Saturday, October 5, 2024
10 AM - 5 PM
Suggested donation: $20 (includes lunch)
Presentations (list in formation)
“Paths of Peace Through Polarity: Tools for Productive Conversations During Election Season” – Deborah Mia Shelton, The Compassionate Listening Project
“Restorative Justice” -- Dana Katz, The Family of Woodstock
“Shifting from Violence in our Educational Systems” - Rev Dr Leonisa Ardizzone, Peace Education Center of the Hudson Valley
“Active Nonviolence as Source of Personal and Social Transformation” -- Dennis Redmond, The Community for Human Development
"Nonviolence & Religion: Movements & Theology" --John Thomas Pinna, Muslims4Muslims
Why A Day for Nonviolence?
There are many ways in which nonviolence is embedded in how we work and interact, and many everyday people in our community who exemplify this nonviolent attitude. The organizers want to acknowledge and celebrate what these people and groups are already doing.
Understanding Violence
Violence is a frequently employed mode for maintaining power and imposing one’s will over others. It has become pervasive in all aspects of our lives: in the economy; in politics; in religion; in institutions; in education; in culture. It permeates our interpersonal relationships as well -- with our neighbors, our colleagues, even our loved ones. While the use of violence continues to be justified, on all sides, it is clear that the violence is oppressing people and making us lose faith in the future. If human beings are to continue evolving, we need to find a way to move beyond violence.
Why Nonviolence?
Nonviolence is more than pacifism or civil disobedience. Fundamentally, it is an attitude that seeks to give responses that disrupt - and ultimately transform - the violence. It is creative, courageous, and forward-thinking. This attitude:
opposes the use of violence in all forms, recognizing that violence always leads to more violence;
promotes freedom of thought and equality of rights and opportunities;
rejects the “us/them” dichotomy, instead promoting the “we”;
prioritizes reconciliation over revenge.
Nonviolence offers the only valid path toward social and personal transformation. It is not coincidental that most NV leaders have also been great moral and spiritual leaders.