Slideshows about nonviolence and nonviolent resolution of conflicts, economic alternatives, ecology, social change, spirituality : www.irnc.org , Slideshows in english Actors of nonviolence born between 1910 and 1929.

1. Historical overview of nonviolence
1910 - 1929
Étienne Godinot
Translation : Claudia Mc Kenny-Engström
08.07.2015

2. Georges-Dominique Pire
(1910-1969) Belgian Dominican. Social and political sciences,
moral philosophy and sociology professor at the Sarte
Convent in Huy. Chaplain in the Resistance during the
Second World War.
Creates after the war the Service for Family Mutual assistance
for families in need, and the Support to displaced persons,
helping refugees in Germany and Austria find housing.
Nobel Price for Peace in 1958.
Creates in 1960 the University for Peace in Namur, where
trainings on nonviolent resolution of conflicts, and later the
Islands of peace, which helps rural populations in the South.

3. Leonidas Proaño
(1910-1988). Ecuadorian, Bishop at Riobamba and in the
province of Chimborazo, called “the Bishop of the Indians” for his
constant action in favour of indigenous populations.
Refuse the erection of an expensive cathedral, redistributes to
Indians land belonging to the Church, creates a Study centre and
social action to promote conscientisation and farmers’
organisation.
Arrested on 12th
August 1976 during a pastoral conference. The
Minister of Home affairs holds a long discourse on a text proving
“ the subversive activities of political nature ” heard during the
meeting, relative to nonviolence.
“ The authentic subversive file was not found : they forgot the
Bible ! ”

4. Guy-Marie Riobé
(1911-1979), French, Catholic bishop in Orleans from 1963 to 1979.
Discovers Christianity with Jesuit Prosper Monier in 1945, impressed
by Charles de Foucauld’s spirituality.
In 1969, testifies at the trial of three Orleanese who claim to be
conscientious objectors and recommend nonviolent defence.
Protests with Helder Camara against the French weapon sales in
Brasil.
Stands up against French nuclear trials in the Pacific ocean (told by
Admiral Marc de Joybert to “get back to his sheep”), against racism,
death penalty, dictatorial regimes, the Catholic Church’s immobilism.
“ One of the central affirmations in Christianity is that violence is not
a fatality, and that, in consequence, history can become nonviolent ”.

5. Jean Goss
(1912-1991), French, son to an anarchist father and a catholic mother.
Railroad worker, prisoner of war during five years. In 1948, sends
back his military papers and decorations.
Joins the International movement for reconciliation (IMR) in 1946 and
becomes fast its itinerant secretary.
With Hildegard Mayr, whom he marries in 1958, travels the world and
raises awareness, namely in Christian groups during meetings and
trainings to nonviolence : Brazil (1964-1965), Mexico (1970-1971),
Norther Ireland (from 1963), the Balkans (from 1972), Austral
Africa (from 1973), Lebanon (1974-1975 and 1980), Salvador
(1979), Philippines (from 1984), Thailand, Bangladesh, Hong
Kong, Zaïre (1990).
../..

6. Jean Goss
Contributed significantly to raise, in countries under
dictatorship, oppression or at war, nonviolent resistance
groups and movements : South America (SERPAJ),
Lebanon, Philippines (AKKAPKA), Democratic Republic of
Congo (GANVE-Lubumbashi, Amos Kin).
“ Nonviolence is present in each person and people. We are
like midwives trying to discover, feed and organise this
force of life, and help it emerge in the struggle for liberation
and reconciliation ”.
Photo : Jean and Hildegard Goss

7. Thomas Merton
(1915-1968), American writer, Trappist monk and social activist.
Writes numerous books on spirituality, poems and essays,
namely on war and racism. Zen Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki
specialist, craftsman of inter-religious dialogue, speaks with the
Dalai Lama, Thich Nhat Hanh.
Nonviolence is “ the only contemporary political philosophy
directly linked to the Bible (…). The nonviolent ideal does not
enclose all the answers, which will have to be sought for
amongst the risks and anxieties of daily politics. But they will
never be found if we do not seriously take into account
nonviolence ”.

8. Jean Toulat
(1915-1994). French catholic priest, resistant, journalist from
1950 for catholic weekly newspapers. Participates in 1973 with
Jean-Marie Muller and Jacques de Bollardière in a protest action
against nuclear trials in Muruoa.
Author of 29 books about nonviolence and peace (The bomb or
life, War Strikers, Fighters for nonviolence, Dare peace, For a
Marseillaise of fraternity), respect for life (Abortion, crime or
liberation?), charity (Raoul Follereau, Helder Camara), spirituality
(The power of faith, The power of hope, The power of love).
His brother Pierre Toulat was secretary of the French episcopal commission
Justice and Peace.

