Historical orverview of nonviolence

Thinkers and actors of nonviolence

since 1950

Étienne GodinotTranslation : Claudia McKenny Engström

- 14.07.2015

Jean-Pierre Dardaud

Frenchman born in 1950, brother in arms of Rajagopal and EktaParishad for over 20 years, ex-President of the Frères de Hommes(“Brothers of Men”) and coordinator of the international civil campaign “Disarm to combat poverty”.

Founding Member of the non-profit organization JINOV International (“Jeunesse, Initiatives, NOn-Violences”, or Youth, Initiatives and Nonviolences), collective network of solidarity-based and nonviolent initiatives by youths around the world. JINOV writes “nonviolences” in the plural ton outline the diversity of the inspirations and social, professional and civic nonviolent practices.

“Daring to practice new articulations between the individual and the collective, the professional and the civil, the local and the international. Daring to promote eco-development and solidarity-based economy in all domains, on every continent. Daring to uphold radically democratic nonviolent commitments. Daring to value truthful discussion, overthrowing clichés, shaking the coconut trees .”

Haytham Manna

Born in 19??, Syrian. Doctor, writer committed for the past 30 years to defending Human Rights in the Arab world. Founder in 1988 and spokesman of the Arab Commission for Human Rights (ACHR). Spokesman of the National Coordination Committee for Democratic Change (logo presented below).

Ardent defender of laity, opposes a triple refusal of confessionalism, violence and foreign interventions. Denounces both the cruel regime of Bachar Al Assad and the armed rebel groups.

“As soon as one chooses violence as an option, one is not master of one’s destiny anymore. When one arms oneself, one becomes dependant on another. Since the Second World War, we haven’t found a single case where violence generated a democratic transition. (…) There are at least 50 000 non-Syrians who would be capable of fighting another ten years without any regard for the population.”

Fernando Pereira

(1950-1985), Dutch photographer of Portuguese descent, member of the environmental organization Greenpeace. Died on the 10th of July 1985 in the explosion which sank the “Rainbow Warrior”, a ship owned by Greenpeace, docked in Auckland, New Zealand.

This manslaughter was the result of an attack organized by the French secret services (DGSE) with the assent of the authorities of the Sate, to stop the boat form protesting against the French nuclear tests in Mururoa. France payed 7 million dollars in

damages to New Zealand and 8,16 million dollars in compensation to Greenpeace.

François Lhopiteau

Frenchman born in 1950 ?, former teacher of people’s education, founder in 1989 of the IFMAN-Normandie, (Institut de recherche et de Formation du Mouvement pour une Alternative Non-violente, or “Research and Training Institute of the Movement for a Nonviolent Alternative”).

7 IFMAN organisations (Bretagne, Lorraine, Méditerranée, Nord.Pas-de-Calais, Normandie, Rhône-Loire, Sud-Ouest), offer their services in France. They accompany teams from the educational, cultural, medical and social sectors, from non-profit organizations, local authorities, etc. and offer courses in finding nonviolent solutions when solving conflicts, or the development of inter-personal competences.

Training (educational sanctions, stress and conflict at work, reacting to aggressiveness, mediation, etc.), accompanying teams (regulation, practical analysis, support groups).

Jean-Blaise Kenmogne and Kä Mana

J.-B. K. : pastor and theologian from Cameroon, director of the CercleInternational pour la Promotion de la Création (CIPCré, or International Circle for the Promotion of Creation), writer.

K. M. : philosopher and theologian from Congo, writer.

Coordinators of the book Pour la voix africaine de la non-violence (or “For the African Voice of Nonviolence”, Yaoundé, ed. CLE, 2009). The CIPCré puts into practice an educational program promoting nonviolence: training activity leaders and actors of the civil society, campaigning in religious communities, etc.

“ The current violence in Africa is absolutely not natural. It is socially and culturally constructed to serve material, ethnical and geopolitical interests against which it is possible to fight to build a nonviolent society. (…) Nonviolence is not only an inner attitude or a social behavior, it is also an option for a new type of culture and commitment for the promotion of new human values. ”

Gary Slutkin

Born in 1950, American doctor, infectious disease specialist in San Francisco. Within the OMS, fights tuberculoses and cholera in Somalia for three years, and then for 7 years other sicknesses such as AIDS in several African countries. Back in the US, observes closely armed violence and notices , with help of geographical maps and graphics, that it acts and spreads in a manner similar to that of infectious diseases.

To put a stop to violence as well as epidemics, he explains that we must :- interrupt the transmission (detect the first cases)- stop the spreading (find the persons exposed)- create an immunity of the group by changing the norms, for example by rethinking education.

In 1995, creates a structure, CeaseFire, and an intervention program, the Chicago Project for Violence Prevention. ../..

Gary Slutkin

In 2000, recruits in the most dangerous neighborhoods “interrupters of violence” on three criteria (socially credible, worthy of trust, accessible) to work with gangs, and then social agents of change. The action develops in American cities *, notably upon request of the United States Conference of Mayors, and then around the world **. The film “The Interrupters” was released in 2011.

“ Injustice is like the standing water in which cholera proliferates. Sometimes, it is not purifies quickly enough. If injustice is not removed quickly, a strategy must be found to control violence, until a long term solution can be found. ”

“ A new strategy, a new set of methods, a new type of social workers.”

* New-York, Baltimore, Kansas City, Chicago, New Orleans** Porto Rico, Honduras, Kenya, Iraq.

Christian Delorme

Born in 1950, French catholic priest from the Lyon diocese, nicknamed “le curé des Minguettes” (“the priest of the Minguettes”, a difficult neighborhood outside Lyon). Takes part in the fight against new forms of slavery, the ethnocide of Guyanese Indians, militarization. Co-founder in 1973 of the magazine Alternatives non-violentes. In 1975, occupies a church in Lyon together with prostitutes as part of the movement Le Nid (“The Nest”). In 1981, undertakes together with the pastor Jean Costil a 29 day hunger strike against the expulsion of second generation immigrants.

In 1983, coinitiator of the Marche pour l’égalitédes droits et contre le racisme (“March for equality of rights and against racism”), also known as “Marche des Beurs”. Committed to fighting for freedom in Tibet. Initiator of intercultural and interreligious dialogue with Islam.

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Christian Delorme

“ With nonviolence, I have never managed to dissociate theory from practice. One and the other help me not to despair and then fight. I have no enemies. Only adversaries. So I do not wish to be recognized or destroyed. Although in latent conflict with police forces, I am always glad to personally meet policemen, to hear their own take on truth.

