhancing inventions

In arts ?  Inspiring  imaginative  serenity projects

In environment  ?  Celebrating  the dignity of Nature

In communication ? Elevating communicative dignity

In politics ?  Requiring integrity of all political agents

In health services ?  Inspiring cooperation among intranational health
agencies

In world  history ? Documenting contributions of  Peacebuilding Influencers

In longevity ?  Fostering intergenerational interdependence

In human rights ? Educating all children for Peace as as Human Right

[The poet implores readers to challenge themselves to add to the above list. Implicit in each item : How ?]

2. Theatre and Nonkilling

In the latest issue of alt.theatre periodical, Michelle MacArthur has a timely editorial entitled "Protest and Performance" relevant to what's happening around us in sports, gender, gun culture, indigenous and race relations. Those who participate in these movements create and shape future, drawing attention to the systemic and systematic acts of unfairness, injustice and oppression. MacArthur gives an example of choreography , its gestures and movements in visually articulating the politics of protest.

For full editorial, see the alt theatre pdf at http://nonkilling.org/center/download/protest-and-performance-alt-theatre-vol-14-n-1/

3. Museums and Nonkilling

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. National Civil Rights Museum, Memphis,USA 

One of unassuming and yet powerful museums I have visited is Dr. Martn Luther King Jr. Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tennessee. It is located in the Lorraine's Motel where Dr. King Jr. died on 4 April 1968. Museums if rightly done could be evocative of past times and their thematic, however their success is in their ability to ultimately project hope. The other museum that impacted me greatly is the first ever Mahatma Gandhi Museum in Madurai, Southern India created in the 1950s, dedicated to India's nonviolent Independence movement under the leadership of Gandhi. I visited it in 2006, The MLK Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tennessee was opened to public in 1991, its exhibits trace the history of slavery and the Civil Rights Movement in the United States from the 17th century to the present. Two other buildings and their adjacent property, also connected with the King assassination, have been acquired as part of the museum complex. While the Motel building tells us the story of struggle for civil rights, the other building where the heinous act was committed, is now part of the "legacy" building , it seeks answers to the question "what do we do now", seeking to find ways to make civil society resistance more effective and meaningful. The museum reopened with a broader mandate of history and education in 2014 after renovations.

Walking on a misty January morning through Dr. King's Museum, it is not difficult to see the large gap between the ideals of the U.S Declaration of Independence (1776) and the reality wherein the second paragraph it proclaims that: "all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness". I hear our guide responding to a question from a group of young visitors whether it is true that until the last century an Afro-American was regarded to be worth 60 percent of a white person? The guide replies that though the Declaration does not classify according to race, skin colour or ethnicity, the first reference to race and colour came soon in the Fifteenth Amendment's guarantee of the right to vote, ratified in 1870. Only the "free blacks" in the North and the South were to be counted on par with whites eligible to vote until the 1960s, one of the driving forces behind the civil rights marches. Museum's key exhibits include Lorraine's Motel's Room 306 where Dr. King was staying when he died, the replica sanitation truck (Dr. King came to Memphis to support an sanitation workers' strike), and the replica of the bus Rosa Park rode in Montgomery, Alabama, before initiating the Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1965-66. The life sized sculpture of defiant Rosa Parks claiming her seat in the bus is affecting.

The frame that brought it all together for me the tragic day, its chilling moment, is the window from which Dr. King's assassin had his victim in crosshairs. It reminded me of the visit I made a decade ago to the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Museum in Madurai, Southern India. I remember standing in front of a tall glass showcase with Gandhi memorabilia that displayed the white cotton shawl Mahatma Gandhi wore when his Hindu fanatic assassin killed him, it was spluttered with blood. I heard my guide Dr. T. Ravichandran who was the Director of Museum uttering, "you know it is the same place where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his wife Coretta King stood in 1959 while visiting this museum, their eyes had brimmed with tears." There was something surreal standing by that window recalling those two events. Why is that our enemy turns out to be not often an outsider, but a fellow citizen? Both Gandhi and King knew of such challenges, always reminding us that nonviolent political action was not a refuge for cowardice and that the arc of moral universe is long but it bends towards justice. There is a bust of Mahatma Gandhi in the main lobby of the museum. On April 4, this will be the 50th anniversary of the death of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. 

