People's Charter to Create a Nonviolent World

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The People’s Charter to Create a Nonviolent World

May 25, 2011 by robertjburrowes

The People’s Charter to Create a Nonviolent World was launched simultaneously on 11 November 2011 at several locations around the world.

As of 14 April 2017:
2,128 individuals from 100 countries have signed the Nonviolence Charter pledge, and
109 organisations from 35 countries have endorsed the Nonviolence Charter.

Individuals: Signing the Charter

The Nonviolence Charter can be read and signed by individuals online: click on ‘Read Charter’ or ‘Sign Charter’ in the sidebar.

Organisations: Endorsing the Charter

To advise that an organisation endorses The Nonviolence Charter, please send the name and website of the organisation to Robert: flametree@riseup.net

The endorsing organisation, together with its website, will be listed on this website on the ‘Organisations’ page.

Progress Reports

The most recent progress reports can be read here:
Gandhi: ‘My life is my message’ – 2 October 2016
Ending Human Violence is a Task for Each of Us – 10 April 2016
Gandhi Jayanti, Gandhi’s Dream – 2 October 2015
Saving Passengers of the Good Ship Titan… Earth – 13 April 2015
Creating a World Culture that is Nonviolent – 2 October 2014
The Struggle for Humanity – 3 April 2014
Life on the Line: Can Humanity Survive? – 30 September 2013
The Race to End Violence Before We End Life – 26 February 2013

Aim

The aim of The Nonviolence Charter is to create a worldwide movement to end violence in all of its forms. The Charter is intended to give voice to the millions of ordinary people around the world who want an end to war, oppression, environmental destruction and violence of all kinds. We hope that this Charter will support and unite the courageous nonviolent struggles of ordinary people all over the world.

As you will see, The Nonviolence Charter describes very thoroughly the major forms of violence in the world. It also presents a strategy to end this violence.

We can each play a part in stopping violence and in creating a peaceful and just world. Some of us will focus on reducing our consumption, some of us will parent our children in a way that fosters children’s safety and empowerment, some of us will use nonviolent resistance in the face of military violence. Everyone’s contribution is important and needed. We hope this Charter will be a springboard for us all to take steps to create a peaceful and just world, however small and humble these steps may be. By listening to the deep truth of ourselves, each other and the Earth, each one of us can find our own unique way to help create this nonviolent world.

Why did we choose 11 November as the date to launch The Nonviolence Charter?

‘When I was a boy … all the people of all the nations which fought in the First World War were silent during the eleventh minute of the eleventh hour of Armistice Day, which was the eleventh day of the eleventh month. It was at that minute in nineteen-hundred and eighteen, that millions upon millions of human beings stopped butchering one another. I have talked to old men who were on battlefields at that minute. They have told me in one way or another that the sudden silence was the Voice of God. So we still have among us some men who can remember when God spoke clearly to mankind.’
(Kurt Vonnegut Jr., an atheist humanist, in his novel Breakfast of Champions.)

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‘A small body of determined spirits fired by an unquenchable faith in their mission can alter the course of history.’ Mohandas K. Gandhi

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The People’s Charter to Create a Nonviolent World was posted on 25 May 2011

Robert J. Burrowes – flametree@riseup.net
Anita McKone – flametree@riseup.net
Anahata Giri – anahatagiri@gmail.com