 May 2003
American Friends Service Committee Peacework Magazine Patrica Watson, Editor Sara Burke, Assistant Editor Pat Farren, Founding Editor 2161 Massachusetts Ave. Telephone number: Fax number:
pwork@igc.org Peacework has been published monthly since 1972, intended to serve as a source of dependable information to those who strive for peace and justice and are committed to furthering the nonviolent social change necessary to achieve them. Rooted in Quaker values and informed by AFSC experience and initiatives, Peacework offers a forum for organizers, fostering coalition-building and teaching the methods and strategies that work in the global and local community. Peacework seeks to serve as an incubator for social transformation, introducing a younger generation to a deeper analysis of problems and issues, reminding and re-inspiring long-term activists, encouraging the generations to listen to each other, and creating space for the voices of the disenfranchised. Views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily of the AFSC. |
Michael True, president, International Peace Research Association Foundation and emeritus professor, Assumption College, is the author of An Energy Field More Intense Than War: The Nonviolent Tradition and American Literature (1995). Gene Sharp, There Are Realistic Alternatives. Boston: Albert Einstein Institution, 2003. 54 pp; $6 each (bulk discounts available) from the Albert Einstein Institution, 617/247-4882; einstein@igc.org
This remarkable pamphlet, by the major theorist and strategist of nonviolence since Gandhi, discusses issues relevant to solving the problem of violence in political and international conflicts, with a list and synopses of cases, characteristics, methods, and a glossary of important terms. It is, at the same time, a readable, concise, and authoritative summary of the author's contributions to political theory, which began with his classic study, The Politics of Nonviolent Action (1973). "All the proposals to solve the problem of violence, or particular expressions of it, have been unsuccessful." Importantly for skeptics, Sharp challenges popular misconceptions about nonviolence and provides hard-headed advice on planning for nonviolent struggle against repressive regimes. He confronts the widely held belief that nonviolence can succeed only against humanitarian and democratic opponents, citing its success against brutal regimes and dictatorships, including Nazi and Communist ones. He also maintains that nonviolent struggle does not require religious beliefs, although it is sometimes practiced with religious motives. The brevity and accessibility of this pamphlet make it an ideal introduction to nonviolent theory and practice for discussion groups, high school and college students, and peace and social concerns committees, and a good supplementary text for courses in peace studies, sociology, labor history, and community organizing. "The importance of strategic planning for nonviolent struggle cannot be overemphasized... It may not guarantee that a movement will achieve its objectives, but it will certainly make the possibility of success more likely."
Nothing illustrates more dramatically
than this pamphlet the essential contributions of Gene Sharp and
the Albert Einstein Institution to the history of nonviolence.
To facilitate dissemination of the publication, he has also generously
placed it in the public domain. 
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