UPCOMING EVENTS 
Rev. James Lawson in Rochester! Mt. Olivet Baptist Church Sunday, February 19, 2012 6:00 p.m. Captain Paul Chappell 
(Portrait by Robert Shetterly) Friday, March 23, 2012 University of Rochester Interfaith Chapel 7:30 p.m. 
Visit our new website! www.gandhiinstitute.org 
Introduction to Nonviolence Saturday, March 3, 2012
10:00 a.m.-4:30 p.m.
UR Interfaith Chapel
(River Level) These workshops are designed to introduce the principles and practices of nonviolence through experiential activities and group based learning. For more information please contact us @ 585-276-4962 or e-mail gpayne2@ur.rochester.edu  Visit Your Local Occupy Movement! http://www.facebook.com/OccupyRochester
Please help promote nonviolence in the greater Rochester community by becoming a sponsor of the 2012 Season for Nonviolence.
Our current list of 2012 sponsors are:
- M.K. Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence
- Mt. Olivet Baptist Church
- Black Student Caucus of Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School
- University of Rochester Women's Caucus
- Teen Empowerment
- Center for Youth
- Rochester Institute of Technology
- Rochester Area Mennonite Fellowship (Season Advocate)
- Barefoot Edible Landscape & Permaculture
- Spiritus Christi Church
- University of Rochester Admissions (Keeper of the Flame)
- Rochester Friends Meeting
- Art Peace
- Center for Dispute Settlement
- Central Library of Rochester and Monroe County
- Education for Peace
- Partners in Restorative Initiatives (Keeper of the Flame)
- First Unitarian Church of Rochester
- Feminists Choosing Life of NY (Season Advocate)
- Committed Individuals
Visit our new website @ Gandhiinstitute.org
Become a Sponsor!
 
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M.K. Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence
211 Interfaith Chapel
Box 270501
Rochester, NY 14627
p. 585-276-4962
f. 585-276-0203
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| Kathy Kelly
2011 Distinguished Gandhi Lecturer |
 | Paul Chappell
Distinguished Gandhi Lecturer March 23, 2012 |
| Rev. James Lawson
Distinguished Gandhi Lecturer February 19, 2012 |
 | Dominic Barter
2010 Distinguished Gandhi Lecturer |
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Ret. Col. Ann Wright
2010 Special Guest Speaker
First Unitarian Church, Rochester, NY
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Roshi Bodhin Kjolhede of
the Rochester Zen Center
Special Guest Speaker
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64 DAYS OF PEACE
IS JUST THE BEGINNING
BeTheChangeRochester.org
"We who seek justice will have to do justice to others."
-Gandhi
Dear friends,
Today is the anniversary of the assassination of Gandhi. His life was ended 54 years ago as he walked to a daily prayer service. Like Dr. King, Gandhi appeared to have been well aware that his life was in danger. Despite that, like Dr. King, he carried on his public work.
In India, millions of people are observing this day today. It is called Martyr's Day.
Today we begin the Season for Nonviolence, a 64 day period ending April 4. This is our chance to remember Gandhi and King in the way that they wanted to be remembered, by carrying on their work. We can extend their legacy using our time during the next 64 days, just exactly as Gandhi and King would have done if either of them had been granted more days on this planet.
Sign up for a daily email reminder, or take a pledge for nonviolence as an individual, family, faith community or workplace. Attend an event, dedicate an existing event to the Season, or create one. Download the 64 Daily Practices booklet (64 Ways).
We are joined by people in over 900 communities around the world who, just like us, are inspired by the potential of nonviolence to change our inner and outer landscapes.
In peace and hope,
Kit Miller
Director
* We dedicate this issue of Swadeshi Now to the young leaders of our community who have applied to become part of the 2012 Season for Nonviolence Youth Activist Movement.
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"Love takes off masks that we fear we cannot live without and know we cannot live within." - James Baldwin
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Americans Who Tell the Truth is coming to Rochester for the second year in a row! In recognition of the 2012 Season for Nonviolence, 14 portraits from this nationally acclaimed exhibit will be shown in the Central Library of Rochester and Monroe County Link Gallery from March 7-April 2.
Robert Shetterly's paintings & prints are in collections all over the U.S. and Europe. We are excited to announce that Robert will be in Rochester to talk about his portraits on Sunday, March 11 at 2:00 p.m. in the Central Library Link Gallery.
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Paul Chappell
Friday, March 23, 2012
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University of Rochester
Interfaith Chapel
7:30 p.m.
"Captain Chappell has given us a unique look at war and peace from the perspective of a soldier, and his new ideas show us both why peace is both necessary and possible in the 21st century." Archbishop Desmond Tutu
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Interview with Banjineh "Op" Browne
(of the Foundation Movement)
Bethechangerochester.org
*Later this month The Foundation Movement will be in Rochester working with the 100 youth activists.
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HOW DOES HIP HOP RELATE TO NONVIOLENCE?
