What Does Nonviolence Mean in the Face of Violence?

What does nonviolence mean in the face of violence? This was a question asked a lot in the United States in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks. People came to workshops I co-facilitated on nonviolence with this question. We are currently in a cultural milieu where no one I know is asking this question. The people in my communities have skipped over pondering how nonviolence might work when faced with violence. Instead, they are looking for signs indicating which side of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict their friends and family members are on. At this moment, there’s no room for them for anything in-between. As George W. Bush said, “You’re either with us or against us.” You may be reading this post only to parse out which side I’m sympathetic to so you know whether to click like or accuse me of supporting mass murder.

But I’ve never been one to support peace only in-between wars. That’s not peace; it reduces “peace” to a decorative accessory that you wear only when the occasion calls for it. Which brings us back to the question of what a nonviolent response to violence is and how you can even talk about nonviolence when people you love are being attacked and killed.

“Nonviolence is a way of life for courageous people.” That is Martin Luther King Jr.’s first principle of nonviolence. King was very clear that nonviolence does…