In Michael Nagler’s book, The Search for a Nonviolent Future, he gives a thorough view of the history, principles, and methods of nonviolence. As he begins with the movements and achievements of Mohandas Gandhi, he follows the idea of nonviolence through a time of struggles throughout the world. He traces the legacy of nonviolence through the struggles in America, China, Germany, and Latin America. The book unfolds a hidden history of successful nonviolence movements and Nagler argues for its effectiveness against the force of social injustice wherever nonviolence has been correctly utilized.
As Nagler tries to uncover the hidden success of nonviolence, he also uncovers the true meaning and cause of violence and nonviolence. People believe the term violence only has one meaning, but Nagler exposes the real meanings of violence. Nagler points out that the cause of violence is hate and the lack of meaning in life. He then shows readers how changing ourselves individually will cause changes in the larger community as well. The structure of the book moves from the individual attaining nonviolence to the community, to a discussion of peace in the world, which he makes clear that is not just in the absence of war. For the individual to attain nonviolence, they must connect to the spiritual side of this integrative power, just as Gandhi did. He makes it evident that to shift from violence to nonviolence begins within the individual through restructuring how someone understands the world and their life’s purpose. The future of nonviolence is in our hands, only the strongest are able to implement this power into society. Like Gandhi and King, nonviolence starts with the individual and then others follow. But, how can we too understand the need for nonviolence? Well, as Nagler said, we primarily need to change our views of violence and nonviolence.
Since many believe that violence is innate, Nagler begins his book by reframing the way we look at violence. He proposes that hate is the underlying issue that if we could control this, then we could control violence. Uncovering the scientific view of nonviolence and how a nonviolent dynamic functions will allow us to apply this to violence. To do this, we must explore new ways to interpret violence, understand the meaning of violence and nonviolence and create a theory of how nonviolence works. Primarily, in the simplest form, we can understand violence being “the intent to injure” (Nagler, 32). Understanding the intention to injure, allows us to then realize that violence arises in our minds. Violence can also be viewed through three lenses: the moral model, the medical model, and the educational model. Each one of these lenses depicts a different way we can view violence. The moral model, which we can “think about violence as a sin” (Nagler, 36). The executor is viewed as a criminal and we tend to place blame rather than finding the root cause of the violence. In the medical model, violence is seen as a disease (Nagler, 38) and the person doing the violence is the patient. "It is leading cause of lost life in the U.S today. It kills more people than aids or cancer. It has shown no signs of a cure. It is violence… (Nagler, 38)." Lastly, the education model interprets violence as nothing like the other two models, rather in this model it is a kind of ignorance (Nagler, 42). It is supposed that the educational model may be the most useful in dealing with violence. Since ignorance can be removed by new teachings, we can reverse these negative teachings of violence and produce something more usable in our society such as nonviolence.
On the other hand, nonviolence is not passive resistance. It is integrative power and is an active force that can be cultivated and is fundamental to human nature (Nagler, 43). Since the terms "nonviolence and "passive resistance" have been so misleading, Gandhi creates a new word which is “satyagraha”, which means “clinging to truth”. With this new term, Gandhi tries to draw out the positive power that is in human nature. This strength within the term “satyagraha”, allows a practitioner of satyagraha to abstain from physical force freely on the principle of nonviolence. In our society, it is obvious that violence is used incredibly more than nonviolence but once we learn to see nonviolence as a natural state of human existence, we can then unleash the power of nonviolence. Moving back to the dynamic of nonviolence, we can see this dynamic play out in Karen Ridd’s experience with the Salvadoran soldiers. Karen’s act of courage and love for her friend allowed the “rehumanization” of the Salvadoran soldiers and this caused them to see Marcel (the friend) as more than a victim but as a person (Nagler, 51). Karen’s act of bravery and care created new emotions for the soldiers which allowed them to understand their wrongdoings and set Marcel free. It takes a powerful person to be able to risk their life for someone else while only using nonviolent tactics. This shows us that there is a force of love that is implemented into the workings of nonviolence. Once we too can harvest this power of nonviolence then, we can also be able to use this integrative power in our own lives.
When shifting from violence to nonviolence, we must understand where to begin. Nagler makes it clear that for us to do this, we must learn from our past successors like Gandhi and King who have put the principles of nonviolence into action. Gandhi’s nonviolence work in India and South Africa are clear examples of nonviolence slowly, but surely working. Even during times in Nazi Germany was a priest able to use nonviolence and sacrifice his life for strangers while in a concentration camp. Although he was killed, Father Kobe’s act gave hope to other prisoners. Creating a ritual of nonviolence practice, we then can learn to implicate nonviolence into our daily actions just as our past successors did. Nagler also mentions how meditation can aid in the process of channeling our nonviolent powers. Using nonviolence in a time where we believe violence should be used, does not come with ease. As mentioned before, only the strongest are able to use nonviolence but some may wonder, does nonviolence even work? If we look through the history of our country, it is clear violence can achieve the results we may want but with the use of nonviolence, we can achieve a better outcome with a more long-term effect. Nonviolence works when it is not passive and when people stand up for higher ideals. In all, it is clear that the use of violence will always hurt the individuals involved and dislike violence, the use of nonviolence can only heal our society.