9. Michel Grenier
(1915-1997), Swiss minister, secretary of the francophone Swiss
branch of the International movement for reconciliation (MIR),
initiates the Martin Luther King centre in 1968 in Lausanne, which
became the Centre for nonviolent action (CENAC) in 2004.
The CENAC acts in four main fields : training (annual or à la carte
programme), documentation (tools, catalogues of online
catalogues), information (newspapers), publishing.
“ Nonviolence is first of all the respect for oneself, others and the
environment. It is also not standing with arms crossed before
injustices. “ Neither hedgehog nor doormat ” : never hurt, never
get hurt ”.

10. Robert Aitken
(1917-2010). American, pioneer in zen Buddhism, which he
starts to get interested in when imprisoned in Japan during the
Second World War. Becomes a teacher in the Sambö Kyôdan
school, the “ Society of three treasures ”.
Is socially involved, an engagement he considers inseparable
from his practice of Buddhism. Protests against American
nuclear trials in the 50’, then against the Vietnam war in the
60’, refusing to pay the taxes for war.
Founds in Hawaii with his wife Anne the Buddhist Peace
Fellowship, one of the most active American organisations for
ecology, disarmament and human rights.

11. Oscar Romero
(1917-1980). Salvadorian, catholic archbishop of San Salvador.
The assassination of his Jesuit friend Rutilio Grande by the
Death Squads in 1977 changes his political and pastoral
orientation.
On 23rd
March 1980, calls soldiers to react to army exactions.
The day after, he is shot down and killed during a mass in a
hospital chapel.
“ The liberation will come (…) when the poor will be the actors
of their own fight for freedom, and by unmasking these false
paternalists, even in the Church ”.
“ A soldier must not be forced to obey an order that goes
against the law of God (…). I ask you, I beg you, in the name of
God : stop the repression ! ”

12. Inge, Hans ans Sophie Scholl
Alexander Schmorell, Willy Graf, Christoph Probst, Kurt Huber
Inge S. (1917-1998), Hans S. (1918-1943), Sophie S. (1921-
1943), Alexander Schmorrell (1917-1943), Willi Graf (1918-1943),
Christof Probst (1919-1943) were German students during the
Second World War.
They discusses the political situation with Kurt Huber (1893-
1943), notorious philosophy professor at Munich University. Kurt,
first opposed to the idea of revolting against the country he loves,
ends up fully supporting his students who found, at the beginning
of 1942, the Weisse Rose (White rose) underground network.
Resisting Nazism, they affirm the primacy of the human being
over political regimes and denounce the Holocaust by distributing
tracts sent out by post or in big cities and the University of
Munich. ../..
Photos : Hans and Sophie Scholl, Kurt Huber

13. Inge, Hans and Sophie Scholl
Alexander Schmorell, Willy Graf, Christoph Probst, Kurt Huber
On 18th
February 1943, they decide to openly distribute the tracts
they hitherto handed out in clandestinity.
Hans, Sophie and Christoph are decapitated with an axe on 22nd
1943 in Munich. Alexander, Willi and Pr. Hubert are decapitated a
few months later. In total, 16 members of the group are killed,
executed or following ill-treatment in camps.
“ What we said and wrote, many think it. Bu they don’t dare say it
out loud. ” Sophie Scholl
Inge, freed, becomes a nonviolent and human rights activist. In
1985, she is arrested for having participated in a sit-in in Mutlangen
American army base harbouring nuclear missiles.
Photo above : Alexander
Schmorell

14. Alexandre Solzhenitsyn
(1918-2008). Russian writer. Imprisoned from 1945 to 1953 by
Stalin regime, rehabilitated in 1957 during Khrushchev. His entire
work (A day in the day in the life of Ivan Denisovich, Cancer Ward,
The Gulag Archipelago, The Oak and the Calf, etc.) denounces the
dictatorship and the system of thought on which it is grounded.
Nobel Prize for Literature in 1970. Deported from USSR in 1974,
during the Brezhnev era. Finds refuge in Switzerland, then lives in
the USA after 1976. Comes back to Russia in 1994 at the fall of
communism.
Until his death, he denounces mafia, cronyism, uncontrolled
neoliberalism. Disapproves the first war in Chechnya, but approves
the second.
../..

