Non Violence Festival

Some Popular Models of Non Violence

King Asoka, India
His edicts, based on Ahinsa are mainly concerned with the reforms he instituted and the moral principles he recommended in his attempt to create a just and humane society. He was born in India in 304 B.C. Eight years after his coronation, Asoka's armies attacked and conquered Kalinga. The loss of life caused by battle, reprisals, deportations and the turmoil that always exists in the aftermath of war so horrified Asoka that it brought about a complete change in his personality. After the war Asoka dedicated the rest of his life trying to apply Buddhist principles to the administration of his vast empire. He had a crucial part to play in helping Buddhism to spread both throughout India and abroad. Asoka died in 232 B.C. in the thirty-eighth year of his reign.

Jesus Christ, Israel
"Put your sword in its place, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword." (Matthew 26:52) "You have learnt how it was said: 'Eye for eye and tooth for tooth.' But I say to you, Offer the wicked man no resistance. If anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also; if a man takes you to law and would have your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. And if anyone orders you to go one mile, go two miles with him." (Matthew. 5:38-4) "If there is one of you who has not sinned, let him be the first to throw a stone at her." (John 8:7)

Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862), US
Essayist, poet, and practical philosopher, renowned for having lived the doctrines of Transcendentalism (that was amongst other things concerned with the end of slavery) as recorded in his masterwork, Walden (1854), and for having been a vigorous advocate of civil liberties, as evidenced in the essay Civil Disobedience (1849). "One has a moral obligation to refuse to cooperate with an unjust social system.

Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma
For the Burmese people, Aung San Suu Kyi, represents hope that there will be an end to the country's military repression.
As a pro-democracy campaigner she has spent more than 12 of the past 19 years in some form of detention under Burma's military regime.
In 1991 she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts to bring democracy to Burma.

Rigoberta Menchú, Guatemala
The 1992 Nobel Peace prize was awarded to Rigoberta Menchú, a Mayan Indian of Guatemala "in recognition of her work for social justice and ethno-cultural reconciliation based on respect for the rights of indigenous peoples." That Menchú did not turn to violence, but to political and social work for her people is the reason why she received the prize. She became an active member of the Committee for Campesino Unity and then helped found the Revolutionary Christians. Menchú explained that "we understood revolutionary in the real meaning of the word 'transformation.'

...more coming soon.

	King Asoka, India His edicts, based on Ahinsa are mainly concerned with the reforms he instituted and the moral principles he recommended in his attempt to create a just and humane society. He was born in India in 304 B.C. Eight years after his coronation, Asoka's armies attacked and conquered Kalinga. The loss of life caused by battle, reprisals, deportations and the turmoil that always exists in the aftermath of war so horrified Asoka that it brought about a complete change in his personality. After the war Asoka dedicated the rest of his life trying to apply Buddhist principles to the administration of his vast empire. He had a crucial part to play in helping Buddhism to spread both throughout India and abroad. Asoka died in 232 B.C. in the thirty-eighth year of his reign.

	Jesus Christ, Israel "Put your sword in its place, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword." (Matthew 26:52) "You have learnt how it was said: 'Eye for eye and tooth for tooth.' But I say to you, Offer the wicked man no resistance. If anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also; if a man takes you to law and would have your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. And if anyone orders you to go one mile, go two miles with him." (Matthew. 5:38-4) "If there is one of you who has not sinned, let him be the first to throw a stone at her." (John 8:7)

	Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862), US Essayist, poet, and practical philosopher, renowned for having lived the doctrines of Transcendentalism (that was amongst other things concerned with the end of slavery) as recorded in his masterwork, Walden (1854), and for having been a vigorous advocate of civil liberties, as evidenced in the essay Civil Disobedience (1849). "One has a moral obligation to refuse to cooperate with an unjust social system.

	Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma For the Burmese people, Aung San Suu Kyi, represents hope that there will be an end to the country's military repression. As a pro-democracy campaigner she has spent more than 12 of the past 19 years in some form of detention under Burma's military regime. In 1991 she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts to bring democracy to Burma.

	Rigoberta Menchú, Guatemala The 1992 Nobel Peace prize was awarded to Rigoberta Menchú, a Mayan Indian of Guatemala "in recognition of her work for social justice and ethno-cultural reconciliation based on respect for the rights of indigenous peoples." That Menchú did not turn to violence, but to political and social work for her people is the reason why she received the prize. She became an active member of the Committee for Campesino Unity and then helped found the Revolutionary Christians. Menchú explained that "we understood revolutionary in the real meaning of the word 'transformation.'