322 Nonviolence
and Community: Reflections on the
Alternatives to Violence Project (By Newton Garver & Eric Reitan; 1995)
About
the Authors—Newton Garver is a
member of Buffalo Swarthmore College Pacific Lutheran University Buffalo Washington State
“Ours is a process of seeking and sharing, not of teaching. We do not bring answers to the people we work with. We do not have the answers.” AVP Manual
“There is in the universe a power that is able to transform hostility and destruction into cooperation and community, and to do justice among us … tuning into it enables us and opponents to realize our birthright of peace and dignity.” AVP policy statement
Introduction—In 1975, inmates at Greenhaven prison asked some
visiting Quakers for help in preparing a program for teenagers; from their
collaboration grew the AVP. One central
mission of AVP is to encourage and train people in the use of nonviolent
conflict-resolution techniques. The main mission is to invite people to change
themselves, so that they become AVP people in their everyday lives.
The
mission is advanced through workshops held in prisons, schools, and other
community settings. The goals are to:
cultivate a climate of affirmation, openness, and self-worth; build a community
among its participants; teach participants how to overcome communication
barriers set up by intolerance and thoughtlessness; teach basic approaches towards
resolving conflicts. Exercises include:
affirmation; cooperation; self-exploration; trust-building; confronting and
accommodating differences; role-playing; and humor.
PART ONE: The Practical Elements of an AVP workshop—Even long-standing grudges can be trans-formed by the
friendly atmosphere of the workshop & a group can be kept together [for the
workshop’s duration]. New behavior can
be learned after a few sessions, & a proud, quick-tempered, vulnerable
person can be transformed into someone confident & in control. 10
practical elements of an AVP workshop work together to create an experience of
a safe & challenging community: Voluntarism; Teamwork; Ground Rules;
Transforming Power; Learning by Experience; Spiritual Focus; Progressive Focus;
Cumulative Focus; Light and Livelies; Feedback.
1. Voluntarism—AVP facilitators are volunteers; this has always been
a condition of AVP leadership. The essential requirement is that each
facilitator participates wholeheartedly, as a whole person. Voluntarism has added
significance in prisons; such institutions tend to enrich professionals at the
expense of the clientele. Voluntarism
on the participant’s part is equally important; a person going through the
motions [to satisfy some requirement] isn’t going to learn much. Physical
presence can be mandated; attention & understanding cannot.
2.
Teamwork—All AVP workshops are
conducted by a team. The main reasons
are that several different people are indispensable for perceiving and
responding to what is happening at various levels in a workshop, and that the
non-hierarchical cooperative leadership modeled by a team is an indispensable
component of the kind of community leadership skills taught by AVP.
Outstanding
members of the group [have the danger of ] relegating everyone but the star to being
an audience, which is not good for receiving affirmation, making choices, or
learning from experience. The training team generally consists of 2-5 persons;
inmates are always a part of the team. The “lead trainer” proposes an agenda,
schedules a team meeting before the workshop, conducts planning meetings,
& writes the report; trainers take turns at leading. Manuals have been
compiled on the basis of workshop experience; trainers can initiate variations.
3.
Ground Rules—One of the 1st
things to happen in a workshop is agreement on Ground Rules: no put-downs/
affirm yourself & others; confidentiality/listen—don’t interrupt; right to
pass/volunteer yourself only.
Confidentiality includes not reporting on participants & asking them
not to talk outside of workshop. Ground Rules set the tone in AVP workshops:
non-critical, non intellectual, & non-confrontational.
4.
Transforming Power—The concept
of Transforming Power is “the central philosophy of AVP.” It derives from
Larry Appsey’s Transforming Power for
Peace. [It has to do with
hoping/trusting that appealing to the good in another person can/will result in
a positive outcome]. Transforming Power
is somewhat mystical as well as practical; it does not depend on means-ends
relations and comes with no guarantees.
When it works it trans-forms me, the other person, and the
situation. Such power is very real and
accessible to everyone.
The
founders of AVP wanted to avoid words like “God” & “love,” because they sensed
that many inmates would associate those words with repression & denial. In Lincoln Nebraska
5.
Learning by Experience—Nonviolence
does not consist of simply not hitting people. We must define violence much
more broadly to include psychological & social violence as well as pugnacious
& ideological attitudes within its scope; it is not just a kind of action
but a pattern of behavior that includes both actions & dispositions. Personal
violence is often a pattern of behavior whose history of reinforcement includes
escape from or denial of reality. Learning nonviolence involves learning new
patterns of behavior under conflict and provocation.
