After the "people power" revolution that brought about the nonviolentoverthrow of the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos in the Philippines in 1986, many werespeculating about the reasons for the extraordinary and unexpected nonviolent collapse ofthe Marcos government. Cardinal Sin, the head of the Roman Catholic Church in thearchipelago, had formerly been a Marcos supporter but as the regime grew more repressiveand corrupt, began to be a critic and finally threw his full support behind the populardemocratic movement headed by Corazon Aquino. When Aquino became president, Filipinosbegan to say that Marcos was defeated because he was without Sin!

Beneath the humor is an important insight about power that the philosophy ofnonviolence emphasizes: governments derive their power from the people, and if the peoplewithdraw their active consent, government institutions are weakened and can even bebrought down through noncooperation and civil disobedience. Marcos, called "theHitler of Southeast Asia," controlled the military, the economy, and the government.As repression and corruption grew, his control was undermined as a people's oppositionmovement grew and reached a critical mass, pushing the dictatorship to the point ofcollapse. This occurred without force of arms. It rested instead on "soul force"and was called "the people power revolution."

When Cory Aquino became president, a writer in the Philippines said that whereas KarlMarx and the armed freedom fighter had been the prevailing symbol of revolution in thetwentieth century, the new symbol that would grow in importance in the twenty-firstcentury would be the unarmed freedom fighter, the satyagrahi or votary of Truththat Gandhi called for.

The crucial importance of nonviolence applies not only to revolutionary struggles, buton the wider stage of world order, it provides us with a hopeful vision and methodologyfor building a just, free, sustainable, and peaceful planet in the twenty-first century.Weapons of mass destruction as well as other forms of weaponry threaten our future: as USpresident Dwight Eisenhower said so unforgettably of the arms race, humanity is hanging"from a cross of iron." It is not only the weapons of mass destruction but thearms trade that makes all types of weapons of war available throughout the world, even inthe poorest societies. This addiction to violence underlies the belief of those who saythat to have peace, you must prepare for war, and that to have justice, you use any meansnecessary. In other words, "The end justifies the means."

But this belief in the necessity and efficacy of violence is challenged by thephilosophy of nonviolence. A.J. Muste said, "There is no way to peace. Peace is theway." That is, means and ends are interrelated, and peace will come through peacefulmeans. Through the philosophy and practice of nonviolence, we have begun to discover thepower and applicability of this alternative vision in overcoming injustice and oppression,in resolving conflict, in protecting the earth, and in establishing peace among thenations.

Love as the Supreme Unifying Principle of Life

In his last book, Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community? Martin LutherKing, Jr. referred to Love as "the supreme unifying principle of life." Althoughan "often misunderstood and misinterpreted concept," it "has now become anabsolute necessity for the survival" of humanity. Found in all religions, Love -- inthe words of King -- is a "Hindu-Moslem-Christian-Jewish-Buddhist belief aboutultimate reality" that is summed up in the First Epistle of St. John:

Let us love one another for love is of God; and everyone that loveth is born of God,and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. . . . If we love oneanother, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.

King found that the most satisfying and practical application of this belief wasthrough the methodology of Gandhi, which moved religion from the inner life andperson-to-person relationships into the transformation of society as well. Gandhi'smethodology was based on the belief that God is Truth and Truth is God; this realityresides in every human being. Satyagrahi -- Truth force -- is to be applied to thebuilding of a just and peaceful society. Gandhi said these applications were"experiments with Truth." King's legacy began with the application of theGandhian approach to social change in the arena of civil rights, but in time he applied itin working for peace and against poverty as well. This reflected his maturing religiousand political thought as he grappled with what he called the triple evils of US society --racism, militarism, and poverty, interrelated and interdependent. Had he lived longer, hewould certainly have continued to deepen in his understanding of oppression. He did notdeal, for example, with sexism and homophobia, flagrant evils that must be rooted out ifwe are to have a humane society.

In King's final writings he wrote of a time when nonviolence would be widely studiedand applied in the building of a global civilization. This has quietly but surely begun tohappen. Opposition to war and the pursuit of peace have grown in the religious community.The academic study of peace, nonviolence and conflict resolution is spreading to a growingnumber of colleges and universities. Theorists and practitioners of conflict resolution,mediation, and negotiation are more and more found dealing with the problems and concernsof schools and communities, of nation-states and the United Nations. The United Nationsseeks to promote "an agenda for peace" through preventive diplomacy, peacemakingand peacekeeping. UNESCO is fostering the idea of a culture of peace supplanting a cultureof violence. As Frederico Major, director of UNESCO, has written:

The culture of peace represents an everyday attitude of "nonviolentrebellion," of peaceful dissent, of firm determination to defend human rights anddignity. It is a growing body of shared values, attitudes, behaviors, and ways of lifebased on nonviolence and respect for fundamental rights and freedoms, on understandingtolerance and solidarity, on the sharing and free flow of information, and on the fullparticipation and empowerment of women.

