CMU offers non-violence training amid unrest down south

Manitobans concerned about annexation by the U.S. or Canada’s rising defence budget are being offered lessons in non-violent ways to take action.

Canadian Mennonite University is offering training, starting next week, led by Karen Ridd, a human rights activist who teaches peace and conflict transformation studies at the university.

The instruction follows the successful Singing Resistance event last month in which Winnipeggers sang in solidarity with people in Minnesota, whose Twin Cities have been under siege since armed federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrived in January to crack down on illegal immigration.

“We recognized that singing is important, but it’s not enough,” said Sandra Koop Harder, vice-president external at the university. “This training is an effort to turn that collective voice into action.”

The training, dubbed Living Resistance, flows out of the Anabaptist-Mennonite conviction that faith should shape how people should respond to events in the world.

“Love for neighbours doesn’t stop at the exit door of the church,” she said, adding that the way of Jesus “isn’t passive… we need to stand with those who are vulnerable and respond faithfully and non-violently whenever politics raises concerns.”

Participants will learn about the history and practise of non-violence, how and why it works, how to target efforts and where to find allies, Ridd said, adding that many people don’t realize how effective non-violence is when responding to invasions or other military or authoritarian action.

“We want to explode the myths that non-violence isn’t effective,” she said.

This kind of training is important at a time when the world is “sliding into authoritarianism,” she said. “Non-violence is a creative and effective way to respond.”

Citing the non-violent response to ICE by people in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Ridd said Manitobans can be inspired by their example and learn from them. “They were intentional about being trained in non-violence, and it was effective,” she said.

The first training is set for Monday from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Lecture Hall on campus at 600 Shaftesbury Blvd.

Registration is free by visiting: wfp.to/resistance.

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