For a shock militant, that might appear as some kind of treason. In my case, it is a fundamental attitude… and simply common sense. ”

François Marchand

Frenchman born in 1950, civil mining engineer, director of major projects in a firm for travelers’ transport. Conscientious objector, member of the Mouvement pour une Alternative Non-violente(MAN, “Mouvement for a nonviolent alternative”) since 1974.

Founding member and president of the Institut de recherche sur la Résolution Non-violente de Conflits (IRNC, “Research Institute for the nonviolent resolution of conflicts”) when it was created in 1984. Member of the orientation committee and treasurer for the magazine Alternatives Non-violentes. Greatly involved since 1995 in the creation of a voluntary service for peace in France.

Founder in 2002 and co-president of the association fund Non-violence XXI which contributes to financing nonviolent organizations in France.

Guy Boubault

Frenchman born in 1950 ?, founder and director of Non-Violence Actualité (NVA).

Specialized in the prevention of violence in a daily environment (family, school, and neighborhood, social and professional lives), NVA aims to provide private individuals or institutions with researching documents, media, contacts or traineeships, concerning interpersonal and social competences: communication, conflict management, mediation, nonviolent action, cooperation, etc.

NVA also publishes (magazine, books, studies, leaflets, posters, exhibitions, etc.), distributes (DVD, cooperative games, etc.), documents (resource-addresses) and trains.

Antonio Gutierrez Perez

Mexican born in 19??, cofounder of the Sociedad civil de las Abejas de Acteal (“Civil society of the bees of Acteal”). This nonviolent Christian organization was created in 1992 in Chiapas (Mexico) after the unfair arrest of 5 peasants by the police and massive demonstrations. Present close the town of Chenalho, on six municipalities where the majority speaks tzotzil, another part speaks tzeltal, it fights for the rights of the indigenous peoples and the defense of their lands.

In 1994, Las Abejas showed solidarity with the objectives of the Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional (EZLN, “Zapatist Army of National Liberation”), “Work, lands, housing, food, health care, education, independence, liberty, democracy, justice and peace”, but refuses its methods of action which, at this date, did not exclude violence.

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Las Abejas de Acteal

On the 22nd of December 1997, 300 villagers are praying in a church when 45 of them (amongst which 21 women, 14 children and a babe) are massacred by an indigenous paramilitary group hostile to the EZLN, armed with firearms and machetes.

Since then, the members of Las Abejas fight against the impunity of the perpetrators of this massacre, as well as for their autonomy, rights, for the defense of their lands and “ for the construction of a serene living space ”.

“ Nonviolence is our legitimate weapon to build a Mexican state of respect, justice and non-discrimination.”

Photos : - Mgr Samuel Ruiz at the funeral of the 45 victims of the Acteal massacre- March in the name of the victims against the impunity of the perpetrators of the massacre

François Vaillant

Frenchman born in 1951, philosopher and theologian, ex Dominican friar. Teaches educational philosophy in Marseilles during ten years, then taxi driver in Paris and project manager for the IFMAN Normandie.

Editor-in-chief of the magazine Alternatives non-violentes from 1989 to 2013. Cofounder with Yan Gradis of the Collectif de “déboulonneurs de publicité” which fights against the invasion of advertising. Against the DNA recording of militants, especially of those using civil disobedience.

“ While the social landscape continues to darken, while passivity and violence remain dead-ends, ethical disobedience carries within the seeds of a logical nonviolent collective action, always operating to thwart repression and built a society based on solidarity. ”

François Roux

Born in 1951, French lawyer. Defends conscientious objectors, antinuclear militants in Tahiti, peasants from the Larzac and José Bové, Kanacks of New Caledonia, those who take down advertisements or cut down plantations treated with GMO. Supports the collective fund Non-Violence XXI, member of the Counsel of the Fondation Un Monde Par Tous (“Foundation One World By All).

In 1999, also defends some of the accused in the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, Zacharias Massaoui following the 9/11 attacks, and the former Khmer Rouge leader Kang Kek Leu, also known as Duch.

“I profoundly believe in international criminal justice. Just as prosecutors and judges are needed to make this justice function, attorneys are needed. A doctor treats everyone, a lawyer defends everyone. At the same time, I find it strange to have spent my life defending those in civil disobedience, and to be today defending who was in servile obedience. “

Jacques Sémelin

Frenchman born in 1951, historian and political scientist. Professor at the the Institut d’études politiques de Paris (“Paris Institute of political studies”) and research director at the CNRS as part of the Centre d’études et de recherches internationales (“CERI, Centre for international studies and research”).

His work endeavors to understand the genocides and massacres of the 20th century through a multidisciplinary approach combining history, social psychology and political science. On this subject, he finished writing in 2005 his master work, “Purifier et détruire” (“Purify and Destroy”).

Member of the editorial committee Vingtième Siècle. Revue d’histoire (“Twentieth century. Historical magazine”). Also manages the international electronic encyclopedia for mass violence, massviolence.org.

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Jacques Sémelin

The importance of nonviolence in his research bears witness to his past as a militant in the 1970’s (Man, editor-in-chief of the magazine Alternatives non-violentes).

“If physical domination in an established fact, political submission is a state of mind. The whole point of a civil resistance is to increase the gap between the established fact and the state of

mind. In the end, the point is to go into the street, to go from the immaterial and confined public sphere to the open space. Un process of civil resistance must first of all vanquish fear.”

Vandana Shiva

Born in 1952, Indian, physicist, epistemologist, writer, feminist, researcher and environmentalist. Manages the Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Natural Resource Policy. Winner of the alternative Nobel Prize in 1993, “for having placed women and ecology at the heart of the discourse on modern development”. Walked alone around India at the end of the 1980’s, looking for the seeds threatened by industry, came back leading 500 000 demonstrators – peasants and militants – and a network of 120 seed banks. Disciple of Gandhi, believes in nonviolent resistance and civil disobedience.

“Why do I keep my own seeds, why do I go against the laws that say that Monsanto “invented” seeds? Because it is a lie and I will not cooperate with that lie. (…) If we do not campaign for non-cooperation, we will disappear just like the pollinator insects. Only democracy can allow us to save the environment and allow us to live.”

Christian Brunier

(1952-2004), Frenchman, member of the Mouvement pour une Alternative Non-violente (MAN-Paris), as well as the IRNC, Artisans de Paix (81-84), Stop Essais, the Observatoire des transferts d’armements, Equipes de paix dans les Balkans, the Coordination française pour la Décennie internationale. One of the initiators of the first Salon international des initiatives de paix in Paris in june 2004.

