Explore Our Webinar Series: "We Are All Part of One Another"

Barbara Deming wrote the words that serve as the title of our webinar series, “We Are All Part of One Another.” Her prophetic words ring true today more than ever.

The global pandemic has once again revealed how broken our system is. May it also remind us all of our shared humanity.

In this series, you will find stories of the amazing work being done by people all over the world, including our wonderful partners. We trust you will find a reason for grounded realistic hope. Even in the midst of so many daunting challenges, people all over are building a powerful, diverse, global nonviolent movement. We are glad to be able to play a key role as a backbone organization of this global movement and to share this knowledge with you.

We will continue to host inspirational conversations of hope in this new world we have emerged into and announce them on this page.

Please note: the page below does not include the most up to date list of our webinars.

Please visit: https://www.nonviolenceinternational.net/webinars

Nonviolent Tactics Are The Tools of Liberation Webinar	Nonviolence International hosted a a book event for Civil Resistance Tactics in the 21st Century by Michael Beer one year after the initial book launch, to celebrate the impact this invaluable book is having and to launch our brand new Civil Resistance Tactics in the 21st Century Study Guide.
The Checklist to End Tyranny Book Launch Webinar	Nonviolence International hosted a book launch event for The Checklist to End Tyranny by Peter Ackerman. In the book, Peter gathers and arranges the best and most cutting-edge research on civil resistance and combines it with a checklist procedure which draws on his experience on Wall Street.
The Two State Solution is Dead- Now What? with co-founder of Nonviolence International and human rights attorney Jonathan Kuttab, Jeff Halper, and Noura Erakat	Nonviolence International hosts renowned activists and academics for a discussion on the necessity of a one-state solution.
Resisting Occupation: Connecting Palestine and Western Sahara	This was one of the first times that we could hear Palestinian and Sahrawi voices share their experience of nonviolent resistance to occupation in Palestine and Western Sahara on the same panel.
Jonathan Kuttab's Booklet Launch: Beyond the Two-State Solution with co-founder of Nonviolence International and human rights attorney Jonathan Kuttab, Black-Palestinian poet Azmera Hammouri-Davis, human rights lawyer Robert Herbst, and feminist Jewish educator Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb. Hosted by Co-Director of Nonviolence International David Hart.	We are 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. Share the inspiration for a new and better world by watching this webinar.
Democracy Defense II: Global Activists' Advice for US Transition with Myanmarese youth advocate and activist Shunleiyi Thinzar, Gambian journalist and advocate Muhammed Bah, Serbian professor, and nonviolent organizer Ivan Marovic, and Chilean academic and political scientist Patricio Zamorano. Hosted by an incoming board member of NVI and director of FREE Syria Rafif Jouejati.	International activists share critical lessons and advice for organizing after election wins ousting authoritarian leaders in divided societies. A vital topic in the current situation in the United States.
Democracy Defense: Advice from Activists Around the World with, Philippine professor and activist Joaquin Gonzalez, Serbian professor and nonviolent organizer Ivan Marovic, Gambian organizer and activist Muhammed Lamin Saidykhan, Brazilian organizer and activist Joana Varon, and American professor, and author Stephen Zunes. Hosted by author and activist Maria J. Stephan.	Is U.S. democracy staring at its own grave? Might we need to protect election results against a militarized, white supremacist effort to stop a full vote count? Are Americans up against something unlike anything they’ve experienced in our lifetime? We’ve organized a panel of global anti-coup experts to advise Americans on their strategy for the months or years ahead.
Nonviolent Activism in the Islamic World in a Time of Islamophobia with Thai professor and activist Chaiwat Satha-Anand, Sudanese social justice activist, researcher, and feminist Hala Al-Karib, Kashmiri writer-activist Mushtaq Ul-Haq Ahmad Sikandar, and Lebanese-American scholar and former Director of NVI's Islam and Peace program, Karim Crow. Hosted by Nonviolence International board member and American University professor Mohammed Abu-Nimer.	In a time of substantial Islamaphobia across the world, Nonviolence International hosts experts in the field of Islam and nonviolent activism. They discuss the rich diversity of nonviolent resistance and activism in Thailand, Kashmir, Sudan, Palestine, and other Muslim states and communities.
