The Sierra Club stands with the Cleveland Nonviolence Network to invite you to an inspiring event, The State of Nonviolence 2024. Join the event on February 24, 2:30 PM at North Presbyterian Church in Cleveland, as they explore how environmentalism and nonviolence can coalesce to create a more just and sustainable world.
Here’s the press release about the event from the Cleveland Nonviolence Network:
The Cleveland Nonviolence Network announces the 2024 State of Nonviolence Address, February 24, 2:30 PM at North Presbyterian Church, 4515 Superior Ave., Cleveland, OH 44103. The State of Nonviolence is an annual event dedicated to raising awareness about the value of nonviolent approaches to conflict resolution. Previous speakers include Angela Jill Lederach, Harry Bury, Buddy Bell, Paul Chappell, Sarah Thompson, Brian Terrell, Malaz Elgemiabby, Kathy Kelly, Frida Berrigan, and John LaForge.
This year’s address will be presented by Art Laffin, a member of the Dorothy Day Catholic Worker in Washington, D.C. and long-time organizer in the faith-based nonviolent movement for peace, social justice, and eradicating poverty and war. As a member of a murder victim’s family, he has been actively involved in the national and global campaign to abolish the death penalty. He has participated in numerous actions for, among other things, abolishing nuclear weapons, upholding human rights for the homeless, and prohibiting torture and racial violence. He has been imprisoned for his involvement in the Trident Nein and Thames River plowshares actions and was recently arrested (Nov. 13, 2023) with 8 other peacemakers for a nonviolent action at the General Dynamics/Electric Boat works in New London, CT calling for the cancellation of the new Columbia-class nuclear submarine program. He is also involved with Christians 4 Ceasefire, a Washington D.C. group that has organized several pray-ins outside the White House and at the U.S. Capitol calling for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza. He is co-author of The Risk of the Cross and co-editor of Swords Into Plowshares. His address will focus on sharing his experience in faith-based nonviolent resistance movements spanning four decades and the imperative for our society to heed Dr. King’s admonition in these perilous times: “The choice today is no longer between violence and nonviolence. It is either nonviolence or nonexistence.”
The Cleveland Nonviolence Network is a volunteer organization dedicated to promoting nonviolent conflict resolution. Begun in 2001, the organization has sponsored numerous protests and actions in the Cleveland area, including protests of the military’s presence at the Cleveland Air Show, sponsorship of the 2016 People’s Justice and Peace Convention, and the current Fast for Gaza, an invitation to fast one day a week for peace and restorative justice in Palestine and Israel. As a principle of nonviolence, CNVN recognizes that brutalizing another equates to brutalizing oneself.