Boris Vian Le Deserteur The Deserter English subtitles

MPT's intern from France, Aude Feltz, contributed this find.

90-year-old man recounts a remarkable experience he had in WWII.

Elliott Adams found this clip...really remarkable.  A true "Story of Empowerment":
http://www.wimp.com/remarkableexperience/

New NV Skills Training Scheduled

In an effort to make sure that MPT sponsors at least quarterly Basic (8hr.) Nonviolence Skills Trainings, we have scheduled the following training:

• Saturday, December 4th, 2010
• 9:00 a.m. until 5 p.m.
• Held at the MPT World Headquarters (808 W. Barnes Ave.; Lansing, MI  48910)
• Trainers: TBA

Please feel free to publicize widely.

A few words from Barbara Deming

"I think the only choice that will enable us to hold to our vision... is one that abandons the concept of naming enemies and adopts a concept familiar to the nonviolent tradition: naming behavior that is oppressive."

"People who attack others need rationalizations for doing so. We undermine those rationalizations."

"The longer we listen to one another - with real attention - the more commonality we will find in all our lives. That is, if we are careful to exchange with one another life stories and not simply opinions."

"Think first of the action that is right to take, think later about coping with one's fears."

"It is my stubborn faith that if, as revolutionaries, we will wage battle without violence, we can remain very much more in control – of our selves, of the responses to us which our adversaries make, of the battle as it proceeds, and of the future we hope will issue from it."

Eve Ensler on violence

"Having been a person who was beaten into submission, quieted, stunned, and made mute by terror, I know that there comes a time when you get people back – because that’s survival. It’s an organic part of what violence does. So I don’t believe in the perpetration of it anymore.”  - (Eve Ensler)

The Christmas Truce

The “Christmas Truce” is a term used to describe the brief unofficial cecessation of hostilities that occured between British and German troops stationed on the Western Front of World War I during Christmas 1914.

The truce began on Christmas Eve, December 24, 1914 when German troops began decorating the area around their trenches in the region of Ypres,Belgium in celebration for Christmas. They began by placing candles on trees, then continued the celebration by singing Christmas carols, namely Stille Nacht ("Silent Night"). The British troops in the trenches across from them responded by singing English carols. The two sides continued shouting Christmas greetings to each other.

Soon thereafter, there were calls for visits across the “No Man’s Land” where small gifts were exchanged – whiskey, cigars, and the like. The artillery in the region fell silent that night. The truce also allowed a breathing spell where recently-fallen soldiers could be brought back behind thier lines by burial parties.

The truce spread to other areas of the lines, and there are many stories of football (soccer) matches between the opposing forces. In many sectors the truce lasted through Christmas night, but in some areas, it continued until New Year’s Day.

The truce occurred in spite of oppostion at higher levels of the military, who were furious knowing that after this humanizing event it could be much harder to order soldiers to forget thier own humanity.

From Gandhi....

"Nonviolence is a weapon of the strong” "Whenever you are confronted with an opponent, conquer him with love." “The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.” “The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.” “Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.” “First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.”

Mahatma Gandhi

Mary

My name is Mary Hanna.  I was born in Detroit, but now live in a tiny rural community called Laingsburg, MI  (about 25 minutes northeast of Lansing) - which I love.  I moved to the Lansing area in 1979 to pursue my bachelor's degrees at Michigan State University in Therapeutic Recreation and in Music Therapy.  After graduating, I worked for approximately 20 years for Community Mental Health (taking a 1-year break in 1988 to get my Master's degree in Behavior Disorders from Vanderbilt University).

I started out working with adults with developmental disabilities, and spent the vast majority of my later years with CMH working with people who were dually-diagnosed with severe mental illness and a concurrent substance abuse issue:  primarily people with schizophrenia and crack addiction, or bipolar disorder and alcoholism.  I also coordinated the Dialectical Behavior Therapy group for our unit.  Some of the skills I taught here (deescalating potentially violent people) have been very helpful in my peace team work.