15. Alexandre Solzhenitsyn
“ We cannot accept the idea that the course of history be
inexorable, that a self-confident spirit cannot act on the
strongest power in the world.
The experience of these last generations prove to me that
only man’s mental inflexibility, solidly standing up
against the violence that threat him, and ready to
sacrifice himself and to die in saying “ Not one more ! ”,
only that mental inflexibility ensures true defence of an
individual’s peace, the peace of all and of humanity ”.

16. Antonio Fragoso
(1920-2006). Brazilian Catholic Bishop of Crateus in Nordeste,
one of the poorest regions in the country, from 1964 to 1998.
He directs his action towards the deprived ones, namely
hundreds of prostitutes in Crateus whose liberation movement
he supports and invites for Midnight Mass in the basilica.
He denounces what happens in the huge latifundias and the
misery within them, supports the farmers’ movements in
cooperatives. He is soon referred to by authorities as “ a
social agitator ”.
Close to Jean and Hildegard Goss and Fredy Kuntz, he
participates in the nonviolent movement actions of the
Servicio Paz y Justicia.

17. Ludwig Baumann
Born in 1921, German soldier, quarter master during the Second
World War.
With his colleague Kurt Oldenburg, is profoundly shaken by the
sufferance endured by populations, namely in Russia. They desert
their company based in Bordeaux, sentenced to death, a sentence
reduced to 12 years imprisonment. Incorporated in a disciplinary
battalion in Ukraine, where Oldenbourg dies.
Back from the front broken and an alcoholic, he gets back on his
feet in 1966. In 1990, he founds with 36 comrades the Federal
Association of victims of Nazi military justice, which aims at
invalidating the decisions made by special tribunals and granting a
pension to 300 survivors and their parents.
During the Nazi period, 23 000 German deserters were shot,
decapitated or hanged, as well as 10 000 conscientious objectors,
rebellious or soldiers having “ brought down the troupes moral ”.
Photo : Headstone in
honour of anti-Nazi
German deserters in
Hanovre.

18. Andrei Sakharov
(1921-1989). Russian physicist. Father of the Soviet
hydrogen atomic bomb, honoured and gratified by the
regime.
Repented in 1953, all his efforts go to cancel atmospheric
nuclear trials. Becomes after 1966 a human rights defender
against communist dictatorship.
With his wife Elena Bonner, calls countries, namely the USA
and USSR, to resolve main world problems : hunger,
racism, militarism, waste of natural resources.
Forbidden to work. Nobel Prize for peace in 1975. Assigned
to residence in Gorki from 1980 to 1986. Elected Member of
Parliament in 1989, he rises up against the war in
Afghanistan.

19. Raymond Hunthausen
Born in 1921, American chemical engineer, US Air Force fighter pilot.
Ordained priest in 1946, chemistry professor, sports coach, Bishop of
Helena and then Archbishop of Seattle from 1975 to 1991
(Washington State, West coast). Known and contested because of his
positions taken on justice and peace, and his involvement for the
poorest and deprived.
In 1982, refuse to pay half his taxes as protest against the construction
of the Kitsap-Bangor submarine base in the Puget Sound, destined to
harbour Trident nuclear missile submarines.
“ When crimes are prepared in our name, we must speak
up loud and clear. I state, fully conscious of the words
I choose : Trident is the Auschwitz of our time (…) ”.
../..

20. Raymond Hunthausen
“ It is clear that we must act and find nonviolent forms of
resistance (…). I would like to share another vision of
action to take : an important number of people in
Washington State, 5000, 10 000, half a million, refusing to
pay 50 % of their taxes in sign of resistance to murder and
nuclear suicide. The 1040 form* is the point in which we let
the Pentagone enter in our lives and ask for our blind
cooperation with nuclear destruction.
I believe Jesus’ teaching asks us to give back to Cesar, full of
nuclear weapons, what he deserves : refusing to pay taxes
(…). What I ask you to do some call that civil disobedience.
I would rather call it obeying to God ”.
* fiscal
Pastoral letter, June 1981

21. Daniel Berrigan
Born in 1921. Jesuit, American poet and nonviolence activist.
Observes the war in Vietnam and the effects of American
bombings. His brother Philip, also Jesuit, had, in Baltimore in
1967, sprayed with blood the registers of the reserve soldiers
called up to fight.
In May 1968, with 7 other people, both brothers burn with
napalm 378 files in Catonsville incorporation bureau.
In September 1980, together with 8 other demonstrators, they
damage with hammers (Isaiah, 2, 4) covered nuclear heads
destined to missiles in the General Electric King of Prussia
factory.
“ Our excuses for transgression of order, burning paper instead
of children…”

22. John Rawls
(1921-2002), American philosopher and University professor, major
political philosophy author of the XXth century. Elaborates his
theory during a period deeply marked by the war in Vietnam and
the struggle for civil rights.
Based on notions of ethics and justice, his work revives the lost
tradition of contract law, and seeks to articulate it rationally with
individual freedom and social solidarity.
He justifies civil disobedience in the frame of democratic States as
a citizen action that actually has the power of reinforcing
democracy.
“ Civil disobedience expresses disobedience to law in the frame of
a loyalty to law (…). If it may seem to threaten civil concord,
responsibility is not incumbent upon those who protest, but upon
those whose abuse of authority and power justifies such an
opposition ”.