The Gandhian and Kingian movements have inspired individuals, groups, and movements toexperiment with the power of active nonviolence to resolve conflict, establish justice,protect the innocent, save the earth, proclaim new visions, and build, in the words ofKing, "the beloved community." In its deepest expressions, nonviolence comesfrom the religious affirmation of the sacredness of all life, the unity of the humanfamily, and the supreme importance of truth and love. While, as Gandhi said,"Nonviolence is as old as the hills" -- and Gene Sharp and others havedocumented the way people of widely different cultures, in places all over the world,throughout history, have practiced in varied ways the politics of nonviolent action -- itis in our century, especially in the last half of the century, that this alternativevision has begun to grow enormously in self-understanding and application. This vision hasbeen a seedbed for social ferment, revolutionary change, and the building of a globalcivic society, with spiritual roots and a shared global ethic.

[2a.] Creating a Global Civic Society

These nonviolent efforts both strengthen and complement the commitment of the UnitedNations to "save succeeding generations from the scourge of war." Preservingpeace and promoting economic security, ecological well-being, and just, free, and orderlysocieties exceed the capacity of sovereign nation-states. They need grassroots input andinitiatives from below, and vision and hope from above.

The Christian Science Monitor recently ran an analysis of the current UN debateabout its future role in policing global conflicts with the headline "Why UN Quit asFireman to the World's Hot Spots," with the subhead "Burned in Bosnia andelsewhere, UN retreats to aid-giving and peace-patrolling." This retreat from theenthusiasm and optimism following the end of the cold war reflects the complexity of thepost-cold-war world, the appalling continuation of the arms race, the easy availability ofweapons, and the financial crisis brought about by the US and other nations unwilling topay their assessments. It also reflects the violent and dangerous number of conflictsbetween ethnic, religious, and national groups, requiring efforts for which the globalcommunity has insufficient commitment and inadequate experience.

As the United Nations cuts back and reassesses the nature and scope of its "agendafor peace," the fact remains that we share one planet and that "we must eitherlearn to live together as brothers (and sisters) or we are all going to perish together asfools." In the world community that is being born, we will need a variety ofapproaches, centers of power, and organizations to protect the environment, mediateconflicts, uphold human rights, deal with natural disasters, and build a just, free,sustainable, and peaceful world.

Elise Boulding points out that in 1906 there were only 176 internationalnongovernmental organizations (INGOs). Today there are over 18,000 autonomous bodies andagencies, linking people all around the world and forming building blocks for our emergingtransnational civilization. INGOs, says Boulding,

are the living body of the planet's civil society. They represent the whole spectrumof human interests and concerns, from peace, human and social development and human rightsto environmental sustainability. The INGOs form the focus of contemporary nonviolence inaction. Their practitioners, though independent, are constantly working with governmentsin order to transfer efforts for human betterment from the enforcement mode to theempowerment mode.

We of the INGO community need to work with and alongside the United Nations in helpingto build a peaceful, just, and free world community. We do it in ways most appropriate andconsistent with our stated purposes. For example, the US branch of the InternationalFellowship of Reconciliation (IFOR) participates in NGO efforts at the UN, especially withregards to disarmament. At the UN Special Sessions on Disarmament, we have fosteredcommunity study and support of the sessions. We have sponsored "Plowshares CoffeeHouse" programs (at the Church Center for the United Nations) with daily programs,activities, and hospitality for NGOs, members of the UN community, and the wider public.Alongside these programs we have been part of peace coalition marches, vigils, anddemonstrations to press for a stronger commitment for disarmament. This has included civildisobedience at the UN missions of the US, the United Kingdom, China, France, and theformer Soviet Union, to put public pressure on these states for nuclear disarmament.

Another example comes from the 1995 UN Women's Conference in Beijing. The Women'sInternational League for Peace and Freedom organized a "peace train" of womenwho went from Europe across the former Soviet Union to Beijing -- an imaginative projectthat helped unite and mobilize many women activists. The IFOR sent a delegation to theconference that included a number of women from the developing world. The InternationalFellowship of Reconciliation and the International Peace Bureau developed an informationkit that contained profiles of women's peace groups, suggestions for follow-up to Beijing,and the addresses of over sixty women's peace groups around the world. Through its WomenPeacemakers Program, IFOR is helping women activists develop nonviolent skills for dealingwith oppression and working for social change, as well as connecting these activists withone another and with groups that have needed resources.

