By Nimesh Wijewardane 

Palestinian journalist Ahmed Alnaouq, co-founder of We Are Not Numbers, gave a presentation to the NVI team on the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the viability of a two state solution. Ahmed also told the deeply moving story of how he was inspired to start We Are Not Numbers, an organization which lifts up the voices of young Palestinian writers in Gaza, after the tragic loss of his brother and friends in the 2014 Gaza war. Ahmed inspired us all with his steadfast commitment to achieving full human rights for the Palestinian people through sharing the stories of Palestinians and changing hearts and minds.

See more at We Are Not Numbers 

If you value this work, please donate to help us expand our impact on this beautiful and broken world. 

I'm honored to have my first piece published by Tikkun. This wonderful magazine has shaped my personal and political development and strengthened me through decades of activism. Grateful that Rabbi Michael Lerner's visionary leadership helped me find a path - as a Jew -to support Palestinian nonviolent activists. Please visit the magazine's powerful site and that of the Network of Spiritual Progressives.  

(Reposted from: https://www.tikkun.org/the-long-deceit-is-as-dangerous-as-the-big-lie/)

Anyone with a conscience watching events unfold in Afghanistan must be heartbroken. Many of us are wishing there was more effective action we could take in this troubling time. Sadly, in the midst of this crisis, there is really little we can do to enhance the security and freedom of the Afghan people. But, if we draw the wrong lessons from this tragedy, we will likely repeat this mistake with similar dangerous results.

People in America are coming to understand the impacts of allowing the Big Lie (that the last election was stolen) to go unchecked. We are starting to wake up to the ongoing threat of political violence because of how we dealt with the aftermath of the January 6th attack on the US Capitol. We must also wake up to the horror brought by acceptance of the Long Deceit.

Decade after decade, administration after administration, our leaders lied to us. The Afghanistan Papers received much less sustained attention than the Pentagon Papers. Many brave reporters have given us powerful insights into how the reality of our longest war never matched the spin from the top. The headline that ran with the Washington Post report read, “A secret history of the war - at war with the truth. U.S. officials constantly said they were making progress. They were not, and they knew it." The Long Deceit was paid for by the American taxpayers but perpetrated by leaders who are supposed to serve us. Instead, the top political leadership of both the Democratic and Republican parties sold us a lie (not bad intelligence, not a mistake, but a pattern of deceit) that they knew was far from the truth we deserved. We were told again and again that our nation’s sacrifice in blood and treasure was worth it because we were building a stable government in Afghanistan. This was always a mirage.

Informed consent is as essential to democracy as the peaceful transfer of power, but it is not possible without accurate information. When our leaders lie to us, they are creating the illusion of consent not allowing informed citizens to make our voices heard.

The so-called experts showed limited respect for local traditions in Afghanistan and pompously suggested that we could impose our model of governance on a complex, ancient, and proud people. The Long Deceit supported a policy that was never going to work. Whether we had left ten years ago, or ten years from now, the outcome would have been similar because we were never building peace, just a house of cards propped up by our military might. The illusion of US-supported government stability was toppled with such speed because it was never real.

We must now recognize that this combination of ignorance and arrogance comes back to bite us (and those we say we care about) repeatedly. Some have wrongly suggested that the US military is leaving Afghanistan because our nation is “war weary.” No, our people are instead becoming “war wise.” That is, bit by bit, failure by failure, we are starting to see the limitations of our vast military power.

I served as executive director of Veterans for Peace (I’m a veteran organizer, not a military vet). The proud veterans I worked with often spoke about their powerful journeys from enthusiastic recruits through painful personal and often tragic experiences that taught them to doubt the whole war system. Our massive military-industrial complex has become a machine that feeds on itself and all of us - spending taxpayer money on lobbying to secure even more taxpayer money. And, they do this while knowingly lying to us. The results are predictable. Massive defense contractors line their own pockets and those of their former military allies serving on their Boards while sowing the seeds of violence all over the world.

Beware the experts who will be trotted out in the coming days. Remember that many of these same people were strong advocates for our disastrous wars. Those with a vested interest in keeping us addicted to enemies and keeping the dirty money flowing through the revolving door they personally benefit from will foolishly suggest that the problems of Afghanistan could have been solved if we just devoted a few more years, a few more billions of dollars, and a few more lives of those they purport to represent. No, the very real challenges of Afghanistan could never be solved by more Americans with guns. These experts will quickly attempt to define the limits of acceptable debate focusing solely on the troubling withdrawal process. Let’s remember to also consider how we got to this point in the first place. We must reflect on the power of the Long Deceit. They told us we were building a stable unified nation. Nonsense.