In 2004 I began volunteering with MPT, coordinating their technology department, and in 2005 went with them as part of a peace team to the West Bank - a life-changing experience.  When CMH offered early retirement to anyone with 20+ years in, I took it.  The people I worked with at CMH - the clients - were never the issue.  But how the administration repeatedly handled budget cuts - by cutting services to these clients - was.  Within days of retiring, I began working part-time for Michigan Peace Team as a Project Manager, while also working part-time as the Coordinator for the Peace Education Center (PEC) in East Lansing.  Gradually, as my time & responsibilities at MPT increased, I phased out my paid work at the PEC (though I still sit on their board).  I now work full-time as MPT's Operations Manager, Internship Supervisor, and as a nonviolence training facilitator.  I've also served on innumerable domestic peace teams.

I love nature, camping, hiking, music, photography, reading, and my large family of pets.  I have an eclectic kind of spirituality that works well for me. My personal mission is to live life with a sense of gratitude.

What does all this mean?  It means I have the best job in the world, working with the best people I have ever known, doing something that gives me hope and convinces me daily of the innate goodness of all people.  I love what I do, where I am, and who I meet.  Who could possibly ask for more?

Sheri

So, I had this idea for a page on our blog. Kind of a "Get to know the MPT Trainers" thing. Each of us can write a few words about ourselves so we have one more tool for learning a bit about the folks we'll get to work with.

But having said, that, I guess I have to write something ehh?

I am an “activist” (whatever that means), a struggling-to-be-pacifist, a believer in acting “as if ” the world was as I know it can be, a sometimes cook, a traveler, a vegetarian, a learner, a rule breaker, a trainer, a lover, someone who runs to rather than away from the crisis and commotion, a reader, an organizer, a wannabe gardener. I am additicted to coffee. If you ever read this blog - or my own - you will also note I am a lousy speller.

I got involved with Michgan Peace Team around 1997/1998 and have served on multiple teams: both within the US and in Palestine. I love serving on teams because I believe most often they are a real and viable alternative to the military, to police, to top-down, power-0ver... We make the path by walking it; by acting "as if" the future we want is here. Besides, you meet amazing people and have a great time! I have also been blessed to be a part of MPT's Core community (our version of a board of directors; but we're never bored and we try to build consensus rather than direct.)

I love facilitating nonviolence trainings and skills shares. It is absolutely my passion! I love planning agendas, and developing curriculum and expanding MPT's community as those in trainings wrestle with the ideas of what nonviolence means and what nonviolent conflict intervention looks like.

I am an animal lover and currently live in Ypsilanti, MI (Ohio transplant ) with my 2 misbehaved, but oh-so-well loved rescued dogs Roxy and Bella, and my partner, Marty. (Is it odd that I mention the dogs 1st?).

I work part time in a pediatric office to be able to volunteer doing peace and justice work full time. All in all.... a great life.

That pretty much sums it up... if you ever wanna know more you can visit by personal blog: http://playfulspirit.wordpress.com/

Neighborhood Intervention Stories, an MPT trainer shares her experience

I often hear us talk about "using the skills we learn in training in everyday life VS. using them during an intervention. I like to remind people that sometimes we do intervention as part of our everyday lives.....

Bus stop intervention

Leaving a 6 day training on nonviolent conflict intervention I came home to walk my dogs, then head over to help A. unload the van of training supplies. By the time I got in my car to head to her house I was far from at my best – tired, cranky, tired, soooo ready to be done with clean up … did I mention tired? you get the idea. So, I stop to get coffee.

Across from the coffee shop is a bus stop and as I’m pulling out I see that at this bus stop there are 3 people. Two women who are just wailing on this guy. Kicking him, punching him… screaming at him…he has his arms over his head and is more or less just standing there getting the shit kicked out of him.

It’s a busy street and I can not imagine I am the only one noticing this scene, but no one else seems to be stopping.

Now, of course, having just come from 6 days of nonstop “nonviolent conflict intervention”, I think… “You have got to be kidding me!… I can NOT deal with this now…could they not just wait and hold this little scene next week when I’m not so tired?”

But, I figure doing nothing would make me a big hypocrite so I pull up along side them, get out of my car and as I’m walking toward them call out the first thing that comes to mind – which is something along the lines of “What the hell is this, some kind of test. Now that I’ve been talking about conflict intervention and role playing it – we’ve gotta see if I can actually do it?”

Of course, they both stop hitting the guy to look up at this clearly crazy person who has just wondered into their scene and as the continue to stare at me as if I’m insane and clearly a big ol’ narcissist for thinking their issue (whatever it is) could have anything to do with me the guy gets up and runs off. I say good-bye, acknowledge that I may be loosing it just a little… that I do actually know the world doesn’t revolve around me, and tell them to have a nice evening, then return to my car to go unload the van.