Current Experiments and Initiatives

Proponents of nonviolence are pursuing the work of peace and security in a variety ofways, continuing Gandhi's idea of "experimenting with Truth." Most are small andwoefully funded, but this is often true with emerging new directions and initiatives. Someof these are:

(1) Building Grassroots Movements for Nonviolent Social Change

Across the world, grassroots groups are organizing and training people to deal with theviolence, injustice, and insecurity in their lives. A particularly dramatic example is thePeople Power movement in the Philippines, which arose from many different groups -- labor,student, religious, community, peace -- working to protect the people from a repressivedictatorship.

The main political opponent of Marcos was Senator Benigno Aquino. While in prison, hehad a deep conversion through his reading of the Bible and Gandhi. His assassination gavea strong impetus to the nonviolent way in the Philippines. As a result of an invitationfrom a community of nuns working among the poor in the Manila area, the InternationalFellowship of Reconciliation sent nonviolence trainers there who held nine weeks ofworkshops with individuals and groups, especially in the religious community, in trainingbased on the Bible and Gandhi's teaching of satyagraha. As Cardinal Sin laterremarked, this helped bring a heightened awareness of the potential of nonviolence in theMarcos opposition. When Marcos called for a national election to validate his leadership,the resulting People Power movement, contrary to expectations, succeeded through aremarkable and innovative campaign during the election and its aftermath. It reached acritical mass when many hundreds of thousands of unarmed people poured into the streets tooppose the Armed Forces of the Philippines, ending in the collapse of the dictatorship.

The grassroots movement continues there, dealing with the whole array of social,economic, political, and environmental problems. Bringing down the dictatorship was onlythe first step in the long-term effort needed to bring about a just and peaceful society.

As in the Philippines, throughout the world grassroots movements continue their work,within communities but also building networks and alliances across all kinds ofboundaries. An example is the work for peace. Campaigns and movements against landmines,arms sales, and nuclear weapons can be found from the most localized base -- e.g.,removing landmines in Cambodia -- to the United Nations Special Sessions on Disarmament.In the civil rights movement in the United States there was the concept of "topdown/bottom up," i.e., change that comes out of the creative tension between effortsat governmental and other leadership levels with the efforts at the base. They complementand advance the work of each.

A new development in nonviolent social change is the beginning of work with policedepartments. In the US, the King Center in Atlanta and the state King Institutes in NewYork and Florida responded to requests from various city police departments to work withpolice in training in nonviolent skills. The IFOR branch in Zimbabwe has a similarproject.

(2) Intervention in Repressive Governmental Policies

Pastors for Peace is a religiously-based US group opposed to the cold-war holdover inthe rigid US policy towards Cuba, which seeks to isolate Cuba totally and prohibit trade,tourism, and all other kinds of international involvement with that island nation. Pastorsfor Peace organizes truck caravans that bring humanitarian supplies illegally from the USinto Mexico and thence to Cuba. This has repeatedly put a spotlight on the absurdity of USpolicies, with US representatives going to great lengths to prevent pastors from takingitems as varied as Bibles and computers to Cuba.

(3) Bearing Witness Against Violence and Repression

Many peace and human rights groups are active around the world. Some of the mostimaginative have been the work of women. For example, Women in Black have vigiled againstthe war in the former Yugoslavia and against the occupation of Gaza and the West Bank.Mothers of the Disappeared have vigiled to awaken the public to the disappearance ofhusbands, fathers, and sons at the hands of military oppressors. Lone voices such asBurma's Aung San Suu Kyi have stood firm against harsh governmental efforts to silence alldemocratic opposition.

(4) Citizen Diplomacy

The contacts between Western and Soviet citizens during the cold war, especially duringtimes of great tension and the possibility of war, were unofficial, but in the long runextraordinary efforts to build understanding and trust from below. Many religious andpeace groups went from the West to meet with their counterparts as well as various civicand, in some cases, official groups. Far fewer but also significant visits from Sovietcountries came to the West. This movement did much to change the climate in East/Westrelations, helping break down the isolation and hostility that were so strong. In areaswhere there were serious differences, this movement also often helped open doors andchange policies.