Very appreciated for his kindness, his commitment, his devotion and his appreciation of well finished work, in the animation of meetings as well as in the organization of actions. A “Christian Brunier fund for nonviolent action” was created by Non-Violence XXI.

“Christian didn’t spare his energy, didn’t count his time; he was working in the service of the ideas he defended. For that, he sacrificed his health, he gave his life for projects furthering peace between men.”

Alain Refalo at the funeral of CB

Photo : C.B. in March 2003 on the péniche “Alternat”, where he organized “Nonviolence Mondays” with the MAN.

Philippe Beck

Swiss born in 1952, mathematician and IT specialist, member of the Centre pour l’Action Non-Violente (CENAC) in Lausanne. Over 30 years of volunteering for conscientious objectors, families of the Fourth world, the Sahrawi people, Sandinista Nicaragua, against GMO… Member of Les Verts (French environmental party), municipal counselor in Morges, mediator, certified coach and adult trainer for the FormAction, which he founded.

Specializes in : nonviolent solving of conflicts, educational sanction, mediation, coaching, listening, managing violent situations. A lot of experience in community work and training teachers and educators, notably training for civil interventions for peace for Peace Brigades International (PBI).

“ Educational sanction comes from a threefold pedagogical need: learning the rules, making amends towards a possible victim, and reflecting upon oneself. ”

Ken Butigan

American born in 19??, doctor of history of religions, writer, militant since the 1980’s for nuclear disarmament, freedom in oriental Timor, in Iraq, etc. From 1987 to 1990, national coordinator of the Pledge of Resistance, network of 100 000 people divided into 400 local groups who organize nonviolent action for peace in central America. Director of the centre for training and nonviolent action Pace e Bene, founded in 1989. Professor at the DePaul university and at the Loyola university of Chicago. Cocreator of the program Engage : Exploring Nonviolent Living.

“This massacre (28 people of which 20 children, by a young man on 14th December 2012 at Sandy Hook primary school in Newtown) and this year 12 shootings in the U.S. illustrate the culture of violence which marks our society. We must work at forbidding purely and simply firearms.”

David Hartsough et Mel Duncan

D. H. : born in 19??, American Quaker militant committed to antisegregationism (1960’s), to peace in Vietnam, to stopping nuclear proliferation (1970’s), and to missions of civil interventions for peace in Kosovo (1990’s).

M. D. : American born in 19??, notices in 1984 that villages in Nicaragua are not attacked by Contras when foreigners are there.

Meet in 1999 during the La Hague Appeal for peace. Create in 2002 in Surajkund, in India, with representatives from 49 countries, the international organization Nonviolent Peaceforce(NP), which sends it first team of civil intervention for peace to Sri Lanka in the autumn 2003.

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David Hartsough et Mel Duncan

Nonviolent Peaceforce is a confederation of 94 organizations worldwide. Its seat is in Brussels.

Its aim is to form a international unarmed civil peace force, which can be sent to conflict zones upon request of local groups to protect human rights activists, to intervene in between the belligerents, so as to allow a dialogue between them in order to solve the conflict pacifically. NP, after its intervention in Sri Lanka, is today in South Sudan, in the Philippines and in the South Caucasus.

“ We imagine a world in which well tested nonviolent strategies are recognized as a viable alternative to prevent and sole violent conflicts worldwide. Our main strategy to achieve this aim is the creation of a space to encourage dialogue. ”

José Bové

Frenchman born in 1953, face of the anti-globalization movement. Member of Groupe de recherche et d’action non-violente in Bordeaux in the 1970’s. Settles in 1976 in a farm in the Larzaccoveted by the army. Breeds sheep within a GAEC. Takes par in 1987 in the creation of the Confédération paysanne.

In 1995, takes part in operation Pacifique lead by Greenpeace against nuclear tests. Supports the Tahitian and Kanak independence movements.

To denounce junk food, he takes part in august 1999 in the dismantlement of a “Mc Donald’s” in Millau. In January 2001, parallel to the World Social Forum, leads an anti-GMO action in Brazil against a branch of the Monsanto company.

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José Bové

Spokesman of Via Campesina in 2004, defends the peoples’ right and sovereignty in producing their food. Condemned multiple times for illegally pulling out GMO plantations in the name of his right and duty to disobey and the precautionary principle.

European MP since june 2009 (for Europe Ecologie Les Verts), vice-president of the Agriculture and development commission of the European Parliament. Today, fights against projects destined to mine shale gas and the airport at Notre-Dame des Landes.

“ Civil disobedience is the ultimate recourse when democratic debate is blocked. It must be disinterested, nonviolent against people, transparent. Its author of course accepts to take responsibility for any possible sanctions. ”

Thierry Nlandu

Born in 1954, citizen of the Congo-Zaïre, professor of anglo-american literature at the University of Kinshasa, spokesman of the Conseil de l’apostolat des laics catholiques du Congo (CALCC), playwright and consultant for organizational development.

After meeting Jean Goss, takes part in the foundation in 1989 of the Amos group, which works on training for democracy and nonviolence, fights against stealing, adultery and the generalized corruption.

On the 16th of February 1992, Amos organizes the March of the Christians in Kinshasa, assembling over a million people to demand the reopening of the Conférence Nationale Souveraine, in charge of creating a new constitution and bringing back democracy. It is bloodily repressed by the Mobutu regime.

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Thierry Nlandu

Between 2000 and 2003, manages the “Democratic Transition” program of the Law Group-Global Rights.

Organizes another march on 16th February 2012 against the fraudulent results of the election of the 28th of November 2011 and to demand the resignation of the office of the electoral commission after the fraudulent reelection of Joseph Kaliba.

Photos :- March of the Christians in Kinshasa on 16th January 1992- Repression of the march by Mobutu’s police force.

Élisabeth Maheu-Vaillant

Born Gille in 1954, Frenchwoman, member of the MAN, teacher at the IFMAN Normandie, used to be a mathematics teacher for the Académie de Rouen, then put in charge of preventing incivility and violence within the academy, trains on the question of educational sanctions.

