In this Spotlight interview, I spoke with Christiana Green, the communications coordinator for the James Lawson Institute for the Research and Study of Nonviolent Movements. We discussed the legacy of Reverend James Lawson, the whitewashing of the civil rights movement, progressive organizing in the South, and how Christiana's faith inspires her work. Christiana is from Marietta, Georgia, and lives in Nashville, Tennessee. She graduated from Belmont University in April 2021. Christiana has coordinated, participated in and spoken at nonviolent protests in the past two years.
There are two aspects of our conversation that really stuck out to me. The first was Christiana's powerful pushback against the notion that the nonviolence of the civil rights movement was a co-opt of white ideals, or was simply an appeal to the conscience of white people. These false notions reduce nonviolence to putting oneself through suffering for the white gaze, to sway the emotions of the oppressor. This narrative of the civil rights movement presents a fundamentally unappealing portrait of nonviolence and those of us who believe in the ability of nonviolence to be a radical force for change must push back against it. I also appreciate Christiana reframing my perception of the American South. Both Christiana and I were born and raised in the South, a region with a long history of oppression and injustice, manifest in slavery and Jim Crow. Yet Christiana also recognizes the South as an important site of progressive organizing. The Black Lives Matter leaders fighting against police brutality are the descendants- both literally and figuratively- of the civil rights activists before them. I think there's something profoundly beautiful about this idea of nonviolent resistance as an inheritance, passed down through the generations. Towards the end of the conversation, Christiana notes that she is committed to her nonviolence work, knowing that she may not see the fruits of her labor but those who come after her will. What a gorgeous vision of nonviolence, and what an antidote to despair. I found this conversation insightful and inspiring and I hope you do to.
Learn more about the James Lawson Institute for the Research and Study of Nonviolent Movements here https://divinity.vanderbilt.edu/jameslawsoninstitute.php
A few years ago we were told that computer algorithms would serve us. Now we have learned that we serve them. So, we are compelled to ask you to “please like and subscribe” to our new YouTube channel so that others will be introduced to the work you already support.
Latest posts
“The real act of discovery consists not in finding new lands, but in seeing with new eyes.“
Marcel Proust
“To be outstanding leaders and achieve exceptional results, we have to change the way we think about the world and about what is possible.”
Miki Walleczek
“We can not solve our problems with the same level of thinking that created them.”
Albert Einstein
Sami Awad giving a NLD training in Palestine, 2010
Are you in a leadership position but find yourself struggling to move forward efficiently and effectively?
Are you an activist striving to make a difference but feel stuck?
Do you want to have a breakthrough and lead with more clarity and confidence?
Are you seeking to achieve greater results in your life and for those around you?
Join Nonviolence International in the launch of their first online training program to develop strong and effective leadership in order to face the challenges we are facing in the world today.
Nonlinear Leadership Development promotes leadership paradigms that inspire leaders to think beyond traditional frameworks, by empowering individuals and communities to navigate complexities, embrace innovation, and drive positive change.
What is the Nonlinear Leadership Development Program?
It is a deep personal development program to enhance inner skills of leadership. The purpose of the program is to provide leaders with the tools that help them make the impossible possible at the level of their personal life, their work, community, and for their country.
The unique contribution of the nonlinear methodology is that it begins at the individual level, providing a methodology that can successfully put people in touch with their innate leadership potential by unleashing their self-responsibility, creativity, intelligence and commitment, and by giving them a voice and direct access to action through nonlinear thinking and the power of language.
Participants start by creating the visions and strategies for leadership within themselves - understanding what it means to be a leader - and then from there they move on to serving the larger community. Furthermore, this methodology is designed to ensure sustainability through the building of a dynamic, growing network of self-organising communities.
This approach emphasizes distinguishing between interpretations and facts, enabling individuals to move beyond past traumas and make decisions aligned with future possibilities. By adopting NLT, participants are encouraged to engage in deep self-reflection, challenge existing mindsets, and cultivate self-awareness, thereby fostering environments where teams can thrive amidst uncertainty and change.