Fight at the local McDonalds

I’m driving home one night and as I pass a small strip mall near my house I see 3 guys in the parking lot of the McDonalds. Two of them are beating up the third one. Now… if 2 people want to have a fair fight it’s one thing and I may or may not have intervened. Really – I just don’t know. But in this situation, it was defiantly a matter of 2 guys beating on a third guy. So…

I pull up my car next to them and say “ Sorry, I don’t mean to interrupt your male bonding experience here. But, I am hopelessly lost.” I then proceed to ask them for directions. (Directions, of course, that I don’t need – remember I live around the corner.) Suddenly, they are not fighting. The three of them are working together to get me to where I need to go! “Try this way” on says setting out a plan… “yeah, but that has the odd turn… she could try this” says another. “Thanks, I say” driving away. Now… I have no idea if they went back to their fight when I left. And I guess to some extent it doesn’t matter. If the guy getting beat up needed to get away I offered the option to do so…. I hope.

Two stories of intervention with the Police

1 ) I’m s’posed to meet someone to talk about Nonviolent Peaceforce for some research she is doing. I show up. She doesn’t. Walking back to my car I see a group of 3 young Latino men being stopped by the Police. Something in my gut tells me to hang back and pay attention, so I do.

The men – boys really – around 16 yrs old – either do not speak English or are pretending not to speak English. I don’t know why they’ve been stopped. But I do know, I can see, that they are not being treated well.

The cop is rough with the one kid, and while I cannot hear exactly what he is saying I can tell he is being detained. He is being cuffed and shoved harshly toward the police car. I step up, “officer” I start to say… the second cop comes over. He is shouting at me. He is telling me not to interfere with the arrest. He is telling me I can be arrested. He is angry. Maybe scared. “I am not interfering”, I start to tell him, “but I am witnessing, and it appears to me an excessive use of force is being used.” He continues to yell at me to move along. I continue to refuse – politely. I wonder what will happen. I continue to point out what I am witnessing. He continues to threaten. But the behavior improves. While still being taken into custody it seems the treatment is less harsh, less heavy handed.

I offer the 2 other boys my cell phone. They call home. I don’t know what they are saying. I silently curse myself for not speaking Spanish. I am not sure what they need. Will my continued presence be helpful or intrusive?

We somehow communicate that they want to go to the station, meet family, get their friend. I take them. I file a formal complaint.

Others arrive. I leave. I hear “Gracias” called after me. I turn, smile and we all wave.

2) I’m driving somewhere and I notice the police have pulled a car over. An African American man is the driver and sole person in the car. There are 4 white cops on the scene. It seems like a lot of police for a traffic stop and something in my gut tells me to stop so I do.

I pull my car across from them making sure I am visible to all parties. One of the cops comes toward my car. I put my hands on the steering wheel where he can see them and see I am not holding a weapon. He asks why I’ve stopped. “I live near here,” I answer, “I think it’s my responsibility to know what is going on in my neighborhood, so I’m just observing.” I brace myself for his defensiveness – I don’t get it, and I am reminded once again not to stereotype and jump to conclusions.

He asks me to please be sure I remain in the car, and returns to the scene. The other officers on the scene are looking in the trunk and back seat. Soon, the man is put into a police car and taken away with 2 of the officers. The other two stay behind with the car. The officer who spoke with me before comes over to my car again. He tells me they will be waiting there for the tow truck, and he thanks me for stopping! I am stunned. I thank him for his professionalism and leave to meet my friend wondering if I’ve done the right thing in stopping.

Nonviolence in responce to personal assult: a personal sharing from an MPT trainer

Several years ago I was walking alone to my car which I had left in a parking structure in downtown Ann Arbor, MI. It was late – I had waited until after the structure closed to get my car, feeling too cheap to pay the cost of parking. As I walked down the ramp a man approached me from behind and to the side, he put a knife at my throat and demanded I give him my bag.