“ Whether its educating children, teaching, participation in the life of a community, working in a team, co-elaborating rules and guaranties or improving the democratic process within an institution; whether its protesting against injustice or starting a nonviolent resistance, or intervening in a conflict zone as a third party, we need to try different media, work on our postures, practice containing our emotions and communicating better, (…) analyzing the power struggles. Nonviolence has to be learnt. ”

Jacques Muller

Frenchman born in 1954, agricultural engineer of the INAPG, professor of general, agricultural and rural economy for over 25 years, member of the MAN in Mulhouse. Cofounded several environmental and human-rights organizations. Mayor of Wattwillerfrom 2001 to 2014, EELV senator for the Haut-Rhin form 2007 to 2010. Renounces his mayoral compensation to oppose accumulation of mandates. In April 2007, subpoenas the Ministry for Agriculture, in the name of Wattwiller, in front of the administrative tribunal of Strasbourg for having failed to take the necessary measures to establish a protective perimeter against GMO around organic farms.

“ The ethical requirement of nonviolence in terms of individual and collective political practices, in the daily political game, always appears to be generally absent. (…) The representatives of political

ecology have a very particular responsibility : to (re)discover the nonviolence they refer to and to bring her into action. ”

Jan Zielonka

Born in 1995, polish doctor of political science, professor at the university of Leiden, in Florence and then in Oxford. Has studied lengthily nonviolent polish resistance and takes an interest in civil defense strategies.

“An analysis of the nonviolent resistance of Solidarnosc can contribute to an enriching debate on the potential effect of nonviolent actions in different national or international conflicts. We are presented with one of the most impressive historical examples of nonviolent action, although there is neither a nonviolent tradition in Poland, nor a serious theoretical analysis exploring the potential power of nonviolent fighting.”

Nov. 1985 in Strasbourg

Liu Xiaobo

Chinese university professor and writer born in 1955. Sentenced to eleven years imprisonment for taking part in 2008 in the Charter 08, signed by 333 people, demanding democracy and the compliance to Human rights in China. Nobel Prize for Peace in 2010.

“ Liberty, Equality and Human rights are universal values (…). A “modernization” which strays from these principles (…) amounts to a degradation of human relationships, to hindering the dignified struggle of men against misfortune. ”

Maria Biedrawa

Born in 1956 in Austria, specialized teacher, consultant and trainer, member of Jean Vanier’s Arche, ex-president of the French branch of the Mouvement International de la Réconciliation (MIR), deacon of peace.

Teaches nonviolence and reconciliation dynamics in post-conflict situations in several African countries.

“I have met refugees, victims of dictatorships, in DRC and elsewhere, children who worked in mines to earn enough for a meal. But I also saw men and women who, in the worst situations, show the best of humanity. I saw more than just methods. I met people who oppose violence with their entire being. Little by little, the words I hear and read make me realize why African nonviolence has such vitality and freshness about it.”

Javier Sicilia

Born in 1956, catholic and Mexican poet, essayist, novelist and journalist. In march 2011, his son Juan Francisco, 24, is assassinated by the mafia, along with six other people. Gives up poetry and, with the motto “Estamos hasta la madre” (“We have had it”), leads several demonstrations demanding a stop be put to violence in Mexico. The March for Peace, from Cuernavaca to Mexico from the 5th to the 8th of May 2011, denounces the corruption, impunity and gains from crime. It brings together 80 000 people and received the support of Sub-commandant Marcos and international support. Founder of the Movement for Peace with Justice and Dignity.

“In the midst of this badly planned war, badly done, badly managed, which precipitates the country into a state of emergency, you were incapable – because of your pettiness, your brawls and your rivalries – of creating the consensus so badly needed by the nation. It is time to give our nation back its dignity.”

Marguerite Barankitse

Born in 1956, nicknamed Maggy, burundese tutsi teacher. In October 1993, a group of tutsi militia men assassinate 72 Hutus in front of her eyes in the bishopric of Ruyigi. Saves 25 hutu children from a burning building.

Opens in a rundown building a home called Shalom, then the Oasis of Peace and the Casa de la Pace for traumatized and mutilated children, without any distinction based on ethnical, religious or social background, educates them towards peace and pardon.

“ He who kills is the first victim of his act. You cannot condemn another man, only his actions. Each life is sacred, even that of a criminal. Evil will never prevail. Faith and love can move even hatred’s mountains. ”

Nafez Assaily

Palestinian born in 1956, Sufi Muslim. Studies in Christian schools and then at the university of Nablus (English and sociology), PhD in Washington. Family evicted by the GivatArsina Israeli colony. Loses sight in his right eye in 1990 after taking part in the protest against the death, the previous day, of Palestinians in front of the Al Aqsa Mosque.

Creates the Library on Wheels for Nonviolence and Peace in Hebron (LOWNP) and the House of nonviolence. Encourages eating local product to develop Palestinian economy, reconciliation within families.

“There is no other choice for Palestinians than a nonviolent struggle.”

Yang Yoon-mo

Born 1956, professor and critic for south Korean cinema, ex-president of the Korean association of cinema critics. 59 days of prison and 71 days of hunger strike in 2011, 42 day long hunger strike in 2012, and again in 2013 as a nonviolent protest against the creation of a huge naval base in Gangjeon, on the volcanic island of Jeju, 85km south of the Korean peninsula.

This base is destined to house American nuclear submarines, destroyers and aircraft-carriers, would be an advanced post for the American anti-missile defense, and part of the strategy to encircle China. The site belongs to the UNESCO World Heritage. 94% of the 1900 inhabitants of Gangjeon opposed the project in a referendum in 2007.

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Yang Yoon-mo an the nonviolent resistants of Jeju

From 2007 onwards, the villagers have been supported by a large part of South Koreans, by 125 Korean and more international NGOs.The bishop of Jeju, Peter Kang U-il, president of the Confederation of catholic bishops of Korea (photo), supports the resistance. Joseph Takami Mitsuaki, archbishop of Nagasaki, when visiting Jeju in 2013, expressed the support of the Catholic Chruch in Korea. The Protestant Church and Buddhists are also against the project and mobilized.

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Yang Yoon-moan the nonviolent resistants of Jeju

Amongst the nonviolent militants :- Sung-Hee Choi, teacher and artiste;- Regina Pyon, representative of SPARK, an association committed to the reunification of the Koreas;- Shing Yong-In (professor of Law advocating civil disobedience);-Wook-Sik Cheong, founder of the Network for peace; - Gil Chun Koh, artist.

Thomas d’Ansembourg

Born in 1957, therapist, Belgian author and lecturer. First a lawyer, he enters in the 1990’s an association designed to help young people with difficulties, where he realizes that violence is the demonstration of deep unsatisfied needs. Learns about nonviolent communication with Marshall Rosenberg.

