Protest is dead?

There’s seems to be a hunger for a social revolution in the air.  Not a violent revolution, but a revolution of values, a call to the corporate world that enough is enough.

With that in mind, I’m reposting something I put up a few years ago along with the text to our “A Life Connected” brochure here.  While protest can be powerful and has its place, personal protest (in the form of taking responsibility for the role each of us plays in building the world in which we live) will be the fuel of the revolution.  The Nonviolence revolution.

From NonviolenceUnited.org 2007:

Click the image to read Tom Tomorrow’s cartoon.

There was a time when a half a million people demonstrating in the streets would have an impact on policy and policy makers. That time seems to have passed.

Traditional Nonviolent tactics have been studied and marginalized by our opponents. Our marches and speeches are ignored by the corporate-owned media. Our letters are ignored and our emails are deleted. We are even forced into “free speech zones” where we can be more easily ignored and controlled.

But Nonviolence isn’t just holding up signs in protest on weekends and then going back to life as usual. In order for Nonviolence to work, it must have strategy, planning and a real effect that will bring about change in the opponent or replace the unjust system entirely.

Nonviolence United advocates a form of Nonviolence that is built on strategy and has a direct effect regardless of the opponent’s conscience or their willingness to change — Nonviolence as a way of life. We can build a world reflective of our values only when we consume consciously and live our lives consistently with our values. It’s that simple.

We’re not saying demonstrations and protests don’t have a place. We’re simply suggesting more thought to what their place is in a complete strategy. We thought the cover story of the Utne Reader “Protest Is Dead. Long Live Protest.” did a good job explaining this point.

For those of you who want to learn more about taking personal responsibility for the world we, each of us, is helping create, please read our brochure “A Life Connected” available online here or read the text here (below).

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Live A Life Connected!
A lot of us are asking the question, “What should I do with my life?” Perhaps the answer won’t be found in one great thing… but in all the little things. Your everyday choices define who you are, what you stand for, and the world you want to see.

Each of our choices in the past built the world we live in today. And each of our choices from this moment forward will build the world of tomorrow. If you’re not living your values, whose life are you living… and what kind of world are you building?

Every Dollar Is A Vote.
Every dollar you spend or choose not to spend is a vote. You voted yesterday. You’ll vote today — maybe hundreds of times. Will you vote for a world that respects human rights, protects the environment, and has compassion for animals? Or will you make choices that build a world you really don’t believe in?

Your consumer choices act as the conscience of big business. Businesses have grown so disconnected that they often only respond to money, not to moral principles. They no longer hear our pleas for kindness and ethics. If profits increase even though a company is spewing toxic fumes, enslaving people, or hurting animals, the company still believes it is doing something right.

If your words which plead for humanity are drowned out by the clamor of your coins, you‘re saying to unthinking businesses, “Yes, keep doing what you’re doing… and do it in my name!”

You help build a world reflective of our shared values of justice, kindness, and compassion when your everyday choices are aligned with those values.

It’s that simple.

“Talk is cheap… it’s how we organize and live our lives that tells what we believe in.”
– Cesar Chavez

Strategy for a Better World.
Traditional Nonviolence tactics have been studied and made less effective by those who control by force, disconnection, and violence. Marches and speeches are ignored by corporate-owned media. Letters from concerned citizens are disregarded and their emails deleted. People are even forced into “free speech zones” where they can be more easily ignored and controlled.

It’s time to live smarter. A Life Connected is a method of Active Nonviolence built on strategy. It has a direct effect regardless of an “opponent’s” conscience or willingness to change. It cannot be stopped by force. It builds rather than tears down. It replaces hate with love. And it is available to everyone.

All of us and everything are connected. Nonviolence offers you a way to live your life sincerely building, supporting, and defending these connections. Connect to your own values. Connect to other people, to the planet, and to animals. Connect to how your choices impact the world around you.

How To Live A Life Connected.
You were born with values that connect you to humanity and to the world in which you live — values of justice, kindness, and compassion. Reconnect to who you truly are. Put your compassion into action and make our world a better place.

