Articles by Timothy Braatz
We found 14 results.
Israel Either/Or, or Not
Timothy Braatz – TRANSCEND Media Service,
23 Oct 2023
In the USA, a Fox poll asked, “In Middle East conflict, who do you side with more—Israelis or Palestinians?” ‘Side with’ means to have an opinion on who is in the right. Either Palestinians are right to strike against a repressive settler state, or Israelis are right to repress dangerous Palestinians. Pick one.
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The Great Success of Mikhail Gorbachev
Timothy Braatz – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Sep 2022
3G: Gandhi, Galtung, Gorbachev
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The Root Problem Is War–Not Putin
Timothy Braatz – TRANSCEND Media Service,
14 Mar 2022
War is a highly contagious disease, spreading germs the way a common cold causes its human host to sneeze. Among the many war germs are hatred, fear, dehumanization, tribalism, glorification of violence, and legitimization of murder. Without sufficient therapy, each war leads to the next.
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Nonviolent Intervention and George Floyd
Timothy Braatz – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Apr 2021
There’s no guarantee that third party nonviolent interposition would have saved Floyd’s life. But the empathy and desire were there—why didn’t anyone try? The onlookers were afraid to challenge the armed, aggressive men wearing uniforms of state authority. There are legal penalties for interfering with police activity. In fact, the onlookers at times restrained each other, not wanting anyone else to get hurt.
→ read full articleAtomic Bombs Are Not Lifesavers
Timothy Braatz – TRANSCEND Media Service,
11 Mar 2019
One shouldn’t have to state the obvious. It is well known that two atomic detonations, in early August, 1945, killed over 100,000 Hiroshima and Nagasaki residents, revealing the unlimited human capacity for atrocity in wartime. But it seems many U.S. history teachers are still telling students that the atomic bombings somehow saved lives.
→ read full articleThe Bear Clan Patrol and Community Protection
Timothy Braatz – TRANSCEND Media Service,
14 Nov 2016
The Bear Clan Patrol is, in a word, Gandhian. Mohandas Gandhi is probably best known for leading political campaigns of mass civil disobedience and noncooperation intended to end British colonial rule over India. However, he placed greater value on his “Constructive Programme”: cultivating nonviolent, self-sufficient, inclusive, non-exploitative communities, or ashrams, as an alternative to colonial dependency. He hoped the British colonists would see the superiority of what he considered “Indian civilization” and join it.
→ read full articlePresidential Elections Need Not Matter So Much
Timothy Braatz | ZNet – TRANSCEND Media Service,
22 Aug 2016
So vote happily for a presidential candidate, or hold your nose and vote, or don’t vote at all, but help build a nonviolent movement to compel the president to act for human good. The greater that movement, the less presidential elections will matter. Learn from the successes and failures of the Civil Rights Movement. And keep in mind the words of Mohandas Gandhi, which Martin Luther King learned to quote: “There go my people. I must rush to catch up with them, for I am their leader.”
→ read full articleTrump Apologizes, Wins over Critics
Timothy Braatz - CounterPunch,
15 Aug 2016
A parody–half of it is fact, the other half fiction. It points out the hypocrisy of US political discourse that is “scandalized” by Trump but supports murder overseas.
→ read full articleMicah Johnson and a Culture of Violent Solutions
Timothy Braatz – TRANSCEND Media Service,
18 Jul 2016
To curtail the epidemic of mass shootings and police homicides, U.S. citizens must address a variety of factors, including racism, insufficient gun regulation, and a depleted public sector. We must also correct a deeply-engrained culture of violent solutions—a culture which politicians from both parties mostly embrace.
→ read full articlePut Restorative Justice on the Democratic Platform
Timothy Braatz – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Jun 2016
By reducing the obsession with punishment, restorative justice programs offer hope of reducing war making. The UNESCO constitution reminds us, “war begins in the minds of men.” If schools and juvenile justice programs stop teaching the punishment imperative, if future generations learn nonviolent conflict resolution rather than “destroy your enemy,” then we can expect a decline in public support for war.
→ read full articleThe Confessions of Brock Turner and a Culture of Punishment
Timothy Braatz – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Jun 2016
18 Jun 2016 – The sentencing of a convicted sex offender has recently become a topic of much discussion in the U.S. media, with the focus on the perceived leniency of the punishment and the perpetrator’s refusal to admit guilt. Generally not discussed are the deep assumptions that have elevated punishment to the first priority of the criminal justice system.
→ read full articleSelma: A Gandhian Critique
Timothy Braatz – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Jan 2015
On August 28, 1963, an estimated 250,000 people, from across the country, converged on Washington, DC, to demonstrate their support for the Civil Rights Movement.
→ read full articleThe Satyagraha of John Brown
Timothy Braatz – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Jan 2015
In popular memory, Brown is known for taking an unwavering stand against the evil of slavery, to the point of killing civilians who stood in his way. In academic circles, Brown serves as the centerpiece of discussions regarding the use of violence for moral ends. As such, the John Brown story can easily become an aspect of cultural violence, meaning those beliefs, ideologies, and cosmologies that legitimize and perpetuate direct and structural (indirect) violence.
→ read full articleThe Limitations of Strategic Nonviolence
Timothy Braatz, Peace Review – TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Jan 2015
If the goal is to reduce violence of all types, to create a society where tomorrow is less violent than today, strategic nonviolence is insufficient and, thus, not pragmatic. For such a transformation, the principled approach—identifying and rejecting any and all forms of violence—is also the pragmatic one.
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