For more on the National Civil Rights Museum, see wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Civil_Rights_Museum

4. Gandhi - King Season of Nonviolence

The Mahatma Gandhi Canadian Foundation for World Peace (MGCFWP) in Edmonton, Alberta has been participating in a unique Season for Nonviolence initiative for past 4 years. The MCFWP Board member Colleen Ring and her team have developed a web page raising awareness of Gandhi and King legacy. The spirit of Gandhi and King are echoed in the following aim of the Season for Nonviolence: "We learn to practice nonviolence one step at a time, one choice at a time, one day at a time. This is how each of us, in our own way, move the world in the direction of peace through daily nonviolent choices and actions at home, at school, in the workplace and community. This is the Season for Nonviolence."

Colleen Ring writes:
“The Gandhi King Season for Nonviolence commences on January 30 and marks the 64 calendar days between the memorial anniversary of the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi and that of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on April 4. Individuals, schools, and organization in 900 cities in 67 countries have participated since the campaign began in 1998.

The objective is to create an awareness of nonviolent principles and practice as a powerful way to heal, transform, and empower our lives and communities. It is, therefore, the purpose of the Season and the following 64 Daily Practices to educate and inspire individuals and organizations alike to actively seek out nonviolent means by which to empower themselves and others to co-exist in peace and prosper together in community.”

Here is a link to the information page for the Season on our website. If you click on the menu button you will see a "Drop Down Menu" which provides access to all 64 daily practices.
http://www.gandhifoundation.ca/season-for-nonviolence.html
And, if you are on Facebook you can also follow daily postings about the Season:
https://www.facebook.com/Mahatma-Gandhi-Canadian-Foundation-for-World-Peace-351891274944329/

5. A Nonkilling Song

It is a known fact that 33,000 people get killed every year in USA by gun violence, most of the mass killings committed with deadly military assault level weapons available in gun shows and shops to anyone above age 18. The recent massacre of 14 high school students and 3 teachers took place on the Valentine’s Day in Parkland, Florida by a fellow student. It has generated a large protest against rising gun culture across the country developing overnight into a youth based “Never Again” movement. It could mark the second cultural reform, along with recent #MeToo gender conversations in USA. Young survivors of deadly school shooting performed this powerful song on 21 February to a 7000 people attended CNN town hall anti-gun rally in the vicinity. The song is a great example of grass roots impromptu performative art. See below link to this 3 min song by the students and a poem read by the father of a teen age victim instead of lament showing their resoluteness to shine light to truth to work for change.

6. Peace Education through Children's stories

Ina Curic's "storytelling for peace" platform
Dear story lovers, Ina Curic, a NKARC peacebuilding colleague, has launched a fascinating peace storytelling peace platform. She translates integral peace education themes into stories for both children and parents to practice together for harmonious relationships within the web of life. With two forthcoming books that bring peace education issues at family level, she is seeking support to raise the profile of this unique work. Two of her forthcoming illustrated storybooks are available for free to a group of advance readers that can assist with the launches on Amazon.com in May and June. Follow these links to download two of her forthcoming illustrated storybooks for free as e-books:

• Queen Rain, King Wind - The Practice of Heart Gardening 

• Anagrania's Challenge - Turning Conflict into Opportunity (Whole Nutrition Series)

Ina's author website is: Imagine Creatively: True Stories for Inspired Life

7. Nonkilling Architecture

Canada's UNCEDED contribution at Venice Biennale 2018 
UNCEDED is an empowering term, especially for indigenous first nations communities. It is land to which the native peoples never ceded ownership. In Canada, many cultural events begin now with a recognition of the country's first nations and acknowledging its colonial past that the event being performed is taking place on the "unceded" territory of a First Nation.  Interesting that the visual art world expo, the Venice Biennale, this year has an architectural exhibition entitled FREE SPACE where Canada has chosen to exhibit work of its contemporary First Nations architects under the title, UNCEDED.  A well-known indigenous architect represented at the exhibition will be architect Douglas Cardinal whose Museum of History (formerly Museum of Civilization) is highly regarded for its indigenous influences. Cardinal as a presenter at the Biennale wants people to see that the work comes out of the Indigenous reality of culture of respect and caring and love and honouring people, defining the meaning of indigenous architecture in contemporary terms.  Globe and Mail critic Alex Bozikovic writes: "Unceded could be a bold step in reconciliation – and a revolution in how we build".