By knowing themselves and communicating, people take into account their needs and their limits by listening to their internal commanding sensations (gut, heart, head) and then negotiate with others.

Analyses happiness and anti-happiness traps, develops the concept of “citizen interiority”, a capacity to align your life on your vital force.

Mazin Qumsiyeh

Palestinian born in 1957, biology and genetics researcher in the universities of Bethlehem and Birzeit, after having taught in the U.S.A. President of the Centre for Rapprochement Between Peoples. Important figure of the popular resistance which he organizes partly, works in collaboration with several peace movements with the civil society.

His book called People’s History of the Palestinian Resistancesynthesizes enormous amounts of information from varied and original sources in order to present the most complete study of civil resistance in Palestine.

“An edifying and powerful book, which reveals human suffering caused by the destruction of the Palestinians (… whose) methods of resistance, based on active nonviolence, deserve to be better known to the international community.” Mairead Maguire

Yazid Kherfi

A Frenchman of Algerian descent born in 1958, tough delinquent from the “cité du Val Fourré” in Mantes-la-Jolie (suburb outside Paris, where he was known for armed robberies). Wanted by the police, flees to Algeria, imprisoned for five years after his return to France.

Accountant in a local community. In 1990, becomes first animator and then director of a Youth center in tough neighborhoods, where he works for 10 years. Animator of a Communal council for the prevention of delinquency, obtains a Bachelor degree in Educational Sciences and then a DESS in Security Engineering from the Institutdes Hautes Etudes de la Sécurité Interieure.

Teacher, consultant for “urban prevention”, lecturer, mediates between youths and policemen, social workers, wardens, etc.

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Yazid Kherfi

“Today, young people have no natural leaders around them, they are extremely lonely in the face of injustice. Neither the public authorities, nor the activists working in the neighborhoods want to work with these natural leaders and recognize these “expert inhabitants” as partners. According to me, it is a big mistake. Violence is for some the only medium they know how to use. The first victims of violence are the inhabitants of these neighborhoods, particularly these young people.

Therefore, it is important at first to lower the tension by channeling anger towards nonviolent actions of solidarity. It is today a real waste because these young people have intelligent things to say and even ideas to diminish the violence in these neighborhoods ! Inhabitants and social actors must work together for a better life in these places.”

John Dear

Born in 1959, American Jesuit. Author of 28 books on peace and nonviolence, lecturer.

Worked in refugee camps. Was arrested over 75 times as imprisoned during several months following actions of civil disobedience against injustice, war (in Iraq, Afghanistan), and nuclear weapons (attempts to destroy F15 bombers). Executive director of MIR-IFOR (International Fellowship of Reconciliation) in the U.S. from 1998 to 2001. Peace mission in Afghanistan in 2012-2013 with the Afghan Peace Volunteers.

“ If, to return to our roots, we want to proclaim the Gospel and follow Jesus the nonviolent, we will get in trouble not only with the Pentagon, but also with ecclesiastical authorities...”

Françoise Keller

Frenchwoman born in 1960, engineer having graduated from the Ecole Centrale, coach and consultant based in Lyon, 20 years experience in management, nonviolent communications trainer in different organizations and companies.

“ Economy is not naturally violent, it is man who is violent in the way he puts economy into practice. Why and how does man contribute to violence within a company ? How can he come out of this circle of violence ?- Clarify ones intention in life.- Observe, spread information, communicate.- Become conscious of our emotions to understand our needs.- Mourn and become aware that what I have accomplished in life up until now makes no sens in my life.”

Born in 1960 ?, French philosopher, research director at the Institut National de Recherche Agronomique (INRA), director of seminars at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales(EHESS). Author of three founding books on the condition of animals in industrial societies. Studies the duty to respect animal rights in Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism and in the history of thought (Pythagoras, Theophrastus, Jeremy Bentham, Arthur Schopenhauer, Gandhi, etc.). Considers vegetarianism as the founding principle in an code of ethics respectful of animals.

“ One must understand how many means of projection and abjection have been and are still used by philosophers, priests, politicians, defenders of tradition, but also by defenders of progress to harm animals, ever more present in man when he wants to act as an angel .”

Florence Burgat

Christian Renoux

Frenchman born in 1960, graduated from the Ecole NormaleSuperieure, doctor of History, head-lecturer for modern history at the university of Orléans, where he also teaches History of religions and History of nonviolence.

Copresident of the Mouvement International de la Réconciliation(MIR-FOR) from 1994 to 2004. Since November 2000, president of the Coordination française pour la Décennie de la culture de non-violence et de paix (2001-2010), which organized the Salon international des initiatives de paix and renamed in 2011 the Coordination pour l’éducation à la non-violence et à la paix.

This organization gathers together 80 associations and aims for the promotion of education and training to develop a culture based on nonviolence and peace. Every year, it organizes the forum Nonviolence in school. Since 2008, it has been developing the Reseau Ecole et Non-Violence.

Jenni Williams

Born in 1962, half-caste form Zimbabwe, human rights activist and founder in 2002 with others (Magodonga Mahlangu, TauraiNyamanhindi, etc.) of Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA). This movement involving 75 000 women and men encourages citizens to demonstrate in favor of their political, economical and social rights and protests through civil disobedience against the dictatorship of President Robert Mugabe.

Arrested more than 40 times, declared “prisoner of opinion” by Amnesty International. Awarded the International Women of Courage Award in 2007 by the American government for giving “an example of courage and leadership by working for change through pacific and nonviolent means.”

“ We are scared, like everyone else… What gives us the will to continue is that we tell the truth and do it as the moral authorities of the mothers of the nation.”

Jean-François Bernardini

Frenchman and Corsican born in 1963, founded with his brother Alain the singing and music group I Muvrini, committed to the defense of Corsican language and culture.

Animator of the Association pour la Fondation de Corse, participates in courses for a culture of nonviolence.

« Nonviolence does not judge or give moral lessons. It listens to anger and suffering. It searches for dignified answers, for a hope : to deliver all of helplessness, not to abide to injustice, choosing intelligent and efficient means. It counts on imagination and creativity, on discipline, on collective commitment. (…)Corsica is today a land being born in a dying land, and nonviolence can be at the center of that process.”

Alain Refalo

Frenchman born in 1964, schoolteacher in Colomiers (Haute-Garonne), conscientious objector of the military service and militant for nonviolence. Founder of the Centre de ressources sur la non-violence de Midi-Pyrénées, ex-manager of publication of the reviewAlternatives non-violentes.