The training will be provided by our co-director, Sami Awad.
What will you learn?
- Deal effectively with breakdowns and problems on the personal, professional, community and national levels.
- Build relationships of mutual trust and respect.
- Deal effectively with what’s happening here and now.
- Build powerful networks to support you in the future.
- Create a bold future which is informed by, and honours the past, but is independent from the past.
- Accomplish breakthrough results.
- Have effective, purposeful meetings which support you in delivering on intended results.
- Understand the power and importance of creating and managing context.
What will you accomplish?
- You will get access to powerful action and result oriented language.
- You will get access to nonlinear tools that can be applied in different dimensions.
- You will unlock yourself from the constraints of the past.
- You will create a future for yourself, family and community that will be inspiring and transforming.
-
You will build growing dynamic networks of self organising communities which give voice to making the impossible possible.
-
You will engage in the phenomena of nonlinearity, self organisation, and emergence.
-
You will ask yourself: “what allows for self responsibility?”
- You will get a clear vision on decision making.
What are the requirements to participate in the training program?
- Leaders committed to a future founded on the principles of nonviolence, justice, equality and peace within society and in relation to others.
- Leaders who want to have a breakthrough in their lives.
- Leaders who want to engage in making the impossible possible in their lives.
- Leaders who are ready to challenge what they know in order to create new opportunities.
- Be open and interested in learning, especially different approaches to leadership.
- Commit to all sessions.
- Selection-based process, since the attendance for this training is limited to a maximum of 25 participants, ensuring an exclusive and unique learning experience.
- The full training program costs $600, however, our organization is committed to making this training accessible to everyone who feels they need it and is ready to fully commit. Therefore, we welcome voluntary contributions based on each participant's ability to give.
To apply, please fill in the following form: APPLY NOW
Join us on April 23, for a webinar that delves into current Syrian realities and the impact of sanctions. Our experts include long time Syrian human rights leader Bassam Ishak, NVI Board Chair Rafif Jouejati (now in Syria), and our NVI Co-Director Michael Beer who has just returned from Syria.
Guests will share their thoughts— and those of the people they represent - on what rebuilding the nation and fostering reconciliation, unity, and justice look like. This discussion will shed light on the paths to recovery and the steps needed to ensure sustainable stability, dignity, and hope for millions of Syrians.
This webinar is a unique opportunity to gain deep insights from sources who have played an important part in the struggle against tyranny and who offer valuable knowledge so you, as part of the global family committed to peace and justice, can contribute to Syria’s bright future.
Don’t miss out—register now to be part of this important conversation!
You can RSVP to attend this webinar via our sign-up page here!
David Hartsough on left, along with Laurence Henry face down neo-Nazis at Arlington Virginia desegregation sit-in in 1961. Photo by Gene Abbott. Courtesy of the D.C. Public Library Washington Star Collection © Washington Post.
We share the passing of David Hartsough, a long-time supporter of Nonviolence International and the global nonviolence movement. David died at the age of 84 after a battle with cancer. He was a loving husband of Jan and of 2 children. He co-founded Nonviolent Peaceforce, Nonviolent Peaceworks, and World Beyond War, David was a Quaker who dedicated his life to nonviolence and a just world. His vision and commitment to nonviolence shaped countless movements. His memoir, Waging Peace: Global Adventures of a Lifelong Activist, tells the remarkable story of his decades spent on the front lines of nonviolent action. Can you believe he drove to Red Square in 1961 in a VW Bug from Berlin and protested against nuclear weapons?