Many seem to want to believe that our vast military power is some kind of healing balm that can build stable societies and cure the world’s ills. Instead, our weapons are very good at destroying buildings and killing people, but we never were building peace, or justice, or respect for women’s rights in Afghanistan. We were attempting to impose our model of governance in an arrogant manner that clearly illustrated we lacked the ability to learn from our previous well-documented mistakes.

Let this terrible moment - and the painful tragedy yet to come - be a wake up call. Administration after administration promoted the Long Deceit. We must attempt to finally learn the clear and important lesson. War doesn’t work to establish peaceful, functioning, democratic societies. Imagine if the same amount of money, ingenuity, and effort had been put towards fighting the climate crisis. We would have done much more to build real and lasting peace and to enhance our own security.

I hope we can honor our veterans by making sure we never make the same mistakes again. It is time for those who oppose the Big Lie to speak out against the equally dangerous Long Deceit.

 “To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic.  It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness...What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something.  If we remember those times and places—and there are so many—where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction...And if we do act, in however small a way, we don't have to wait for some grand utopian future.  The future is an infinite succession of presents and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory."  -- Howard Zinn

Nonviolence International is excited to once again welcome our amazing partner, Solidarity 2020 and Beyond. We are grateful for the opportunity to work closely with them and invite you to join us at our second co-sponsored public event. Along with our former partner, the amazing Waging Nonviolence, we are hosting an important webinar on religion and nonviolent action. 

Wednesday, October 27 at 11:00 am ET

REGISTER HERE

How can people of faith contribute to nonviolent initiatives for peace, human rights, and sustainability?

About This Event

Some people of faith support oppression, division, and violent conflict, but many others are searching for ways to make a positive contribution to broader movements for rights, freedom, and justice through the practice of peacebuilding and nonviolent resistance. In this interactive webinar. co-sponsored by Solidarity 2020 and Beyond, Waging Nonviolence, and Nonviolence International, participants will interact with moderator Fr. Vedran Obucina, and panelists Pastor Daniel Chay, Elizabeth Kanin Kimau, Ahmadullah Archiwal, and Benjamin Lutz, in order to explore the latter option. The two key questions to be addressed are how can peacebuilders and civil resisters reach out to sympathetic religious people to build stronger coalitions for positive change, and how might people of faith make useful contributions to such nonviolent initiatives?

Moderator

Fr. Vedran Obućina is a Croatian political scientist, theologian, and a priest in the Orthodox Old-Catholic Church, engaged in religion-based peacebuilding in the Balkans, Caucasus, and Middle East. He is a PhD researcher at the University of Regensburg (Germany), IEP Ambassador, Rotary Peace Fellow from Chulalongkorn University 2020, and co-founder of Solidarity 2020 and Beyond.

Panelists

Pastor Daniel Chay is a founder and Senior Pastor of the New Life Church of South Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In 2019, he was a participant in nonviolent action trainings in Burma and Indonesia. Since 2001, he has worked on building and organizing the Christian Churches Peace Network in Laos, Thailand, and Cambodia. He also has promoted interfaith dialogue in those countries among Christians and Buddhists to encourage solidarity and collaborative nonviolent initiatives. He is a member of Solidarity 2020 and Beyond's Global Grassroots Action Network.

Elizabeth Kanini Kimau is a Kenyan Grassroots Peace Builder. She is the founder of Horn of Africa Grassroots Peace Forum (HAP-Forum). She has twelve years’ experience in building a culture of peace in regions fragmented by prolonged inter-ethnic violence (Northern Kenya and South Sudan). In her peace work, Kanini focuses on capacity building for grassroots people who are affected by violent conflicts to be agents of their own peace. Currently she is a PHD student at Centre for Nonviolence in Durban University of Technology (South Africa).

Ahmadallah Archiwal is an Afghan scholar-activist who has written books and manuals on nonviolent action and conducted several Nonviolence and Civic Mobilization trainings for grassroots activists across several provinces of Afghanistan including Kunar, Khost, Kabuk, Kunduz, and Paktia. His research speciality is on nonviolent campaigns from the Islamic world, including the Khudai Khidmatgar movement that was waged in today's Khyber Pakhtonkhwa by Khan Abdul Ghafar Khan.