6. Spiritual Focus—The appeal to Transforming power is unabashedly
spiritual. It focuses on the soul or
character of the person and the well-being of the group rather than maintaining
the good order of society. AVP
[promotes] behavioral alternatives to doing or accepting violence. It emphasizes acknowledging feelings,
especially those of anger, rather than on repression. We have with us a spiritual core that opens
us to Transforming Power. AVP workshops
try to strengthen the capacity to express and respond to Transforming Power.
7. Progressive Focus, Cumulative
Process—An AVP workshop consists of 6
to 9 sessions (22-25 hours) and is meant to develop more and more trust among
participants. We start with Adjective
Name Exercise. The [often humorous]
names chosen in this exercise are then used throughout the workshop. The facilitator sets the pattern with an
affirming alliterative adjective name.
It is important to distinguish and separate the various skills that
nonviolence requires—affirmation, good will, trust, careful listening,
communication, cooperation, gentle humor, conflict resolution etc.; it is
equally important to integrate them and make use of them as a package.
8-10. Light and Livelies/Varied
Pace/Feedback—These are quick
exercises used to lighten the mood or quicken the tempo of the workshop. The point is to make use of play and laughter
to bind the participants closer together into community. Each AVP workshop session has its own agenda;
there is tension between sticking to the agenda and following the lead of the moment. There is no magic formula for resolving such
tension. Space needs to be made for what
gets cut off (e.g. a sheet for unanswered questions is posted). Feedback is crucial for experiential
learning. Even if the facilitators learn
nothing about what needs to be done or redone, a time for evaluation give
participants a chance to consider what their experience has been and to
practice communication skills in doing so.
For a workshop to succeed, it must be a safe place to get deeply involved or to share or express feelings. AVP facilitators regularly process exercises
and debrief participants in role plays.
Experience of a Safe and Challenging
Community—An AVP workshop is removed
from the hurly-burly of winning and losing, of achieving and failing, of
getting and spending. Even in a
[workshop’s] temporary environment a genuine experience of community is
possible; the community can be extended beyond the workshop. It is important for nonviolence that the
community be open and accessible to all rather than restrictive. In the most successful cases the experience
projects itself beyond the immediate circumstances.
Nothing deserves the name of community if
it fails to provide support [& challenge] for its members; [that is a goal]
from the very outset. AVP encourages talking that creates interactions with
others in unfamiliar ways; it sets up a new pattern of interaction for the
participants. The interactions not only constitute a step toward community, but
also reveal something about the other person & oneself. Alternatives to
violence are patterns of action which grow out of & which in turn nurture
the human interaction that define such a safe, challenging community.
PART TWO: Metaphysical and Ethical Presuppositions of AVP—AVP assumes a world-view different from world-views
prevailing in US
What Community is—The Manual
states: People need community. They need to know that the community is safe for
them, so that they will be free to risk change. This requires cooperation,
respect & caring from its members for it & for each other, &
nonviolent ways of challenging & turning around those who abuse it. “Community”
is a condition between people, characterized by a set of attitudes & by
strategies of interaction. When one works together with others in solving
problems, one develops a sense of belonging as well as caring & respect. Where frequent personal interaction is
lacking, we tend toward formal or rule-governed interactions, ones that are
subject to a society ethic rather than a community ethic. Violence within
community is dealt with by mercy, forgiveness, & reintegration. Violence
between communities is dealt with by mediation, compromise, even violence.
Criminals within a society
are typically deemed to have somehow forfeited full membership in the
“community.”
A
close community is not free of conflict, and should not be. The point is that it addresses conflict
constructively rather than destructively, with respect of one member for
another. When conflicts arise, they are
addressed by examining needs and interests which underlie conflicting aims and
then seeking courses of action which satisfy as far as possible the most
important needs and interests of all disputing parties. Effective communication among group members
is an essential part of community.
A
fundamental presupposition of AVP is that the basic needs and interests of
persons are best met in cooperative environments. When the members of a group aim at the
satisfaction of needs and interests, these aims are rarely if ever completely
incompatible. What holds an AVP community
together must be something within individual members rather than something
imposed on them from without. This
spirit within persons is something that is both communal and individual. The computer simulation “Prisoner’s Dilemma”
is a variable-sum game where a cooperative contestant can achieve the highest
overall score without ever getting a
higher score than the immediate antagonist.
Community in the moral sense is a dynamic state characterized by a group
of persons who consider the needs and interests of each member of the group to
be of value, who act so as not to compromise the needs and interests of others,
who refrain from coercion, who seek creative and generally cooperative ways of
satisfying the underlying needs and interest of a conflict.
The moral sense of the word “community” in which it
refers to a certain dynamic state or condition rather than a certain
collection of people, obviously differs from other common senses of the
word. [In groups which we call
“community” in the common sense of the word, the moral] state of community is
often undeveloped or completely nonexistent. An AVP workshop tries to create a
temporary actual, [moral] community. Does violence ever really work? Since violence destabilizes human
affairs, its success is only temporary, and it never succeeds in promoting
community between the victim of violence and the perpetrator.
