Intersection of Activism and Electoral Politics

Amid brutal wars in Gaza, Ukraine, and Sudan, and violence and instability in western Africa, Myanmar, and elsewhere, it seems like a good time to talk about nonviolence.

It’s an interesting and opportune time to explore this subject: The protests calling for a ceasefire in Gaza have raised issues and created complexities in our discourse about the Middle East, antisemitism, war and violence, and justice and human rights.

That’s certainly been true in the Berkshires, as nonviolent rallies held here in the days after the Hamas terrorist attack, and since, have sometimes used rhetoric cheering that violence as an acceptable response to the plight of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.

To discuss all of this, last month Berkshire Argus Editor Bill Shein spoke with Eric Stoner, an activist, writer, and journalist who is co-founder and editor of Waging Nonviolence, a nonprofit news website that has, for a decade and a half, provided original news reporting and analysis of nonviolent social movements around the world.