Nonviolence International
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Nonviolence International (NI) acts as a network of resource centers that promote the use of
nonviolence Nonviolence is the personal practice of not causing harm to others under any condition. It may come from the belief that hurting people, animals and/or the environment is unnecessary to achieve an outcome and it may refer to a general philosoph ...
and
nonviolent resistance Nonviolent resistance (NVR), or nonviolent action, sometimes called civil resistance, is the practice of achieving goals such as social change through symbolic protests, civil disobedience, economic or political noncooperation, satyagraha, cons ...
. They have maintained relationships with activists in a number of countries, with their most recent projects taking place in
Palestine __NOTOC__ Palestine may refer to: * State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia * Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia * Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...
,
Sudan Sudan ( or ; ar, السودان, as-Sūdān, officially the Republic of the Sudan ( ar, جمهورية السودان, link=no, Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic t ...
and
Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...
. They partnered with International Center for Nonviolent Conflict to update
Gene Sharp Gene Sharp (January 21, 1928 – January 28, 2018) was an American political scientist. He was the founder of the Albert Einstein Institution, a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing the study of nonviolent action, and professor of pol ...
's seminal work on 198 methods of nonviolent action (
The Politics of Nonviolent Action ''The Politics of Nonviolent Action'' is a three-volume political science book by Gene Sharp, originally published in the United States in 1973. Sharp is one of the most influential theoreticians of nonviolent action, and his publications have been ...
) through a book publication. NI has also produced a comprehensive database of nonviolence tactics, which stands as the largest collection of nonviolent tactics in the world. They partner with
Rutgers University Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's ...
to provide the largest collection of nonviolence training materials in the world.


