What if the most radical thing we could do right now is refuse to become more violent?
If you turn on the news, it can feel like violence is everywhere. Wars are being fought in our name. Political violence in our country no longer surprises us. Online disagreements turn into personal attacks within seconds. We are surrounded by stories of people responding to harm with more harm.
As a young person, this is the world I’ve grown up in. I am asked to imagine and plan for my future while extraordinary levels of violence to people and the planet make any future stability questionable. I am told that conflict can only be resolved when someone is winning, and that violence is an unavoidable part of human life. Political opponents are described as enemies, military cruelty is celebrated as strength, and people are encouraged to see each other as threats. It is difficult not to become cynical and accept that this is the only way our society could work. However, through my work at NH Peace Action, I now see that there is another way.
Nonviolence is often misunderstood as simply “being peaceful” or avoiding confrontation. In reality, nonviolence actively works for change, finding healthy ways to challenge systems and ideas that cause harm while refusing to reproduce that same harm ourselves. It can sometimes create tension, bring conflicts to the surface, and bring about change that not all are comfortable with. However, it refuses physical violence, and respects the dignity of everyone involved with an eye toward eventual reconciliation.
I personally have seen the difference it makes when people choose peace and refuse to escalate. A heated conversation can end with someone actually being heard instead of walking away angrier. A harsh disagreement can become a simple, productive conversation. A conflict that seemed impossible to resolve can shift when people stop trying to defeat one another and start trying to understand each other. That is the choice nonviolence gives us.
History gives us plenty of reasons to take nonviolence seriously. Some of the most significant social changes of the last century were driven by ordinary people organizing through nonviolent action. These include the U.S. civil rights movement, India’s Independence Movement and the Save Our Shores NH campaign that stopped a proposed oil refinery on Great Bay in Durham. These examples show how ordinary people can exercise political power without becoming violent themselves.
Research done at Harvard by Erica Chenoweth analyzing 323 movements to overthrow regimes from 1900 to 2006 found that nonviolent campaigns were twice as likely to succeed. Nonviolent movements also achieved results three times faster, had fewer fatalities at a ratio of 22 to 1, and were 10 times more likely to transition to democracy in the long term.
Nonviolence does not mean being passive, polite, agreeable or standing by while someone is being harmed. It means doing something about injustice without adding more violence to the problem.
There are many small ways to start: organizing your classmates or peers around an issue, protesting, boycotting harmful businesses, helping someone in your community or having difficult conversations with people you disagree with. Nonviolence doesn’t mean avoiding conflict, but instead engaging with conflict constructively. We can be angry and forceful without causing harm, and we can demand meaningful change without treating people as disposable.
If our goal is a safer and more just society, we have to think beyond winning the argument. We have to think about what kind of community we are building in the process.
You can learn more and meet others who believe that violence is not the right answer at the Nonviolence Festival on Saturday, Sept. 19, from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. on the NH State House lawn.
This family-friendly festival has been organized by NH Peace Action with over 20 participating organizations. It will feature live music and singalongs, interactive workshops and discussion circles as well as non-competitive games, and a curated treasure hunt for the attendees. The event is free and there is no RSVP required.
The festival takes place in conjunction with the UN International Day of Peace on Sept. 21 and Campaign Nonviolence’s National Days of Action from Sept. 21 through Oct. 2. You will also learn about more opportunities to learn about and practice nonviolence coming up.
Locally, nationally and globally, nonviolent alternatives are already challenging violence in all its forms. The question is no longer whether alternatives exist, but whether we are willing to practice them ourselves. I am ready, and I hope you’ll join me.
Hazel Armstrong-McEvoy is an intern at New Hampshire Peace action and lives in Peterborough.