1. Connect with yourself. Become re-aware of your moral values.
2. Connect with others. Become aware of how your everyday choices impact other people, the planet, and animals.
3. Connect your choices to your values. If your choices are truly aligned with your values, stay on that path and find even more connections. If your choices are unaligned, make new, better, and more connected choices.

“Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.”
Mohandas Gandhi

Build A Better World With Connected Choices.

Simplify. Imagine a world of billions of people living exactly as you do. Would it truly be fair and sustainable? Live simply so that others may simply live.

Fair Trade. Fair Trade ensures that farmers, artisans, and other producers get a fair price for their goods. It guarantees a living wage, encourages environmental responsibility, and reinvests in communities. Look for Fair Trade certified products.

Organic. Protect people, the planet, and precious wildlife. Organic products ensure that chemicals are not sprayed and dumped on farm workers, on the land, and in our water. Pesticides are poisons designed to kill living organisms. Promote health — including your own. And save energy. In the United States, more energy is used to produce synthetic fertilizers than to till, cultivate, and harvest all the crops.

Fair Labor. Sweatshops, child labor, and slave labor are a growing problem even in the United States. Clothing and other products like coffee, fruit, chocolate, and flowers are often produced under brutal working conditions. The cheapest products often come with the greatest human costs. Get to know more about how the products you purchase are made and make the most humane choices.

Renewable Energy. Wars are fought for resources. To build a world that is safe and secure and to preserve the planet for future generations, choose solar, wind, wave, geothermal, biofuels, and other renewable choices. If these choices aren’t readily available to you, continue to conserve energy and consider buying renewable energy credits.

Car-Free. Take a bus, ride a train, or get on the subway. Better yet walk or ride a bike. Use your own energy to get around.

Local. Be the champion of local businesses. Buying local supports small businesses, creates local jobs, and keeps more money in your community. And when you support a local company, you then have the opportunity to make sure they treat people, the planet, and animals responsibly. Unlike giant national retailers, they are members of your community.

Vegan. Vegan foods are plant-based and contain no animal products (meat, eggs, and dairy). The reasons more and more people are choosing a Vegan lifestyle include bettering human health, ending farm worker and factory worker exploitation, ending industrial racism, saving family farms, protecting the environment, ending climate change, ending world hunger, using energy and resources more wisely, conserving land, protecting wildlife, preserving our oceans and waterways, and being kind to animals. A Vegan lifestyle expands your circle of compassion to include those who rely entirely on your kindness. Vegan choices are some of the most far-reaching personal, practical, and ethical choices you can make.

Recycled. Remember, when you throw something away, there is no such thing as “away.” Use less, reuse, and recycle. Choose used and recycled products whenever possible.

Tree-Free. Choose recycled lumber and paper products, consume products with less packaging, recycle what you use, and consider tree-free papers like kenaf and hemp.

Cruelty-Free. We have the compassion, intelligence and technology to move beyond hurting animals for the production of food, clothing, cleaning products, and personal products. Industries that make a profit by hurting others do so with the consent and support of those who buy their products. Make the kind choice, buy cruelty-free.

Yes, YOU Make A Difference!

The question isn’t whether or not you, one person, can make a difference. You are making a difference. But what kind of difference are you making? What kind of difference do you want to make?

The urgent problems that people, the planet and animals are facing stem from people forgetting who they truly are. A Life Connected works as a compass to help you be who you truly are, remember your values, choose your path, and live in a reconnected way.

Being aware and aligned with your values makes you conscious, complete, and more powerful. Millions of people are reconnecting to create a remarkable movement the likes of which the world has never seen — a movement led by the individual, by the people… by YOU!

About NonviolenceUnited.org. Building A Better World.
We envision a world driven by the innate goodness of people and their values of justice, kindness, and compassion for other people, for the planet, and for animals.

Our focus is reminding everyone that we are all connected and encouraging individuals to align their everyday choices with their values — to live A Life Connected.

It’s a win-win way of living. Build a better life for you… and a better world for everyone.

Learn more and get connected at NonviolenceUnited.org.

“Live your beliefs and you can turn the world around.”
– Henry David Thoreau

Pass it on. Share the joy of living A Life Connected.

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