Think of ideas that will awaken the imagination of your community. Here are just a few things that YOU can do:

Research and present information for your class about a specific case of nonviolence in recent history such as the 1980s People Power revolution in the Philippines, the Lavalas movement in Haiti, or the student protests in China's Tiananmen Square. Ask your teachers to teach conflict resolution and nonviolence principles. Start a peace studies program or student peace group at your school.

Learn constructive ways to deal with anger, and teach these ways to your kids. Make a family pledge to express feelings and resolve conflict creatively and nonviolently.

Meet with other teachers, administrators and the school board to ask for a commitment for teachers at al levels to teach a course, a unit, or a book on nonviolence. Be prepared to offer suggestions for materials, including nonviolence training manuals. (Many resources exist!)

Organize a Day/Week/Month of Nonviolence to learn about alternatives to violence, to address recent violent events in the community, to brainstorm nonviolent solutions, and to celebrate positive efforts that have succeeded. Schedule a panel of speakers on social justice issues such as militarism, racism, hate crimes, economic justice, youth empowerment, women's rights, and indigenous people's rights. Start a peer mediation program to resolve conflicts nonviolently.

Start a study circle to explore nonviolence, racism, youth empowerment, or the widening gap between rich and poor or between mainstream people and those who are alienated or left out. Explore the spiritual dimensions of nonviolence within your faith tradition. Read and discuss any statements or study materials about these issues adopted at your faith community's national level. Sponsor interfaith gatherings so congregations of differing faiths can learn about each other. Sponsor conflict resolution trainings for the congregation. Be an active voice within your faith community to speak up for fairness and nonviolence. Join a Religious Peace Fellowship affiliated with the national Fellowship of Reconciliation.

Creatively address issues such as war, racism, classism, homophobia, nuclear weapons, fairness, and peace. Plan concerts, art exhibitions, and theatrical events on subjects relating to the culture of nonviolence. Express fresh, alternative visions.

Link together leaders from schools, religious bodies, local businesses, police departments, ethnic organizations, youth groups, and other community groups to learn about nonviolence through speakers, workshops, programs, forums, nonviolence trainings, etc. Meet with the city council to organize a town meeting to discuss violence-related problems and possible nonviolent solutions. Be sure to include individuals who represent your community's diversity in planning, conducting, participating, and evaluating the events. Use nonviolence and human dignity as criteria for evaluating all kinds of public policies.

Join the Abolition 2000 campaign to promote total nuclear disarmament. Join the Jubilee 2000 campaign to promote cancellation of the Third World's debt. Join Moratorium 2000 to stop the death penalty. Join efforts to lift economic sanctions on Iraq and to promote a nonviolent foreign policy.

Read works by Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Dorothy Day Cesar Chavez, Muriel Lester, Gene Sharp, Jim Douglass, and other peace-makers. Imagine what the world would look like without weapons. Share your ideas with others.