About the book

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi commonly referred to as Mahatma (The Great Soul) Gandhi was born in 1869 in an aristocratic family, his father being the Chief Minister of Porbandar. Getting his education from Porbandar then Ranikot, Bombay and finally in London where he truly developed his skills as a public speaker and overcame his shy personality. In this book we will learn about this extraordinary otherworldly personality who was referred to as the teacher of great minds like Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King Jr and Dalai Lama as their teacher. We will discuss his life in great detail and explain how he got such a high stature amongst the Indians and influencers worldwide long after his demise and throughout his modest life.

About the Author

Gambhir Watts is an aspiring author, activist and a multitasking professional having more than 35 years of experience under his belt mainly working for non-profit organizations in a variety of positions such as Strategic Planning for Business and Joint-Venture negotiations in the US to name a few. He also has several honors awarded for distinguished service for the betterment of his society in terms of religion, ethics and societal values. He has always been a fan of history’s greatest teachers and never is never shy to learn a lesson or two from them, one of those being Mahatma Gandhi.

ICON (International Centre of Nonviolence Australia) invites everyone at the launch of its second annual NON-VIOLENCE MONTH, starting on the UN International Day of Nonviolence marked on 2 October 2015, in commemoration of the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi pioneer of the philosophy and strategy of Non-Violence.

Simultaneous Launch at University of Wollongong and Perth

Nonviolence Month, launched on 2 October, 2015 with introductory speeches by the senior University professors. This will be followed by announcement launching the Nonviolence Month. This will be followed by lecture by Professor Emeritus Magnus Haavelsrud. The launch will conclude with a visit to the Nan Tien Buddhist temple in Wollongong.

Date & Time: 2 October, 2015 12:30 pm to 2 pm

Venue: Faculty of Law, Humanities and the Arts, Building 19, University of Wollongong, Northfields Avenue, Wollongong

Nonviolence Month will also be launched in Perth on 2 October 2015 by Borderless Gandhi in collaboration with International Centre of Nonviolence Australia and City of Perth.

Date & Time: Friday, 2 Oct 2015; 7:00pm – 11:45pm

Venue: Cnr James Street and Lake Street, Northbridge WA 6003

Visit: www.borderlessgandhi.org.au

Nonviolence Australia-Wide Lecturing Tour

Professor Emeritus Magnus Haavelsrud, Patron of International Centre of Nonviolence Australia, from Faculty of Social Sciences and Technology Management in Norwegian University will be giving an Australia-wide Nonviolence lecturing tour titled ‘Practicing Nonviolence in Education’.

University of Wollongong

This will be followed by a speech by Professor Emeritus Magnus Haavelsrud followed by Q&A.

Date: 2 October, 2015 12:30 pm to 2 pm

Venue: Faculty of Law, Humanities and the Arts, Building 19, University of Wollongong, Northfields Avenue, Wollongong

Visit: http://lha.uow.edu.au/nonviolence-lecture/index.html

Contact for more info: Michelle Rankin, Email: mrankin@uow.edu.au

University of New England

Professor Emeritus Magnus Haavelsrud will meet with various members of the University staff, including Vice-Chancellor and Head of School of Humanities, and will tour the University. In the afternoon there will be a workshop with University of New England students followed by Nonviolence Lecture to the public and ending with a Q&A session.

Date: 6 October, 2015

Venue: University of New England – School of Humanities, Peace Studies

Visit: http://www.une.edu.au/connect/events/events/nonviolence-month-public-lecture

Contact for more info: Nicole Killen, Email: vcadministration@une.edu.au

The University of Queensland

University of Queensland – School of Political Science and International Studies

The University of Queensland will give Professor Emeritus Magnus Haavelsrud a short tour of the school and meeting with Rotary Fellows/Peace and Conflict staff over a light lunch from 12.30-1.30pm followed by lecture to the public at 2.00pm.

Time & Date: 2 pm – 3:15 pm, Thursday 8 October 2015

Venue: Room No: 116, Building 14, The University of Queensland

Contact for more info: Melissa Curley, Email: m.curley@uq.edu.au

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The University of Adelaide

Professor Emeritus Magnus Haavelsrud will give his Nonviolence lecture to the public followed by a Q&A session.