In November 2008 initiates the movement of disobedient schoolteachers, opposed to reforms presented by the minister “de l’Education Nationale”, Xavier Darcos, explaining that they “consciously refuse to obey”.

“ Our resistance wants to implicate in an inextricable way a non-cooperating program which opposes itself to measures that seem to us bad for the future of our schools, and a constructive program proposing solutions which might help prepare this future. (…) Our resistance never did any harm to the pupils. We have always wanted to present effective pedagogical alternatives to ensure the continuity and the efficiency of public education.”

Benny Tai, Martin Lee, Chan Kin-man, Chu Yiu-ming, Joseph Zen

Benny Tai Yiu-ting (first photo), born in 1964, law professor at the university of Hong Kong, politician. Instigator in January 2013 of the informal movement of civil disobedience called Occupy Central with Love and Peace which had emerged around a single demand : democratic and free elections in 2017 to designate the successor of Leung Chung-ying as head of the government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. Occupy Central is supported by many democratic movements around the world, such as the American National Democratic Institute.

Martin Lee Chu Ming (lower photo), lawyer born in 1938, member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong, founder of the Democratic Party of Hong Kong, is cofounder of Occupy Central. ../..

Benny Tai, Martin Lee, Chan Kin-man Chu Yiu-ming, Joseph Zen

Chan Kin-man (first photo), professor for sociology at the Chinese university of Hong Kong. Cofounder of Occupy Central.

Chu Yiu-ming (second photo), born in 1944, Baptist pastor in Hong Kong, Human rights activits. Played an essential role in the evacuation of dissidents from Tiananmen in 1989, where he was himself the day before the repression. One of the founders of Occupy Central.

Joseph Zen Ze-kiun (last photo), born in 1932, Chinese cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church, emeritus bishop of Hong Kong since 2009. Favors democracy, one of the main dissidents of the Chinese communist regime.

See the slideshow “Civil resistance against dictatorships”

Txetx Etcheverry

Born in 1964 in the Pais Basco. Cofounder of the nonviolent Basque movement Démo, active within the Basque anti-global movement Bizi !, implicated in questions regarding climatic and environmental emergency and encouraging nonviolent action. Works with ELA, an unusual Basque union equipped with a resistance fund allowing it to initiate and win strikes lasting up to three years…

“My choice of nonviolence was born from the need for efficiency, taken from my own experiences as a Basque militant. I had the opportunity to experience the limits of organized violence, and the capacity of a system to turn that weapon on those who attempt to fight it. (…) The real winning strategies, as much concerning our aims as our values, are democratic and progressive, and stay within the scope nonviolent action, of civil disobedience and of a constructive program.”

Étienne Chomé

Belgian born in 1965, researcher at the catholic university of Louvain, author of the C-R-I-T-E-R-E method, founder and manager of CommunicActions : this international school, born in the multireligious and multiracial context of the Île Maurice, has developed on three continents. Its animators teach this method of conflict management to very diverse audiences : parents, teachers, managers, teams, all the way to working-class neighborhoods and schools, prisons, etc.

“The conflict of structures, of experiences and interests all require specific remedies, and they are the three ideas with which the C-R-I-T-E-R-E method teaches to juggle :- Framework of right and wrong : firm authority helps to abide to rules.- Truthful communication : emotional intelligence respects people, understanding their personal and collective history improves the quality of relations.- Efficient negotiation : rational intelligence respects the different interests at stake, creativity invents win-win solutions which optimize the agreement.”

Jawad Siyam

Born in 1969, Palestinian teacher and social worker, lives in the Silwan quarter of East Jerusalem, which the Israeli settlers, pretexting the holy past of the place (as the city of David) and archeological gigs, are trying to rid of Palestinians. There are 250 000 Palestinians in East Jerusalem and 50 000 in Silwan, of which 50 % youths.

Founder and director of the Wadi Hilweh Information Center, a cultural non-profit organization (music, dance, artistic activities) which defends nonviolently the Palestinian identity (information concerning human rights violations, legal counsel and assistance). Organizes sit-ins to protest against arrests.

“ We have been colonized by the Romans, the Turks, the English and now by the Israelis, but we still have hope. We cannot not lose hope.”

Rami Elhanan and Ghazi Briegeith

R. E. : Born in 19??, Israeli, graphic designer in Jersualem. In 1997, his daughter Samadar died in the suicide-bombing of a Palestinian kamikaze. He and his wife realize that this attack is the result of the occupation, decides to forgive and adheres to the Israeli-Palestinian organization for mourning families called Parents Circle. In September 2010, is part of the crew of the catamaran Irene which denounces the maritime blockade of Gaza.

G. B. : Palestinian electrician living in Hebron. His brother is killed in 2000 by a young Israeli soldier at a check-point. Adheres to Parents Circle. He says “ There is no need for love to build bridges between both nations: there is need for respect ”.

Both are also part of the non-profit organization Forgiveness Project.

Ronit Avni

Born in 19??, citizen of the U.S., Canada and Israel. Founded in 2003 and general director of Just Vision in Washington.

This organization aims to raise awareness and support Palestinians and Israelis working to secure “freedom, dignity, security and peace through nonviolent means”. Demands the end of the occupation and implantation of Israeli settlements in Palestinian territories. It also creates documentary films in Hebrew, Arab and English (“Home Front”, “Budrus”, “Encounter Point”) and acts as a turning plate between different actors and movements within the conflict.

“ The changes in today’s world start from the bottom and are finally lead by those in power: ecology, feminism, civil rights movements, etc. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is no different. Politicians will end up following, but I am worried about who will lead. ”

Camille Joseph Gomis

Born in 1970, Senegalese priest. After 10 years of priesthood and many responsibilities, comes to France for management, geopolitical and mediation training.

Creates in 2006 in Ziguinchor, Casamance, the non-profit organization Generation Non-Violente. In 2012, opens in Brin a Centre de recherche et de formation en gestion non-violente des conflits, which works with 1000 people a year. Works to create a university degree in sociopolitical analysis and sustainable development at the Université catholique de l’Afrique de l’Ouest in Ziguinchor.

“ The bracelet symbolizes what we want man to remember permanently, which is that the power which comes from his hand must no longer be used to destroy, but to build. ”

Daoud Nassar

Born in 1970, Lutheran Palestinian, master in corporate administration.

