Speakers Bureau

The Center provides speakers on a variety of topics related to creating nonviolent solutions. Contact us with your specific needs and we will be glad to arrange for a qualified speaker to address your group.

1. The Real Costs of War

Why are wars so ever-present in the modern world, given the terrible human and financial cost? What is the relationship between imperialism, nationalism, genocide and war in the past century? By analyzing the history and nature of modern wars from the US Civil War through the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, Professor Ropp examines the causes, on-going consequences and costs of modern warfare.
Paul Ropp, Research Professor of Asian History at Clark University

2. US Campaign to Close Guantanamo

This talk is a report on the seven year campaign by activists, lawyers, and religious leaders to close the US military prison in Guantanamo and to stop US use of torture and indefinite detention.
Claire Schaeffer-Duffy, Journalist and Peace Activist

3. Women and War: The Lineage of Women Peacemakers

This offering is tailored to the needs of the host group and includes an historic look at women peacemakers and the history of women's anti-war voices, from the era of the suffragists/abolitionists, including Lucretia Mott and Jane Addams, through present-day women peacemakers including Mairead Corrigan McGuire and many others both national and international.
Suzanne Belote Shanley, co-founder of Agape Community in Hardwick, MA

 4. The American Tradition of Nonviolence

A slide/lecture, with commentary and handouts, about resisting injustice, resolving conflict, and bringing about social change without killing, from the 17th century to the present. A narrative on the abolitionist, workers’, women's, civil rights, and Catholic Worker movements: William Penn, Abigail Kelley Foster, Henry David Thoreau, Eugene Victor Debs, Jane Addams, Dorothy Day, Martin Luther King, etc.

Michael True, Professor Emeritus, Assumption College, and the author and editor of twelve books, including An Energy Field More Intense Than War and The Nonviolent Tradition, 1995, and People Power: 50 Peacemakers and Their Communities, 2007.

 5. The Story of Global Nonviolence (People-Power) 1980-2000

A slide/lecture, with commentary and handouts, on the achievements of nonviolent direct action : Greenham Common Women, Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, Solidarity, the overthrow of Marcos in the Philippines, democratic uprising in China, firmeza permanente (persistent resistance) in Latin America, the Plowshares and School of Americas Watch.

Michael True, Professor Emeritus, Assumption College

 6. Poetry and Resistance: A Celebration

A reading and discussion of contemporary American poems reflecting struggles for social justice and community building: Poems by Walt Whitman, Denise Levertov, William Stafford, Muriel Rukeyser, Stanley Kunitz, Karl Shapiro, Lucille Clifton, Mary Oliver, Bruce Weigl, etc.

Michael True, Professor Emeritus, Assumption College

7. Student Peer Mediation and the Center for Nonviolent Solutions

This talk is an introduction to Peer Mediation and to the mission of the Center for Nonviolent Solutions, demonstrating the importance of mediation in building cultures of peace locally, nationally, and internationally and to  Peace, Conflict, and Nonviolence Studies.

Carol Baldarelli, former Director of Worcester Mediation Center
Michael True, Chair of the Board, Center for Nonviolent Solutions

8. Thomas Merton and the Spiritual Roots of Nonviolence

Thomas Merton uniquely brought together his experience as a Trappist monk steeped in the Christian contemplative tradition and his advocacy for peace and social justice in the 1960s. Drawing on his spiritual writings, correspondence, and writing on nonviolence and social themes, we will consider Merton’s ideas and in particular his understanding of the spiritual roots of nonviolence.

Tom Del Prete, Professor of Education at Clark University, Director of the Hiatt Center

9.  Peacebuilding Through Story-Sharing
HERvoices' multimedia presentations bring women from the audience to the podium to read the testimonials of the women profiled in the presentation: women in Pakistan; survivors of contemporary slavery living in Boston; new-comers and long-timers in diverse Framingham, MA; and peacemakers in Kenya. Presentations are layered, rich, and engaging, offering a context for co-ed audiences, ages 12 and up, to connect to people they perceive as different from themselves -- first on the screen, then in their own community. Two-hour programs include a presentation and workshop and can be modified to accomodate shorter meetings. www.hervoices.org.

Emma Reinhardt, Founding Director of HERvoices, Assistant Professor at Pine Manor College 

10. Local Violence and the Need for Nonviolent Solutions. (Narrated DVD)

The types and consequences of domestic and street violence in Worcester are described. The case is made that violence is not inevitable. Nonviolent solutions are described: nonviolent communications, anger management, forgiveness, bullying prevention, mediation, conflict management and bystander responsibility. The 8 elements of a Culture of Peace are reviewed. Examples are provided of the success of nonviolent solutions.

Bill Densmore, Vice President, Norton/St. Gobain, retired.

11. Warfare and the Need for Nonviolent Solutions. (Narrated DVD)

This talk discussses the types and extent of warfare, its harms to people, to infrastructure and to the environment; the costs of warfare and preparation for warfare and the diversion of resources from education, health care, and infrastructure. Who benefits from defense spending? Examples are provided of the viability and success of nonviolent solutions.

Bill Densmore, Vice President, Norton/St. Gobain, retired.