As Nagler moves on to examine our criminal justice system, he sees that there is a way to implicate nonviolence into our society to prevent further crime. He begins by looking at solutions that will address our short-term need for response and then, we will be led to address the root cause of violence in the long term. Nagler says people begin to engage in violence and self-destructive behavior, such as drug abuse when they are missing the meaning of life (Nagler, 133). People begin to search for "thrills" in their life and for some, drugs are the only way out. This drug epidemic will only continue to rise unless we try alternative ways to help these individuals find the purpose of life. We need to find inner peace Nagler explains. But how can we end this problem if our criminal justice system continues to punish drug users, rather than help them? We have created this endless cycle of drugs, drug users, and incarceration. Our criminal justice system was built on flawed beliefs of violence. Some of these beliefs include the idea that violence and self-destructive behavior are crimes that need to be punished and then, society tends to view criminals as foreign beings. There is a solution to our flawed criminal justice system. This solution includes finding new ways for prisons to incorporate nonviolence within the prisons. There should be rehabilitation centers for inmates and classes that teach the ideals of nonviolence rather than just having people rot in prisons. We can educate prisoners so that this pipeline from drugs to jail will be broken.
Moving on to an overall critique of Nagler’s book, it is a brilliantly written piece of work that includes a vast amount of information on nonviolence and how to apply these nonviolent ideas into our every life. He touches on numerous accounts, past and present, where nonviolent tactics were put to use and how the society thrived after these tactics were used. This is a crucial component to include because it provides people with the reality of nonviolent work. Many people are quick to dismiss nonviolence or view it as an unrealistic way to solve problems, but with the examples Nagler uses, he refutes these beliefs. Many people in our society turn to violence because they do not know any other way to handle problems. Many people do not know the history of nonviolence and how it has created worldwide change. This is important for people to know because if we do not educate people on the history of nonviolence, they will remain ignorant of this peace driven idea. Throughout Nagler's book, he uses examples of real instances where nonviolence was used to show readers that there is another option. We do not need to turn to violence and there are ways that we can avoid using it. By using these examples and showing readers the success of nonviolent tactics in our history, Nagler has created a solid and educational book that needs to be read by everyone in our society.
Nagler’s book allows readers to understand the dynamics and foundation of nonviolence. Although this book is brilliantly written, there are some aspects of nonviolence not mentioned in his text. Nagler mentions in chapter 7 the role of language and speech and how it contributes to our violent society. For nonviolence to work, this means a person must practice all the aspects of it for it to function at its best. This means a person should not use libel and defamatory language for nonviolence to work. The core of violence lies within our language and to break this barrier of violence with language we must suppress our civil liberty of free speech under certain circumstances. Language is a powerful tool and we can use language to hurt people or to heal. If we are given the free power to use free speech unconditionally, it could lead to possible violence. The choice is ours but, Nagler does not discuss why our language should be limited to enhance our society.
If we wish to reframe the way violence is viewed, we should first look at the role racism plays in our society. To be actively nonviolent, you cannot be a racist. Racisms runs parallel to violence. Discrimination of a person on the basis of their skin pigmentation is not morally right. Throughout the history of the United States, racism had played a major role in the development of our society. These negative views have led to the creation of ideals such as white privilege and the Jim Crow laws. No race is superior to another and for a nonviolent society to work, there must be an end to racism. Nagler does not discuss this idea enough. There should be more emphasis on the importance to end racism to create a nonviolent society. As people continue to be silent about this oppression, violence will continue to prevail. Dr. Martin Luther King understood the importance of equality and as Nagler states “violence drives us apart”, and this is clear in our society through racism. Our country has become split between the minorities and privileged white Americans. If this oppression of minority groups continues, then we will not be able to achieve and nonviolent world. This is why Nagler should have put more of an emphasis on racism and how it is another form of violence.
The use of violence at the moment may seem to "work" but, it deems more unsuccessful than we may think. When violence is used to solve a problem, it tends to lead to more problems in the future. While nonviolence, on the other hand, has more permanent effects. Nagler stresses the need for nonviolence in our society because unlike violence, nonviolence can heal. Our society has been through so many violent events which could have been avoided if we knew the power nonviolence holds. "Power is of two kinds. One is obtained by fear of punishment, and the other by acts of love. Power based on love is a thousand times more effective and permanent than the one derived from fear of punishment." (Nagler, 53). As society continues to grow, it is important that we implement nonviolence so that lives can be saved. Anyone can want change, but it takes a powerful being to make change happen.