Time & Date: 5:30 pm Reception, 6 pm Lecture, Tuesday 13 October 2015

Venue: LG29 Lecture Theatre, Lower NAPIER Building, North Terrace, Department of Linguistics, School of Humanities, Faculty of Arts

Contact for more info: Prof. Ghil‘ad Zuckermann, Email: ghilad.zuckermann@adelaide.edu.au

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University of Tasmania

The University of Tasmania will provide light refreshments prior to Professor Emeritus Magnus Haavelsrud Nonviolence Lecture which will follow a Q&A session.

Date: 15 October, 2015

Venue: University of Tasmania – Public Lecture and Forum Program

Visit: http://www.events.utas.edu.au/2015/october/practicing-nonviolence-in-education

Contact for more info: Pat McConville, Email: Pat.McConville@utas.edu.au

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Deakin University

Professor Emeritus Magnus Haavelsrud will give his Nonviolence Lecture from 3 to 5pm at Deakin’s University City Centre which will follow a Q&A session.

Date: 16 October, 2015

Venue: Deakin University – UNESCO Chair, Comparative Research in Cultural Diversity and Social Justice

UNESCO Chair Cultural Diversity and Social Justice, Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation

Deakin University, 221 Burwood Hwy Burwood, Victoria 3125

Contact for more info: Jo Collins, Email: jo.collins@deakin.edu.au

Curtin University

This is followed by Lecture by Professor Emeritus Magnus Haavelsrud at Curtin University on 19 October 2015.

On Monday morning Professor Emeritus Magnus Haavelsrud will meet various members of the university staff.

In the afternoon there will be a workshop with Curtin University students followed by Nonviolence Lecture to the public and ending with a Q&A session.

Date: 19 October, 2015

Venue: Centre for Human Rights Education, Curtin University, Perth

Contact for more info: Gaylene Galardi, Email: g.galardi@curtin.edu.au

Nonviolence Concert

The second annual Nonviolence Month will be closed with a Nonviolence Concert at the Parliament House on 30 October from 4:30 to 6:30pm.

The Hon. Linda Burney, Deputy Leader of the Opposition, Shadow Minister for Education, and Shadow Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, has kindly agreed to host this noble event.

Nonviolence Concert will showcase artists from a wide range of communities presenting a highly variegated array of traditional music and dance to convey the message of peace and nonviolence.

Contact for more info: ICON Australia, Suite 100, Level 4, 515 Kent Street, Sydney, NSW 2000, Email: pr@bhavanaustralia.org, Tel: +61 2 9264 1313

Website: www.nonviolence.org.au

In 2015 Dr Ela Gandhi visited Sydney, Australia, to share the principles of Non Violence as a means of inspiring change. Following in the footsteps of her Grandfather, the honourable Mahatma Gandhi, Dr Ela Gandhi is empowering a new generation across the world to become ambassadors of Non Violent activism.

https://vimeo.com/133616878

https://www.facebook.com/101storytellers/videos/833358090094217/

Practicing Nonviolence in Education

–Magnus Haavelsrud

The transformative power of nonviolence has been evidenced in so many contexts and by so many – most notably in the work by Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King. In this lecture I shall focus on the question of what is the pedagogic foundation for acquiring a nonviolent identity – searching for answers as to how nonviolence can be learned and practiced in education. The child acquires behavior, knowledge and attitudes in tune with the home and peers in the community (informal education). Mass media and other sources of non-formal learning such as religion and organized activities (e.g. sports, music and scouting etc.) also influence the child even before entering formal education. Part of what is learned relates to conflict behavior including the question of violent and nonviolent ways and means in conflict transformations. Violent behavior dominates in some sources of learning whereas the message and practice of nonviolence may be more prevalent in others – it may seem as though some sources specialize in violence and others in nonviolence. This means that the human being has to relate to discrepant messages about ways and means of transforming conflicts. Digesting and processing such discrepancies both theoretically and practically is therefore a challenge. It is argued that all sources of information – informal, non-formal and formal – are important venues for learning to take a stand based on conviction rather than persuasion. To facilitate this pedagogy of conviction some guiding principles will be discussed focusing on how micro conflicts relate to macro conditions and how past, present and future perspectives need to be included in order to grasp the historical roots of conflicts as they impact the present. Most importantly, however, is to offer an educational safe space in the “here and now” for nurturing visions of nonviolent ways and means towards conflict transformation.

