By Pace e Bene, October 7, 2024
Between September 21 and October 2, 2024, tens of thousands of people participated in over 5,238+ nonviolent actions to protest violence, war, poverty, racism and environmental destruction as part of the 11th annual Campaign Nonviolence Action Days.
Stretching between the International Day of Peace (Sept 21) to the International Day of Nonviolence (Oct 2), the campaign brings together over 100 organizations to “build a culture of peace and active nonviolence, free from war, poverty, racism, and environmental destruction.” The effort increases public awareness of the many aspects of violence from direct/physical violence (such as gun violence, mass shootings, death penalty, and war) to systemic/structural violence (poverty, mass incarceration, climate crisis) to cultural violence (bias, discrimination, oppression).
“Campaign Nonviolence Action Days is a time for our movements to link arms and show how our struggles are connected. It’s also a time to reach out to our communities to share and demonstrate the power of nonviolent solutions, tools, and practices,” says one Campaign Nonviolence coordinator.
Collaborating organizations include: Sandy Hook Promise, Nonviolent Peaceforce, Cure Violence, World BEYOND War, Codepink, ICAN, DC Peace Team, Backbone Campaign, Global Silent Minute, World Clean-up Day, Pathways to Peace, Unity Earth, Jared’s Heart of Success, Nonviolent Cities Project, Catholic Nonviolence Days of Action, We the World, Up2Peace, Arms, Militarism, and Climate Justice Working Group, L.O.V.E. Is the Answer; PeaceVoice, Warheads To Windmills, Fast For Peace, World Wellness Weekend, local chapters of, Pax Christi; longstanding Peace Day efforts like Peace Day Philly, Peace Week Delaware, and Arkansas Peace Week; and many more.
Local, nationwide, and global events included:
- Footballs Not Firearms March & Rally with kids in Philadelphia, PA
- Inauguration of the Catholic Institute for Nonviolence in Rome, Italy
- 100 Days of Nonviolence in Birmingham, AL
- Proclaiming Joliet, IL, to be a Nonviolent City committed to ending violence.
- Walking together for unity and nonviolence w/ Catholic Days of Action
- 12 Days Free From Violence in Minneapolis, MN
- Interfaith vigil to abolish nuclear weapons at the UN in New York City, NY
- Neighborhood Peace Procession w/ Meta Peace Team in Detroit, MI
- Nonviolence Is Our Future Conference in Hudson Valley, NY
- Arkansas Peace Week in Schools with over 15,000 students participating
- De-escalating violence in tense situations and hot conflict zones in the US and abroad with Cure Violence and Nonviolent Peaceforce
- Moving money out of fossil fuels, weapons, and nukes with ICAN, Warheads to Windmills, and the Arms, Militarism and Climate Justice working group
Campaign Nonviolence builds connections between practicing nonviolence towards oneself (through self care, wellness, and inner work), with others (through conflict skills, de-escalation, active listening, etc.) and toward the whole world (through nonviolent movements for social change.)
The breadth of this thematic focus can be seen in the range of actions that were held, including vigils opposing the Line 3 Oil Pipeline and war, a nationwide effort to map the plastic pollution of artificial turf, multi-city banner actions on highway overpasses calling for dam removals, the Global Peace Film Festival, teach-ins on climate resilient communities, the #NoWar2024 Conference on global resistance to US militarism, a march in remembrance of homicide victims, World Wellness Weekend, racial healing circles, street teams patrolling to prevent gun violence, shutting down Citibank over the climate crisis, a walking tour of Little Rock High School’s desegregation struggle, a peace-themed art crawl downtown, and much more.
“Amidst the horrors of gun violence, mass shootings, ongoing wars, and political violence, people are longing for a profoundly different society. Campaign Nonviolence brings people together to offer the tangible solutions of the visionary idea of a culture of peace and active nonviolence.” – Campaign Nonviolence
Through Campaign Nonviolence, historically separate movements are joining forces to tackle these many forms of violence and to build a more just, peaceful and sustainable world. Photos, stories, and action reports can be found at: https://paceebene.org/blog
Campaign Nonviolence was launched September 2014 with over 230 nonviolent actions in every state in the nation and continued in 2015 with 370 nonviolent actions, 760 actions in 2016, 1600 in 2017, 2600 in 2018 and over 4000 in 2020 and 2021. In 2023, over 5000 actions took place. It is coordinated by Pace e Bene Nonviolence Service, a 30-year-old nonprofit.