Col. Ann Wright called him the “Forrest Gump” of the US Peace Movement implying that he had a knack for being present at so many historic anti-war events for 70 years. In addition to ubiquitous protesting he actively worked on numerous campaigns for peace and justice. In the late 1950’s, he was arrested for nuclear & chemical weapons ban protests, in the 1960’s, he was among the earliest to oppose the Vietnam War, through the then newly created Washington Peace Center and the Friends Committee on National Legislation. In the 1970’s he worked for the American Friends Service Committee where he opposed US wars in Central America and supported the pioneering use of nonviolence intervention by Peace Brigades and Witness for Peace. He became so enamored with nonviolent intervention that In 1996 he presented his idea of a large scale nonviolent army to intervene in conflicts around the world at NVI’s global conference Mainstreaming Peace Teams. His dream later came to fruition at the 1999 Hague Appeal for Peace where he met Michael Beer, Mel Duncan and Timmon Wallis and Nonviolent Peaceforce was provisionally born.
In 1996, he traveled to Kosovo to support and train the nonviolent student movement in its resistance to Serbian rule and repression. He then encouraged NVI Director, Michael Beer to follow to provide more coaching and training on nonviolent resistance. In the 2000’s, he was repeatedly arrested for opposing US wars against Muslim countries and co-led a peace delegation to Iran. He then helped David Swanson start the World Beyond War, for which NVI, through David’s suggestion, served briefly as a fiscal sponsor. He was a life-long war-tax resister and supporter of the Fellowship of Reconciliation.
But his legacy was not just about ending war. He met Dr. King in Alabama as a young teenager and was a courageous activist in the sit-in movement that ended segregation in the DC area. He was arrested uncountable times for environmental, poverty alleviation, anti-racism, and social justice issues. In 2011, he was one of the co-founders of the Occupy Movement in Washington DC. Although not a wealthy man, he was a generous financial supporter of all NVI initiatives including our projects in Russia, Iran, Kosovo, Tibet, Palestine, Burma, and Western Sahara. He donated his massive nonviolent training collection that has been partially digitized and uploaded to NVI’s Nonviolence Training Archives.
NVI is sad to see him leave us but grateful for his relentless support and encouragement. What a remarkable nonviolent life!
Job Fair at the US Senate Victory: Some Workers Getting Jobs Restored...
Co-Director Michael Beer helped lead some of the initial protests by Federal Workers in the Senate. Much work remains to reinstate workers and to challenge the illegal firings of tens of thousands of government workers and contractors. NVI remains committed to nonviolently mobilizing public support in the US and globally against criminal actions by the Trump administration.
Article on reinstating fired workers
https://www.reuters.com/legal/trump-administration-reinstating-24500-fired-workers-after-court-order-2025-03-18/
Job Fair at the US Senate to Protest Illegal Firings
This week, NVI Director Michael Beer, helped launch a “Job Fair” at the US Senate. Each day this week, illegally fired federal workers have walked into senate offices with resumes asking for jobs. These federal workers meet with Senators and staff and tell their stories of being fired from US Aid for International Development, Social Security, National Institutes of Health, and Department of Energy and many others.
Many of them had worked in the government for less than 2 years. Many have worked for decades and had strong job performance evaluations. All were highly skilled and some had previously worked for much higher salaries in the private sector. They fear that the vital work of their agencies will be dismantled and that people around the world will suffer because of the damage done to health and energy research or a sudden halt in humanitarian aid.
Here are some articles about the unconventional lobbying.
Here is a Washington Post Article.
You can hear some of these workers in their own words.
https://www.instagram.com/p/DGV7h1Gx2sR/
https://www.instagram.com/p/DGdvjVExh0L/
Most of these folks have never lobbied before. But they are angry and want to do something. Hopefully they can persuade/pressure Senators to stand up to Musk and Trump and stop these attacks on federal workers and on these congressionally funded agencies.
These firings are an attempt to cripple government services and force them to be privatized. Other agencies like the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau are cops who prevent and reverse financial fraud perpetrated by big firms and the oligarchs.
Others are doing a sit-in as we do this write-up.
Here is a good primer for those looking for something to do.
https://choosedemocracy.us/what-can-i-do/
Also, take a look at NVI’s huge database of 346 nonviolent tactics and get inspired and the number of things you can do.