In this episode of Nonviolence Radio, we speak with journalist Emily Yellin about her collaboration on Nonviolent: A Memoir of Resistance, Agitation, and Love, offering a rare and deeply personal window into the life and thought of Reverend James Lawson—one of the most important yet often overlooked architects of the U.S. nonviolent movement. Drawing from years of conversations and archival research, Yellin illuminates Lawson’s spiritual grounding, strategic brilliance, and lifelong commitment to nonviolent direct action. The conversation highlights how nonviolence is not a spontaneous tactic but a disciplined, relational, and deeply strategic practice rooted in listening, training, and long-term vision—offering powerful lessons for movements today.

In this episode of Nonviolence Radio, we speak with civil rights leader and Revolutionary Love Project founder Valarie Kaur about love as a force for transformation in our lives and movements. Kaur describes revolutionary love as “the choice to see no stranger… to risk ourselves for each other,” and shares stories from communities across the country where people are practicing courage, care, and solidarity in the face of violence and fear. These acts—whether on the front lines or in everyday life—offer glimpses of a world grounded in belonging and deep connection.

At the heart of the conversation is Kaur’s powerful framing of social change as a kind of labor. Drawing on the wisdom of the midwife, she invites us into a rhythm of “breathe and push,” tending both to our inner lives and to the work of justice in the world. “This is long labor, courageous labor,” she says, encouraging us to find ways to sustain ourselves while acting with purpose. The episode explores how choosing to see the humanity of others—even those who oppose us—can be a radical act of freedom, and how cultivating that inner strength allows us to remain present, brave, and connected in the midst of uncertainty.

In this episode of Nonviolence Radio, we speak with Latin American peace educator and activist Pietro Ameglio about civil resistance in Mexico and the deeper dynamics of nonviolent struggle. Drawing on decades of organizing with grassroots communities, families of the disappeared, and movements confronting cartel violence, Ameglio reflects on concepts such as the “spiral of violence,” the difference between fear and terror, and the practice of what he calls “putting the body inside the conflict.” His work is rooted in a Christian peace tradition and shaped early on by the influence of Maryknoll priest Fr. Donald Hessler, a colleague of Dorothy Day who helped introduce Ameglio and others to Gandhian nonviolence through faith-based organizing and community work. While Ameglio acknowledges the complex realities communities face, he is not proposing a “diversity of tactics,” but pointing instead to the inner discipline and moral courage that nonviolence requires—the transformation of fear into constructive action and the cultivation of dignity, courage, and solidarity that make civil resistance possible.

With gratitude to Elizabeth High for her transcript support.

We are living in a time when cruelty is normalized, war is justified as inevitable, and violence is often explained away as simply “human nature.” But what if that story is wrong?

On this episode of Nonviolence Radio, we speak with peace anthropologist Doug Fry about the evidence — archaeological, cross-cultural, and contemporary — that challenges the assumption that humans are wired for war. Drawing on decades of research, Fry explores peace systems, restraint, interdependence, and the ways societies have sustained nonviolence across history.

If war had conditions that gave rise to it, then it is not destiny. And if peace has deeper roots in our human story than we’ve been taught, then reclaiming human sanity may begin with reclaiming the truth about who we are.

As Fry reminds us, the task is not to debate whether change is possible — but to act:

“I don’t waste my time thinking whether this is possible or not. Take steps to try to get it done. I fail or I succeed. And if I fail, back to the drawing board. Try something else. Do it. Do it better. Do something different.”

This episode of Nonviolence Radio opens with neuroscientist Marco Iacoboni on empathy, imitation, and the “dark side” of emotional contagion, followed by reflections on Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Love Your Enemy” sermon and Michael’s Nonviolence Report. A thoughtful exploration of how understanding human behavior can strengthen the practice of nonviolence.

Transcript available at nonviolenceradio.org

On this episode of Nonviolence Radio, we explore Active Hope—the practice of choosing a direction and moving toward it, even when the future feels uncertain.

We begin with Chris Johnstone (co-author of Active Hope with Joanna Macy), who shares a grounded, non-sugarcoated view of hope as something we activate: by naming what we love, honoring our pain for the world, and building the emotional and communal skills that help us keep going. Johnstone’s “thrutopian” lens offers a way through crisis that refuses both denial and despair.

The episode then turns from inner resourcing to urgent reality on the ground. In a powerful Nonviolence Report, Michael speaks with Mel Duncan, co-founder of Nonviolent Peaceforce, who has just returned from the occupied West Bank to what he calls the “occupied Twin Cities.” Mel draws a direct line between what he witnessed under settler and military impunity in Palestine and what he describes as ICE activity and intimidation in Minnesota—naming the shared dynamics of fear, disappearance, and the erosion of accountability. But he also brings a crucial through-line of connection: nonviolent protective presence. From villages and school routes in the West Bank to neighborhoods and high schools in St. Paul and Minneapolis, Mel describes the same essential practice—trained civilians showing up, documenting, accompanying, de-escalating, and organizing community care—to interrupt harm and protect the vulnerable. The conversation makes a compelling case that the “distance” between global conflict zones and our own streets can collapse quickly—and that nonviolence is a practical discipline we can strengthen now, together.

Transcript Available at nonviolenceradio.org

In this first episode of 2026, Nonviolence Radio welcomes visionary scholar Riane Eisler for a spacious and deeply human conversation about the cultural shift our world is being asked to make—from systems of domination toward cultures of partnership. Drawing on Eisler’s lifelong work, including The Chalice and the Blade and Nurturing Our Humanity, we move through memory, trauma, economics, education, and story, discovering how nonviolence is not just an ideal but a lived, relational practice.

Together, we explore what it means to build a world rooted in care, courage, and connection—and how a “new story” of who we are and what we’re capable of can help guide us through this time of profound transition.

As we come to the close of the year, we’re offering two reflections from Michael Nagler’s Nonviolent Moment—previously aired pieces brought together as a single, contemplative year-end offering. We’ll return with new recordings in January. Until then, we invite you to pause, listen, and carry these moments gently into the turning year.