Pacifist principles

The Ursula Franklin Reader: Pacifism as a Map collects a number of Franklin’s speeches and published works on a range of subjects that were core to her life, including pacifism, feminism, technology, and education. I find her simply spoken definitions clarifying, and offer them below for future reference and reflection.

“The Indivisibility of Peace”

Peace is the absence of fear. (76)

Justice, in both the temporal and the spiritual sense, is a guarantee against the arbitrariness of power that is the source of so much justifiable fear. (76)

“Stormy Weather: Reflections on Violence as an Environment”

The term “violence,” as used in this discussion, can be defined as the use of force to establish or maintain otherwise dysfunctional relations of power and authority. I feel that this definition holds for physical, verbal, or economic violence, and that it can be applied in most places where violence occurs. (260)

Violence, clearly, is resourcelessness; it is the brutal response of those who see force as their only approach to conflict. Non-violence, in contrast, is resourcefulness; it is the cultivation of and the reliance on a broad range of approaches to conflict resolution. (261)

Even in situations where we have been unable to prevent violence, it is necessary to articulate our standards and principles and reaffirm that violence is not a normal human reaction, it is an unacceptable response to change. (261)