People Power and Democracy in Sudan with Anthony A. Haggar from the Haggar Group, Sudanese civil society activist Asma Ismail Ahmed, Sudanese-American journalist and human rights activist Jalelah Sophia Ahmed, and progressive leader US Representative Pramila Jayapal. Hosted by Executive Director of Nonviolence International Michael Beer.	Watch a discussion about the country's nonviolent revolution and the current situation facing the Sudanese people and their government. Sudanese professionals, civil society activists, and journalists will share their hopes and plans for Sudan's future and articulate ways in which the international community, and specifically the USA, can help.
Co-Resistance and Solidarity with Palestinians with Elias D'eis and Said Durzi Zarar of the Holy Land Trust as well as Scout Bratt and Clare Jordan of the Center for Jewish Nonviolence. Hosted by new NVI board member Mohammed Abu-Nimer.	Observe our impressive partners, Holy Land Trust and Center for Jewish Nonviolence, lead the way to a model of grassroots co-resistance and solidarity that has the power to transform our beautiful and broken world.
Nonviolent Resistance to Nuclear Weapons and War with Patrick O’Neill and Martha Hennessy of the Plowshares Movement, Alyn Ware of Parliamentarians for Nuclear Nonproliferation and Disarmament, Mani Shankar Aiyar of the Indian National Congress Party, and Divina Maloum of Children for Peace. Hosted by Paul Magno.	Listen to our discussion of important nonviolent campaigns that seek to eliminate the risk of nuclear conflict, hear the stories of inspiring actions that activists have undergone, and learn more about the role global citizens can take.
Creative Nonviolent Action for Palestine During COVID-19 with Alex McDonald of the US Boats to Gaza, Raed Shakshak of We Are Not Numbers, and Roshan Dadoo of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, South Africa. Hosted by NVI founders Mubarak Awad and Jonathan Kuttab.	Witness some of our partners and friends address the situation in Palestine in light of the COVID-19 outbreak. We will also discuss important campaigns that promote nonviolence in the Levant, with a specific focus on the Gaza Strip, during the pandemic.
Women Fighting for Our Planet (Climate Change Activism) with Phyllis Omido from Kenya, Kehkashan Basu of the United Arab Emirates, Tamara Lorincz from Canada, Juhee Lee from Korea, Raeesah Noor-Mahomed from South Africa, and hosted by Dr. Maia Hallward	Learn about the global ecological movement to discuss important campaigns that help promote effective action on the climate crisis.
Nonviolent Responses to Militarism and COVID-19 with Medea Benjamin of CODEPINK, Jan Jaap van Oosterzee of PAX, & Carina Solmirano of Control Arms	Discover campaigns that will make a difference promoting a more nonviolent world during the pandemic and provide a counternarrative to the increasing militarism around the world.
Nonviolence in this Beautiful and Broken World with Nadine Bloch of Beautiful Trouble, Chelsea Byers of the Campaign to Abolish Statutes of Limitations, & Phil Wilmot of Solidarity Uganda	Find out about some of the new creative tactics of resistance activists have been using during this time of crisis.
Nonviolence in Palestine with Sami Awad of Holy Land Trust	Listen to Sami Awad discuss the role nonviolence has in the struggle of the Palestinian people, as well as hear updates about the situation on the ground during this time of the pandemic.
Nonviolence in a Time of Crisis with Mubarak Awad	Hear Mubarak Awad, the founder of Nonviolence International, share his warmth and wisdom and tell how he got his start in nonviolence resistance.

We don’t know what the future will hold, but we believe that nonviolence is a force more powerful. And, we know nonviolence is both an effective tool to create real and lasting social change as well as a way of life for many of us.

We urge you to reach out to us and to your friends, family, and community. We must not allow the medically necessary social distancing to limit our equally necessary need to connect with other people. At this moment, we must rise up as one and declare that a new and better world is possible.

The forces of the status quo, from governments to corporations to far too many leaders, have once again been proven to be cruel and heartless. How many canaries in the coal mine do we need before we wake up and create a path - a bold and beautiful path - out of this darkness?

May you stay safe and healthy and may your life be a blessing to others.