For more click on: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/home-and-garden/architecture/what-canadas-entry-at-the-next-venice-biennale-reallymeans/article37474620/

8. Nonkilling and Documentary Film

IN RABIN's OWN WORDS by Erez Laufer
NKARC colleague Nahum Laufer sent me a copy of the documentary In Rabin's Own Words by film maker Erez Laufer. The film is about late Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and his transformation from soldier, diplomat to a peacemaker. For his bold initiative and belief in the Oslo Peace Accord, he received 1994 Nobel Peace Prize together with Shimon Peres and the PLO Leader Yasser Arafat.  

Nahum writes: "the film states clearly that Rabin’s voice can never be silenced! By understanding Rabin's life and his way of thinking as a leader, as a human being helps us to understand what happened, what might have happened and makes us think what do we want to happen." Without commentators or mediators, director Erez Laufer brings to the screen a detailed story of Rabin in his own words. Through a combination of rare archive footage, home movies and private letters, his personal and professional dramas unfold we see young Rabin as the son of a labor leader to a farmer into a soldier, and then through a diplomatic career and his entry into the Israeli political arena until when he was assassinated by a fellow Israeli Jew at a public rally.
 
Over past two decades with three key Oslo peace process interlocutors gone, the film gives one pause for thought. For peace, we will always need political leaders like Rabin willing to take risks, knowing that the stronger nation in a conflict has the onus to make peace with its enemy, responsibility for creating space to build trust with its enemies. Enemies of peace often turn out to be not outsiders, but those reluctant to share power and privilege with others. Village Voice Critic Diana Clarke on the doc writes: “Rabin’s consistent, thoughtful self-criticism and colorful storytelling animate what might otherwise be a pat, or at least familiar, history of Israel in the 20th century. By making it specific, Laufer makes it new.” A well-made bio doc film.

• Trailer.

• Info on the film and its producers.

9. Books and Nonkilling

(i) A Doctor in Galilee: The Life and Struggle of a Palestinian in Israel by Hatim Kanaaneh.
Dr. Kanaaneh is a Palestinian citizen of Israel and a retired physician and public health specialist, whose writings focus on the plight of fellow Palestinians living within the Green Line. His book of memoirs is written with passion and authority about the lives of Israel's Palestinian minority: "Kanaaneh has humour and eye for striking detail. A unique first hand account from the perspective of a Palestinian who defies the imposed partition of the land and the fragmentation of its people.” Archbishop Desmond Tutu in his endorsement of the book recently notes: “A moving account of the plight of the Palestinians by one of them – a physician struggling to alleviate his people’s lot.”

(ii) The Woman In White: An Extraordinary Life, by Ada Aharoni
The new bio by NKARC colleague and IFLAC founder Ada Aharoni is the story of the Head Nurse, Sister Thea Wolf, at the Jewish Hospital in Alexandria, Egypt. Sister Theo Wolf was a German Jewish Nurse who came to work in Egypt before the outbreak of World War 2. The book shows that it is possible for Jews and Moslems, and Arabs and Europeans, to co-operate in saving of lives. The author, an Israeli-Egyptian refugee herself, combines biography, reportage and literature to weave a narrative about the important role played by the hospital and its Head Nurse during that period. For a short review of the book, click on http://pebbleinthestillwaters.com/the-woman-in-white/

(iii) PORTRAITS: Peacemakers, Warmongers and People Between - a collection of poems by David Krieger
This is the sixth collection of poems by David Krieger, an American nuclear disarmament activist and poet who has lived through and been impacted by the events since the Second World War. This unique collection of 70 poems are poignant and powerful, reminding us of personalities from the poet’s humanist perspective that probe the state of global affairs while questioning those who end as its leaders. For review of the book in Transcend Media Service and Global Poetry, click: https://www.transcend.org/tms/2018/02/portraits-peacemakers-warmongers-and-people-between/     or
http://www.globalpoetry.org/blog/2018/02/18/2593/

10. Nonkilling Journalism and Digital Mode

See below two leading-edge articles related to social media, digital and cyber security for a Nonkilling future. 

