The great battle that we humans face now is the culture of peace against the culture of war.
The culture of peace is not just the absence of war, just as the culture of war goes well beyond the state of active war among groups of people. The culture of peace includes standing up against bullying, against demonizing groups such as gays or Muslims, against arbitrary authoritarianism, and to practice the virtues of forgiveness, compassion, reconciliation, love. This is what Gandhi called “satyagraha”.
The culture of peace will prevail by activating millions, hundreds of millions, billions of individual people around the world. Diverse groups can act independently and in a collegiate fashion all over. There should be no focus on leaders, for leaders like Gandhi and Martin Luther King can get shot and their movements fall apart. Instead, millions of points of pressure are brought to bear on militarist governments and predatory capitalism. Some aspects of the struggle lead to a quiet revolution of changed behavior, walking away from materialism and depriving capitalism of its fuel.
Other aspects are robust nonviolent resistance to institutions that promote violence, prejudice, conflict and war. Each local community organization is a piece in a vast framework that can lead to an ultimate change in the human condition.
2010
Coyote Vision 