The Kind of Commitment to Community
Required by the Ethic of Community—AVP
seems grounded in an ethic, a moral perspective which requires commitment to a
certain kind of community. What kind of commitment to community is
required? [What need is there for an ethic] requiring this sort of
commitment? Most of us have some
sort of commitment to community.
Violence might be acceptable if [community began and ended with those
around us, or if it included only those “like us” in some fashion].
AVP’s
presupposition has the theme that praiseworthy acts have cultivation &
preservation of community as their end; blameworthy acts have disruption or
thwarting of community as their end. An “end” can be inherent or purposive. Inherent
end is what is immediately caused by the act; purposive end is what you expect
will occur & which is the ultimate purpose for which you act. If the
cultivation & preservation of community were the ultimate purpose of
praiseworthy acts, but not necessarily the inherent end of such acts, I would
be called upon to do what was necessary to achieve the ultimate result of
maximal community. While the creation of community cannot be the immediate
effect of your acts alone, the thwarting of community can be an immediate
effect of your acts.
Community
can be the inherent end of your acts when: 1) it makes community possible and
does not thwart it; and 2) your act is designed to encourage others to do their
part in cultivating community. The ethic
underlying AVP does not condone any act that violates the strategies of
community. Beyond not doing evil, you are called upon to
strive to reach out to others so as to encourage them to participate in
community as well.
The
“AVP Mandala” is made up of 3 concentric circles, with the outer 2 divided into
sections. The core circle is
“Transforming Power”; the next circle is divided in half between “Respect for
Self” and “Caring for Others; the 3rd circle is divided into thirds
between “Expect the Best,” “Think Before Reacting,” and “Look for a Nonviolent
Path. When action in accordance with the
strategies of community is informed by Transforming Power, such action will not
only have community as its inherent end, but will serve to maximize
community.
2
metaphysical presuppositions undergird the ethic of community informed by
Transforming Power. AVP philosophy states: “We believe that only when the
birthright of dignity, self-respect, & self-actualization is made real for
all of us will we have a just & peaceful world … Every person has value
simply by being a person, & this value grounds the [birth] right of every
person.” It is useful to think of metaphysical presuppositions as even more
basic than an ethical one. To act out of
respect for [the birthright of others] amounts to following the strategies of
community. Community is a context
uniquely suited to a life of dignity, self-respect, and
self-actualization.
Transforming Power: The Resource for
Cultivating and Maintaining Community—Cultivating
community with another person consists in seeking to develop with that person
the dynamic condition we outlined above.
[By respecting another’s birthright I respect my own]. The value of every person demands that I
pursue a community that never excludes anyone.
AVP’s philosophy statement asserts:
“There is in the universe a power that is able to transform hostility
and destruction into cooperation and community, and to do justice among us …
tuning into it enables us and opponents to realize our birthright of peace and
dignity.” Its role in conflict is as a
spiritual force that can work through us, if we follow strategies that open up
the conflict to its influence. Hostile
and conflicting parties are moved to put aside their enmity.
Barriers
to community exist both within ourselves and in others, and the disciplines
associated with Transforming Power are guides for breaking down these
barriers. Anyone who sees you according
to some pre-determined stereotype or category [i.e. hostile], will interpret
all your actions in the light of that stereotype. [Since offering community] does not fit the
person’s stereotyped picture of you, your overtures are apt to be taken as
dishonest. Seeking to forge some kind
of human contact or relationship is important for attaining this end.
Persons
who have a limited perception of their own capacities may not be able to enter
into community with others. By asking
for somebody’s help, you give that person the opportunity to have an impact in
a way that promotes community instead of thwarting it. The ethic underlying AVP is committed to
cultivating community with all those with whom one interacts in the course of
ordinary human living. Acting in such a
way will further the possibility of achieving the dynamic condition of
community [and the birthright of all persons].
Nonviolence
consists partly of patterns of behavior and habits of response; it is an affair
of the spirit, and requires a spirit that comes from within. The best that can be done is to teach some of
the skills that nonviolence requires, to devise and organize experiences in
which its spirit is more likely than not to be communicated and
strengthened. While we fear the violence
of others, we often rationalize our own violence, [saying] there is no
alternative. In such a world one main
task of Friends [and AVP] is to teach the alternatives. Alternatives to violence are as real and as
vital as force and coercion. AVP is a
resource not only for understanding the nature of violence and its realistic
alternatives but also for discovering or rediscovering the spirit of hope and
community which lies at the heart of a nonviolent way of life.
