Exploring Nonviolent Power, Structural Violence and Nonviolent Power
 
This year at the Mindanao Peacebuilding Institute I was asked to facilitate the Nonviolence course. I had a lot of ideas floating around in my head about how to structure this course. As I began to organize resources I discovered the book Engage: Exploring Nonviolent Living.
 
Engage is the product of Pace e Bene, a US based NGO that has cultivated cultures of nonviolence through training, publishing, advocacy and spiritual practice. The Engage materials are a refinement and update of their training curriculum, From Violence to Wholeness, that has been circulating since 1997. Put in a manual form, Engage is a detailed training curriculum that is presented such that anyone can facilitate learning about living nonviolence.
 
The first section begins the journey by exploring nonviolent power including our attitudes and misconceptions of the power of violence. It examines our personal complicity with the violence around us and seeks to confront that with the power of love and recognizing our connection to each other. Once we understand our own capacity for violence, then we can begin to be open to change.  Change starting from inside us has an affect on those around us and beyond. The second section of the book involves understanding how structures can be violent and how to use the power of nonviolence for positive change.  The third section is about actually putting nonviolence to work with strategy, preparation and action as a force for change.  The fourth, and last section, is a compilation of resources for active nonviolent living.  It includes a section with tips on how to organize and conduct training session.
 
Engage is peppered with Gandhian wisdom, examples from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and other 20th century nonviolence practitioners. Stories both big and small of nonviolent actions form the basis of exploratory learning. The wisdom gleaned from years of successful active nonviolence change is an integral part of this manual.
 
One few critique I would have is that it presents complex exercises in only written form where simple drawings, diagrams or artwork would greatly help the reader decipher the intent of the exercise.
 
While the manual would best be used in conjunction with a more experienced Pace e Bene trainer, it is very well laid out for an inexperience trainer. Engage is a useful resource for anyone doing nonviolence training and I would highly recommend it.