Victory Over Violence FACT SHEET

Quest For Peace- Working Toward a Non-Violent World

Victory Over Violence (VOV) is a youth-sponsored initiative to help young people identify and counteract the root causes of violence in their lives and in their communities. VOV outreach programs began in 1999 as a response to growing concerns over the rise in youth-related violence.

The Goals of VOV

1. To promote awareness, introspection and the spirit of non-violence through dialogue among our youth, our families, our schools and our communities in order to inspire and awaken the energies for positive change.

2. To provide "a source of hope and courage for young people who have suffered the effects of violence."

3.To "transform the tendency to downplay the sanctity of life that became deeply rooted in the minds of our children during the twentieth century, the century of war and violence."

The Many Faces of Violence

"It's hard to imagine a time in my life when there was no violence." Acts of violence take many forms. The impact may be subtle or severe, but it is always destructive. Few were unaffected by the images and stories of school shootings in places like Littleton Colorado, West Paducah, Kentucky, Jonesboro, Arkansas, or Santee, California.

The physical acts of violence like school shootings and fighting are obvious, but what about the passive violence we commit each day?

"Being treated like a non-entity was perhaps the deepest act of anger against my soul, one that still cuts me to the bone today."

Mahatma Gandhi said, "passive violence fuels the fire of physical violence; and if we want to put out the fire of physical violence, logically we have to cut off the fuel supply." What is passive violence? According to Gandhi and his grandson Arun, passive violence are the things that we do to disrespect other people's (and our own) lives, such as name-calling, teasing, judging and criticizing. These small and often inconspicuous acts that we commit are actually a form of violence. So what causes passive violence?

On a deeper level, many people, including great leaders of our time, have said that a lack of self-identity can lead to passive violence. In other words, without a strong sense of confidence in knowing who we are, we can end up feeling insecure and even develop an insecurity complex. As philosopher Daisaku Ikeda put it, "When you succumb to a complex, you are likely to see everything about yourself in a negative light. When something doesn't work out for you, you tend to blame it on those things which make you feel inferior: 'It's because I'm short' and so forth." Lacking a solid sense of who we are makes us feel insecure, and this can cause us to compare ourselves to others and even criticize or judge others because they are different from us. Gandhi was referring to judgment and criticism when he stated that passive violence leads to physical violence.

Be The Change You Wish To See In The World

How do we counteract violence, especially passive violence? First of all, it is important to stop comparing ourselves to others, since it is neither good for us, nor for others. Second, we can embrace and accept ourselves for who we are today - not for the person we want to be in 5 years, or for the person we're glad we're not, but for the person that we are today. When we accept ourselves for who we are, we free ourselves from the shackles of comparison and allow ourselves to grow and develop from where we are now. Next, we can do our best to confront whatever task or challenge with which we are faced. By doing our best, we develop a form of confidence that enables us to feel good about who we are as individuals and that helps us to see our shared identity as human beings. When people start to awaken to their deeper identity, we create a revolution in consciousness and begin to see our similarities rather than focus on our differences.

This is the idea that Martin Luther King Jr. spoke of when he said, "I have a dream my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character." We can all make a difference by changing ourselves, one step at a time. A Nobel Laureate recently said, "If you wish to change the people then you have to change yourself. If you're successful at changing yourself, then you have a responsibility to change the world." It is up to all of us. Are we going to do nothing and let violence continue its bloody path, or, as Gandhi said, are we going to "be the change we wish to see in the world?"

Trust & Tolerance through Dialogue

The VOV approach is a grassroots, peer-to-peer and heart-to-heart dialogue in a supportive and open atmosphere. It encourages participants to reflect on how violence affects their lives and how they can begin to make a change for the better.

While VOV was inspired by the long-standing Buddhist traditions of nonviolence and respect for all living beings, VOV programs are interfaith and community based. This all -inclusive approach allows VOV programs to focus on our human potential and on the value of dialogue in building a culture of peace. VOV programs encourage youth to develop tolerance, trust and friendship with each other despite differences in backgrounds such as race, religion, sex, color, language, or sexual orientation.

An eight-minute video, an information kit with interactive exercises, a VOV Peace Pledge, and vov.com website have been created to inspire and facilitate this dialogue toward a common ground. The kit can be adapted for elementary school age as well as workplace environments.

Pledge your Peace

At VOV events throughout the nation, we are encouraging youth to make their own pledge toward living a non-violent life. This pledge is both a personal statement, as well as a call to action for our governments, schools and other institutions to take up the work of building a non-violent society. By signing the pledge, we resolve to:

Value our own lives
Respect all life
Inspire hope in others

VOV in Action

Since the initiative was launched in August 1999, VOV has sponsored over 3,000 grass-roots discussions in the U.S., with more than 110,000 people 'taking the pledge' to lead non-violent lives. Here are some of the other creative activities either sponsored or inspired by VOV:

VOV sponsored 'Culture of Peace Festival' with 25 non-governmental organizations, San Francisco, California (1999).
A 'Grand Youth Culture Festival' dedicated to peace in Los Angeles with 700 youth performers (Aug. 1999).
13 VOV workshops in middle and high schools in Salt Lake City, Utah (1999).
'Victory Over Violence Week' declared by Mayor, free concert and human rights activists' panel discussion in Ann Arbor, Michigan (Oct. 1999).
Anti-Violence Youth Summit with 700 young people, the mayor and police chief in attendance in Oakland, California (Oct. 1999).
7 community youth organizations voiced their concerns and offered solutions to overcome violence at the Memphis Youth Peace Summit (Oct. 1999).
Caribbean Vida Sin Violencia (Life without Violence) programs held in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and St. Maarten, NA featuring jazz flautist, Nestor Torres, and Baseball Hall of Fame member, Orlando "Peruchin" Cepeda (May 2000).
VOV-sponsored symposia on non-violence held in Los Angeles, New York, Puerto Rico and St. Maarten, NA, and included such noted speakers as:
- Arun Gandhi
  Grandson of Mahatma Gandhi and Director of the MK Gandhi Peace Institute
- Lawrence E. Carter, Jr.,
  Dean of the Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel at Moorehouse College
- David Krieger
  Director, Nuclear Age Peace Foundation
- Anwarul Chowdhurry
  Bangladesh Ambassador to the United Nations
- Jerry Brown
  Mayor, City of Oakland, CA
"You have the power to shape your life, the world in which you live. You have even more power when you work together with your parents, your friends and your teachers to come up with solutions to problems. The power is inside each of you to help bring about the changes you want. It's really up to each of you." - Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown at the Anti-Violence Youth Summit Building a Culture of Peace

The Youth Peace Committee

Victory Over Violence was created by the Youth Peace Committee (YPC) of the Soka Gakkai International (SGI) - USA Buddhist Association as part of their ongoing activities to support the United Nations' "Culture of Peace" initiative. Buddhist peace activist and SGI President, Daisaku Ikeda formed the Youth Peace Committee in 1991. Through collaborative, grass-roots educational projects, the YPC aims to 1) Support the activities of the United Nations; 2) Raise public awareness about the challenges facing humanity; and 3) Nurture the development of individuals who can contribute to peace and human dignity in the 21st Century.

About the SGI-USA

The SGI-USA is a culturally diverse Buddhist association with 70 centers located throughout the country. It is an affiliate of Soka Gakkai International, which has 12 million members in over 160 countries and territories. SGI's community based activities invite a shared commitment to the values of peace, culture and education.