After yesterday’s election—indeed after months and months of the election—many people are exhausted and today a lot of Americans are profoundly nervous about what a Trump presidency will hold. I am one of those people too.
While the Ashland Center for Nonviolence is a non-partisan organization, peace movements in America have generally been more at home on the Left since at least the early twentieth century. In the last half-century especially, the conscientious objectors, other war critics, and the advocates for civil rights largely saw their movements most represented among the Democratic party. This has not meant, of course, that Democratic leaders have always embraced nonviolence. As I watched the Clinton and Trump campaigns, I sensed some role-reversal early on when it came to Hillary Clinton’s strong advocacy for military might and Donald Trump’s near isolationism.
But I’ve always insisted that there’s more to peace than simply avoiding war. Nonviolence is also a gentle spirit that looks for concord, that advances respect for people who are different, that lifts up the weak, and seeks justice for the oppressed.
But I’ve always insisted that there’s more to peace than simply avoiding war. Nonviolence is also a gentle spirit that looks for concord, that advances respect for people who are different, that lifts up the weak, and seeks justice for the oppressed.
