October 2nd is the International Day of Non-Violence, initiated by the United Nations in honor of Mahatma Gandhi’s birthday. The practice of nonviolent protest as an approach to dealing with systemic issues is an old one, with examples going back centuries. Some of the most famous uses of non-violence against a perceived oppressor include the Indian non-cooperation movement, the American Civil Rights movement and anti-war movement of the 1960s, the Irish Boycott, the Color Revolutions of the early 2000s, and the Arab Spring. While violence marked many of these protests, each caused massive problems for authoritarianism in peaceful and original ways. Boycotting, sit-ins, unarmed demonstrations; peacefully protesting against inhumanity or oppression has been the purest form of demanding liberty and human rights. Check out some of these great books (on display near the New sections till mid-October) to learn more about some of the ways nonviolence has changed the world!
Biography
Civil Rights Queen: Constance Baker Motley and the Struggle for Equality by Tomiko Brown-Nagin
His Truth is Marching On: John Lewis and the Power of Hope by Jon Meacham
The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks by Jeanne Theoharis
I am Malala : The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban by Malala Yousafzai
Graphic Novels
March [volumes 1-3] by John Lewis and Andrew Aydin; art by Nate Powell
Oak Flat: A Fight for Sacred Land in the American West by Lauren Redniss
Non-Fiction
What Can I Do? : My Path from Climate Despair to Action by Jane Fonda
Vigil: Hong Kong on the Brink by Jeffrey Wasserstrom; with contributions by Amy Hawkins
Indelible City: Dispossession and Defiance in Hong Kong by Louisa Lim
When They Call You a Terrorist: a Black Lives Matter Memoir by Patrisse Khan-Cullors
On the Other Side of Freedom: The Case for Hope by DeRay Mckesson
His Name Is George Floyd: One Man’s Life and the Struggle for Racial Justice by Robert Samuels
We Have Been Harmonized: Life in China’s Surveillance State by Kai Strittmatter
Movies
