“It’s likely, I
think, that someday people will look back on nonviolence as one of the great
(re)discoveries of the 20th century, a technology whose power we’ve only begun
to tap. This roadmap is a guide on that journey.”
–Bill McKibben,
350.org.
The world has woken up to the fact that if we are to create a
sustainable future something fundamental needs to change. Numerous
organizations are taking on issues such as climate change, conflicts and
economic inequality, based on the awareness and sense of urgency that change
must happen. Many are doing great work, but often in isolation – and sometimes
in competition with each other. Yet the challenges humanity is facing today are
so large and complex that they require us to unite our forces.
Let’s think of all the organizations, activists and
coalitions as pieces of a puzzle. Each is unique and critical, yet we must find
a framework that would unite their energies for greater effectiveness. We at the
Metta Center for Nonviolence believe that nonviolence is the key to create
cooperation and unity among all these actors. Our “Roadmap” is an embodiment of
this conviction.
Roadmap is a way of making the movement of movements
visual. It is also a set of tools
activists (and those who wish to get active) can use to build community, train
in nonviolence principles, and create and pursue strategic thinking toward the
realization of campaign goals. It is a model that illustrates how nonviolence
works as a philosophical foundation, practical tool, and long-term strategy for
change.
The overriding theme of the Roadmap is “We all belong here.”
Whether you are an organization working on a particular issue, or an individual
seeking to become more active in your community, you can find a place on the Roadmap. Through the Roadmap, you can see that you fit
in a bigger picture, and that there are many others whose work would complement
yours. In fact, connecting for change is
what the Roadmap is all about.
The Roadmap MANDALA is a set of three concentric circles,
the inmost being the circle of “Person Power.” Person power refers to the
development of the individual’s full capacity to contribute. We coined it
because the (relatively) popular term “people power” focuses on numbers, which
fails by implication to recognize the importance of the individual in revealing
nonviolent truth. The next circle is
“Constructive Program,” and in our accompanying material we describe why this
concept of Gandhi’s is so important.
Finally we are ready for “Nonviolent Resistance (Satyagraha)” where that
is necessary.
Peace from within approach:
Integral to Roadmap is a “peace from within” empowerment
model based on Gandhi’s famous concept of svadeshi, or ‘localism:’
we work on ourselves, work with colleagues, and then use that energy to work
against oppressing systems (but not the persons operating them). For some
of us this will be more a set of priorities than steps in time. As Gandhi
called nonviolence “the greatest force at the disposal of humanity,” this model
reminds us to infuse our movement with the power of nonviolence, regardless of
the types of activities we engage in at any given moment.
New Story:
Roadmap then divides the challenges we face today into six
sectors: New Story Creation, Peace, Democracy and Social Justice, Vibrant and
Need-based Economies, Climate Protection, and Environment. The topmost sector
of the MANDALA is “New Story Creation.” We must outgrow the low image of
the human being and the ruling idea of a meaningless, material world that is
the dominant paradigm of our collapsing industrial, societies. All of us
can adapt the key points of the emerging “new story” (it has actually been
around from time immemorial) for our own use, and share them wherever
we can to explain where we are heading.
These points include:
- we are
body, mind, and spirit - as
spirit, we are deeply interconnected: if I injure you (or any living
thing), I injure myself - we can
never be fulfilled by the consumption of external things, but by deep relationships
of service to the sacred life within and around us - we
have inner capacities, largely untapped, that liberate us from dependence
on consumption and competition. They include our human capacity for
nonviolence, which must come to play an ever more important role as human
consciousness evolves.
We encourage you to articulate the “new story” as one of the
most practical ways you can use the Roadmap.
Building a community:
Over the last few years, many individuals and organizations have
expressed they are excited about the potential of this Roadmap. We continue to
receive requests for presentations, trainings and more resources. In addition
to the MANDALA, we are currently developing a web-based community, where people
can connect with one another and benefit from many resources they have to
offer. We invite you to join us at http://mettaroadmap.ning.com/ and
become part of the movement. We have
also begun to establish a Strategic Council of Roadmap community members, whose
contribution would be to create a long-term strategy for deep and permanent
change.
For more information about the Roadmap, please visit: http://mettacenter.org/roadmap/what-is-roadmap/.