23. Juan Jose Gerardi Conodera
(1922-1998), Guatemalan of Italian descent, defender of the
Maya languages, creator of two radios in Mayan language,
auxiliary bishop of Guatemala diocese.
Coresponsible of the Recuperacion de la Memoria project on
crimes committed during the military dictatorship between 1960
and 1996 (150 000 deaths, 1 million refugees and exiled). The
report in 4 volumes “ Guatemala : Nunca mas ” (Never again)
handed in on 4th
April 1998 presents 54 000 documented
violations : massacres, tortures, mass rapes, enforced
disappearance, mutilations.
Two days later, on 26th
April, he is beaten to death in the garage
of his presbytery, his head crushed by concrete blocks.
In June 2001, three army officers were proven guilty of his assassination and
sentenced to 30 years imprisonment.

24. Bernard Boudouresques
(1923-2013), French, engineer, member of the resistance, priest at
the French Mission. CEA engineer, opposes construction of atomic
bombs. During the war in Algeria, helps the FLN and the Jeanson
network, is arrested by French secret services.
Continues his fight against French nuclear dissuasion strategy,
member of the Movement for Disarmament, Peace and Freedom
(MDPL). Militant at Amnesty International, the ACAT (Christian
action for the abolition of torture), at the France-Palestine
Association (AFPS) and Pax Christi.
Signs in January 2012 the call in favour of
French unilateral nuclear disarmament.

25. Clemens Kapuuo
(1923-1978) Teacher and then politician in South-West Namibia,
leader of the 50 000 members of Herero ethny. From 1945, he
fights against the annexation of Namibia by South Africa, calling to
boycott the referendum organised to complete it. Multiple meetings,
petitions all the way up o the UN, awareness-raising campaigns.
In 1959, organised by boycott of busses and European bars to
avoid expulsion of Hereros from their living places by white power.
Refuses to sit in a Bantoustans (fake black State Pretoria attempts
to govern) consultative council.
Claims his belonging to nonviolence and African humanism. First
President of the Democratic Turnhall Alliance (DTA)*.
Assassinated in March 1978 by strangers, probably activists from
the South-West African People’s Organisation (SWAPO) who
wanted armed resistance.
* Political party founded in an old sports hall (Turnhall) in Windhoek.

26. René Girard
Born in 1923, French philosopher, doctor in history, Christian. His entire
career is spent in the USA. Works on the mimetics of desire, sacrifice,
mechanism of victimisation and scapegoats. Throws the basis of a
renewed anthropolodgy.
Because our desires are by nature instable, floating and uncertain, we
need a third party to desire : a mediator, a person who enlightens and
designs the object of our desire. Then we imitate it.
But when two people desire the same object, there occurs a conflict,
imitational rivalry, imitational crisis, source of quarrel between
neighbours, at the office, as well as bloody wars. We need scapegoats
for all evils to solve the universal imitational crisis.
../..

27. René Girard
The Gospel according to Jesus of Nazareth clearly enounces
the innocence of the victim and contests the sacrificial order on
which rests our society.
Jesus dies “ because he refuses to submit to the rule of
violence. There is nothing, in the Gospel, to suggest the death
of Jesus is a sacrifice, whatever the definition we give
sacrifice, expiation, substitution, etc.” The sacrificial nature of
his death “ is the most paradox and greatest misunderstanding
in history ”.
All the efforts deployed by theologians to explain the sacrificial
pact that would have been concluded between the Father and
the Son, “only lead to absurdities (…). This postulate has no
doubt done more than any all other to discredit Christianity in
the eyes of men of good faith in the modern world.”

28. Grégoire Haddad
Born in 1924, Lebanese, former Greco-catholic Bishop of Beirut,
deposed in 1975 due to his Christian position.
Apostle of nonviolence, Islamo-Christian dialogue, namely during
the civil war, of a secular State in a country were 18 religions
habitate.
Founder in 1961 of the Social Lebanese Movement
(cooperatives, social centres, help to disabled people, etc.) which
today works for citizenship education.
“ We support this civil resistance of citizens which consists in
asking for the suppression of the reference to religion on the civil
status ”.