With his wife and children, he works the Farm of hope, encircled by 5 illegal Israeli settlements in Nahalin, Westbank(9 km South-East of Bethlehem). They have possessed ownership titles since 1916 and resist nonviolently to all initiatives and threats to demolish the buildings (barn, water tank, toilets, Cave of peace, etc.), plants olive trees to replace those cut down by the Israeli settlers.

Founded the peace project “Tent of Nations” in 2000 to promote understanding between peoples and cultures. Youths from all around the world live in these tents.

“We refuse to be enemies.”

Ziad Medoukh

Born in 1970, Palestinian, post-graduate diploma in French as a second language from the Université Stendhal in Grenoble, doctor of linguistics from Paris VIII. Manager of the French department of the Al-Aqsa university in Gaza since 2006 and founder of the Center for peace in 2007.

Tireless lecturer on Gaza and Palestine, and on the oppression forced on the population by Israel, encourages nonviolent resistance and meets with many organization and youth networks in France and Europe.

“ Today, living in Gaza, organizing your life, the education of children, is already a form of nonviolent resistance, spontaneously chosen by the civilians: 94 % of children go to school, which goes to show the strength of Palestinian families. ”

Musa Abu Maria

Palestinian born in 19??, political prisoner from 1999 to 2003, tortured, hospitalized following this physical abuse. Arrested again in 2009, freed thanks to Amnesty International and Israeli non-profit human rights organizations. Coordinator of the civil resistance in the West Bank.

Founder of the Palestine Solidarity Project. This organization, founded in 2006 in the village of Beit Ommar (southern West Bank) opposed through direct nonviolent action the occupation of Palestinian territories by Israel.

“ We believe in firmness as a force to resist. For many communities with which we work, remaining on their lands in the face of intimidation, violence, economic difficulties and attempts of mass displacement, is a resistance in itself. ”

Pinar Selek

Born in 1971, Turkish sociologist and novelist, women’s rights activist and conscientious objector. In 1998, arrested and tortured by policemen looking for Kurds which she had interviewed for sociological research concerning the effects of the civil war. Accused of being responsible for an attack committed in July 1998 in the spice market in Istanbul, but found innocent.

Organizes a Reunion of women for peace in Diyarbakir. In 2001, founds together with others the feminist and non-profit organization “Amargi (“back to the mother”, but also “freedom” in Sumerian), which participates in the mobilizations against violence towards women, for peace and against all kinds of domination. The organization is responsible for the “March of women towards one another” : millions of women from all over Turkey meet in Konya.

Political exile in Germany, then France, PhD student at the Université de Strasbourg.

Yonatan Shapira

Born in 1972 ?, Israeli, ex-officer in the Air Force. In September 2003, is one of the 27 pilotes who refused to go into occupied territories. Dismissed from the army. Denounces Israeli war crimes *.

Founder, together with the Palestinian Souliman Khatib, of the Israeli-Palestinian organization Combatants for Peace, which fights nonviolently against Israeli occupation of Palestine and for a pacific agreement between both peoples. Calls for boycott of Israel and international sanctions. Takes part in the boat trips towards Gaza intended to denounce the maritime blockade of Palestine.

* In July 2002, to kill a leader of the Hamas in Gaza, an Israeli F 16 drops a bomb, killing 14 people, of which 9 children. During Operation Cast Lead (22 days of shelling in Dec. 2008 – Jan. 2009), 1400 Palestinians were killed, etc.

Étienne Raphaël et Dominique Legeard

E. R.: Frenchman born in 1972. Graduated in modern literature and cinema, film director, screenwriter, producer, film editor. Meets militants of nonviolent Palestinian resistance, peasant of the Larzac, travels through the primary forest of Gabon, in ex-Yugoslavia, takes part in environmental struggles against GMO and nuclear energy. D. L.: Frenchman born in 1960 (pseudonyms: Lidwine, Marcel de la Gare), cartoonist.Create a 240 page long graphic novel about nonviolence scheduled to come out in 2017.

“ Nonviolence requires imagination, it is spectacular and full of surprising developments and movements: actually, it contains all the ingredients to create a great adventure, with colorful characters, action and even humor. The “Instant neige” is the metaphor of this moment which surprises each one of us when we wake up to find snow has fallen during the night, thus upsetting our plans for our day. ”

Abdullah Abu Rahma

Born in 1973 ?, Palestinian, inhabitant of Bil’in, a West Bank village deprived of its lands by the construction of the wall between Israel and the West Bank.

Coordinator of the Bil’in Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements. Since January 2005, the village has organized weekly nonviolent demonstrations each Friday against the construction of the wall, together with Israelis and international supporters. The committee succeeded in 2007 in convincing the Supreme Court of Israel to order the moving of the wall. Arrested in December 2009 for possessing used Israeli weapons after having presented an exhibition featuring the grenades used by Israeli forces on demonstrators. 25 resistance committees have adopted similar methods of action.

“ Our only enemy is occupation (…). Nonviolence is effective. And we are proud of it. Our intifada is pacific, that is why it is powerful. ”

Leymah Gbowee

Born in 1972, Liberian social worker, member of the Lutheran church. In Ghana, member of the West African Network for Peacebuilding (WANEP). Manages the nonviolent movement Women of Liberia Mass Action for Peace, which works to put a stop to the second Liberian civil war in 2003 and allows the election in Liberia of the first female president of an African nation, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.

In 2002, as a “peace fighter”, starts a “sex strike” during which women of all religious backgrounds refuse men sex so long as hostilities continue. The action forced the murderous dictator Charles Taylor to include them in the peace negotiations a short time before his loss of power.

Wins, together with others, the Nobel Prize for Peace in 2011 for “mobilizing and organizing women beyond ethnical and religious divisions to put a stop to a long war in Liberia and ensure the participation of women in the elections.”

The unknown protester of Tian’anmen Square

On the 4th of June 1989, a pro-democracy demonstration is violently repressed by the Chinese regime. The next day, on 5th June, on the Tian’anmen Square in Peking, a unknown protester holds up the advance of a column of at least 17 type 59 tanks of the Chinese army.

The tanks stop before him, and he signals to them to retreat. The first tank tries a few times to go around the man, but he moves back into its way. Then the man climbs onto the vehicle and has a short conversation with one of the crew. A few witnesses (or policemen clad as civilians ?) take hold of the man and lead him into the crowd. The tanks resume their advance.

The photography of the scene, taken by Jeff Widener of Associated Press, is often used to symbolize courage and the power of nonviolence in the face of military oppression.

