February 28, 2022
Dear Karl,
As the war between Russia and Ukraine continues and intensifies, many of us who have committed our lives to nonviolence are struggling to know how to respond and where to look for information to help us make sense of what is happening.
This email is my tiny attempt to contribute to this. I rarely send dedicated emails to the entire list of people subscribed to BayNVC and my own list. I am doing it because I want to do my part in mobilizing to find nonviolent means to end and transform all wars, not just this one. I am hoping that what I include here will support the weight of nonviolent responses, within us, around us, and in the region itself.
Support for peace makers in Ukraine
NVC colleagues of mine have been working in Ukraine for some years, training people intensively to be peace makers. These people are now aiming to support those around them with the skills they acquired through pretty intensive training, including practice periods with live conflicts. They listen empathically and facilitate dialogues to increase social cohesion and resilience at a time when people are already terrified from days of fighting, and there is no telling how long this will last. My colleagues have organized a fundraiser for their work to continue and be sustained, to which I contributed. This is the primary reason I am sending this email. The links to the actual organizations are not provided to protect them. I know personally the trainers involved and fully vouch for their work. It's a rare example of what NVC can truly offer in extreme situations, something most of us who learn and teach NVC don't experience.
Nonviolence news
I generally find this site comprehensive and deep in its approach. I know Rivera Sun, the person who runs it, and am in awe of what she has been able to do in the last few years to create a source of inspiration and understanding about nonviolence all over the world. Her last weekly email went out on Friday, and includes, in particular, an article about the potential for nonviolent responses to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. In addition to that article, Rivera's editorial points to other resources.
Metta Center's resource list
The Metta Center, led by Michael Nagler and Stephanie van Hook, also people I know personally and trust deeply, maintains a resource list on resistance to war in Ukraine. I have not looked at most of the items on the list. I want to recommend one article by Daniel Hunter called "Ukraine’s secret weapon may prove to be civilian resistance." It's a deep reminder of the enormous potential that unarmed resistance has had, many times, when used by people against those with far larger military power.
Code Pink
Over many decades, I have noticed how the general tendency to think in either/or terms, deeply habitual in so many societies, increases dramatically under conditions of war. We are habituated to find who to blame for war. This is certainly happening now. What I am hearing of the unfolding of what the Russian military is doing in Ukraine, which is not much and is mediated by others' perspective, as is always the case, is difficult to take in. I still am finding the all-out making of Russia as the unequivocal and only "bad guy," difficult. I am appreciating deeply the framing that Code Pink has provided, for example in the article "The War in Ukraine: What We Shouldn't Forget." It's complex, sees multiple perspectives, including how the US has exacerbated the conflict for years, and anchors in looking to the Minsk agreements (violated thousands of times by both sides) as a framework for reaching ceasefire, and holding peace to be only possible when the needs of all groups within the complex territory that is now Ukraine are held.
In peace and hope,
Miki Kashtan
Lead facilitator and trainer
Bay Area Nonviolent Communication (BayNVC)
P.O. Box 22872, Oakland, CA 94609
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