29. Danilo Dolci
(1924-1997). Italian political nonviolent activist, sociologist, writer,
educator and poet.
In October 1952, settled in Trappeto, a Sicilian village 30km from
Palermo, which he considers like “ the poorest place I have ever
known ”. With Vincenzina Mangano, widow to a fisherman, mother
of 5 children he adopts, build an orphanage.
Begins one of his numerous hunger strikes, on the bed of a child
who died from malnutrition. Becomes known as the “Sicilian
Gandhi”. His strike ends when authorities publically declare they
will realise urgent projects, such as the construction of a sewer
system.
../..

30. Danilo Dolci
In November 1955, starts a hunger strike in order to obtain the
construction of a dam to irrigate the valley. In January 1956, more
than thousand people go on a hunger strike to protest against
fraudulent fishing that deprives fishermen from their means of
subsistence.
On 2nd
February 1956, organises in Partinico and “inversed strike”
grounded on voluntary work. Hundreds of unemployed repair an
abandoned countryside road. Police puts a term to the action,
qualifying it as “obstruction”. Dolci is arrested. Free, his campaign
for the dam and the economic reconstruction of this miserable
region starts up again.
In 1958, he founds the Centre for studies and initiatives against
unemployment in Partinicio. This auto-managed centre becomes a
place of practice of nonviolence for generations of activists.
../..

31. Danilo Dolci
Ten years later, fights to support victims of the earthquake in the
valley of Belice. Governmental funds for victims having been
misappropriated by corrupt politicians, he denounces the
corruption and mafia.
From the 70’, deepens his study of Socratic methods, i.e. a
cooperative way of debating, studying, experimenting and
searching together for truth.
“ If we consider the objections done to the possibilities of
nonviolent revolutionary action (history, doubt that men can be
perfected, accusing inefficiency and utopia, etc.), we realise that
not only are they insufficient, but how much they carry the scar of
conservative reactions ”.

32. Kenneth Kaunda
Born in 1924 in North Rhodesia (Zambia). Teacher, expulsed from a
library reserved to white people.
In 1953, imprisoned for two months for having talked about the
possibility of nonviolent resistance. Journey to England, the India,
where he is struck by Gandhi’s model.
Creates in 1960 the United National Independence Party (UNIP),
which uses nonviolent action. The UNIP wins 55 seats out of 88 in
1964. He becomes Prime Minister of North Rhodesia, negotiates the
independence, proclaimed in October 1964.
First President of the Republic of Zambia. Installs a single party
dictatorship, justified by the risk of implosion of the country.
Collectivises farms, which leads to a decline in agricultural
production. Gives priority to teaching.

33. Azucena Villaflor, María Ponce de Bianco,
Esther Ballestrino
Azucena Villafor, 1924-1977, from a Peronist family ;
Maria Ponce de Bianco, 1924-1977, Third world church
activist; Esther Ballestrino, 1918-1977, biochemist from
Paraguay. Founders, in April 1977, with 11 other women, of
the Asociación Madres de la Plaza de Mayo (Association of
Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo).
Demonstrate every Thursday afternoon in the centre of Buenos
Aires, in front of the governmental palce, la Casa Rosada, against
the disappearance of their children kidnapped by General Jorge
Videla’s junta. Soldiers having given them the order to circulate
due to the state of siege, they walk in circles around the square for
30 minutes, in the opposite direction of a clock.
../..

34. The mothers of the Plaza de Mayo
Thus, they symbolically go back in time, criticising the
impunity of the army responsible for massacres and
tortures.
Kidnapped on 10th
December 1977, at the same time as 9 other
mothers and French nuns Leonie Duquel and Alice Domon, they
are thrown out of a helicopter. Their bodies were identified later.
From 1981, the Mothers start, in the middle of the dictatorship,
the “Marches of Resistance”, demanding respect for human
rights.
11000 disappearances were formally recognised by the Argentinian
State, but historians and the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo evaluate the
number to 30 000.

35. Jean-Pierre Lanvin
(1924-1997), French, resistant, joins the troupes of the France
Libre. His experience of war leads him to join the nonviolent
movement. He will stay faithful to the Arche, while remaining
committed to his field work as activist.
Undergoes a hunger strike against torture in Algeria in 1957.
Voluntarily enters a camp for Algerian “suspects” arbitrarily
imprisoned.
Satisfies himself of a position as commercial representative in the
family business (chocolate), in order to circulate freely and develop
contacts with activists.
Co-founder of the Action and Resistance to Militarisation
Groupe in Lyon, 1970. In January 1971 and 1972, together
with friends, occupies by surprise the atomic PC on Mont
Verdun, in construction close to Lyon.
../..

