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| Volume 1,Issue 2 February 1, 2010
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Dear friends,
Welcome to our our second edition of Swadeshi Now, the new edition of the Gandhi Institute's newsletter. We want to extend a special greeting to new folks on this list-friends who have joined via the website or Facebook page, or perhaps someone we've met at one of our recent events in Rochester. I'm glad for a chance to say hello again, and to thank you for your interest in our work.
This newsletter will focus on the Season for Nonviolence, Jan 30-April 4. This is a national campaign dedicated to demonstrating that nonviolence is a powerful way to heal, transform and empower our lives. We're one of 10 US cities celebrating the season. If you are outside the Rochester, NY area and want to find out if you live near a city celebrating it, check http://www.agnt.org/snvLinks.htm. That link will also lead to a daily email message offering, if any of you would like a gentle reminder about the Season in your inbox each day! If you feel inspired to organize an event to mark this special time yourself, let us know so that we can support and celebrate you.
Keep reading to learn more about Rochester area events to celebrate the Season for Nonviolence this spring.
This issue is dedicated to the people of Haiti.
In peace and hope, Kit
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| Season for Nonviolence January 30-April 4 |
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| The Season for Nonviolence is a 64 day educational, media and grassroots campaign dedicated to demonstrating that nonviolence is a powerful way to heal, transform and empower our lives and communities. Inspired by the 50th and 30th memorial anniversaries of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr.,this international event honors their vision for an empowered, nonviolent world.
These are our events scheduled for this year:
A New Economy for a New Era
Bishop Prince Singh
Please join us as we explore the connection between consumption and social justice.
Tuesday February 2, 7:00PM Welles-Brown Room, Rush Rhees Library, University of Rochester River Campus.
Prince G. Singh was ordained a priest in the Church of South India (CSI) in 1990. CSI is one of the four United Churches in the Anglican Communion. He is currently the 8th Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Rochester, NY.
Bishop Singh will articulate an economic philosophy predicated on the virtues of cooperation and communalism rather than competition, greed and scarcity.
Being the Change Workshop
February 11 and March 3, 7:30-9:30 PM
How can you develop a lived practice of nonviolence? What is the Gandhi Institute up to?
108/09 Goergen Hall, UR River Campus. Free and open to the public.
Nonviolent Communication Series
Six Tuesdays Feb 23- March 30, 7:00-9:30 PM Stewart Lounge
Colgate Rochester Crozer School of Divinity, 1100 S. Goodman or
Six Mondays March 1-April 5, 7:00-9:30 PM
Interfaith Chapel, UR River Campus
Nonviolent Communication (NVC) is a way of interacting that facilitates the flow of communication needed to exchange information and resolve differences peacefully. It focuses on shared human values and needs, and encourages the use of language that increases goodwill- and avoids language that contributes to resentment or lowered self-esteem.
NVC assumes that enriching life is the most satisfying motivation for doing things, rather than being motivated by fear, guilt, blame or shame. It emphasizes taking personal responsibility for choices and improving the quality of relationships as a primary goal. It is effective even when other people involved are not familiar with the process. www.cnvc.org for more information.
Film Series
February 25, Thursday 8:00 PM A FORCE MORE POWERFUL
Please join the M.K. Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence and the UofR CinemaGroup as we co-present a rare public screening of the internationally acclaimed documentary, A Force More Powerful. Hoyt Auditorium, UR River Campus.
"The series begins in 1907 with a young Mohandas Gandhi, the most influential leader in the history of nonviolent resistance, as he rouses his fellow Indians living in South Africa to a nonviolent struggle against racial oppression. The series recounts Gandhi's civil disobedience campaign against the British in India; the sit-ins and boycotts that desegregated downtown Nashville, Tennessee; the nonviolent campaign against apartheid in South Africa; Danish resistance to the Nazis in World War II; the rise of Solidarity in Poland; and the momentous victory for democracy in Chile....Few who relied on nonviolent sanctions in the 20th century did so because of a principled attachment to nonviolence" (http://www.aforcemorepowerful.org/films/afmp/index.php) March 6, Sat. 8 PM THE SUN Rochester Exclusive. Dryden Theatre, George Eastman House
( Alexander Sokurov, Russia 2005, 110 min. English & Japanese/subtitles)
August 15, 1945: a shocked Japan hears the voice of divine leader Emperor Hirohito (Issey Ogata) for the first time, as he implores his people to cease all military activity, initiating a formal end to WWII and the beginning of a new period of American Occupation, led by Gen. Douglas MacArthur (Robert Dawson). Acclaimed Russian filmmaker Alexander Sokurov (Russian Ark) creates an incisive, eerie portrait of the enigmatic Hirohito during the twilight of the war, as he faces surrender and renunciation of his divine status. Co-presented by George Eastman House and the M.K. Gandhi Institute at the University of Rochester in conjunction with the Season of Nonviolence (January 30-April 4). The first 100 attendees will receive either a free M.K. Gandhi Institute t-shirt or poster. Admission: $7.00, $5.00 students, $5.00 members
Friday April 9, 7 PM Interfaith Chapel, UR River Campus
 A New Kind of Peace Movement
Dorothy J. Maver, PhD Director of the National Peace Academy, and Rita Marie Johnson, Director of Academy for Peace, Costa Rica will speak about the movement to create minstries and departments of peace around the world. Free and open to the public. |
| Rochester Roots Conference Celebration |
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On Saturday, January 16, the Institute partnered with Rochester Roots and the City of Rochester to host the "Growing Together" Community Garden Conference at Rochester City Hall. 140 people attended from Rochester and surrounding communities!
Presenters and attendees included farming experts, community organizations, University students, Gandhi Service Fellows, and AmeriCorps volunteers. Besides attending in-depth workshops, participants were able to pick up soil test kits, community garden permits, free seeds, and tour local urban agriculture sites on the University of Rochester biodiesel bus. It was an unforgettable day!
Thanks to everyone who contributed their time and talent to make it happen. |
| Gandhi Institute Director Kit Miller visits India |
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Gandhi Institute Director Kit Miller visits a preschool class at the Women's India Trust near Mumbai , India | |
Aminatou Haidar Update
 Following a 32-day hunger strike, 2008 Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Laureate Aminatou Haidar was finally released from the Canary Islands airport and returned to her family in Western Sahara. The M.K. Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence had been advocating for Aminatou's right to return to her homeland since November 14 when she was expelled from Western Sahara by Morocco. Aminatou's willingness to face death rather than submit to an unjust situation is a victory for human rights advocates the world over.
Thank you for projecting your thoughts and prayers towards this remarkable person. | | |
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Swadeshi Now
