Nonviolence

Often COs are asked what they would substitute for military force as a method of defense. You don't have to have a complete plan for nonviolent defense--or any plan at all--in order to qualify as a CO. But for many COs, nonviolent resistance is one way of defending one's country and one's principles all at once. And many believe that peace can never come about through violent means, but only through nonviolent ones.

Mahatma Gandhi, who led India to independence from Britain using nonviolence, said, "In nonviolence the masses have a weapon which enables a child, a woman, or even a decrepit old man to resist the mightiest government successfully." Nonviolence is, he said, "the most active force in the world. It is the weapon not of the weak...but of the strongest and bravest... No power on earth can stand before the march of a peaceful, determined, and God-fearing people."

Martin Luther King, Jr., who led the nonviolent struggle for black civil rights in the 1960s, said, "The aftermath of nonviolence is the creation of the beloved community, while the aftermath of violence is tragic bitterness."

Keep in mind that, in order to gain CO status, you don't have to present a complete philosophy of nonviolence. Gandhi and King took years to develop their philosophies, and you just don't have that much time.

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