As I started to hand it over I remembered that I was “on call” and had the emergency phone in my purse. Michigan Peace Team (see the website @ http://www.michiganpeaceteam.org/ or our new blog @ http://michiganpeaceteam.wordpress.com/) had a team on the ground in Palestine. One way we offer support to those there is to provide an emergency phone that is answered as close to 24/7 as is humanly and technologically possible. The team that summer was in Gaza and many of them were new to peace team work – making this “life line” even more important than usual.

I said to the man, “you have all the power here, I’m not going to argue with a knife at my throat – I will give you my money, which is what I assume you want. I need the phone in this bag. It is an emergency phone and I’m on call. People’s safety depends on that phone getting answered and on the person answering it knowing what to do.”

He did not respond, but my not immediately giving in did not seem to escalate him either.
I continued. “I am going to reach in my purse… you can watch me or you can reach in and get out the phone. Then I can give you the bag.”

As I reached in I remembered this particular bag was a gift from my first trip to Palestine. It was dirty, the zipper broken, worth nothing monetarily – but a great deal sentimentally. “Actually,” I heard myself saying, “you’re likely just gonna toss this bag in the garbage somewhere. But it means a lot to me. I’ll just take the money out and give it to you. I don’t have any credit cards, and you and I know I’ll cancel the debt card immediately so the only thing in here that will be of use to you is the cash. I’m reaching in to get it.”

I did – and gave him all the cash I had. He left. I was unharmed and had the phone, the bag… all but the cash.

You might say I was still a victim… I was robbed. But I didn’t feel victimized. I made a decision about what was important to me – what I would give and what I would risk not giving – and I stuck to that.

I know I was lucky. I know it could have ended differently.

But to me – it was empowering and a reminder we sometimes have more power and more choices in how we react than we might first think. I think somewhere in my spirit I knew I could do this because on earlier encounter…

In November of 2001 I traveled to Columbus, Georgia as I had for several previous years to take part in the annual demonstration at the gates of Ft. Benning to call for the closing of the US Army School of Americas/ Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (check out http://www.soaw.org/.)

I had planned to help out with nonviolence training. For a variety of reasons I ended up finishing up early.

Some friends were supposed to meet me later, but since I finished so early I decided to walk over and meet them. I left the theater where the training was being held – the street was well lit with several restaurants and lots of people walking around, many who were in town for the demonstration the next day. I turned the corner and walked a little way before realizing the street I had turned on to was not so well lit. In fact, it was fairly dark. It was also not so full of people. In fact, it was fairly deserted. And I realized I only mostly knew where I was going.
As I continued to walk 2 men approached me. They looked to be in their early 20s, average height (but since I’m 4’11” and was scared they seemed pretty tall.) They weren’t super muscular, but defiantly in shape. They stepped in front of me, not quite blocking my path completely, but making it impossible to get past them without pushing them out of the way.

They started talking to each other about me:
“Oh, here is one of those people who come to town to tell us what bad Americans we are.”
“Yep, we don’t like people like that in our town do we?”
“No, actually she’s probably here to tell us how bad America is – let’s show her what happens to people like that in our town.”

They started to poke at me in the shoulder as they said it. I was wondering how I was gonna get out of the situation when I heard myself talking. I remember thinking “hmm… I wonder what I’m gonna say”

And what I heard myself say was:
“Oh thank god you guys are here. I grew up with a lot of people who joined the military and they all think my politics are screwed too. They are always teasing me about it – just like you are now, so it’s sort of comforting. But, my friends are expecting me any minute and I just realized how stupid it was for me to walk over to get them on dark streets alone. And I hate to play in to all the stereotypes you have about women being helpless, and needing men – but I am gonna have to. I’m wondering if you might be willing to escort me to meet my friends.”

Suddenly things changed. After a few glances over my head back and forth that seemed to imply that the guys clearly thought I was the dumbest person ever to walk the earth, the voice of the 2 guys seemed to change, become a bit kinder as they said “Of course mame, we’d be happy to, we wouldn’t want anything to happen to you when you were here in our town.”

They then walked me over to the hotel where my friends were, “chatting” with me the whole time.