36. Jean-Pierre Lanvin
Co-organises a march against the atomic PC (5000 participants) from Lyon to
the Mont Verdun, led in June 1971 by Theodore Monod. Is also active in the
Larzac struggle and against the Super phoenix generator in Malville.
From 1989 to 1997, takes part – with EquiLibre among others – in twenty
humanitarian convoys and travels for peace : Kazakhstan, Kanaky, ex-
Yugoslavia at war, Israel, Palestine, Gaza, Hungary and Voyvodin, Iraq, etc.
“ My life, a novel in all that ? I don’t know. I only
tried to let myself be guided by something bigger
than me ”.

37. Samuel Ruiz Garcia
(1924-2011). Mexican, Bishop of San Cristobal de Las Casas
from 1959 to 1999. Commits his life to his “preferential option
for poor people and the liberation of the oppressed”.
Itinerant pastor, promotes an idea of the Church ensuring
participation and development of all. Accused by big land
owners of supporting the guerrilla (“Chief Sam”), affectionately
nicknamed Tatic by the population.
Denounces the harshness of the neoliberalism established in the
ALENA treaty.
../..

38. Samuel Ruiz Garcia
Main figure of the national Intermediation Commission
(CONAI) between the Mexican federal government and the
Zapatist army for national liberation (EZLN).
In December 1994, when war seems unstoppable, he
begins a hunger strike in favour of peace, which forces the
government to recognise the Commission as a partner.
Signs in 2005 the Porto Allegre Manifesto, which
establishes human rights over financial interests.

39. Alain Richard
Born in 1924, agricultural engineer, French Franciscan. Chaplain at
the Faculty of Sciences in Orsay, daily temporary industry worker and
inhabitant of a poor neighbourhood in Chicago during 6 years.
Participates in the Peace Brigades International in Guatemala in
1983-1986 and in Sri Lanka in 1990. Creates the Franciscan centre
for nonviolence Pace bene in as Vegas, city of gambling and nuclear
trials…
Initiates in 2007 in Toulouse the first Silence Circle to draw attention
on the situation of illegal migrants whose humanity is violated by their
confinement in retention centres. More than 170 silence circles got
together in France and Europe.
“ My life is a formidable gift, it is no way automatic or evident. It is vital
to greet amazement and essential to refuse lies ”.

40. Patrice Lumumba
(1925-1961). Congolese politician. Founder in 1958 of a supra-
ethnic party, the Congolese National Movement.
In contact with the regionalist party Abako led by Kasa-Vubu
and with the Belgian progressive minority, namely Jean Van
Lierde, fights for Zaire’s independence. Boycott of Belgian
institutions, establishment of a parallel administration and
justice, refusal to pay taxes.
Arrested in November 1959 and sentenced to 6 months
imprisonment. Tens of thousands Black people demonstrate for
his liberation before King Beaudoin.
../..

41. Patrice Lumumba
Within two years, the Congolese people obtain their independence
without any violence.
Prime Minister in 1960, opposes Katanga’s succession. Overthrown
by Kasa-Vubu, transferred to Katanga, is assassinated. Belgian
secret agents, with the probable complicity of the CIA, destroy
his body sliced into pieces in acid.
“ So long as a country is not independent, so long as it hasn’t
fulfilled its destiny, it lacks the essential. This is true whatever
the level of life of the colonised, whatever the positive aspects of
the colonial system. We must oppose the enemies of freedom
with a coalition of free men ”.

42. Gonzalo Arias
(1926-2008). Andalusian Spaniard, engaged in the fight against
Franco, translator for international organisations such as UNESCO.
Founder of the “active nonviolence” movement.
In October 1968, goes down in Madrid streets with posters demanding
free elections be held for the position of Head of State. Sentenced to 7
months imprisonment in a 10 000 pesetas fine for having committed
“acts aiming at abolishing or modifying the constitutional laws of the
Franco regime”.
Author of books on nonviolence (1973), Gibraltar (1975), nonviolent
civil defence (1995), translator of nonviolence into Spanish.
“ The refusal to obey the usurper should be an article in all internal
rules for staff and a provision in all engagements towards the State,
whatever the level in hierarchy ”.

