articles

In this article Carol Flinders argues that gender analysis can give us a fresh and deeper understanding of nonviolence. She cites for instance research findings that human beings' normal response to danger of 'fight or flight' is a more typical response of men; women are more naturally inclined to 'tend and befriend'. This doesn't make women any 'better' at nonviolence, it just shows one way of how we, women and men, have been conditioned by our environments to come at nonviolence differently. A short article, an interesting read with some bright big ideas, do take a look! Document archived here.

Collective identities can empower. At the same time however, the very existence of these collective identities produce new boundaries of ‘in’ and ‘out’ and new norms of behaviour that limit people's freedom to be and to do. This article explores how to liberate ourselves from society’s constructions of the norm, thus opening wider doors of liberation. Document archived here.

This article looks at the need for a strategy to achieve our goals in the context of an understanding of the power required to oppose certain social forces. It begins with a review of the aims of nonviolence and social empowerment: to strengthen people's power-to-be and power-to-do, rather than the power-over (domination) model so typical in our world today. This is a good summary of three types of empowerment: power-within (personal power—the sense that each of us has when we feel centred), power-with (the power we feel when we connect and cooperate with others), and power-in-relation-to (the power to achieve our goals, to defend our values, to stop the forces of death and destruction). Document archived here.