Xavier Renou

Frenchman born in 197?, used to work with Greenpeace. In November 2006, creates the Collectif des désobéissants to fight against the nuclear weapon.

Internships destined to train anti-globalization, environmental or human rights activists, in which the basic ideas of civil disobedience are explained and how an action should be organized : analyzing the situation, defining the aim, allocation of tasks, transport, budget, contacts with the press, security, attitude if arrested by the police and during the trial, how to deal with the sanctions, etc.

“ The second article of the Declaration of Human Rights of 1789 asserts the right a citizen has to resist. Civil disobedience cannot be improvised. A training is useful for those who fight nonviolently to change the world. Our internships allow the participants to avoid mistakes, to get better organized and to be more efficient in their action. ”

Srdja Popovic and Slobodan Djinovic

S. P. : Serbian born in 1973Ex-members of the Serbian youth resistance movement Otpor ! (“Resistance !”), which played a major role in the downfall of Slobodan Milosevic in October 2000, together with the coalition of opposition parties DOS and CESID with its thousands of electoral observers.

These three groups received financial support from American organizations (National Endowment for Democracy (NED), International Republican Institute (IRI), U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), etc.

They were given courses in nonviolent action, lead by Robert Halwey, close collaborator of Gene Sharp, whose books were translated and distributed throughout the Internet as worksheets.

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Ivan Marovic , Stanko Lazarevicand Aleksandar Maric

Otpor ! Then tried to transform into a political party, but was a fiasco during the parliamentary elections (60 000 votes).

When Otpor ! fuses with the Democratic Party of the president Boris Tadic in 2004, Popovic and Dinovic take their leave, before creating the Centre for Applied Nonviolent Actions and Strategies (CANVAS) in 2005, which organizes training seminars against electoral fraud in ex-satellites of the Soviet Union.

Other leaders of Otpor !, Ivan Marovic, Stanko Lazarevic and Aleksandar Maric, create the Center for Nonviolent Resistance.

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Photo : Ivan Marovic

The former leaders d’Otpor !

These non-profit organizations gradually became private companies selling their skills.

That is how these nonviolent methods were “exported” to Georgia (fall of Chevardnadze), to the Ukraine (Pora, an very important organization during the “orange revolution”), to Belarus (ZUBR, civil rights defense organization, opposed to Lukashenko), to Albania, to Russia (Putin’s opposition), to Kirghizstan (downfall of the president Akaïev), to Uzbekistan (opposition to Karimov), to Lebanon, etc.The students of the “April 6th Youth Movement” in Egypt consulted with Otpor ! and adopted its methods during the Egyptian revolution of 2011.

Photos : - Srdja Popovic et Slobodan Dinovic, - Logo of the “April 6th Youth Movement” inspired by those of Otpor ! and

Canvas

Les anciens leaders d’Otpor !

“ The most essential part of CANVAS’ work is to spread across the world the message “power of the people”, rather than to win against this or that dictator. Our next mission will be to show that a nonviolent struggle is a powerful medium for freedom, democracy and human rights. ”

They continue, in the future, to verify the coherence between nonviolent means and the ends hoped for, the ethics of the training organizations for nonviolent action, the ambition and political future of their leaders…

Véronique Dudouet

Frenchwoman born in 1977. Spends her childhood within the Community of the Arch of Lanza del Vasto, studies political sciences (IEP in Toulouse) and conflict resolution (Master and doctorate within the Peace studies Department of Bradford University, G. B.).

Head researcher and program director of the Berghof Foudation in Berlin, where she has been working since 2005. Active for different international initiatives for solidarity, in Palestine amongst others (where she went a few times for research and civil support).

Her current research focus on the transition from an armed struggle to civil resistance, the role of third parties in nonviolent movements, post-conflict governance, the participatory “action research” method, negotiation and mediation in asymmetrical political conflicts.

Tawakkul Karman

Born in 1979, Yemenite militant for women’s rights. In 2005, creates the human rights defense group Women Journalists Without Chains, to defend freedom of thought and speech.

Denounces the banning of a newspaper and of a radio by the Ministry for Information, receives threats and attempts at bribing from the authorities. From 2007 to 2010, takes part and encourages demonstrations and sit-ins in the Freedom Square of Sanaa, in front of the government’s headquarters.

One of winners of the Nobel Prize for Peace in 2011 in recognition of “her part in the nonviolent struggle for women’s safety and for women’s right to participate fully in working to

consolidate peace in Yemen”.

“Their cause is just, but it is not with violence that Syrians will succeed in taking down the dictatorship.”

Rachel Corrie

(1979-2003) American militant of Jewish descent, volunteer for the International Solidarity Movement (ISM).

Died on March 16th 2003 in the Gaza strip during the Second Intifada, run over by an Israeli bulldozer as she was trying, together with other members of her organization, to stop pacifically the demolition of the house of a Palestinian doctor.

Members of the ISM, present at the time, claim that the bulldozer’s driver intentionally killed R. C. by running her over twice. The

young woman had stood in front of the vehicle in order to be seen by its driver, thus hoping to incite him not to continue the demolition. According to the Israeli army, the driver did not see her because she was in his blind spot.

Rima al Dali

Born in 1980, Syrian, graduated in Law from the university of Aleppo, works for a development program of the UN, volunteer for the Red Cross.

In April 2012, protests in a red dress against violence in Syria. Demonstrates again pacifically in Damascus in November 2012, together with Ru’a Ja’far, Kinda al-Za'our and Lubna al-Za'our. Dressed in white wedding dresses, they carry three banners, one asking for the end of all military operations in Syria, another bearing the words “Syria is for all of us”, and the last “We are all exhausted, we want another solution”. All imprisoned.

“The means employed to reach our aims must be as pure as our aims. ”

Manuel Cervera-Marzal

Frenchman Born in 1987, graduated from Science Po Paris and doctor of political sciences. Researcher for political sciences at the UniversitéLibre de Bruxelles and at the Université Paris-Diderot. As part of his sociological and philosophical research, he focuses on the ideas of Thoreau, Gandhi and King, but also on the theories of democracy and contemporary political philosophy. Member of the editorial committee of Alternatives non-violentes and the IRNC. Author of four books.

“ By substituting the idea that ‘the end is in the means just as the tree is in the seed’ to the maxim which says that ‘the end justifies the means’, Gandhi works out a renewed and harmonious conception of the relationship between ethics and politics. By insisting on responsibility – which means that everyone must disobey laws they deem to be unjust – Mahatma inaugurates an idea of citizenship as a political action and not as a legal status .”

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