Global peacefulness, according to the Global Peace Index (GPI), has experienced a downward drop for the sixth consecutive year (Vision of Humanity, 2024). As many as 87 countries experienced some regression in peacefulness, compared with 74 that improved during the past year. 59 active state-based conflicts are ongoing worldwide, the highest since WWI. Almost 152,000 people lost their lives because of these conflicts in 2024 (Vision of Humanity, 2024).
Embracing nonviolence is not just some lofty dream; it’s the deepest mode for our survival at this point, which makes choosing to live it as a way to bring peace back home. In a world that feels it’s falling apart at the seams, even very small acts of nonviolence can feel like releasing some pain momentarily towards greater healing. Nonviolence is not a mere miracle cure, but a coming home start.
Mere passivity is often attributed to nonviolence, an act in which people take no measures to resolve an issue. Yet rooted in ancient Sanskrit traditions, it means the elimination of the willingness to commit violence. The word ahimsa in Hindu and Buddhist philosophies encapsulates the multifaceted nature of nonviolence. It’s not passivity but an active, ethical stance of not inflicting harm (Buddhist Inquiry, 2018).
The term "Satyagraha" was coined by Mahatma Gandhi, meaning "truth force" and referring to resistance through nonviolence (Gandhi, as cited in Wikipedia, 2025). Satyagraha is a series of principles that honours the attitude of nonviolence, the ability to overcome desire, the conduct of fearlessness, and the unconditional respect for all religions. Gandhi claimed unity between means and ends and declared that unjust ends cannot be obtained through violent means. Similarly, Buddhist teachings emphasize nonviolence, not merely as refraining from harm, but as a transformation to be lived out in practice, grounded in compassion, free of hatred, and based on mental purification. Here, nonviolence becomes an everyday discipline rather than a metaphor for a strategy to be employed temporarily.
Whether wars in Gaza, escalating conflict in Ukraine, or enduring repression of Afghan women, violence fractures connections, amplifies suffering, and leaves communities traumatized. The violence in Gaza, for instance, has led to not only immense physical suffering but mass displacement, breaking trust and hope across generations.
Martin Luther King Jr. argued: “Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness…” (Time, 2017). In Charleston, South Carolina, following a racially motivated massacre, a congregation’s choice of forgiveness over retaliation showcased the transformative power of nonviolent response (Time, 2017).
Pioneering research by Erica Chenoweth and Maria J. Stephan reveals that nonviolent campaigns are significantly more effective than violent ones. Their study covering the 20th century showed nonviolent resistance had a roughly 53% success rate, compared to 26% for violent campaigns. Moreover, countries with nonviolent movements were 10 times more likely to transition to democracy within 5 years, regardless of initial success. These outcomes highlight nonviolence not just as ethically sound but also as pragmatically powerful, reducing suffering and laying the foundations for sustainable peace.
Randy Janzen, writing about Ukraine, argues that nonviolent action minimizes human suffering and offers strategic alternatives such as civil resistance, boycotts, and unarmed civilian protection, thereby preventing escalation and promoting democratic recovery.
Wars and large-scale conflicts make headlines, and non-violence is a quieter yet equally powerful channel through which change can manifest, allowing connection, presence, and healing to evolve. It can start by reducing family or personal suffering by choosing empathy, active listening, and staying in the present moment rather than reacting. Nonviolent behaviour involves meeting frustration without anger, slowing down to be fully heard, and responding in ways that secure dignity and trust.
The other way non-violence manifests is through acting out compassion, especially when moments of anger or conflict arise in relationships or workplaces. If you meet countless other occasions with patience and understanding rather than escalation, you set an example for others to follow, beginning an endless chain of more peaceful, respectful interactions.
Anchoring our mental and spiritual well-being is what nonviolence does. Practicing mindfulness, self-care, kindness toward others, healthy boundaries, and other practices that cultivate inner calm and power keep us afloat through tough times so we are not consumed by them. This reduces suffering for ourselves and those around us.
Beyond the personal reflections, nonviolence strengthened civic resilience. Peaceful protests, acts of mutual aid, and honest dialogue among diverse groups work together to build trust, foster shared values, and make communities more able to face crises together; all these activities demonstrate that root-level strength lies in cooperation, not domination.
