Nonviolence Radio

At 18, Soul Tsalik refused to serve in the Israeli military and went to prison for his refusal. Now 20, he joins Nonviolence Radio to share how he came to see conscientious objection as a duty, and how he works with Mesarvot, a network supporting young Israelis who refuse military service. We talk about growing up in a militarized society, his commitment to Palestinian freedom for the “sake of all...

What happens when judges leave the courthouse to meet people in donut shops, community centers, and town squares? Danny Miller and Steve Silverman, organizers of Justice in Motion, share what they learned from taking judges on the road to connect with the communities they serve. Their conversation explores how public trust grows through personal encounters, how one person’s willingness to act can...

Amir Bergen and Kanstantsin Tsiarokhin met as students at St. John’s College and began asking what the kind of dialogue they practiced there might offer a world divided by war. The Svet Peace Project began by bringing young people from Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus together through literature, conversation, and shared inquiry, and has since grown to bring people together from around the world. On t...

What does it look like when communities become active participants in their own safety rather than waiting for someone else to protect them? In this episode, we speak with Roz Lee, Head of the U.S. Mission for Nonviolent Peaceforce, about the growth of unarmed civilian protection (UCP) in the United States. Although Nonviolent Peaceforce has long worked in places experiencing war and violent confl...

What does it mean for a revolution to transform not only political structures, but our understanding of ourselves? On this episode of Nonviolence Radio, we speak with independent scholar and educator Safoora Arbab about the Khudai Khidmatgar, the remarkable nonviolent movement that emerged among the Pashtun people in the Northwest Frontier of British India. Arbab challenges familiar accounts that...

How does nonviolence work? Is it the opposite of violence? What is the purpose of an ideal in nonviolence? What about skepticism? How do we "change" someone? And more insights and lessons drawn from the theory and practice of nonviolence on this episode. 

Technology doesn't develop in a vacuum. It reflects the values, assumptions, and stories of the societies that create it. Anna Ikeda of Soka Gakkai International joins us to explore how nuclear weapons, artificial intelligence, and other powerful technologies reveal deeper questions about human nature, security, and moral responsibility. We discuss Buddhism, grassroots movements, interfaith p...

Artificial intelligence is transforming our world, raising profound questions about technology, ethics, and what it means to be human. In this episode of Nonviolence Radio , we’re joined by Marie Dennis—co-director of Pax Christi International's Catholic Institute for Nonviolence and a founder of the Catholic Nonviolence Initiative—to explore Pope Leo XIV's first encyclical, Magnifica Hu...

What does it mean to live simply in a culture built on excess? In this episode of Nonviolence Radio , Stephanie Van Hook and Michael Nagler speak with environmental activist Robin Greenfield, whose latest experiment is to forage 100% of his food and medicine while traveling the country to help people rediscover their relationship with the Earth. Together they explore simplicity as a practice of no...

In this episode of Nonviolence Radio , we speak with animal rights activist Zoe Rosenberg about nonviolent direct action, open rescue, and the personal costs of standing up for animals. A recent graduate of UC Berkeley, where she designed her own major in social movement strategy, Zoe brings both practical experience and thoughtful analysis to the challenges facing today's animal rights movem...

On this episode of Nonviolence Radio , we continue our exploration of restorative justice with Jonathan Bradley, co-executive director of SEEDS Community Resolution Center. Drawing from years of experience in schools and communities, Bradley reflects on restorative justice not simply as a set of techniques, but as a practice that challenges the assumptions of punitive culture and invites people in...

In this conversation, restorative justice practitioner Dominic Barter reflects on more than three decades of work at the intersection of community, justice, and nonviolence. Beginning with his early experiences in Rio de Janeiro, he describes how communities already hold a “dialogical” capacity to respond to harm—one rooted in listening, relationship, and shared needs. From grassroots work in fave...

In this episode of Nonviolence Radio , Stephanie Van Hook speaks with nonviolence educator and Metta Center board member Francesca Po about communication as a living practice of nonviolence. Moving beyond any single method or formula, they explore how curiosity, dignity, and self-awareness shape the way we engage across disagreement. Together, they reflect on what it means to stay in relationship...

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 rese...

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...

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 differen...

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. Dra...

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...

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...

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, educat...

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.

In this end-of-year episode of Nonviolence Radio , we reflect briefly on the long arc of nonviolence—its strengths, its strains, and the importance of staying grounded during a season that can feel heavy and uncertain. The heart of the program is a deeply nourishing conversation with John Blue, a Taoist monk and doctor of Chinese medicine, who invites listeners into the inner practice of nonviolen...

In this episode, we speak with Sudanese organizer and activist Mubarak Elamin about the unfolding crisis in Sudan. Mubarak offers a perspective on the nonviolent history of the country and how the current war is not a civil war but a proxy war, and what we can do as part of an international community of solidarity. 

In this episode, Nonviolence Radio speaks with Sheila McCarthy of Meta Peace Team about her recent month in the West Bank providing unarmed civilian protection. She shares stories of courage and daily life under occupation—from olive harvests under threat to villages gated off by the Israeli military—and reflects on how standing nonviolently with others becomes an act of resistance and hope. Trans...

Sarah Van Gelder has spent decades asking a vital question: how do we build power rooted in love and community? As the founding editor of YES! Magazine (now on Truthout ), and through her Substack, How We Rise , she explores ideas and stories that help us resist authoritarianism and create systems that work for everyone. Join us for an inspiring conversation about what it means to rise together in...