Latest posts

US Boats to Gaza helps Freedom Flotilla Effort to Break the Siege

Update from Ann Wright, April 15, 2024

Here is a beautiful Instagram that updates the world about the upcoming flotilla. Volunteers are coming from more than 30 countries!

Media Release
April 4, 2024

The international Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC) will sail in mid April with multiple vessels, carrying 5500 tons of humanitarian aid and hundreds of international human rights observers to challenge the ongoing illegal Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip. This is an emergency mission as the situation in Gaza is dire, with famine setting in in northern Gaza, and catastrophic hunger present throughout the Gaza Strip as the result of a deliberate policy by the Israeli government to starve the Palestinian people. Time is critical as experts predict that hunger and disease could claim more lives than have been killed in the bombing.

Getting humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza is urgent, but it is not sufficient. We must end Israel’s unlawful, deadly blockade as well as Israel’s overall control of Gaza. Allowing Israel to control what and how much humanitarian aid can get to Palestinians in Gaza is like letting the fox manage the henhouse. And yet, this is what the international community of states is allowing by refusing to sanction Israel and defy its genocidal policies in order to ensure that enough aid reaches the trapped, beleaguered and bombarded civilian population.

The Cyprus maritime corridor, the U.S. floating pier project, and symbolic air drops of food are all distractions from the fact that these methods of aid delivery are insufficient, and still leave Israel in control of what aid can get to the Palestinian people, all while Israel actively prevents thousands of aid trucks from entering Gaza through the land crossings.

On January 26 the International Court of Justice ruled that, ‘the State of Israel remains bound to fully comply with its obligations under the Genocide Convention and with the said Order, including by ensuring the safety and security of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.’ On March 28, the ICJ ordered additional preliminary measures, which included requiring the Israeli forces to stop “preventing, through any action, the delivery of urgently needed humanitarian assistance” to Palestinians in Gaza.

Israel has long violated its responsibility as occupying power to ensure the health and wellbeing of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. Now, it is engaging in full scale genocidal conduct in Gaza and using starvation as a weapon of war. Israeli military and political leaders have repeatedly declared their intention to collectively punish the entire population of Gaza, including by denying them food, water and other life-sustaining aid. We therefore reject Israel’s control over the humanitarian aid that can enter Gaza and reject any Israeli inspection of our cargo.For everyone’s safety and to ensure aid is delivered to those who need it, the FFC is bringing hundreds of international humanitarian observers, from many countries and different backgrounds.

“The International Court of Justice’s preliminary measures ordered against Israel are very clear” comments Ismail Moola of South Africa’s Palestine Solidarity Alliance, part of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition. “The court’s ruling requires the whole world to play their part to stop the genocide unfolding in Gaza, including unobstructed access to vital aid. While our governments fail to lead in these urgently required humanitarian responses, people of conscience and our grassroots organizations must act to take leadership. When governments fail, we sail!”

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Many supporters of Nonviolence International are joining this aid effort as volunteers.

If you want to donate, please donate here.

(Please see this page for background information, resources, and action steps on Palestine / Israel)

NVI fiscally sponsors groups that work to help Gazans. Please support them.

If you want to hear news and views directly from Gaza, please check the website and social media sites of We Are Not Numbers.

US Boats to Gaza is a member of the global Freedom Flotilla Coalition. They seek to bring humanitarian aid by sea to Gaza and break the siege. Learn more about their important work below.

Here are some photos from the big recent Washington, DC event for Palestinian humanity that was part of much larger global effort.

Don't miss this important event!

In this time of enormous unnecessary suffering, it is vitally important that people of good will everywhere raise up the humanity of Palestinian people.

NVI is grateful to the co-founder of our wonderful fiscally sponsored partner, We Are Not Numbers, Ahmed Alnaouq, who brought this short moving video clip to our attention.

Don’t miss US Representative Rashida Tlaib saying the name and last words of WANN writer, Yousef Dawas.

Then take a moment to watch her powerful video here.

We Are Not Numbers is featured in this moving piece in "In These Times."

“I yearn for our voices to echo across the globe with the truth, reaching out to those who seek it.”