43. Pierre Karli
Born in 1926, professor in neurophysiology at the Faculty of
Medicine in Strasbourg, member of the Academy of Sciences.
Founder of the Institute for the promotion of social links. Believes
Man is above all a being meant to be in relation with others, a social
being.
Defines aggressive behaviour as “a mean for action likely to be
implemented for the most diverse goals, and not only a simple
projection outwards of a random aggressiveness that would be
unavoidably generated by the brain”. Rises up against the idea
according to which an individual’s violence would be due to
chemical deregulations of the central nervous system, a vision he
qualifies as “social Darwinism”. Asserts the aggressiveness gene
does not exist.
../..

44. Pierre Karli
Aggressiveness intervenes as a strategy whose ends are either
self-affirmation and satisfaction of needs and desires, or the
defence against anything threatening one’s own integrity or the
integrity of a group.
Analyses violence, in its diverse expressions (domestic, at school,
urban, political, etc.), as attitudes and behaviours that have in
common to hurt another, violate physical and/or psychological
integrity.
“ No biological fatality could ever be held responsible for men
serving some ideas and degrade another man, and of these ideas,
potentially generating individual promotion and collective progress,
becoming a dogma defended by intolerance and fanatism, thus
potentially – or effectively – becoming the generator of a wave of
violence ”.

45. Ramjee Singh
Indian, born in 1927, takes part at the age of 13 in the civil disobedience
campaigns led by Gandhi, and later in the Vinoba Bhave and
JayaPrakash Narayan ones. Is imprisoned during 21 months. Gandhi
specialist and author of numerous books about the Mahatma, founder
and chief of the Gandhi Philosophy Department at the University of
Bhagalpur.
Vice President of the Indian Society of Gandhian Studies (Varanasi),
organises 70 training sessions for young people. Speaker at the World
Congress of Philosophy (Brighton) and at the Parliament of the World’s
Religion (Chicago, 1993, Cape Town, 2001). Deputy of the Janata Party
led by J.P Narayan in 1977, Vice Chancellor of the Jain Vishva Bharati
University.
“ The leaders of the Congress did not follow the path opened by
Gandhi, one of a politics grounded on ethics. Nehru’s politics have
failed in internal affairs, policies, economy, social life (…).
In the West, separation of the Church and the State is a good thing, but
it resulted in the separation of spiritual and ethical life from economy
and politics ”.

46. Cesar Chavez
(1927-1993). American of Mexican origin (Chicano), student
of Saul Alisnky.
In the 1960-70’, leads in California and in the United States, a
nonviolent struggle of trade union farmers against the boss’
of agribusiness : creates a trade union, the National Farm
Worker Association (NFWA), strikes in vineyards, boycott of
grapes, Delano-Sacramento march in 1966, 25 day hunger
strike to maintain the unity of his movement in nonviolence.
“ We are nonviolent because we want to obtain social justice
for workers. Strange nonviolent philosophies mean little to
those who are hungry if they do not feed them ! ”

47. Jo(seph) Pyronnet
(1927-2010), French Compagnon of the Arche of Lanza de
Vasto, animator of Nonviolent Civic Action during the war
in Algeria : denounces the tortures perpetrated in Algeria,
internments in France, asks for a status of conscientious
objector. Goes on a 7 day hunger strike in June 1960, ties
himself up, prison.
Public hunger strike during the Concilium Vatican II
regarding the nuclear weapon. Ordained catholic priest of
Gandhian obedience in 1981 after the death of his wife
Christiane.
“ Our civilisation is advanced. We use the
same term for meat…”
“ If you don’t want to die for a cause, then
die for nothing ! ”

48. Chandrashekhar Shankar Dharmadhikari
and Sibi Kollapallil Joseph
CSD : born in 1947, Indian, pro-independence activist and follower of
Gandhi, former judge at the High Court of Justice in Bombay, president of
the Institute for Gandhian Studies in Wharda (Maharastra), town where
Gandhi’s last ashram was.
SKJ : Indian, Director of the Institute for Gandhian Studies.
This Institute, founded in 1987 and financed by the Jamalal Bajaj
Foundation, has for objective to study, promote and renew Gandhi’s vision.
It offers a 2 year curriculum for trade unionists, university professors,
activists, organises international symposiums, publishes works.
The institute develops its campus on a sustainable
development model (energy, water).