Discrimination and oppression existed in all forms; races were segregated, social classes were divided and extreme poverty was the norm for the majority, this was life in the Apartheid period in South Africa. This unrest sparked an uprising.

Ms Ela Gandhi, granddaughter of peace activist Mohandas ‘Mahatma’ Gandhi, was part of this uprising; she worked alongside Nelson Mandela in the anti-Apartheid movement and continues her activism work today.

Ms Gandhi was in Perth to speak at Curtin University for a human rights day event to celebrate the tenth anniversary for the Curtin Centre for Human Rights Education. The event included national and international speakers who spoke about human rights issues prevalent in the world today.

Gandhi’s grandaughter remembers Mandela at Curtin University, Perth Australia

Social Activism and Peace Q&A on 31 January 2015 ICON Australia in partnership with Soka Gakkai International Australia (SGI) organized an exchange program with Dr Ela Gandhi highlighting Dr Ela Gandhi’s thoughts and experiences.

Public Lecture on 31 January 2015 organised by ICON Australia in partnership with the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS). Dr Ela Gandhi presented a speech: The power of nonviolence as a means of inspiring change.

Public Lecture on 31 January 2015 organised by ICON Australia in partnership with the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS). Dr Ela Gandhi presented a speech: The power of nonviolence as a means of inspiring change.

Gandhi Oration on 30 January 2015 at University of New South Wales: The Gandhi Oration is delivered each year by a person whose life’s work exemplifies the ideals of Gandhi. The 2015 Oration was presented by Dr Ela Gandhi.

Nonviolence Month: started on 2 October 2014, International Day of Nonviolence and birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, and finished on 1 November 2014 with an event, Nonviolence Concert, organised by ICON Australia in partnership with Soka Gakkai International Australia.

On 2 October 2014 Nonviolence Month was launched at University of New South. The event started with the inaugural speech by Gambhir Watts OAM, Founder and President ICON Australia. While launching the Nonviolence Month, he emphasised the role and importance of Gandhian values in combating the internal and societal violence. He stressed upon the need of nonviolence and cited his visionary aim to continuously work towards spreading the message of nonviolence in action everywhere.

Dr Neville Roach AO, Patron of the UNSW Node of the Australia India Institute in his speech spoke about the nonviolence and the Gandhian values. He invited people to be a part of Nonviolence Month celebrations and activities. He emphasized the launch of Nonviolence month as the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi and an opportunity to reflect on his life, his values and their meaning to people all today.

Greg Johns, Vice General Director, Soka Gakkai International (SGI) Australia spoke about the violence spread across the peoples, nations and emphasises the need of the Nonviolence practices to be adopted in today’s society.

Educational material ‘My Non-Violence’, with teachings of Mahatma Gandhi regarding how he showed to the world that Truth and Von-Violence are the twin pillars on which rested his life, were distributed to the audience.

Nonviolence Month was an Australia-wide event in collaboration with major universities. The planned activities were concerts, musicals (peace through music), sports, lectures and workshops. The leading government departments, councils, universities, schools and organisations participated in the Nonviolence Month by various means and ways. Some acted as a leading voice for building peace in our communities through dialogue and other forms of nonviolent conflict resolution, inviting and hosting speakers, contacting the relevant business units and associations at their organisations to seek their input on how they are able to actively participate, spreading Nonviolence messages through student clubs and societies, writing and publishing articles on Nonviolence theme, promoting their social media networks, arranging lecture series or workshops or re-branding sporting activities etc.

Nonviolence Month ended on 1 November 2014 with Nonviolence Concert held in partnership with Sokka Gakkai International Australia. Throughout the event artists from a wide range of communities presented a highly variegated array of traditional music and dance to convey the message of peace and nonviolence. The event started with Soka Gakkai World Choir, followed by Ruedisima Latin Co presenting Argentinian Tango Dance, Cumbia Dance and Salsa Dance, dances originated in South America. Gennadi Dubinsky and his two musicians captivated the audience with Russian Opera Songs and Music, Australian Chinese Dance presented colourful traditional Chinese dances and Scottish Highland Dance students presented a variety of Scottish traditional and classic dances. Dr Ramanathan played Indian Classical music (karnatic) giving closure to the event.