The past year has unearthed different government responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. These responses range from competent management of the pandemic through strict measures like lockdowns all the way to a complete lack of disease-prevention intervention. Belarus’ authoritarian regime not only failed to protect its citizens, but also entirely denied the threat of the COVID-19 pandemic. This study, conducted through interviews of civil activists and journalists in Belarus, reveals the many ways in which Belarus’ authorities concealed information and denied care to individuals who needed it the most. The study also outlines the ways in which citizens of Belarus utilized a volunteer movement rooted in mutual aid to mobilize against a hostile government amidst a global pandemic.
The citizen mobilization around COVID-19 in Belarus had a significant effect on the presidential election and the subsequent movement to protect society and resist the coup d'etas.
NVI Ukraine has issued this report as coordinator for Eastern European Network of the Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict (GPPAC). We hope you will find the study in this PDF, helpful and edifying:
In this Spotlight on Nonviolence, Kelly Quinn digs into a new perspective with Dr. Stellan Vinthagen on nonviolent action, conflict transformation, and how civil disobedience is evolving as the way humans wage war has evolved drastically.
Dr. Stellan Vinthagen is a scholar and activist. A professor of Sociology, and the Inaugural Endowed Chair in the Study of Nonviolent Direct Action and Civil Resistance at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He is Editor of the Journal of Resistance Studies, and Co-Leader of the Resistance Studies Group at University of Gothenburg, in his native Sweden. With a deep dedication to conflict transformation and civil disobedience, he has authored and edited numerous books, putting out his latest A Theory of Nonviolent Action – How Civil Resistance Works. Follow Stellan on Twitter - https://twitter.com/svinthagen
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.
Abdul Aziz Said Memorial
We are sad to report the news that Professor Abdul Aziz Said died on January 22, 2021. He was well loved and respected for his decades of service and leadership.
In recognition of his lifelong contributions to peace and nonviolence, we would like to post your tributes and stories about Professor Abdul Aziz Said here on the Nonviolence International website.
Let us celebrate the great person he was and work to continue his proud legacy. Abdul Aziz Said co-founded Nonviolence International. He was a world-renowned educator, a Syrian-born writer and professor of international relations for 60 years at American University, where he was the founding director of the International Peace and Conflict Resolution department at the School of International Service.
In the coming days, we will posting tributes from those who knew and loved him best. Please check back on this page for updates. For now, please watch this touching tribute from his dear friend and our founder, Mubarak Awad. See also a short powerful video from Professor Abdul Aziz Said himself celebrating our 30th anniversary.
We know he touched many lives and welcome your reflections on a life well lived. Please send them to us here.
To see a list of his publications and more, please visit: https://www.american.edu/sis/faculty/asaid.cfm
In recognition of the many lifelong contributions to peace by Professor Abdul Aziz Said, Nonviolence International has started a new program under which interns will receive stipends for their service. This financial aid is provided to perpetuate the legacy of Abdul Aziz Said, who co-founded Nonviolence International in 1989 and devoted his life to inspiring students to promote peace and global understanding. In particular, this scholarship will ensure that international students and those of modest financial means will have an equal opportunity to gain professional experience.
https://www.nonviolenceinternational.net/donate_scholarship_fund
You can also make contributions to support all the work of NVI at: https://www.nonviolenceinternational.net/donate
Professor Abdul Aziz Saՙid taught for many decades since 1956 at The American University in the School of International Service, where he helped ensure a Middle Eastern presence at AU with a focus on Arab issues, and (since 1995) on Peace & Conflict Resolution studies. In his later years Professor Saՙid increasingly focused on Islamic peace studies, while his engaged presence and informed dedication as an educator and advisor inspired many. I worked with him for several years in the late 1990’s when Saՙid was the first holder of the M. Said Farsi Chair of Islamic Peace, and founded AU’s Center for Global Peace. Saՙid maintained a life-long concern with Sufi ideas, bringing to bear his cross-cultural sensitivity as a Syrian Orthodox Christian. His lasting legacy was facilitating the promotion of Peace Studies within the American academy.