Benjamin Lutz is the Director of Communications and Operations for Mediators Beyond Borders International (MBBI) a global organization and network of mediators that support international peacebuilding efforts through effective mediation. He is also an IEP Peace Ambassador and a Rotary Positive Peace Activator. Furthermore, he is currently a Ph.D. student in Religion/Reconciliation/Peace at the University of Winchester focusing on interfaith dialogue efforts in Oman and Lebanon.

All paid tickets will help support the webinar co-sponsors.

If inspired by their work, please consider making a donation. 

Who We Are?

• Solidarity 2020 and Beyond is a global network and initiative that is truly activist-driven and movement-centered, driven by bottom-up people power, local wisdom and needs.

Why Did We Start?

• Solidarity 2020 and Beyond was created in the key year of 2020, a historic “tipping point” when COVID-19 hit. Based on urgent requests of numerous grassroots activists from diverse struggles around the world, we conceived of and launched Solidarity 2020 and Beyond. We organized convenings, one-on-one and group discussions, surveys, resource mappings, and data gathering to receive direction and input from numerous grassroots activists. Additionally, we did consultations and received advice from a diverse group of scholar activists and journalists working in the field. 

  What Are Our Goals?

• The aim of the SOLIDARITY 2020 and Beyond is to work in solidarity with grassroots activists to enhance strategic nonviolent resistance training, convening and networking, psychosocial support and sharing best practices and information across and within movements. We provide interactive webinars and brainstorming sessions, participatory research and data gathering projects, resource files, a media plan that includes blogs, vlogs, online articles, and podcasts.

We want to build people power and mobilize effectively to fight for change to create a world that is more equal, just, peaceful, and provides dignity for all.

Visit their website to learn more about their organization

Inspired to Give to Support this Vital Work - Donate Here

An Update from NVI Canada’s Director: 

Located off of Canada’s Pacific Coast, Vancouver Island is home to a selection of the dwindling old-growth forests in the northern hemisphere. These untouched forest ecosystems have been under exploitation since the arrival of non-First Nations and as a consequence, few remain. Activists have now blockaded for more than 320 days Protecting Vancouver Island's Ancient Temperate Rainforests on Pacheedaht and Dididaht Territories.

In spite of the courageous work of our activists, there have been more than 222 arrests in the past 28 days of police action by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

One week ago, First Nations, who hold a traditional title to the area, called for a deferral of logging in key areas in Fairy Creek and the Central Walbran. 

Despite this announcement, large-scale logging could still occur in old-growth forest directly adjacent to Fairy Creek and in parts of the Central Walbran not included in the deferral. Therefore, the forest defenders and blockade remain in place as police action against our nonviolent protections continue.  

Above Photo credit: Logging truck photographed on the road in central Vancouver Island on 25 May 2021 by Lorna Beecroft.

For more on the log read: The Mystery Behind a Photo of a Logged Old-Growth Tree

Forest defenders are clustered under the banner of the Rainforest Flying Squad and made up of affinity groups and individuals banding together to maintain a blockade to halt further cutting of the last remaining old-growth forests. In turn, they have been supported by thousands of other concerned British Columbian citizens who have brought out material support, contributed financially, or organized sympathetic demonstrations in other parts of the province.

They also receive support from many provincial and national civil society organizations such as Nonviolence International Canada, which has offered support in the training of legal observers that serve as witnesses to the mass arrests as well as on the ground training in de-escalation techniques for tense encounters between protestors and loggers.

Above photo credit: Blockader removed / Rainforest Flying Squad

To learn more about NVI Canada click here. 

Nonviolence International welcomes another exceptional partner, Solidarity 2020 and Beyond. We are grateful for the opportunity to work closely with them and invite you to join us at our first co-sponsored public event. Along with our former partner, the amazing Waging Nonviolence, we are hosting an important webinar on Afghanistan. 

Thursday, October 14 at 11:00 am ET

RSVP here

Our webinar will focus on historical grassroots activism and nonviolent campaigns and movements in Afghanistan and potential for use now.

