Dr. Marshall B. Rosenberg, whose Ph.D. is in clinical psychology, has discovered that violent actions (personal, social and political) originate in patterns of thinking and communicating that justify violence. As a child growing up in a turbulent neighborhood, Rosenberg wanted to find a non-violent way of speaking. In 1966, he began using Nonviolent Communication to support his work mediating conflicts between civil rights activists and institutions undergoing desegregation. Dr. Rosenberg founded the Center for Nonviolent Communication in 1984 and now has 15 centers and over 60 certified trainers and coordinators in 30 countries around the world. Through their efforts over the past 35 years, tens of thousands of people on five continents have received training in Nonviolent Communication (NVC).

In Nigeria, Rosenberg mediated between two warring tribes that had killed one hundred of the four hundred people in their community. While using NVC to create mutual understanding between the tribes, one of the Chiefs stood up, and with great intensity in the language of Housa said, "If we know how to communicate in the way that you're talking about, we don't have to kill each other. I would like to be one of those people trained." At the end of the session, people from both sides eagerly wanted to be trained in NVC.

In Sweden, after an insight into the difference NVC would make in his world, a prisoner said, "I wish you could have taught me two years ago about anger what you taught me this morning, I wouldn't have had to kill my best friend."

In Jerusalem -- West Bank Settlers are locked in conflict not only with Palestinians, but with other Israelis who recognize the Palestinian hope for national sovereignty in this region. In an NVC workshop, participants, of varying political opinions, role-played each others¹ position. At the end of the session a settler announced her willingness to consider relinquishing her land claims if her opponents were able to listen to her in the way participants using NVC just had.

In France a cabinet member noticed how differently her sister and husband were communicating. Encouraged by their descriptions of NVC, she mentioned that she was to negotiate some sensitive issues between France and Algeria regarding adoption procedures. CNVC sent a French-speaking trainer to Paris to work with the cabinet minister. Later she attributed much of her success to her new NVC skills.

Yugoslavia - With the support of UNICEF, an NVC trainer helped create a project that taught over 2,000 educators and 30,000 students to apply NVC skills to resolve conflicts and misunderstandings constructively and to become active participants in the process of education. (UNICEF report available.)

Dr. Rosenberg believes people long to live in harmony with each other and are compassionate by nature, however, he adds, "We learn many forms of 'life alienating communication' that lead us to think in terms of the wrongness or badness of those who don't act in harmony with our values. We also learn to deny responsibility for our actions and feelings by blaming others."

In his new book Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Compassion, Rosenberg shows us how to speak and listen to others in ways that increase goodwill and how to avoid using language that creates depression, resentment or lowers our self-esteem. NVC emphasizes using compassion as the motivation for actions, rather than fear, guilt, blame, or shame and personal responsibility for our choices.

Dr. Rosenberg travels extensively to mediate conflicts and to train people in Nonviolent Communication. Those interested in contacting Dr. Rosenberg for interview, or in training or materials related to NVC, can contact CNVC directly at 909-893-3886, or contact Gary Baran, Executive Director of CNVC at 818-957-6493, or by email at baran@citymail.lacc.cc.ca.us.

Visit CNVC on the web at www.cnvc.org

Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Compassion, by Marshall B. Rosenberg (PuddleDancer Press, January 1999)

Available through your local book stores.

For more information, contact:

Neill Gibson or Meiji Stewart
PuddleDancer Press
619-452-1386
puddledncr@aol.com
http://www.puddledancer.com