Stories of Empowerment from Nonviolent Peaceforce in Sri Lanka:

Accounts from Nonviolent Peaceforce in Sri Lanka:

Return of Child Soldiers
The recruitment of child soldiers continues to be a serious problem in Sri Lanka. According to UNICEF, the Tamil Tigers (LTTE) recruited over 700 children under the age of 18 during 2003. The median age of LTTE casualties is 16. On August 5, 2004 a Nonviolent Peaceforce (NP) team accompanied a group of mothers and a local human rights activist seeking the release of children allegedly abducted as child soldiers. NP team members provided a supportive international presence while negotiations between the mothers and the insurgency leadership continued. By nightfall of the second day, 26 children were released with their bus fares home. On their way home, the NP team met a representative of the UN High Commission for Human Rights in Batticaloa, who praised them for their role and stressed the value of rapid responses like this to improve human rights situations. He also said that he believed NP to be on “the front line” on such issues.

“Good Samaritan” in the Village
One night in a small Sri Lanka village, one man was walking on the street alone. A second man approached on a bicycle and lobbed a hand grenade at the walking man. The grenade made a loud boom, hitting the man who fell, critically injured. The bicyclist quickly rode away into the cover of darkness. Violence creates fear, and fear is the greatest silencer of a civil society. Fearful, silent people do not easily come out of their homes, especially at night, not to inquire or investigate, and not to meet or gather. No one came to the injured man’s aid. A Nonviolent Peaceforce peacekeeper heard the boom and saw a man lying alone, injured and bleeding in the street. She quickly ran to his aid, followed by a second NP peacekeeper. They comforted him and took him to the hospital. The next day, NP peacekeepers were heralded by their neighbors as heroes for showing fearlessness by helping the injured man. Inspired, the residents tried on their own fearlessness. They remembered their dignity as caring and courageous human beings. That night, residents showed their strength and came into the street to greet each other openly. That second night, the streets revealed the sights and sounds of a rebuilding civil society.

Internally Displaced Persons and Rumor Control
A Sri Lankan neighborhood was subjected to violent home searches. Additionally in the neighborhood there was the assassination and display of a family including two children. Residents fled to a neighboring village for safety. NP peacekeepers were called. NP activated “shuttle diplomacy”, meetings and gatherings. Military personnel from both armed parties and grassroots leaders from various ethnic groups met in safety. Immediate conflicts were resolved; the army withdrew some newly installed military checkpoints. These leaders held a joint community meeting, responded to families’ questions, and were able to clarify rumors and dispel fears. One thousand six-hundred people returned to their homes after being displaced.

Small Act in Nazi Germany Saves One Life

Relayed to Rabbi Lawrence Kushner by Shif Repenzy, a rabbinic student, about her great Aunt Sissy 

It was in Munich in Nazi Germany. A light snow was falling and the streets were crowded with people. Sissy was riding a city bus home from work, when SS storm-troopers suddenly stopped the coach and began examining the identification papers of the passengers. Most of them were annoyed, but a few were terrified, for Jews were being told to leave the bus and get into a truck that was parked around the corner.

Sissy watched from her seat in the rear, as the soldiers systematically worked their way down the aisle. She began to tremble, tears streaming down her face. When the man next to her noticed she was crying he politely asked her why.“I don’t have the papers you have,” she said. “I’m a Jew. They’re going to take me.” When the man heard this, he exploded with disgust. He began to curse and scream at her. “You stupid bitch!” he roared. “I can’t stand being near you.” The SS men asked what all the yelling was about. “Damn her!” the man shouted angrily. “My wife has forgotten her papers again. I’m so fed up— she always does this! It is an embarrassment to be married to someone so forgetful” 

The solders laughed and moved on. 

Sissy never saw the man again. She never even knew his name, but she knew he saved her life.

The Power of Nonviolence

One of the dangers of the myth of the power of violence is that it robs us of the memories of effective nonviolent resistance.

- Mary Lord, American Friends Service Committee

JOE

Basic trainings

Hello, isn't this great? I can't see me having much time to explore this until after I return from Palestine. However if anyone wishes to pick my brain re: the basic training that I organized at my church last Mar, I will be pleased to share that info. Although its really not much to share, actually MPT staff, Mark Zussman & Fr Peter walked me through it. I'm not very adept at this so if it looks awful forgive me.

Hello World!

As you can see, we're just getting started...with what we hope will prove to be a great way to share ideas, insights, and noticings.  Please feel free to post ideas on what things you like about the formatting and/or content, what could be improved upon, and what you'd like to see added as we develop this site more fully to meet all of our needs.  And in the meantime: Welcome!  - Mary H./MPT.