(i) “Analog - Digital International Relations” by Oliver Oxford.  
Oliver Oxford writes: “Power has shifted from access and control of the key institutions of the territorial state and economy under the analog mode, to the control of networks, nodes, their modes of operation, and their speed and access in digital IR.”  For full essay, click on:  http://www.21global.ucsb.edu/global-e/january-2018/analog-digital-international-relations-and-global-politics

(ii) “Nonkiller Apps Are The Future: Here’s Why” by John Pavley, Huffington Post, CTO. Pavley writes: “Facebook is also working on some nonkiller apps. While many of my friends worry about privacy, I’m more worried about the psychological effects of isolation. Facebook is headed in the right direction with the recent improvements in privacy controls and the way news is posted on users’ timelines and profiles.” Pavley wrote this cautionary piece four years ago for the Huffiington Post.

11. Peace Events

(i) Ottawa Peace Festival Report:
The 11th annual Ottawa Peace Festival 2017 has come and gone in September and early October. Here's a report with photos from Koozma J. Tarasoff on the 12 day long peace festival.

NKARC colleague Koozma J. Tarasoff  writes: "This is the 11th annual Ottawa Peace Festival that I have reported in summary as photographer and peace activist. See the Ottawa Peace Festivals — Archive and History
for all reports and hundreds of photos.  In 2017, there were 29 events (27 free), hosted by 17 organizations for 18 days at 15 locations around the capital city of Canada.”

(ii) Billboards Opposing War:
US Activist and founder of World Beyond War David Swanson has over the past year launched a campaign to install large billboards pronouncing opposition to war in cities across the globe.

For insight into his innovative campaign, click on:
http://davidswanson.org/billboards-opposing-drone-wars-are-going-up-all-over-syracuse-ny/

Last Word

On the first death anniversary of Late Professor Glenn D. Paige, three poetic tributes in his remembrance follow:

Sailing the Nonkilling sea
By Francisco Gomes de Matos

When the deep concept of NONKILLING we apply

an oceanic continuum we are challenged to navigate
Peace+Nonviolence+Nonkilling: a triple blessing to celebrate

Initiatives from Peace to Nonviolence
in History have already taken place

but the challenge of turning all Nonviolence to Nonkilling
Humankind still has to learn to face


Sing the Song of Life
By Christophe Barbey

We sing the song of life,
With what we are,
Joy, seeds and fruits;
We build a world, our civilization
At the core of our Values,
The accuracy and preciseness of our skills;
We are the future in our own hands,
And we can conquer the whole Universe within a smile.
Can we be life at its best ?
We carry on !

The Nonkilling Knight
By Anoop Swarup

In these times of mindless terror, killings and fight,
Let us rebuild the bonds, and bridges that are right,
In fond **remembrance** of Glenn Durland Paige in sight,
With infinite creativity, and reverence to life so bright,
Let each of us be a centre of nonkilling, to be a knight,
Sure enough billions of us can advance, live and light,
Forever in our goal of nonkilling nonviolence peace to delight,
Eternal be Glenn’s vision and mission, a triumph of his might.’

To a great soul in gratitude and in eternal reverence to life in memoriam,
Anoop Swarup

My deep gratitude to all who contributed or pointed out the material for this Letter.

Looking forward to your contributions, inspirations, and comments as always.

Nonkillling Regards,
Bill

Bill (Balwant) Bhaneja
Coordinator
NonKilling Arts Research Committee (NKARC)
Center for Global Nonkilling (CGNK)
www.nonkilling.org

"Nonkilling Culture crosses all the lines." —Glenn D. Paige

Nonkilling is THE measure of Human progress

Stay in contact also on Social Networks

• Please feel free to contact NKARC Letter's coordinator at billbhaneja@nonkilling.org.

• You can also follow the Center for Global Nonkilling at these social networks: