Three Faces of Hope

By Michael N. Nagler

Nonviolence is what Gandhi called a “living force.” Scientists today would call it a form of “subtle energy.” When you use it, it always does some good whether or not it “works” as planned in the immediate situation (I call this “work” vs. work).

A classic case: Gandhi’s Salt March in the spring of 1930 failed to bring about much change in the hated salt laws but showed the British that, in the words of historian Arnold Toynbee, “we could not go on ruling India.”

Similarly, when nonviolence is at work, good often comes unexpectedly out of apparent setbacks and wrong action (as long as you don’t go around deliberately doing wrong for that purpose!).

As I was compiling nonviolence news for our biweekly “Nonviolence Radio” show the other day, something very hopeful began to emerge from the happenings that have intensified since the disastrous November election. If they continue to grow, it seemed to me, these three trends could more than offset the damage caused by that election: they could lead to a shift of our cultural and political system such that similar results would never happen again.

First Trend
Given the vacuum (or worse) of any top leadership in the gravest crisis facing humanity, namely climate disruption, local leadership is springing up all over in communities, cities, and some states.

While the President, always disgracing us, pulls the U.S. out of the Paris climate accords, my home state of California will be standing right by the agreement, thank you. We’re aiming for all renewable energy sources by 2045. New York has followed suit with the “Climate and Community Protection Act,” mandating 100 percent renewable energy by 2050.

Meanwhile, Volvo has become the first major car manufacturer to signal that it will switch entirely to electric cars and hybrids — in the next two years.

The New York Times reports that “over 10,000 climate initiatives are underway worldwide … 646 cities, representing nearly 500 million people” are sharing information, ideas and resources. More remarkably, and even more hopefully, some conservative groups are coming on board, answering to a dream many of us cherished years ago, that climate and the environment would unite people of all political persuasions.

Journalist Naomi Klein founded her new organization, The Leap, inspired by a model in Germany, where there's been an explosion of cooperative ownership in the form of 900 new energy cooperatives. Hundreds of cities and towns have taken back control of their energy grids and run them democratically so that they keep the profits in their communities to pay for daycare and community centers and lots of other good things.

Back here in the U.S., Stephen Benjamin, the mayor of Columbia, South Carolina, cites all this as “evidence that cities are filling the leadership void when it comes to climate action and matters of national importance.”

This devolution was already happening, of course, in the area of immigration. Homes, campuses, cities and states have stated their intentions to defy aspects of the President’s regressive and often cruel immigration policies, not to mention churches and houses of worship, which have offered sanctuary to the persecuted since ancient times.

Let’s not underestimate the importance of this trend. Local organizing is fascism’s foe — that was one of the essential themes beaming out of Barcelona last month, where hundreds of urban organizers and elected officials met for a 3-day summit called Fearless Cities. They came from Hong Kong and Rojava, from Valparaiso in Chile and Belo Horizonte in Brazil, from New York City and Jackson, Mississippi, and far beyond to teach and learn and build an international “municipalist” movement that harnesses civil society in cities to revitalize democracy. Power is coming back to where it should have been in the first place.

The importance of the trend has not been lost on its adversaries! According to The New York Times, “States have banned local ordinances on minimum wage increases, paid sick days and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights. They’ve banned “sanctuary cities” and even banned a number of bans (it’s now illegal for Michigan cities to ban plastic bags, and for Texas towns to ban fracking).” But when people get a taste of the power and responsibility that should have been theirs all along, they will not easily let it go again.

The other two trends are perhaps even more important, because they take aim at the culture itself.

Second Trend
I am writing these lines at the Wild Goose Festival in Hot Springs, North Carolina, a kind of progressive Christian revival meeting where I’ve been invited to showcase Nonviolence Radio.

The whole history of Christianity in America has been punctuated by revivals, of course; indeed, the country was founded for something like that purpose. But in recent times, Christianity has been hijacked by right-wing elements that are, in the view of many, the antithesis of the teachings of Jesus.

Thanks to the recent electoral misstep, a vigorous response, of which North Caolina’s Rev. William Barber is a leading voice, aims to regain the moral high ground. Both Rev. Barber and Jim Wallis of Sojourners are speaking here; “We refuse to be enemies with anyone … For us this means moving beyond belief to center ourselves in justice and compassion…” is part of the festival’s mission — NO BAN, NO WALLS hangs on a tree nearby my tent.

Make no mistake: we may think we’re living in a “scientific and rational” age, but religion, however we understand it, is a controlling force. It would be hard to exaggerate the impact of progressive Christianity retaking the moral high ground that has loomed over so much of our political territory.

Third Trend
Adbusters, based in Canada, has for some 25 years been lampooning advertising culture with great cleverness and skill. I love Adbusters because I deeply believe that advertising — we are exposed to upwards of 3,000 commercial messages a day — have been a devastating part of our culture, militating powerfully against the spirit of unselfishness, contentment and truth.

What has brought us the present political regime if not selfishness and untruth? Therefore, welcome a new entrant in the field: #subvertising. Recently, they replaced 500 commercial posters with apolitical, positive, humane messages (that are deeply political in their subtle impact) in 40 countries.

The potential impact of any one of these themes could change the game for us. Taken together, they could create an unstoppable shift toward a world of meaning and empowerment.

Michael N. Nagler is Professor emeritus of Classics and Comparative Literature at UC, Berkeley, where he co-founded the Peace and Conflict Studies Program, and the founder of the Metta Center for Nonviolence. His book, The Search for a Nonviolent Future: A Promise of Peace for Ourselves, Our Families, and Our World, was winner of the 2002 American Book Award. His most recent book, The Nonviolence Handbook: A Guide for Practical Action, advocates nonviolence as the most effective approach to bringing about social change, not simply the most ethical.