How nonviolent discipline transforms fear into constructive action
Latin American peace educator and activist Pietro Ameglio discusses the inner discipline and moral courage that nonviolence requires.
In this episode of Nonviolence Radio, we speak with Latin American peace educator and activist Pietro Ameglio about civil resistance in Mexico and the deeper dynamics of nonviolent struggle. Drawing on decades of organizing with grassroots communities, families of the disappeared, and movements confronting cartel violence, Ameglio reflects on concepts such as the “spiral of violence,” the difference between fear and terror, and the practice of what he calls “putting the body inside the conflict.” His work is rooted in a Christian peace tradition and shaped early on by the influence of Maryknoll priest Fr. Donald Hessler, a colleague of Dorothy Day who helped introduce Ameglio and others to Gandhian nonviolence through faith-based organizing and community work. While Ameglio acknowledges the complex realities communities face, he is not proposing a “diversity of tactics,” but pointing instead to the inner discipline and moral courage that nonviolence requires — the transformation of fear into constructive action and the cultivation of dignity, courage and solidarity that make civil resistance possible.
In memory of Civil Rights leader Dr. Bernard Lafayette who passed away earlier this month, hear him talk about the constructive use of anger in nonviolence:
Dr. Lafayette appears in our film, The Third Harmony: Nonviolence and the New Story of Human Nature. We are hosting a screening and study/conversation about nonviolence on March 14 as well as on March 22. Register at this link.
“The science of war leads one to dictatorship pure and simple. The science of nonviolence alone can lead one to pure democracy.” ~Gandhi
With Agape,
Stephanie for the Metta Team