Lastly, nonviolence also plays a healing role concerning social injuries. It gives back dignity to marginalized or injured people while accepting trauma without reinforcing it, and brings back a bit of humanity to divisions that have grown deeper with violence. Through the slow and intentional work of nonviolence, a promise of reconciliation and healing is extended, given that the world is already so divided.
Nonviolence plays a crucial role in shaping compassionate, just, and dignified responses to immigration, both on the part of societies and on the part of migrants themselves. When individuals are forced to leave their homes due to conflict, poverty, or persecution, the way communities and systems respond deeply impacts everyone's experience of safety and belonging. Instead of weaponizing fear or exclusion through border militarization and harsh detention policies, nonviolent approaches prioritize humanity, dialogue, and inclusion.
The Sanctuary Movement of the 1980s in the United States showcases how faith-based communities consciously embraced civil disobedience to protect Central American refugees, a deeply nonviolent act rooted in moral convictions. More recent data affirms that sanctuary policies do not increase crime, and in some cases, sanctuary jurisdictions experience lower property crime rates (Otsu, 2021), stronger economies, higher labour force participation, and greater community trust.
In California, a study that uses special research methods suggests sanctuary city policies might actually help Latinx immigrants' mental health. This could happen because these policies create environments that feel safer, leading to real health benefits. It's like a non-violent approach that makes a real difference (Nieri et al., 2022).
Across the United States, groups of people with strong religious beliefs are still actively fighting back against anti-immigrant laws using non-violent methods. For instance, religious leaders in Los Angeles have organized prayer vigils, taught people about their rights, and even stood between Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and members of the community who are especially vulnerable. All of these actions are based on spiritual beliefs and the principle of non-violence (Associated Press, 2025). Likewise, in an initiative recently carried out by Quaker groups, a 300-mile non-violent march from New York to Washington, D.C. was completed to protest immigration policies. These groups marched in tandem with their long history of fighting for social justice, refusing to accept the way migrants are sometimes treated as though they aren't human (Associated Press, 2025).
Organizations such as the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project (NWIRP) and Americans for Immigrant Justice (AI Justice) model nonviolence through legal representation, advocacy, and community education, transforming structural injustice without resorting to confrontation (Nieri, T et al, 2022). Collectively, these actions illustrate how nonviolent immigration movements—whether through sanctuary policies, legal support, faithful activism, or organized protest—nurture societal empathy, strengthen civic infrastructure, and uphold the dignity of every person crossing a border, fleeing conflict, or seeking a better life.
News about hatred, violence, genocide, political issues, and deep-seated injustices is everywhere now if one opens social media pages or traditional news outlets. In this situation, cultivating the seeds of nonviolence isn't some never-come-true dream; it is something we need to focus on right now, both morally and practically. The numbers from the Global Peace Index really hammer this home we call the “world”: here, peace isn't merely putting an end to war across the globe. This pattern is affecting our lives, our workplaces, and our neighbourhoods too. Whether it is a prolonged war, an invisible discrimination, or personal enmity with the “other”, it all eats away at trust, breaks apart the relationships, and makes cycles of suffering even more vicious. On the other hand, nonviolence offers a better path, one that prioritizes human dignity, healing, and rebuilding trust in ruptured relationships. This pathway is about thinking differently and acting creatively about how big problems —like what's happening in Gaza, Ukraine, or with women in Afghanistan —could be managed, and it also holds space for us in how we act in our everyday moments. These seemingly small steps can plant seeds of kindness; otherwise, the current path will lead us to further hostility that takes a toll on the planet, human beings, and other beings.
Human beings are creative in coming up with new ways to address daily challenges; one way that can support cultivating nonviolence in daily life is choosing to respond with empathy rather than reacting immediately during family arguments, and backing immigration policies that safeguard the less fortunate. Through this, an individual and a collective show how nonviolence can be both a personal practice and a public promise. Bravery becomes routine when it comes to pushing back against the urge to retaliate, and patience becomes the roadmap for talking through differences with people we disagree with and for embracing the power of creativity to come up with solutions that do not rely on force. While the path of nonviolence does not guarantee a prompt win, history, studies, and real-life stories have proven that it leads to deeper, more lasting change where long-lasting wounds heal, and compassion pervades. When communities of people step up and gift this approach to their hearts, shifting the world from a pattern of hatred and violence to one of caring, sharing, and healing, where living peacefully is not only the absence of conflict, but a space where equality, togetherness, and freedom among people truly flourish, could become a possibility.