Professor Karim Douglas Crow
Quick recollection of Prof Said: I remember when he insisted on being the one to bestow an honorary degree on then Israeli PM Rabin at the Kennedy Center in March 1977. It was also the same day of the Hanafi's attacks at three locations in DC, which caused Rabin to leave right after the ceremony. Prof Said was very gracious and the significance of his words and presence were not lost on Rabin and the audience. I took classes on the Middle East and US relations with the USSR/E. Europe, graduated in 1978, did a Masters in Jerusalem, then entered the US Foreign Service in 1987. I came back to AU once or twice and visited with the Professor, who remembered me and sat me down in his office for a chat. Only fond memories of him. He inspired me for years to come. I retired this past year after 38 years at the State Department. As an aside, here is a link to an article I wrote about my time at Camp David 1978, as an intern soon after graduation: http://www.afsa.org/being-there-camp-david-1978.
Respectfully, Frank J. Finver (Class of 1978)
It seems fitting that Abdul Aziz Said should have passed at a time when our nation cries out for an elusive unity.
Professor Said affected thousands as an educator. For six decades, year after year, thousands of students passed through American University’s School of International Service under his watch. He was equally well known as an advocate of peace, particularly but by no means solely in the Middle East. He was the founding director of AU’s International Peace and Conflict Resolution program. He was an advisor to both the Bush and Carter Administration and a frequent formal and informal envoy to the region.
But his influence also extended in a third arc: as a spiritual guide. Professor Said emerged from a Syrian Orthodox Christian family and the Sufi traditions in his native land; his “students” were typically touched in origin by one or more of the three Abrahamic faiths--Jewish, Christian, Muslim—though some had also followed Buddhist or other Eastern traditions and among them were even “Nones”. Perhaps central to his teaching was the concept of tawhid, that the Universe is One and its corollary, that we are all connected.
I first met Abdul Aziz at his office at American University on a winter solstice in the early 80s. He told me the following story. The student asked the teacher, where shall I go to find God. The teacher pointed to what appeared to be little more than a dot on a distant horizon. So the student set out and after months of travel saw the dot gradually growing into a vast, steep mountain. He thought he would never be able to climb the escarpment. But then he grew closer and saw that there was a path curving across the slope . Encouraged, he travelled further. When he arrived near the base of the mountain, he saw that there were in fact many paths going up the mountain and many people rising along the paths. The student went further and began to climb the mountain but as he came within sight of the top, he suddenly realized--together with the others who had climbed so far-- that there was in fact no mountain.
And so it is that I learned that in the search for our deepest identity, we find the unity that connects us all.
May the Peace and Unity of his Being remain and inspire us in the difficult months ahead.
Bill Espinosa
Last weekend my advisor in graduate school, Dr. Abul Aziz Said, died after a long life and a rich lifetime of service. It's impossible to list all the contributions this great human being made over the course of his lifetime, but I can say he was one of those whose support and friendship I will never forget. In 1988 I had been accepted to two masters programs in international affairs--one at Syracuse University and one at American University. I knew no one at either school, but Abdul Aziz was the director of the AU program in peace and conflict resolution and I wanted to go there, so I made an appointment, drove to Washington, DC and went to plead my case.
I told him my situation and that I preferred the AU program but I wasn't getting a large enough student loan package to manage it, and I wondered if he had any idea what I could do to change the financial aide offer. He heard me out and we had tea. He asked me about my family, how I had grown up, and why I went to study in India, making it obvious that he had read my application essay in detail. Then he asked what I wanted to do with a masters degree, and I said I wasn't sure, but whatever happened I wanted to be useful and contribute to something larger than myself. He nodded and got on the phone. The next thing I know, the dean of the School for International Service was in the room. Abdul Aziz tells him, "I'd like you to meet my graduate teaching assistant for the fall." And the rest is history.
He was a great soul and a great educator. Thank you, Abdul Aziz. I will miss you.
