The Regional Institute for the Study and Practice of Nonviolent and Strategic Action in the Americas

Nonviolence Radio

In addition to the Nonviolence Report (covering nonviolence in the world which is often overlooked by mainstream media), Stephanie and Michael welcome two inspiring guests on this episode of Nonviolence Radio: director of the Regional Institute for the Study and Practice of Nonviolent and Strategic Action in the Americas, Maria Belén Garrido, and the executive director at the Center for Mediation, Peace, and the Resolution of Conflicts based in the US and Ecuador, Jeff Pugh. Together they explore effective ways to expand the scope of nonviolent action through local, grassroots education initiatives. This means courses that are geared towards – and often taught by – by people on the ground, members of the communities in conflict. This model has been extremely effective throughout Latin America where trainings and courses are bringing people together to learn strategies and exchange stories. This more decentralized kind of education is better able to address particular, situation specific issues; it uses local languages and presents its ideas free from academic jargon.This has led to a growing network of nonviolent activists and movements, from Peru and Venezuela to Ecuador, Honduras and Nicaragua.

"To supplement courses and blogs, there is now a database dedicated to collecting examples of nonviolent action in Latin America. This powerful resource highlights not only the wide range of nonviolent actions that are at play in this part of the world, providing activists with concrete examples of practices that work, but also reveals its long history:

we decided to create this database, to promote the research for other scholars, but also for the activists to see new tactics, different tactics, as Jeff mentioned, not just protest. Because strategic nonviolent action is not just protest in the streets, but all the different actions that people, in their own country, that speak their own language, are doing – or they have been doing in the last 20 years."

The work done by Maria and Jeff and their organizations helps to show how communities in conflict already have a tremendous amount of strength and knowledge which can be channeled towards peace.