The Observatoire de la nonviolence is an association of the universalist humanist current, which contributes to creating a new culture in which all forms of violence are repugnant.
The Observatory addresses women and men whose “sensibility” values the intention and freedom of others and who reject all discrimination and violence.
The violent response to violence is ineffective because it solves nothing, except that it makes the situation worse; moreover, it is impossible to justify it because we are applying what we denounce.
The greater the violence we receive, the greater we become when we renounce revenge. To begin with, the only way to stop the destructive process of violence is not to enter into its unstoppable spiral, is to break the associative chain of internal images that lead to violence; to shorten the infernal circle with no way out.
The Observatory calls for a free act of rebellion against the absurdity of violence, starting from a self-criticism of one’s own violence, in a conscious unilateral act, independent of the answer of the other, oriented towards dialogue and reconciliation.
The Observatory for Nonviolence stands in solidarity with all peoples and denounces fanatical armed groups and all powers (political, economic and institutional) that resort to all forms of violence and sow terror or are complicit in it.
Violence never comes out of nowhere, it always has its origin in previous violent situations. If we do not stop it, it is triggered mechanically. The first condition for putting an end to it is to recognise the violence we ourselves generate.
All peoples aspire to live in peace with themselves and with each other, and must unite to build a moral and mental force based on the foundations of nonviolence.