Laura Barnitz
I am deeply sad to learn of my professor’s passing. He was a mentor, collaborator, and friend. I am discovering more and more layers of the influence he had on my life and on who I am. I learned so much from him. And I learned in a space of love. Professor Said loved everyone, without exception. His love was a powerful, enriching love. He built people up, celebrated them, and welcomed them being their true selves. I was his teaching assistant, and saw how he empowered the leadership of everyone around him. Yes, there was much that was magical about him. He had the magic of not quickly accepting things that are unacceptable. He created magic by creating change. Thousands of his students have a model for how to move through the world as an empowered agent of change, and a loving leader of humans.
Barry Saiff
By David Hart
Nuclear weapons have always been immoral. Today they are officially illegal worldwide.
Through decades of committed nonviolent creative action and consistent focused civil society leadership we have achieved a milestone that we were told again and again was impossible.
We at Nonviolence International know that when people act together in service of our shared values, we can make what once seemed impossible become inevitable.
Today, we celebrate the work of our friends and allies in the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons and the official entry into force of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.
There is much work yet to be done because the nuclear powers have consistently ignored the power of global united activism. We must continue our work to get all nations especially those that currently possess or are actively pursuing nuclear weapons to eliminate their stockpiles.
Today, for the first time in history doing anything else is clearly illegal. That is because a powerful committed movement came together to make sure our voices are heard.
When I was a young activist, I was told - by people I loved and respected - that it was reasonable to oppose specific nuclear weapons systems or even advocate for a freeze on the production, testing, and deployment of all nukes. But, to suggest that we should abolish all nuclear weapons or challenge the Cold War itself was naive and foolish.
History has proven again and again that those who claim to be realists are often wrong on major issues. The realistis disimmised efforts to end apartheid in South Africa as symbolic and sure to fail, they told us the Cold War would always be here and so we should learn to live with it, and they told us we could never hope to declare all nuclear weapons illegal. But, today, even as we steady ourselves for the work ahead, we take time to pause and celebrate the vision and leadership of all those who made this day possible. Congratulations to ICAN and everyone who took action to bring this new and powerful reality into being. For a list of over 170 events celebrating with us, please see: https://www.icanw.org/events
NVI worked at several levels on this essential treaty and related efforts. Recently, we hosted a petition to apologize to the people of Japan for the nuclear bombings. We have just received powerful notes from the Mayor of Hiroshima’s office and the organization representing survivors of the bombings. Please don’t miss them below. This effort was brought to us by our fiscally sponsored partner The Isaiah Project. These committed, brave, nonviolent activists make real their commitment to peace through NV direct action. To read more about their important contribution to the larger movement, please visit: https://www.nonviolenceinternational.net/many_faces_-_isaiah_project
NVI has been active founding and supporting the Humanitarian Disarmament movement. Several of our partners focus in this vital framework that puts people at the front of major global issues. Recently our affiliate in Canada produced this powerful report that highlights the importance of the TPNW. https://www.nonviolenceinternational.net/humanitarian_disarmament
Our work is never done. But, today we celebrate! We celebrate the power of the people. We celebrate the power of persistence. We celebrate the vision of a world without the threat of nuclear weapons and those who have taken nonviolent action to make that vision real.
From The Mayor's Office in Hiroshima, January 2021
Thank you for sending the updated Apology Petition on the 75th Anniversary of the First Atomic Bombings to our division’s email.
We are truly encouraged to know that many people in the US are committed to peace and stand with our city and hibakusha.
The City of Hiroshima will continue to dedicate ourselves for the abolition of nuclear weapons and the realization of lasting world peace.
We extend our heartfelt appreciation for your continued support in this regard.
Wishing you good health and happiness in the New Year.
Sincerely,
KOMATSU Sachiko
Chief Peace Promotion Division
Citizens Affairs Bureau, the City of Hiroshima
From Nihon Hidankyo-Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations, January 2021
We received your petition. We appreciate your continuing efforts for realizing a world without nuclear weapons.