History

In 1989,
Palestinian Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...
activist Activism (or Advocacy) consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived greater good. Forms of activism range fro ...
Mubarak Awad Mubarak Awad is a Palestinian-American psychologist and an advocate of nonviolent resistance. Early life and move to the United States Awad, a Palestinian Christian (a member of the Greek Orthodox Church), was born in 1943 in Jerusalem when it wa ...
founded Nonviolence International along with co-founders Jonathan Kuttab, Kamal Boulatta and Abdul Aziz Said. Nonviolence International is a
501(c)(3) A 501(c)(3) organization is a United States corporation, trust, unincorporated association or other type of organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. It is one of the 29 types of 50 ...
organization registered in
Washington, DC ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan ...
, United States and is continuously active in educating and training the public and activists in the use of nonviolent resistance. They are particularly known for their work in conflict zones and Civil Society at the United Nations, building coalitions to find and advocate for nonviolent solutions across the globe. Their mission statement is: :: "Nonviolence International advocates for active nonviolence and supports creative constructive nonviolent campaigns worldwide. We are a backbone organization of the nonviolent moment, providing fiscal sponsorship to partners all over the globe. We tell the transformative stories of dynamic emerging nonviolent movements that give us hope in difficult times and are reshaping what we view as possible. By telling these inspirational stories and supporting these movements we help to create a peaceful and just future." In 1991, Nonviolence International coordinated anti-
coup d'état A coup d'état (; French for 'stroke of state'), also known as a coup or overthrow, is a seizure and removal of a government and its powers. Typically, it is an illegal seizure of power by a political faction, politician, cult, rebel group, m ...
training in
Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
. This led to the organization's publication of the Training Manual for Nonviolent Defense Against the Coup d'État, which has since been used globally in both English and Spanish. In 1993 and 1994, Andre Kamenshikov partnered with Nonviolence International to found the Nonviolence International-Newly Independent States (NI-NIS), based in
Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
. NI-NIS was the first major organization to publicly warn the world about the impending war in
Chechnya Chechnya ( rus, Чечня́, Chechnyá, p=tɕɪtɕˈnʲa; ce, Нохчийчоь, Noxçiyçö), officially the Chechen Republic,; ce, Нохчийн Республика, Noxçiyn Respublika is a republic of Russia. It is situated in the ...
; the organization also released the first environmental damage assessment regarding the . During the 1995
International Campaign to Ban Landmines The International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) is a coalition of non-governmental organizations whose stated objective is a world free of anti-personnel mines and cluster munitions, where mine and cluster munitions survivors see their right ...
, NI was one of the endorsing organizations and was one of the attending parties of the
Phnom Penh Phnom Penh (; km, ភ្នំពេញ, ) is the capital and most populous city of Cambodia. It has been the national capital since the French protectorate of Cambodia and has grown to become the nation's primate city and its economic, indus ...
conference in Cambodia during June 1995. This conference was the largest anti-landmine conference to date and was the first gathering to take place in a heavily mined country (see
land mines in Cambodia Cambodia is a country located in Southeast Asia that has a major problem with landmines, especially in rural areas. This is the legacy of three decades of war which has taken a severe toll on the Cambodians; it has some 40,000 amputees, which is ...
). NI organized a groundbreaking consultation entitled "Mainstreaming Peace Teams" at
American University The American University (AU or American) is a private federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C. Its main campus spans 90 acres (36 ha) on Ward Circle, mostly in the Spring Valley neighborhood of Northwest D.C. AU was charte ...
in 1996. As a result, more than 50 experts from over 25 countries engaged in dialogue about unarmed peacekeeping and third-party nonviolent intervention. From 1999 to 2009, NI created programs of nonviolence and peace education in
Aceh Aceh ( ), officially the Aceh Province ( ace, Nanggroë Acèh; id, Provinsi Aceh) is the westernmost province of Indonesia. It is located on the northernmost of Sumatra island, with Banda Aceh being its capital and largest city. Granted a s ...
during the civil war (see
Aceh War The Aceh War ( id, Perang Aceh), also known as the Dutch War or the Infidel War (1873–1913), was an armed military conflict between the Sultanate of Aceh and the Kingdom of the Netherlands which was triggered by discussions between represen ...
); the programs were led by Dr. Asna Husin, who remains a senior researcher for Nonviolence International. In 2004, a
tsunami A tsunami ( ; from ja, 津波, lit=harbour wave, ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other underwater explo ...
ravaged Aceh; the NI office was destroyed and several staff members were killed or injured. Following the tragedy, NI raised and distributed funds for orphans in Aceh. Between 1998 and 2002, Michael Beer assisted in launching the International Burma Campaign with a conference and publication in Burma Today. Beer, along with
Gene Sharp Gene Sharp (January 21, 1928 – January 28, 2018) was an American political scientist. He was the founder of the Albert Einstein Institution, a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing the study of nonviolent action, and professor of pol ...
and Bob Helvey, provided training in nonviolent action for over 1,000 Burmese resistance
guerrillas Guerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare in which small groups of combatants, such as paramilitary personnel, armed civilians, or irregulars, use military tactics including ambushes, sabotage, raids, petty warfare, hit-and-run tacti ...
and civilians. NI organized the International Conference on Nonviolent Resistance, which was hosted in Bethlehem in December 2005. The conference brought together over 250 nonviolent activists from around the world, including renowned activists
Gene Sharp Gene Sharp (January 21, 1928 – January 28, 2018) was an American political scientist. He was the founder of the Albert Einstein Institution, a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing the study of nonviolent action, and professor of pol ...
and
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. In 2013 NI expressed a need for a permanent to liaison with the United Nations. In Preparation for the ending of the MDGs and the increasing Demand for accountability in the international community NI promoted David Kirshbaum to Director of the New York Office with the task of fundraising, planning and supporting the struggling Partners. Then in 2014, David Kirshbaum raised the funding, and founded the Nonviolence International New York office (NVINY). Quickly taking on Civil Society leadership in the planning committees of the SDGs and the MGS, the New York office quickly became a champion of the stakeholder system leading and guiding hundreds of new NGOs in the new founded resources on interacting with the United Nations. Rapidly become an active board member of multiple groups at the UN. the NVINY office quickly became known for Holding civil society corruption accountable, and promoting new and unheard voices throughout Civil Society at the United Nations. From 2006 to 2015, NI organized trainings and produced podcasts, films and texts for the largest resource center on nonviolence produced in
Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
. In 2018 the NVINY changed leadership to NI's youngest Director Joshua Kirshbaum, bridging partnerships across Civil Society at the United Nations. With multiple Peace Educational program under the leadership of Joshua Kirshbaum the New York/UN office has 700+ participants (volunteers, interns, and students) working directly with the United Nations on projects across the globe. the different teams are advocating for nonviolent solutions through peace education and international advocacy; connecting a youth network of Agents of Change to Civil Society at the United Nations, through Internship, Mentorship, and Training initiatives. Nonviolence International currently works on several projects, with focuses on grassroots activism in Sudan, Ukraine, Palestine, & New York City. They are the acting United States fiscal sponsor for the
Gaza Freedom Flotilla The Gaza Freedom Flotilla, organized by the Free Gaza Movement and the Turkish Foundation for Human Rights and Freedoms and Humanitarian Relief (İHH), was carrying humanitarian aid and construction materials, with the intention of breaking ...
s, which seeks to end the siege of Gaza using nonviolence. Director and founder
Mubarak Awad Mubarak Awad is a Palestinian-American psychologist and an advocate of nonviolent resistance. Early life and move to the United States Awad, a Palestinian Christian (a member of the Greek Orthodox Church), was born in 1943 in Jerusalem when it wa ...
, along with co-founder Jonathan Kuttab, led a delegation to Qatar with Palestinian leadership in order to advocate for a nonviolent strategy of resistance. Michael Beer served as an advisor to the 2019 Sudanese resistance movement and Under Joshua Kirshbaum the New York office has now founde
The New York Graduate Plan
with unprecedented access and opportunities to the United Nations and the international community for students across the globe.