SHERELL BARBEE FEBRUARY 7, 2024

https://inthesetimes.com/article/letters-from-gaza-genocide-palestine-culture-

We are thrilled that Ahmed's powerful voice was included in the Washington Post.

Here is his excerpt and a link (behind a paywall) to the full article, which includes other perspectives - several not rooted in personal experience or basic human compassion for the suffering of others. When militarists are welcomed into the mainstream press, the media doesn't feel a need to provide "balance." But, for some reason, the few times that Palestinian voices are heard, they present another perspective that often negates Palestinian humanity.

The slaughter must end

Ahmed Alnaouq: Last week, Israel bombed my family home in Gaza, killing my father, as well as two brothers, three sisters and all of their children, in an instant. One friend described their bodies as “bags of meat” — an arm here, a leg there.

I write to you in mourning. Even now, we Palestinians are not granted the luxury to grieve. Instead, we are burdened with the responsibility to talk, to communicate the extent of our suffering and the injustice wielded against us.

So, first, I must say this: We demand an immediate cease-fire. We demand a lifting of the Israeli siege of Gaza and the restoration of electricity, fuel, water and food. And we demand unimpeded humanitarian access in line with international law.

Today, the word “genocide” is being widely used. I can’t think of another word that captures the magnitude of what Israel, a nuclear-armed military power, continues to unleash on a captive population of children and refugees. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said the quiet part out loud: “Gaza won’t return to what it was before,” he said. “We will eliminate everything.”

But we Palestinians already knew what Gallant had in mind. Corralled in Gaza for the past 17 years, burdened with mass unemployment and poverty — even before white phosphorus filled the skies, or before we lay crushed beneath the rubble — we could not breathe. We were held captive like prisoners who had never committed a crime or shot down when we attempted to peacefully protest our incarceration.

Our 1 million children have never traveled outside Israel’s militarized cage and know nothing but the buzz of drones in the sky tracking their every move.

In the past week, I have lost everything. But I do not seek revenge. There is no “military solution” here, only a collective responsibility to finally grant Palestinians what they have demanded for decades, what they are owed: justice, freedom and their very basic rights as human beings.

Ahmed Alnaouq is the head of We Are Not Numbers, which pairs Palestinian writers with mentors overseas.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/11/02/gaza-ceasefire-civilian-military-humanitarian/

Click here to donate to support NVI's fiscally sponsored partner WANN.

Ahmed was also featured in this recent New York Times piece.

After the Israeli military killed his older brother in an airstrike in Gaza in 2014, Ahmed Alnaouq says, he almost lost his will to live. “I sank into a deep depression,” he told me in a recent phone call. But an American friend convinced him to write about his brother and channel his grief into something productive. Together, they founded We Are Not Numbers, a project that trains young writers in Gaza and publishes their personal essays in English.

The name is a nod to how numbing numbers can be. The higher the death toll, the less we are inclined to care, since the scale of human suffering can feel overwhelming. Statistics don’t trigger empathy and action. Personal stories do.

“This project changed my life because for the first time, I thought that some people can care about us,” Mr. Alnaouq said, describing the response it got outside Gaza.

We Are Not Numbers began as a way to memorialize the dead, but it quickly turned into a lifeline for the living. For young people in Gaza, stuck in a political system with few rights and a blockaded economy with few jobs, it provides a vital outlet for self-expression...

“After losing my family, I did not stop believing in what I believe in,” he told me. “I don’t want other people to feel what I am feeling. Not the Israelis, not the Palestinians.”

These very painful, honest, meaningful videos feature WANN's co-founder.

Trigger / harsh reality warning.

Mubarak Awad speaks on KKFI radio about Palestine

Moussa Elbayoumy, Yara Salamed, and NVI President Mubarak Awad discuss calls for a ceasefire in the current Israel-Hamas war. Moussa is an MD and chair of the board of the Kansas chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Kansas). Yara is studying Law at UMKC and is President of Students for Justice in Palestine there. Mubarak is a Palestinian born in Jerusalem in 1943, influenced by Mennonite and Quaker missionaries. He received bachelors, masters and PhD degrees from universities in the US. He became a US citizen in 1978 and returned to Jerusalem in 1983 to found the Palestinian Centre for the Study of Nonviolence. He was expelled from Palestine in 1988 during the First Intifada for organizing nonviolent protests against mistreatment of Palestinians by Israeli military and settlers. Back in the US, he founded Nonviolence International. Moussa, Yara and Mubarak are calling for a ceasefire in the current Israel-Gaza war. KKFI.ORG

Sadly, this short NVI video clip from two years ago is still relevant.