After the US bombing of Libya and the continued isolation of Libya, the US Fellowshipof Reconciliation sent a delegation there -- contravening US policy -- to meet withvarious civic, humanitarian, and official groups, believing that openness and goodwillcreate a better climate for solving problems between nations than isolation and hostileacts.

(5) Centers of Dialogue, Understanding, and Peace

Citizen initiatives can often work under difficult, even hostile, official relations tochange attitudes and create openness. The Centre for Rapprochement in the Palestinian townof Beit Sahour brings Israelis and Palestinians together to break down barriers and buildtrust and understanding. Neve Shalom/Wahat al Salaam in Israel has an ambitious program oftraining and education for peace that grows out of a community where Israelis andPalestinians live and work together.

In the former Yugoslavia, peace centers in places as diverse as Skopje in Macedonia andZagreb and Osijek in Croatia work under difficult circumstances to create a climate inwhich peace may begin to grow.

(6) Works of Healing in the Aftermath of Repression and War

With the enormous changes in recent years, with former dictatorships and various formsof repressive rule giving way to more open and democratic governments, there is anenormous need to deal with the suffering that has taken place. Among the widely variedresponses to meeting this need, one of the most creative has been in South Africa whereArchbishop Tutu heads the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. The Commission is dealingwith the aftermath of decades of apartheid that led to imprisonment; torture; official,covert, and random violence; and death. Public testimony from the victims and thevictimizers have exposed terrible things long hidden from view, helping to acknowledgewhat has occurred and building a climate for starting anew.

(7) Peace Teams

The concept and implementation of transnational, multiracial, multicultural peace teamsto go into areas of conflict, need, and unrest has been developing. Among the variousefforts are the following:

Accompaniment is the idea of unarmed bodyguards providing internationalaccompaniment for the protection of human rights, assisting activists in their risk-takingwork, deterring violence against them, and making known the situation, in places such asEl Salvador, Guatemala and Sri Lanka. Peace Brigades International has pioneered in theseefforts, beginning in 1984 with the accompaniment of the Mutual Support Group for Familiesof the Disappeared in Guatemala.

Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT). Sponsored by the Historic Peace Churches, theywork for human rights, nonviolent resolution of conflict, monitoring situations of unrestand injustice, standing with victims, and publicizing oppression. The team in Hebron, forexample, was there in the long months prior to the turnover of authority from the IsraelDefense Force to the Palestinian Authority, and has remained there in the transition.Though a small team, they have used e-mail to publicize the situation in Hebron with greateffectiveness. They have worked with Rabbis for Human Rights to stand with Palestinianfamilies living under duress.

Cry Justice in Haiti. In 1993, Pax Christi and other peace groups formed anonviolent presence near rural grassroots organizations facing violence in a volatilesituation prior to Aristide's scheduled return.

Balkan Peace Team. Since 1994, a coalition of groups such as IFOR, PBI (PeaceBrigades International) and WRI (War Resisters International) have had an internationalpresence in the former Yugoslavia, seeking to prevent evictions by paramilitaries,supporting local human rights and social change groups, and meeting with officials.

Sipaz (Servicio Internacional Para la Paz, or International Service for Peace) is acoalition of groups responding to the situation in Chiapas, Mexico, formed in response tothe invitation from peasants for an international presence to monitor, report, and supportthe peaceful struggle for justice.

Global Peace Service. The Swedish Council of Churches helped bring togetherreligious, governmental, UN and various NGO groups to explore alternatives to militaryintervention and the training of international nonviolent peace teams prepared to gowherever they are needed.

(8) Zones of Peace

From the local to the national to the regional level, zones of peace are a veryimportant concept for building security and reducing violence. Communities in thePhilippines declared themselves zones of peace during the warfare between the Maoist NewPeople's Army and the Marcos government. States like Costa Rica have prospered without anarmy, even when neighboring states were engaged in conflict. Nuclear Weapon-Free Zoneshave been established, all the way from the unilateral declarations of communities tointernational treaties such as the Treaty of Tlatelolco for all of Latin America, and theInternational Seabed Treaty for the ocean floor.

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mairead Maguire from Northern Ireland has spoken of thepresent time as one in which "the hard birthing of a new humanity" is takingplace. The end of the cold war has thrown open the logjam of history. With the oldcertainties gone, defining every issue and struggle in light of the cold war is no longerpossible. Will we be like the person with one demon cast out, only to be possessed byseven new demons -- or will we patiently and deliberately build this new humanity as wecreate a global civic culture, inclusive, open, nonviolent, and free? "Experimentswith Truth" are helping to provide building blocks in that task.