Organization and affiliations

Nonviolence International operates as a collective of independent offices around the world. Each office manages its own programs and activities. Within the United States, the central office is located in Washington, D.C.; the organization also has a satellite office in New York City directed by their youngest office head, Joshua Kirshbaum. The NY office in partnership with different civil society coalitions 4 youth-focused programs at the United Nations. With over 150 active Volunteers, interns and students Nonviolence International New York at the Harlem Research Center is the largest Nonviolence International office as yet. Additional international offices are located in Banda Aceh, Jerusalem, Bangkok, Kyiv and Victoria. In addition to its own programs, the New York teams of Nonviolence International holds leadership positions and membership in a number of other organizations and campaigns, such as the International Campaign Against Foreign Military Bases, The
International Action Network on Small Arms The International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA) was incorporated on 30 May 2002 under the laws of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The IANSA London office was closed in 2015, but it has an active UN liaison office in ...
(IANSA), NGO Major Group, Coalition for Global Citizenship 2030,
War Resisters' International War Resisters' International (WRI), headquartered in London, is an international anti-war organisation with members and affiliates in over 30 countries. History ''War Resisters' International'' was founded in Bilthoven, Netherlands in 1921 unde ...
(WRI), and the
International Peace Bureau The International Peace Bureau (IPB) (french: Bureau international de la paix), founded in 1891, is one of the world's oldest international peace federations. The organisation was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1910 for acting "as a link be ...
(IPB). They were a supporting organization to both the
International Campaign to Ban Landmines The International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) is a coalition of non-governmental organizations whose stated objective is a world free of anti-personnel mines and cluster munitions, where mine and cluster munitions survivors see their right ...
(ICBL), which was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997, and the
International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (abbreviated to ICAN, pronounced ) is a global civil society coalition working to promote adherence to and full implementation of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. The camp ...
(ICAN), which was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2017. NI also acts as a fiscal sponsor for Control Arms, Center for Jewish Nonviolence,
We Are Not Numbers We Are Not Numbers (WANN) is a project for established in 2015 by Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor to provide English-language writing workshops for young Palestinians in Gaza. It provides each participant with six months of training a ...
, Holy Land Trust, the al Watan Center and many other groups. Additionally, the organization has been widely outspoken against
torture Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons such as punishment, extracting a confession, interrogation for information, or intimidating third parties. Some definitions are restricted to acts c ...
and human rights abuses propagated by the
United States Government The federal government of the United States (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the national government of the United States, a federal republic located primarily in North America, composed of 50 states, a city within a fede ...
.