This interactive webinar is co-sponsored by Solidarity 2020 and Beyond, Waging Nonviolence, and Nonviolence International and will feature Jamila Raqib, Zaher Wahab, Kathy Kelly and Stellan Vingthagen, with Katherine Hughes-Fraitekh, as moderator. Based on Afghan history and context, as well case studies in similar countries, the panelists will share their perspectives on the history, present, and future of root causes of violence, grassroots organizing, peacebuilding, everyday resistance, and strategic nonviolent action in Afghanistan. Webinar participants will also have ample time to contribute to the discussion and ask questions of the panelists. Together, we will increase our knowledge of the recent past and current situation in Afghanistan and how people can build agency, locally-led campaigns and action for change, and counter violence and build a thriving peaceful community and country in the future. This webinar will also be relevant to other nonviolent activists in countries facing violent conflict and serious human rights abuses trying to create inclusive, just, and equitable societies.

Panelist Bios:

Jamila Raqib is a specialist in the study and practice of strategic nonviolent action and the executive director of the Albert Einstein Institution, which works to advance the research and application of nonviolent action worldwide. For more than 15 years, she worked closely with the late Dr. Gene Sharp, the world’s foremost scholar of the field of strategic nonviolent action. She was born and raised in Afghanistan and most recently traveled to Jalalabad spending time with family and the community in 2019.

Zaher Wahab is an Afghanistan academic who served as senior advisor to the Minister of Higher Education in Afghanistan 2002-2006 and as a visiting researcher-professor in a master’s degree program for teacher education faculty from Afghanistan’s 16 teacher training colleges 2007-2010. Between 2002 and 2012, he spent about four months annually in his home country, while teaching at Lewis and Clark College in the United States. He then moved back to full-time and founded two MA programs at the American University of Afghanistan.

Kathy Kelly is a US peace activist and author who made over two dozen trips to Afghanistan from 2010 – 2019, living with Afghan Peace Volunteers in a working-class neighborhood in Kabul. She and her companions in various peace team delegations believe that where you stand determines what you see. Kelly lived with families in Baghdad throughout the 2003 Shock and Awe invasion and during the first weeks of the U.S. occupation. Kelly is now campaigning for an international treaty to ban weaponized drones.

Stellan Vinthagen is Professor of Sociology and the Inaugural Endowed Chair in the Study of Nonviolent Direct Action and Civil Resistance at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, where he directs the Resistance Studies Initiative. He is also Editor of the Journal of Resistance Studies, and Co-Leader of the Resistance Studies Group at University of Gothenburg, Sweden. He has participated in numerous nonviolent civil disobedience actions, for which he has served a total of more than one year in prison.

Moderator Bio:

Katherine Hughes-Fraitekh is the founding director of Solidarity 2020 and Beyond. She is an expert on peace building, social justice movements and strategic nonviolent action. She has traveled to 75 countries to provide training and education, capacity building, and solidarity with grassroots activists. She is a Rotary Peace Fellow and previously director at the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict, Peace Brigades International-USA, and Commission on the Status of Women. Katherine has been a consultant for the Global Fund for Women, Women Peace in Afghanistan, and the Afrikan Youth Movement, and worked in Palestine/Israel.

This webinar is a fundraiser to raise funds to go directly to the field to grassroots Afghan groups organizing for the rights of Afghan women, youth, and minorities. Ticket prices are set to raise these funds and additional donations are greatly appreciated for this very important work!

NVI Co-Director, David Hart, recently published a piece on this topic on Tikkun. 

Please see more about Solidarity below.

If inspired by their work, please consider making a donation. 

Who We Are?

• Solidarity 2020 and Beyond is a global network and initiative that is truly activist-driven and movement-centered, driven by bottom-up people power, local wisdom and needs.

Why Did We Start?

• Solidarity 2020 and Beyond was created in the key year of 2020, a historic “tipping point” when COVID-19 hit. Based on urgent requests of numerous grassroots activists from diverse struggles around the world, we conceived of and launched Solidarity 2020 and Beyond. We organized convenings, one-on-one and group discussions, surveys, resource mappings, and data gathering to receive direction and input from numerous grassroots activists. Additionally, we did consultations and received advice from a diverse group of scholar activists and journalists working in the field. 

  What Are Our Goals?

• The aim of the SOLIDARITY 2020 and Beyond is to work in solidarity with grassroots activists to enhance strategic nonviolent resistance training, convening and networking, psychosocial support and sharing best practices and information across and within movements. We provide interactive webinars and brainstorming sessions, participatory research and data gathering projects, resource files, a media plan that includes blogs, vlogs, online articles, and podcasts.

We want to build people power and mobilize effectively to fight for change to create a world that is more equal, just, peaceful, and provides dignity for all.

Visit their website to learn more about their organization

Inspired to Give to Support this Vital Work - Donate Here

Our hearts are breaking.

