Tag Archives: nonviolence

2013 Conflict Resolution Education Conference

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This past Thursday, June 13th, I facilitated a one-day workshop titled, “People Power and Pedagogy: Methods for Teaching Nonviolent Struggle.” There were about 19 participants in the workshop who were all attending pre-conference trainings 7th annual Conflict Resolution Education Conference. This made it one of the most well-attended trainings of the conference. The feedback and comments on the workshop were also very nice to read. Here are a couple quotes from the evaluations:

Daryn managed a very egalitarian structure to the group. No “talking head” behavior. Great material, great activities, great opportunity!

Excellent mix of academic theory and activities. Well prepared, but also flexible. Remained engaged with the group and kept us engaged during this long session. Thank you!

Excellent: interaction, empowerment of participants, Daryn’s presentation skills/ability to clearly articulate info/resources/concepts as well as ensure participants voices understood. Overall facilitation of activities was great.

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Featured Article in the Global Campaign for Peace Education Newsletter

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This month’s issue of the Global Campaign for Peace Education features an article I wrote, The 7 Blossoms of Peace Education. Thanks to Tony Jenkins for providing me with this opportunity. It is an honor to have the chance to share this framework with other peace educators around the world. Continue reading to see the full text of the article and take a look at how I approach and understand my work as a peace educator.

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Yamas, Niyamas and Kingian Nonviolence

mlk-22I recently returned from a week-long advanced seminar in Kingian Nonviolence. While I was there I started seeing a lot of connections between principles of Kingian Nonviolence and principles of yoga that my partner, Alyson has been teaching me.

When I got home from this seminar I immediately sat down and read the Yamas and Niyamas, which are two of the eight branches of yoga. Alyson had encouraged me to read about these before attending the seminar and I wish I had because there is a lot of valuable crossover. This post is an email I sent out to the other 9 seminar participants upon returning home and reading the yamas and niyamas.

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Advanced Seminar in Kingian Nonviolence

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This past week I participated in a week-long, intensive exploration of Kingian Nonviolence. The concepts, philosophies, and experiences that both informed and grew out of the Civil Rights Movement, helped advance an understanding of nonviolence – an understanding very much rooted in the vision and experimentation Dr. King brought to the struggle, hence the term “Kingian Nonviolence.”  After he was assassinated, those who had worked and organized alongside Dr. King set out to codify Kingian Nonviolence into a curriculum so that it could be carried on to the ensuing generations. This curriculum was developed by two prominent civil rights activists and leaders who worked alongside Dr. King in some of the movement’s most powerful nonviolent campaigns in Nashville, TN, Albany, GA, Chicago, IL and other communities across the US.  These two men are Dr. David Jehnsen and Dr. Bernard Lafayette.

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Walking Towards Community – A Restorative Approach, with Dominic Barter

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This past Saturday I attended a full-day workshop called, Walking Toward Community – A Restorative Justice Approach, with Dominic Barter. The workshop was held at the Quaker Meeting House in Dupont Circle and it brought together a great group of about 50-60 participants, some of whom I had met from other such events. The workshop was sponsored by the following organizations: DC RJ Network, DC Peace Team, The Peace Alliance, Shambhala Center, Critical Exposure, PeacexPeace, Little Friends for Peace, and Pax Christi.

I am somewhat familiar with restorative justice practices, and utilize elements of the practice, such as the talking circle, in many of my courses, but this was the first time I had an intense introduction to restorative justice specifically. I was not too familiar with Dominic Barter (restorativecircles.org), but I soon realized why many in the RJ field consider him to be one of the best RJ practitioners in the world.

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Kingian Nonviolence Book Club – The Trumpet of Conscience

Trumpets of ConscienceThis week in the Kingian Nonviolence Book Club, we discussed The Trumpet of Conscience. It was a fascinated discussion and it became very clear how prescient Dr. King was in recognizing social problems and ills that were emerging and on the horizon during his times. On the one hand, this book was inspiring in that he does provide creative ideas and motivation for addressing these problems. On the other hand, it was clear that not enough people have read Dr. King’s words or taken his ideas to heart since many of the problems he identified over 50 years ago have only gotten worse. Continue reading to see the questions we discussed and excerpts from the book that speak to those questions.

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Nonviolent Action Workshops in Cambodia

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For the past ten days my colleague, Althea and I were in Phnom Penh where we facilitated two workshops on nonviolent civil resistance. We were invited by a diaspora based group called Khmer Unity whose mission is advocating for democracy, human rights, and territorial sovereignty/integrity in Cambodia.  They network and collaborate with other nongovernmental organizations both domestically and internationally for the betterment of Cambodia.

This was an amazing experience for a number of reasons. First, this was my first time in Cambodia so I was constantly soaking up the history, culture, and environment while I was there. Second, the process of designing and facilitating a workshop on nonviolent action for learners whose mother tongue is  Khmer – a language very different from English – posed some challenges that helped me and Althea think in new ways about how to talk and teach about the topic. And third, it was an opportunity that brought me into contact with so many amazing people who are organizing around a myriad of issues.

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Fletcher Summer Institute Promotional Video

Every year at ICNC we try and find new and better ways to advertise and promote our various educational programs and initiatives. This year I took on a project to create this promotional video about our annual Fletcher Summer Institute. I used photos from past FSIs and excerpts from a variety of interviews I helped conduct for another video project on which I am working. I found the background music using dig.ccmixter.org and I used iMovie to edit everything together. After posting it online, I utilized some of YouTube’s video embed link functions that allow viewers to click on the video and link out to other web pages such as the FSI application page and footage from previous FSIs. My goal was to keep the video short, inspirational and a way for viewers to directly access materials to apply and learn more. Lastly, the video was shared on the website, Waging Nonviolence, along with a blog posting I wrote about my experiences at FSI.

Civil Resistance Talk with Burmese Delegation

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This past Tuesday my colleague, Althea Middleton-Detzner and I got the opportunity and privilege to give a presentation and have a discussion on civil resistance with a group of amazing Burmese civil society and political leaders.  The four women in the delegation were Khin Lay, Shunn Lei Swe Yee, Ma Nilar OO, and Zin Mar Aung, who was a recipient the 2012 International Women of Courage Award.  The United States Institute of Peace invited us to give the talk, which was part of a series of meetings with the delegation that focused on rule of law, governance and, of course, nonviolent political action (aka civil resistance).

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2012 Fletcher Summer Institute

From June 24th to June 30th, ICNC in partnership with the Fletcher School for Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, hosted the 7th annual Fletcher Summer Institute for the Advanced Study of Nonviolent Conflict. As usual, myself, my ICNC colleagues, along with Fletcher faculty and staff worked tirelessly for months to bring 42 participants from all over the world to participate in this intensive week-long institute. Check out this blog posting I wrote for the Fletcher Features blog to get an overview of some of the highlights from the week. Personally, one of my highlights was meeting many of the amazing participants who attended this year.  However, I did not get to know them as well as I would have liked due to the various aspects of the week for which I responsible.

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