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nonviolence

Arun Gandhi and James Lawson share lessons of nonviolence

At the 2018 Parliament of the World's Religions, I had the privilege of hearing Arun Gandhi speak of his grandfather, Mahatma Gandhi, who guided Arun in his formative years. Angry at racism in South Africa, Arun was sent to live with his grandfather in India to learn how to transform his anger into positive action. Two powerful practices was journalling about anger in order to find peaceful ways to address it, and reflecting on the overt and tacit violence he saw or committed as a 14 year old. What wonderful life lessons in peacebuilding for us today!

Responding Peacefully to Violence

They were humiliated and mistreated, and they couldn’t take it anymore. So they took a stand. They went into extensive training for the fight. They knew it would be hard and long. They had to be mentally, spiritually, and physically prepared. When the day of confrontation arrived, every hour of training was worth it. Although they were shouted at, pushed, spat upon, and beaten, they did not fight back with angry words or fists, but with love. They won, peacefully.

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