And, still we celebrate those who are lighting candles of hope even as we must curse the darkness.

At NVI, we know that we are not condemned to live in a state of perpetual violence.

Let’s raise up a vision of a better future and a nonviolent path to get there. 

Below we list a variety of powerful resources shared with us by our partner the Center for Jewish Nonviolence.

In these hard times, we hope you will take inspiration from the wonderful ongoing vital work of our partners. 

They deserve our active support. 

We Are Not Numbers

Holy Land Trust

Hebron International Resource Network 

US Boats to Gaza 

Center for Jewish Nonviolence

https://www.nonviolenceinternational.net/our_partners

(Below the current resources, please see a collection of our relevant videos on this topic featuring these partners.) 

Please take this quick step - sign our petition and then dive into the imporant material below. 

Collected resources: Support Palestinian Resistance

Online Actions

• JVP Toolkit: Solidarity with Palestine, May 2021
• Tell Congress: End U.S. complicity in Israel’s abuse of Palestinians
• Tell Congress: Support H.R. 2590 The Palestinian Children & Families Act Today!
• Call Congress to Act Now
  • Call the Capitol Hill switchboard at (202) 225-3121. Template script: “My name is XXX, I am a constituent. I am calling to ask that Representative/Senator XXX speak out to call on the State Department to immediately exert pressure on the Israeli government to end its forced displacement of Palestinians in East Jerusalem and its military assault on Gaza. Palestinians deserve justice and dignity, and we must end the US's support for Israel's human rights violations against Palestinians.”
• International Nakba Day Rally (Online) | Saturday, May 15, 12pm ET
  • Link to buy tickets if you can support

Protests across the US

• Map of protests across the US
• Jewish-led events/actions and Jewish solidarity meetups for Nakba Day protests from IfNotNow

Connecting with Palestinian Partners and Hineinu Activists

• Elliot Beck, a CJNV Hinenu participant and IfNotNow leader, is coordinating calls with our Palestinian parnters and different IfNotNow swarms throughout the US

Social Media - Follow These Accounts

• Mohammed El-Kurd - Instagram | Twitter
• Muna El-Kurd - Instagram
• IMEU - Instagram | Twitter
• Adalah Justice Project - Instagram | Twitter
• Rabet by PIPD - Instagram | Twitter
• Palestinian Youth Movement - Instagram | Twitter
• Within Our Lifetime - Instagram | Twitter
• American Muslims for Palestine - Instagram | Twitter
• US Campaign for Palestinian Rights - Instagram | Twitter
• Grassroots Al-Quds - Instagram | Twitter
• +972 Magazine - Instagram | Twitter
• Middle East Eye - Instagram | Twitter
• We Are Not Numbers - Instagram | Twitter
• Omar Ghraieb - Twitter
• Youth of Sumud - Instagram
• Basil Adraa - Instagram
• All That’s Left - Twitter
• Jewish Voice for Peace - Instagram | Twitter
• JVP Action - Instagram | Twitter
• IfNotNow - Instagram | Twitter
• Noura Erakat - Instagram | Twitter
• Dr. Yara Hawari - Twitter
• Jehad Abusalim - Twitter
• Fayrouz Sharqawi - Twitter
• Ines Abdel Razek - Twitter
• Omar Baddar - Twitter | Instagram
  

Educational Infographics

• Undoing our racism also means undoing our Zionism by Mira Stern
• Anti-Zionism is not Anti-Semitism by Mira Stern
• Private U.S. Money Funds Ethnic Cleansing in Palestine by IMEU
• 6 Things to Know about Israel’s Violence in Jerusalem by IMEU
• Israel Bombs Gaza by IMEU
• What is Happening in Sheikh Jarrah by IMEU

Video Explainers

• Sheikh Jarrah: 5 Facts to Know by Subhi Taha
• First Al Aqsa Attack: 6 Facts to Know by Subhi Taha
• Second Al Aqsa Attack: 5 Things to Know by Subhi Taha
• Map of Occupied Palestine Explained by Subhi Taha

Podcast Recommendations

• What’s Happening in Palestine Right Now | This Is Palestine by IMEU

More Educational Resources

• Talking Points from JVP
• Decolonize Palestine Website

 “To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic.  It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness...What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something.  If we remember those times and places—and there are so many—where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction...And if we do act, in however small a way, we don't have to wait for some grand utopian future.  The future is an infinite succession of presents and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory."  -- Howard Zinn

NVI Videos