Hip Hop is a youth culture that was birthed in the 70s, in the economically repressed, creatively affluent borough of South Bronx, New York City. It's sankofa (history) is that of providing an accessible outlet of expression as a means of an alternative to violence. The major forms of expression within Hip Hop: Emceeing/Beatboxing; B-girling/B-boying (Breakdancing); DJing (Turntablism); and Graffiti; all have been used to sustain peace in communities across the world. Members of the culture who are in conflict would often use an element of expression to solve disputes. For example, if KRS ONE had a disagreement with MC SHAN, as Emcees in the culture, it would be expected that they would battle each other with lyrics instead of violence. All one would need to partake in a battle are words in rhythm, which highlights the accessibility of the artform. This battle would require clever lyrics, and great presence, to woo a crowd in your favor, to decide who was the most deserving title of the better Emcee. Intrinsic in this culture, are modes of creativity one can participate in which allows for a healthy avenue for expression, as well as a concrete tools to be an active participant in a non-violent lifestyle.
WHAT DO YOU WANT YOUTH ACTIVISTS TO TAKE FROM THE TRAININGS?
I would like to echo that peace is hard. Youth have been instrumental in creating peaceful communities and should be empowered to be participants in this legacy.
WHAT ARE SOME WAYS THAT MUSIC CAN TRANSFORM INNER AND SOCIAL CONFLICT?
Music is medicine. Just like medicine, it can be utilized for healing purposes or abused, which is damaging to the individual and her/his community. We should be critical of the type/frequency of the music we ingest. Intrinsic in our cultures, music is used in celebrations, reflections, rites of passage, stress relief, war, entertainment, education, etc.
Words have the power to create peace or instigate war and music has the power to initiate stillness or activate movement. These beautiful and dangerous elements can inspire or thwart efforts of positive transformation. How music impacts an individual is greatly dependent to the listener's mindset and receptiveness. For example, M.O.P.'s song Ante Up, is an energetic song, where the artists talk about robbing individuals who are flaunting their jewelry. To one listener, this song blatantly promotes robbery. Another interpretation may be, this is a song that addresses structural economic inequality in impoverished communities highlighting people who are accessing resources through the limited means made available to them. Yet another interpretation may be, this high-energy song is an effective soundtrack to relieve stress accumulated throughout the day. Whatever combination of interpretations a listener may have, the key factor in transformation is how the listener chooses to interact with the medium of music. Since music also impacts us on a subconscious level and spiritual level, we need to be aware of the content, vibrations, and frequency of the music that we listen to. Play music that fulfills a need in a healthy way.
Banjineh "Op" Browne (of the Foundation Movement)
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Rev. James Lawson
in Rochester! February 19 Mt. Olivet Baptist Church 6:00 p.m. | |
While enrolled as a divinity student at Oberlin College, Lawson met Martin Luther King, Jr., who urged Lawson to postpone his studies and take an active role in the Civil Rights Movement. "We don't have anyone like you," King told him.
Following King's advice, Lawson headed South as a field secretary for the Fellowship of Reconciliation. In Nashville, TN, he helped organize the Nashville Student Movement's successful sit-in campaign of 1960 and was expelled from Vanderbilt University School of Divinity as a result. He trained Diane Nash, Bernard Lafayette, John Lewis and many others through his famous workshops on the tactics of nonviolent direct action.
When the original CORE Freedom Ride stalled in Birmingham, AL, Lawson urged the Nashville Student Movement to continue the Freedom Rides. He conducted workshops on nonviolent resistance while the Freedom Riders spent several days holed up in the Montgomery, AL home of Dr. Richard Harris. During an impromptu press conference on the National Guard-escorted bus that traveled from Montgomery to Jackson, MS, he told reporters that the Freedom Riders "would rather risk violence and be able to travel like ordinary passengers" than rely on armed guards who did not understand their philosophy of combating "violence and hate" by "absorbing it without returning it in kind."
In 1968, Lawson chaired the strike committee for sanitation workers in Memphis, TN. At Lawson's request, Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke to the striking workers on the day before his assassination. In 1974, Lawson moved to Los Angeles to lead Holman United Methodist Church where he served as pastor for 25 years before retiring in 1999. Throughout his career and into retirement, he has remained active in various human rights advocacy campaigns, including immigrant rights and opposition to war and militarism. In recent years he has been a distinguished visiting professor at Vanderbilt University.
(This biography was taken from PBS American Experience: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/freedomriders/people/james-lawson) |
A Unique Collaboration Between the
University of Rochester Bellman Society and the M.K. Gandhi Institute
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During the 2012 Season for Nonviolence ( Jan 30- April 4) students from the University of Rochester Bellman Society will play "I'll Overcome Someday" every Thursday at 11:45 a.m on the University of Rochester River Campus.
"I'll Overcome Someday" composed by C. A. Tindley (1901), arr. for carillon by Milford Myhre. The early hymn tune "O Sanctissima" (1794) was reportedly sung set to the words of Tindley in 1945 using the plural form "We will overcome" by CIO Food and Tobacco workers on union strike in Charleston, SC. It was subsequently heard, modified further, and used by the civil rights movement, becoming popularly sung by adherents of Martin Luther King. (Fuld, James J. Book of World Famous Music: Classic.)
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Participants learning together at the Introduction to Nonviolence workshop in the UR River Chapel on Saturday, January 28.
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