Refaat Alareer, WANN's co-founder, killing featured in major media outlets.

CNN

Al Jazeera

Time

In this episode of Mondoweiss’s podcast Culture Editor Mohammed El-Kurd

speaks with journalist and co-founder of We Are Not Numbers Ahmad Alnaouq.

Michael Beer quoted in LA Times article on effective activism.

Please see these articles:

Writing while expecting to die “Can you kindly publish the attached stories if I die?” This is what we have been hearing from the young writers we work with from Gaza in the We Are Not Numbers project.

7 steps to end the cycle of violence in Israel and Palestine:
The path to peace requires nonviolent action not just from Israelis and Palestinians, but also Americans, the media, aid organizations and others.
By NVI Founder, Mubarak Awad. We are pleased to announce this piece was selected as Waging Nonviolence's top story of the year! https://wagingnonviolence.org/2023/12/waging-nonviolence-top-stories-2023/

When will we learn that violence doesn’t lead to security?
To support Israelis and Palestinians is to insist on their right to equally live in peace and freedom — not help structures of state violence and cultures of militarization.
By NVI Board member, Mohammed Abu-Nimer

Solidarity with Palestinians and Jews Sign on Statement.

By Jonathan Kuttab, NVI co-founder. Cat Zavis, Jewish Civil/Women's Rights Lawyer, Mediator, and Rabbi: Beyt Tikkun. Michael Lerner, Rabbi and Editor of Tikkun magazine.
Esther Azar, Arab Jewish Trauma Activist, and Rabbi: Trauma Informed Rabbinics.

Recent attacks by Israel on Gaza and Hamas fighters on Israel are tragic and will not resolve bring peace and justice to all.

NVI believes that nonviolence is the only way to end the savagery, brutality and cycle of violence between Palestinians and Israelis.

NVI urges all parties to cease all military attacks and prevent further escalation of violence that will only harm innocent civilians on both sides.

Call for an immediate ceasefire and end to all violence, including an immediate halt to attacks towards Israel and Israeli military attacks on Gaza.

Urgent humanitarian action is needed, including the establishment of a humanitarian corridor inside and out of Gaza, for the safe movement of people and the delivery of essential supplies. This includes opening Erez and Kerem Shalom / Abu Salem crossings to allow for the movement of people and goods and remove the ban on access to the sea.

End violations of international law and impunity, including settlement expansions, forcible transfer, demolitions, settler violence, all part of ongoing and illegal de facto annexation of West Bank territory. Immediately lift all movement restrictions on Palestinian communities in the West Bank to allow the movements of goods and services.

Take action at the UN Security Council to reaffirm UN Security Council resolutions calling for a nonviolent resolution of disputes, the reversal of the annexation of Greater East Jerusalem and the preservation of the status quo at holy sites.

NVI supports nonviolent political resolution of the conflict by ending the systemic policies of oppression and discrimination of Palestinians, including the 16-year siege on Gaza and 56-year military occupation of the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including. East Jerusalem.

We hope you will find this helpful and will share it with others.

US Boats to Gaza is a fiscally sponsored partner of NVI and a member of the global Freedom Flotilla Coalition. They seek to bring humanitarian aid by sea to Gaza and break the siege. Learn more below.

In this video, Ann Wright, a leader of US Boats to Gaza, Veterans for Peace, and Code Pink interrupts the US Secretary of State to call for a Cease Fire Now. Timestamp 1:45

Check out this powerful video (from before the latest crisis), learn more about their important work, and please consider supporting this creative constructive nonviolent movement.

Activists discuss global nonviolent movement for Palestinians April 8th

Don't miss this important event!

Join us on our youtube live channel, Youtube/nonviolence to watch this discussion of activist leaders on global solidarity and resistance for justice in Palestine.