Description

Sami Awad, Kazu Haga, Miki Kashtan in conversation with BPF Co-Director Kate Johnson

Wednesday Dec 6th 10:30am PT/ 1:30pm ET. Register here: bit.ly/bpfpeace

This is a 90-minute event that will be recorded with ASL interpretation and closed captions provided.

I chose. I chose to stand against your hate and not hate you, to resist your persecution and not demean you, to overcome your oppression and not suppress you, to respond to your violence with nonviolence. I chose to speak loud and clear for freedom and life and not insult you. I chose love to be my motivation.

– Sami Awad, Holy Land Trust

As we bear witness to the all-out assault on Gaza and the Palestinian people, we do so with profound grief.

We acknowledge and mourn the horror of the Oct 7 attack on Israeli lives. We acknowledge and mourn the horrific conditions of decades-long apartheid and occupation of Palestine from which this violence arose.

Transformative justice activist Mariame Kaba reminds us that “no one enters violence for the first time by committing it.” As we take the long view, we can see that the current crisis in Palestine and Israel is a manifestation of cycles of violence and domination that began thousands of years ago.

In this present moment, we also hold steadfastly to our fundamental interconnection and shared humanity. No one is free from the impacts of oppression and colonization, even as we are in so many different positions within it.

How does the Buddha’s commitment to the principle of Ahimsa (often translated as non-harm or nonviolence) respond to violence? How do we conjure up the courage to resist oppression without giving into the delusion of separation?

What can each one of us do to transform the conditions within us and around us, within the specific circumstances in which we find ourselves?

What can we each do to hold with reverence our own and everyone else’s humanity in the process, without exception or discrimination?

Please join us for an interdisciplinary, interfaith conversation on the practice of nonviolence, both internally and externally, as it relates to the current violence in Israel and Palestine.

Our speakers:

Sami Awad, Inspired by his uncle Mubarak Awad's leadership in Palestinian nonviolent resistance, Sami Awad founded the Holy Land Trust in 1998 to promote Palestinian nonviolent resistance to the Israeli occupation. Holy Land Trust initiatives include training workshops, participation in local nonviolent campaigns, and seeking increased media coverage for nonviolent resistance. Holy Land Trust also runs summer programs in which internationals live with host families in Bethlehem, study Arabic and volunteer with Palestinian organizations. Follow @Sami_Awad //

Kazu Haga, a trainer and practitioner of nonviolence and restorative justice, is a core member of the Ahimsa Collective and the Fierce Vulnerability Network and author of Healing Resistance: A Radically Different Response to Harm. He works with incarcerated people, youth, and activists from around the country.  He has over 20 years of experience in nonviolence and social change work, and has been an active trainer since 2000. He resides in Lisjan Ohlone land, a.k.a Oakland, CA.

Miki Kashtan is a practical visionary pursuing a world that works for all, based on principles and practices rooted in feminist nonviolence. Miki is the seed founder of the Nonviolent Global Liberation community (NGLcommunity.org) and a certified trainer with the Center for Nonviolent Communication. She has taught, consulted, and engaged with projects globally. She is the author of four books and blogs on The Fearless Heart. Her writing has also appeared in The New York Times, Tikkun magazine, Waging Nonviolence, Shareable, Peace and Conflict, and elsewhere. 

Hosted by BPF Co-Director Kate Johnson.  

Kate Johnson (she/her) is a teacher, facilitator, writer and mother.   She began practicing Theravada Buddhism in the Western Insight tradition in her early 20’s, deeply influenced by the Thai Forest and Burmese Sayadaw lineages.  She has participated in many multi-month meditation retreats and multi-year teacher trainings, and graduated from Spirit Rock Meditation Center’s four-year retreat teacher training in 2020, under the leadership of Gina Sharpe, Larry Yang and Lila Kate Wheeler.  Kate began facilitating organizational training and retreats after co-founding the Meditation Working Group at Occupy Wall Street in 2011, and went on to help organize yoga and meditation communities in service of justice campaigns, and advise organizations committed to the practice of wise relationship. She is the author of the book Radical Friendship: Seven Ways to Love Yourself and Find Your People in an Unjust World. 

Gratitude to Erin Selover and Fiona Teng for their thought partnership in preparation for this event.