49. Gene Sharp
Born in 1928, American political expert. Imprisoned as
conscientious objector in 1953. Spends 10 years of his life in
the UK, where he is the editor of Peace News, and in Norway.
Founder and President of honour of the Albert Einstein
Institution, which dedicates its work to research,
methodological studies and teaching of nonviolent struggles
for freedom and democracy, and promotes nonviolent
resistance in contemporary conflict regions.
Former director of the Nonviolent Sanctions
applied to conflicts and defence programme
at Harvard University. Author of a number of
books on nonviolent civil defence.
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50. Gene Sharp
His most famous book, The Politics of Nonviolent Action (1973),
provide a pragmatic political analysis of nonviolent action using
power in a conflict.
His book From Dictatorship to Democracy served as basis for the
Otpor campaign in Serbia, Kmara in Georgia, Pora in Ukraine,
Kelkel in Kirghizstan and Zubur in Belarus.
In 2012, he was awarded the Right Livelihood Award “ for having
developed and articulated fundamental principles and nonviolent
resistance strategies and for having disseminated them in conflict
zones ”.

51. Reuven Moskovitz
Jew born in 1928 in Romania, survives the Holocaust. Migrates in
1947 to Palestine, co-founds a kibbutz. Already in 1967,
denounces Israeli despiteful politics, expropriation and
imprisonment of Palestinians.
In 1970, participates with Bruno Hassar in the creation of the
Neve Shalom / Wahat al-Salam village that gathers Palestinians
and Jews, all citizens of Israel, and conducts an educational
programme for peace, equality and mutual comprehension
between people.
Co-organiser of the European Jews for a Just Peace,
network of 18 Jewish organisations in 10 European countries,
which demands the end of Israeli occupation.
Participates in September 2010 in the catamaran action
Irene against the maritime blockade in Gaza.

52. Martin Luther King
(1929-1968). Afro-American Baptist pastor, nonviolent activist
for civil rights.
At the age of 26, in 1955, organises a boycott of the
Montgomery busses in Alabama and forces the company to put
an end to racial segregation, after a 362 day struggle.
Leader of the fight against racial discrimination, for the right to
vote and work of Black people and ethnical minorities in Albany,
Atlanta, Birmingham and across the USA : marches, strikes, sit-
ins, boycotts, civil disobedience.
At the end of the “march for work and freedom”, pronounces in
Washington the famous speech I have a dream, on 28th
August
1963, at the foot of the Lincoln memorial, standing before
250 000 people.

53. Martin Luther King
12 times imprisoned.
Nobel Prize for Peace in 1964.
Organises three marches from Selma to Montgomery in 1965, a
rent strike in Chicago.
Most of the rights claimed, supported by J.F Kennedy, were
proclaimed in the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act
under Lyndon B. Johnson’s presidency. In 1967, he publically
goes against the war in Vietnam.
His assassination on 4th
April 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee, was
officially attributed to a White fanatic, James Earl Ray, whose
participation and guilt are still debated.
See also the slide “Nonviolent marches”
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54. Martin Luther King
“ If history has anything to teach us, it is that evil is by nature
wild and stubborn, and that it never voluntarily lets go without
an almost fanatic resistance (…). It would be wrong to imagine
that only ethics and persuasion will support the reign of justice.
Not that it is useless to call upon ethics, but it is necessary, at
the same time, to gain support from a real force of constraint ”.
“ If we admit humanity has a right to survive, then we must find
an alternative to war.
The choice is no longer today between violence and
nonviolence, it is between nonviolence and non-existence ”.
Photos :
-Rosa Parks, arrested after her refusal to leave her seat to a White person on a
bus in Montgomery, 1955;
-M.-.L. King during the I have a dream speech, 1963.
../..

55. Martin Luther King
“I have been deeply disappointed by the moderate White people
(…). The greatest obstacle for the Black man in his struggle for
freedom is not the Ku Klux Klan, but the moderate White person
who is more faithful to order that justice (…).
Our generation will not only have to repent for the hateful words
and actions of hateful people, but also from the silence of good
people”.
Letter written in April 1963 from his prison in Birmingham to 8
Christian and Jewish representatives in Alabama who
accused him of causing unrest.
Photo below : Poster of the film Selma, American film directed by Ava DuVernay,
2015.

56. Francisco Claver
(1929-2010). Philippine Jesuit, anthropologist, bishop, president
of the Justice and Peace Commission in the episcopal
conference. Nicknamed “the Camara of the Philippines”, is one
of the strongest opponents to Dictator Ferdinand Marcos.
Among engaged Christians against Marcos, should also be
mentioned :
- Jose Blanco, Jesuit, founder with family mother Tess Ramiro of
the Akkapka nonviolent movement;
- Cardinal Sin, Archbishop of Manilla, who invited inhabitants to
surround the Aguinaldo camp, thus preventing governmental
troupes from attacking democratic soldiers.
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Photos : - Francisco Claver