Actions Panel
A Space for Peace: The Audacity of Nonviolence in Mexico
Date and time
Location
Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace & Justice Theatre
University of San Diego 5998 Alcala Park San Diego , CA 92110Description
You are invited to Distinguished Lecture Series with Pietro Ameglio, in honor of the late Sister Sally Furay.
Can nonviolent civil disobedience effectively counter the brutality of organized crime and government corruption in Mexico? What impact can people’s movements have against such odds? Pietro Ameglio, a leading theorist and practitioner of nonviolent social movements in Mexico will address this challenge in an interview with Trans-Border Institute Director Ev Meade.
Pietro Ameglio, one of the foremost practitioners of active nonviolence in Latin America, received the prestigious El-Hibri Foundation Peace Education Prize in 2014. Ameglio is a cofounder of the Mexico Peace and Justice Service (SERPAJ-MX, 1987), which promotes human rights and a culture of peace through active nonviolence. In 2008, SERPAJ-MX was honored with the Pfeffer International Peace Prize.
For decades, Ameglio has leveraged the power of nonviolence to pursue justice and peace in the midst of chronic drug violence and increasing militarization in Mexico. In 1995, he helped create Pensar en Voz Alta (Thinking Out Loud), a Gandhian-inspired nonviolent action collective to analyze and publicize statistical information on the nature of social conflict in Mexico and promote nonviolent direct actions.
In 2011, along with the Movimiento por la Paz con Justicia y Dignidad (Movement for Peace with Justice and Dignity, MPJD), Ameglio created two mass movements, Marcha por la Paz (March for Peace) a march from Cuernavaca to Mexico City that concluded with more than 200,000 people hearing the testimony of survivors of violence, as well as Caravana al Sur (Caravan to the South), which travelled through the areas of Mexico hardest hit by violence and provided a platform for victims’ families to speak out.
Ameglio is the author of Gandhi and Civil Disobedience: Mexico Today (2002). He held the position of Chair of the Humanities Department at La Salle University in Cuernavaca for 18 years and now holds two Special Chairs within the School of Philosophy and Literature at National Autonomous University in Mexico City. As an educator, Ameglio has created learning opportunities for students, such as peace camps in Chiapas, and developed curricula used by the autonomous education system in Chiapas. He has a deep, faith-based commitment to social justice.
Presented by the Kroc School's Trans-Border Institute and the Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice.
Admission is free, however registration is required. For any questions, please contact Megan Theriault at (619) 260-7618 or mtheriault@sandiego.edu.
Photo credit: Luis Gorgoa