Hibakusha are now working to urge the Japanese government to sign and ratify the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.
Thank you very much.
Best regards,
Sueichi Kido, Secretary General of Hidankyo
Nihon Hidankyo
(Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations)
As many of you know, we are actively promoting our co-founder Jonathan Kuttab’s timely and important short book, Beyond The Two-State Solution.
When we started, Jonathan told us he would welcome conversations with people who agree with his proposals and those who don't. His first choice was to be in conversation with Peter Beinart.
We are thrilled that the discussion has just taken place on the Foundation for Middle East Peace's impressive podcast. See more below.
If you want to help, please fill out this simple Google Form.
Occupied Thoughts: Beyond the Two State Solution with Jonathan Kuttab & Peter Beinart
In this episode of “Occupied Thoughts,” host Peter Beinart is joined by Palestinian human rights lawyer Jonathan Kuttab, who recently published the book “Beyond the Two State Solution” (available at no cost via the Nonviolence International website). Kuttab argues that a Palestinian state with no sovereignty or substance cannot deliver freedom or independence and it is time to look beyond the “false mirage of the Two State Solution.” He lays out in detail how a single, shared Palestinian and Jewish state would be structured – from roles in the military to language learning in schools – and how it answers the urgent needs for justice, equality, and security.
Peter Beinart is a Non-Resident Fellow at the Foundation for Middle East Peace. He is also a Professor of Journalism and Political Science at the City University of New York, a Contributing opinion writer at the New York Times, and Editor-at-Large at Jewish Currents, and a CNN Political Commentator. He tweets at @PeterBeinart.
Jonathan Kuttab is co-founder of Nonviolence International and a co-founder of the Palestinian human rights group Al-Haq. A well-known international human rights attorney, he has practiced in the US, Palestine, and Israel. He serves on the Board of Bethlehem Bible College and is President of the Board of Holy Land Trust. He is co-founder and board member of the Just Peace Advocates. He was the head of the Legal Committee negotiating the Cairo Agreement of 1994 between Israel and the PLO.
Here is the link to the Foundation for Middle East Peace's impressive podcast.
See also our short promotional video on our YouTube channel.
If you want your copy, the book is available through
By David Hart
Recently, I learned of the work of the Men’s Story Project. I want to share with all of you why this group’s groundbreaking efforts give me hope in hard times.
They use the power of candid, personal storytelling to address one of the most challenging issues of our time. As I grew up, I found that many of my fellow males had a very different perspective on violence than I had in my heart from an early age. As I studied peace and conflict seriously for years, it became increasingly clear that at the center of so much of the violence in our world is a narrow view of masculinity that doesn’t allow men to have access to a full range of human emotions.
The Men’s Story Project expands our view of what is possible and by so doing they are part of a quiet and enormously impactful revolution. This is a gift - a transformational gift - from the feminist movement, and embodies one of the core truths of nonviolence. When you free an oppressor from the burden of that role, you claim your power and transform them as well.
The Men’s Story Project challenges us to deepen our understanding of nonviolence and our approach to both our work and to each other.
Please see the powerful Ted Talk below featuring the Men’s Story Project and their visionary founder and director, Dr. Josie Lehrer.
To donate to support this vital work, please visit: https://www.mensstoryproject.org
Many more inspirational stories at: https://www.youtube.com/MensStoryProject
On our recent webinar celebrating the launch of Beyond the Two-State Solution, we were pleased to hear from Robert Herbst. He has just published a piece about Jonathan Kuttab's new book on Mondoweiss. Please read an excerpt here and read the powerful full article at the link below.
If the Two State solution is dead – no longer viable – is there, or could there be, sufficient Palestinian support for a One State solution that guarantees equal rights, dignity, and resources to both peoples? How would we mobilize public opinion around it, there, here, and around the world? What would the end game be? What might it look like? How do we get there?
