Monday, January 31, 2011

Gandhi Institute brings message of nonviolence

Gandhi Institute brings message of nonviolence

 

• Posted by GandhiServe Foundation on January 31, 2011 at 11:23am in Mahatma Gandhi News Digest

 

http://rocnow.com/article/local-news/2011101310316

 

By James Goodman - JGOODMAN@DemocratandChronicle.com

 

University of Rochester students Joseph Gardella and Lorenzo Mendez recently gave a classroom of Rochester middle school students a lesson in nonviolence.

 

Mohandas Gandhi, more commonly known as Mahatma which means “great soul”, organized nonviolent protests that eventually freed India from British rule in 1947, Gardella explained.

 

The Wilson Foundation Academy students, who were being counseled on conflict resolution, were then played a CD with the message, “Be the change that you want to see — just like Gandhi.”

 

As volunteers with M.K. Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence at UR, Gardella and Mendez make weekly visits to the Wilson academy — trying to make Gandhi’s message relevant.

 

Gardella, 21, is a UR senior from San Diego and Mendez, 20, is a junior from Brooklyn.

 

The importance of their mission became all the more apparent because on the same morning of their visit, funeral services were being held across the street for UR student Jeffrey Bordeaux Jr. He had been stabbed to death during a dispute with another UR student, Daren Venable, who has since been indicted on one count of second-degree murder.

 

Located on the UR campus for most of the past four years, the institute is one of more than 300 such peace and justice programs at colleges that in large or small ways promote nonviolent solutions to disputes.

 

“Conflict is an endemic part of our lives. It’s not going away. But trained people can deal with conflict in a constructive way,” said Amy Shuster, of Duluth, Minn., co-editor of the Global Directory of Peace Studies and Conflict Resolution Programs.

 

The local Gandhi institute has established several such programs, while operating on a shoestring budget and moving on from a controversy that led to the resignation of Gandhi’s grandson, Arun, as president of its board.

 

At noon today, a ceremony at the Liberty Pole in downtown Rochester launches a series of local activities observing the beginning of A Season for Nonviolence, which runs to April 4.

 

“I would like people to seriously consider how to become more active in reducing violence,” said Kit Miller, 48, who has been director of the institute for the past 16 months.

 

Gandhi connection

The local institute, while a nonprofit organization legally separate from UR, is located in the UR’s Interfaith Chapel. It has a direct link to the Gandhi family.

 

Arun Gandhi and his wife Sunanda established the institute that bears his grandfather’s name in 1991 at Christian Brothers University in Memphis.

 

In 2007, the institute relocated to the UR campus.

 

But the following January, Arun Gandhi found himself at the center of controversy when he said in a Washington Post blog that Jews “overplay” the Holocaust for sympathy and that “Israel and the Jews are the biggest players” in a global culture of violence.

 

In the uproar that followed, Gandhi said that, while he intended to “generate a healthy discussion,” his initial comments were “couched in language that was hurtful and contrary to the principles of nonviolence.”

 

He resigned as president of the institute’s board.

 

In an interview last week, Gandhi said that he felt forced out. He believed that if he didn’t resign, the institute would not be allowed to stay on campus.

 

UR President Joel Seligman said back then that Gandhi’s resignation was “appropriate.” UR spokeswoman Melissa Greco Lopes on Friday said, “At this point we don’t have anything to say.”

 

Gandhi, 77, of Brighton, has since started a new group that is establishing schools for underprivileged children — with the first now being set up in India.

 

A dynamo

Arun Gandhi’s departure from the institute created uncertainty about the organization’s direction.

 

But Miller’s arrival, after a nationwide search, in September 2009 has re-energized the institute.

 

“She has been a dynamo,” said UR Dean of Students Matthew Burns, who is also on the institute’s board.

 

Miller is a peace and justice activist with national ties but local roots.

 

“Gandhi said that if you are really to make lasting peace, you start with the child. We take that seriously,” said Miller, who previously was director of the Bay Area Nonviolent Communication group, based in Oakland, Calif.

 

A native of Irondequoit, Miller graduated from Cornell University, and spent the early years of her career in the business world, in sales, grant writing and marketing, and managing research.

 

But she also became active in peace and justice circles here and later helped establish the local chapter of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship.

 

“I actually define myself as having Catholic hard drive and Buddhist software,” said Miller.

 

Although the institute operates with three full-time staff on a budget of $82,000 — most of which comes from UR — it has helped make links to the larger community by forging a coalition. Restorative Rochester promotes a form of reconciliation that has all the parties involved in a conflict try to work out a just resolution.

 

While Miller plans to keep close ties with UR, she wants to relocate the institute offices near the 19th Ward this summer to establish a stronger connection with the community.

 

In addition to teaching seminars and classes on Gandhi, Miller helped two UR students establish a community garden on UR’s south campus, near Whipple Park.

 

Miller did not personally know either UR students involved in the recent fatal stabbing, but she is working with two UR fraternities in planning events to promote nonviolence.

 

At today’s event at the Liberty Pole, buttons saying “I took the pledge” will be handed out to those who sign a pledge of nonviolence. The buttons also will be available on campus.

 

© 2011   Created by GandhiServe Foundation.

 

Donations can be sent to the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 325 E. 25th St., Baltimore, MD 21218.  Ph: 410-366-1637; Email: mobuszewski [at] verizon.net

 

"The master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles. The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their lives." Eugene Victor Debs

 

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