Leadership

Mubarak Awad Mubarak Awad is a Palestinian-American psychologist and an advocate of nonviolent resistance. Early life and move to the United States Awad, a Palestinian Christian (a member of the Greek Orthodox Church), was born in 1943 in Jerusalem when it wa ...
, the founder and president, is an adjunct professor of nonviolent resistance at
American University The American University (AU or American) is a private federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C. Its main campus spans 90 acres (36 ha) on Ward Circle, mostly in the Spring Valley neighborhood of Northwest D.C. AU was charte ...
. He is affiliated with a number of renowned global nonviolent activists such as the
Dalai Lama Dalai Lama (, ; ) is a title given by the Tibetan people to the foremost spiritual leader of the Gelug or "Yellow Hat" school of Tibetan Buddhism, the newest and most dominant of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The 14th and current Dal ...
, Archbishop
Desmond Tutu Desmond Mpilo Tutu (7 October 193126 December 2021) was a South African Anglican bishop and theologian, known for his work as an anti-apartheid and human rights activist. He was Bishop of Johannesburg from 1985 to 1986 and then Archbishop ...
and Mairead McGuire. He was born in Jerusalem in 1943 and later chose
Bluffton University Bluffton University is a private Mennonite university in Bluffton, Ohio. It is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission, with four programs that have earned programmatic accreditation: dietetics, education, music, and social work. The unive ...
over
Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...
to pursue degrees in social work and psychology. He has since been influenced by Mennonite and Quaker pacifist ideologies. He obtained a master's degree from
Saint Francis University Saint Francis University (SFU) is a private Catholic university in Loretto, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1847 and conducted under the tradition of the Franciscan Friars of the Third Order Regular. The university is situated on in the fore ...
and later a PhD in Psychology from
Saint Louis University Saint Louis University (SLU) is a private Jesuit research university with campuses in St. Louis, Missouri, United States, and Madrid, Spain. Founded in 1818 by Louis William Valentine DuBourg, it is the oldest university west of the Mississip ...
. In 1988, Awad was deported from Palestine for his leadership in helping spark the
First Intifada The First Intifada, or First Palestinian Intifada (also known simply as the intifada or intifadah),The word ''intifada'' () is an Arabic word meaning "uprising". Its strict Arabic transliteration is '. was a sustained series of Palestinian ...
; he is barred from all but short visits to his homeland. Michael Beer began working with the organization in 1991 and has maintained the executive director position since 1998. Beer is a global activist for human rights and minority rights and has been an outspoken voice for grassroots movements around the world. He focuses on nonviolence training and education and has worked with activists in numerous countries including Myanmar, Kosovo, Indonesia, Thailand, Cambodia, India, Zimbabwe and the United States. He is a frequent public speaker on nonviolence and has been broadcast on CSPAN, CNN and other major media outlets. Jonathan Kuttab is a co-founder and prominent civil rights lawyer in Israel, Palestine and New York. Kuttab co-founded the Palestinian Center for the Study of Nonviolence as well as the Mandela Institute for Political Prisoners. He is also a co-founder of
Al-Haq Al-Haq () is an independent Palestinian human rights organization based in the city of Ramallah in the West Bank. Founded in 1979, Al-Haq monitors and documents human rights violations committed by parties to the Israeli–Palestinian confli ...
, a major Palestinian human rights organization. Joshua Kirshbaum is the Director of the Nonviolence International New York Office. In early 2018 Nonviolence International welcomed Joshua to be the youngest office head in the network. Quickly after taking office as the Executive Director of the New York Region, they began to expand and now Joshua and his teams run the Nonviolence International New York Office and the Nonviolence Resource Center in Harlem, Nonviolence Arizona Research Program in Tucson, Arizona, the peacebuilding and VR tech project in Seville, Spain, and The New York Graduate plan. He is an active member and consultant for over a dozen organizations and nonprofits around the world. Over 12 active programs spanning nonviolent action training, youth leadership empowerment, sustainable peace, and international disarmament advocacy and much more. for Joshua's young age, he has an extensive history in peacebuilding on an international scale and has been trained by some of the world's leading activists in nonviolence methodology. Joshua's past activities include his work connecting major corporate sponsors with important causes, expanding their philanthropic markets throughout Latin America. Opening a chain of philanthropic projects across South America from his community center "La Casa De La Vida" and "Estudio Ecuador" and the formation of Peace Vision Action Coalition (PeaceVAC), allowing the support of Coalitions and advocacy groups in Civil Society at the United Nations.


Activities

The main focus of the organization is promoting nonviolent solutions through the training and education of individuals, NGOs, and governments. It provides education materials, and sponsors and organizes training and strategy sessions. Specifically the organization: # Sponsors local, national, regional and international seminars on nonviolence; # Offers training programs and develops educational materials; # Provides resources and specialists to groups or governments seeking alternative possibilities for peace; # Prints and disseminates articles, newsletters, reports and undertakes public interest research on nonviolence; # Provides public education through speakers and the media; # Cooperates with other nonviolence, peace and conflict resolution organizations internationally in order to work together toward a common goal.Guinard, Caroline. ''From War to Peace''. Nonviolence International Southeast Asia, 2002, p.176


References


External links

*
New York Website

Harlem Resource Center
* *{{Cite web, url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/lin-evola/blood-in-the-water-art-st_b_11076022.html, title=Blood In The Water, Art Stops Guns: A Peace Angels Project Initiative, last=Evola, first=Lin, date=2016-07-20, website=Huffington Post, language=en-US, access-date=2018-07-05 Activism Peace organizations Non-profit organizations based in Washington, D.C. Nonviolence organizations based in the United States Organizations established in 1989 501(c)(3) organizations Nonviolence Nonviolence organizations