Jonathan Kuttab is a Palestinian-American human rights lawyer in Palestine, Israel, and the United States. He has now delivered a book devoted to those questions and how we might start to answer them. Born in West Jerusalem to a family who moved to the United States after the Six Day War, he is the co-founder of Al-Haq, the Palestinian Center for the Study of Nonviolence. In “Beyond the Two State Solution”, published by Nonviolence International, he offers a vision of a single state that might respect the national aspirations of both peoples.
The book – a booklet really, numbering 100 pages in large-font – is a quick and easy read. Without implying any moral symmetry between the claims of the Zionist and Palestinian national movements, Kuttab quickly describes how those movements developed and how their respective narratives generally accorded no place for the other and take us through the expulsion of most Palestinians from their homeland, the 1967 War and occupation. He characterizes the Two State Solution as a compromise between the two national movements, which soon became “the only game in town” — only to die at the hands of Israel, whose officials and settlers changed the facts on the ground, choosing dominion over all the land between the River and the Sea rather than creating conditions for a viable Palestinian state.
If you would like a copy of the booklet, click the links below!
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Robert Herbst is a human rights lawyer in New York City and a member of the Westchester, New York chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace. He has been speaking and writing on Israel-Palestine since Operation Protective Edge in Gaza in 2014. Before moving to Westchester, Bob served on the Board and Executive Committee of Congregation Bnai Jeshurun on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, and as Chair of its Social Action Committee.
Read the full article on the Mondoweiss.
These are challenging times. Many of us are finding it increasingly difficult to find reasons to be hopeful.
This is the time that Nonviolence International was made for. We work to build a global culture of nonviolence and to build hope in troubled times. We do this through our database of powerful Nonviolent Tactics, our inspirational Training Archive in partnership with Rutgers University, and our work as a backbone organization of the global nonviolent movement.
Now we are adding to those valuable resources by launching our new YouTube channel: Youtube.com/Nonviolence which includes this short video about the power of inspiration and mentorship.
Please check it out and if you were impacted by NVI, Mubarak Awad, or any of our amazing partners, please let us know. We'd like to tell your story so that others can join us in celebrating this work.
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.
Beyond The Two-State Solution, by Jonathan Kuttab, is a short introduction to the current crisis in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. To get the book, please visit: https://www.nonviolenceinternational.net/beyond2states
If you want to help, please fill out this simple Google Form. https://forms.gle/ijtLN3JZXG4zgfgx6
Zionism and Palestinian Nationalism have been at loggerheads for over a century. Some thought the two-state solution would resolve the conflict between them. Jonathan explains that the two-state solution (that he supported) is no longer viable. He suggests that any solution be predicated on the basic existential needs of the two parties, needs he lays out in exceptional detail. He formulates a way forward for a 1-state solution that challenges both Zionism and Palestinian Nationalism. This book invites readers to begin a new conversation based on reality: two peoples will need to live together in some sort of unified state. It is balanced and accessible to neophytes and to experts alike.
We are just starting to roll out the short book, Beyond The Two-State Solution, by Jonathan Kuttab, and already we are thrilled with the overwhelmingly positive response we are getting. These days many of us are looking for hope in hard times. Jonathan gives us just that.
Time Stamps:
Jonathan Kuttab's powerful opening - 8:05
Lynn Gottlieb - 18:15
Robert Herbst - 22:15
Azmera Hammouri-Davis - 30:20
Meg Wilder - 44:00
Woojin Shin - 50:40
Jonathan's closing - 1:24:00
PANELISTS:
Jonathan Kuttab is co-founder of Nonviolence International and a co-founder of the Palestinian human rights group Al-Haq. A well-known international human rights attorney, he has practiced in the US, Palestine, and Israel. He serves on the Board of Bethlehem Bible College and is President of the Board of Holy Land Trust. He is co-founder and board member of the Just Peace Advocates. He was the head of the Legal Committee negotiating the Cairo Agreement of 1994 between Israel and the PLO.
Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb, one of the first women to become a rabbi in Jewish history, is a “visionary” Jewish educator, feminist, community organizer, peace activist, writer, klezmer dancer, percussionist, visual and ceremonial artist, and master storyteller. She writes on the cover of Jonathan’s book, “some are trapped by the past. This book opens the gate to the future.
Robert Herbst is a human rights lawyer in New York City and a member of the Westchester, New York chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace. He has been speaking and writing on Israel-Palestine since Operation Protective Edge in Gaza in 2014. Before moving to Westchester, Bob served on the Board and Executive Committee of Congregation Bnai Jeshurun on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, and as Chair of its Social Action Committee.
Azmera Hammouri-Davis is a Black-Palestinian professional poet, speaker, prayer warrior, educator and producer from Keaau, Hawaii with a Master of Theological Studies from Harvard University. She prays, performs, teaches and collaborates alongside faith-based activists, creatives and grassroots organizers across the world to #breaktheboxes of domination and oppression. In 2019, Harvard's Religion and Public Life program sponsored her to promote cultural identity and english literacy in Ramallah, Palestine where she connected with her Hammouri family in Al Quds and Al Khalil. She currently is the lead facilitator for a growing network of Black Christians for Palestine through Friends of Sabeel North America Palestinian Ecumenical Organization, a Teaching Fellow at Harvard Graduate School of Education, Africana Spirituality Advisor at Tufts University Chaplaincy, and founder of Break The Boxes Incorporated
NVI is proud to announce Michael Beer and Mohamed Brahim's (of The Sahrawi Association, USA) important piece on Common Dreams. Recently, Morocco broke a 29 year cease-fire with the Polisario of Western Sahara by entering the buffer zone, attacking the nonviolent protesters, and re-opened the illegal border trade route.
In their op-ed, Michael and Mohamed criticize the US's role in the Moroccan-Western Sahara conflict and call on the US government, the Biden/Harris administration, corporations, and civil society to take actions:
"Sadly, the U.S. government has provided vast economic and military support to the Moroccan government. Last year Morocco purchased $10.3 billion in weapons from the US, totalling more than Egypt, Israel, Saudi Arabia and UAE combined.
There is much a Biden/Harris administration can do to help Morocco end its occupation of Western Sahara. The US government, corporations and civil society should:
- Halt arms sales to Morocco;
- Ban any purchase of stolen resources (e.g. phosphates) from Western Sahara and sanction any company that does so;
- Support and enforce a UN administered referendum;
- Work with Europeans and Africans to limit economic cooperation that supports the occupation;
- Build multi-lateral pressure to resolve this conflict nonviolently.
The world has known how to nonviolently resolve this issue since 1963, when the United Nations called for a referendum on its future status. Morocco has refused to cooperate. We must act swiftly to prevent war and further conflict, end the occupation, and allow Sahrawis to make their decision on union with Morocco or independence.
There is potentially bi-partisan support for this approach. Senator Inhofe (R-OK) and Senator Leahy have spoken out strongly for the rights of the Sahrawi for self-determination. However, we also need Democrats and other Republicans to stand up and speak up for international law and to condemn attacks on nonviolent protesters and the occupation. Their silence is deafening."
The op-ed is part of NVI's ongoing support for nonviolence and peaceful resolution in Western Sahara. We issued a press release calling for actions and cooperation among the people of Western Sahara, Morocco, multinational corporations, the United States, and all countries.
"Nonviolence International calls on the people of Western Sahara and their Moroccan allies to maintain a nonviolent discipline and to work for their political objectives without intentionally harming Moroccans.
NVI calls on the United States and all countries to implement an arms embargo on both sides and pressure the parties to resolve the conflict nonviolently.
NVI calls on multinational corporations to refrain from buying or obtaining Western Sahara natural resources until a UN administered referendum is held.
We also call upon the people of Morocco to pressure their government to allow a referendum so that stability can be brought to the entire Mahgreb. The current conflict threatens to develop into a greater conflict between Algeria and Morocco, when the goal should be cooperation and coexistence."