Mother Page: https://intersectionalcircles.
CIRCLES OF NONVIOLENCE / COMMUNITY COLLABORATIVES INITIATIVE
(Contact info at the bottom of this page)
PLEASE NOTE:
1- For the web page of the NATIVE/AMERICAN TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION
(NATR) PROCESS: A GRASSROOTS INITIATIVE (officially born on the MLK Day in
January of 2017), please go here: http://natrprocess.blogspot.com/.
2- In addition to Prof. Noam Chomsky's endorsement (details below) our initiative has also
had the honor of being endorsed (among many others) by Professors Cornel West and
Richard Falk, as well as the renowned author and activist, Karen Armstrong--Founder of
the Charter for Compassion.
*****************************
From: Noam Chomsky
Date: Wed, August 3, 2016 at 2:17 PM
Subject: Prof. Noam Chomsky's Statement of Endorsement for the Circles Movement of
Movement, a.k.a. the Circles of Nonviolence/Community Collaboratives Initiative
To: Moji Agha <moji.agha@gmail.com>, Circles Movement
<circles.movement@gmail.com>, Mossadegh Legacy Institute
<mossadegh.legacy.institute@gmail.com>
Prof. Noam Chomsky's Statement of Endorsement
I have been most impressed with the initiatives of Moji Agha [a.k.a. Mojtaba
Aghamohammadi], especially as he has been developing the comprehensive "Circles
Movement of Movements" (a.k.a. Circles of Nonviolence/Community Collaboratives
Initiative) and with their efforts to engage people to undertake the tasks that must be
addressed with dedication and commitment if there are to be hopes of decent survival. And I
am pleased to endorse these very valuable policies and actions.
Noam Chomsky (Issued August 3, 2016)
*****************************
PROF. CHOMSKY AND THE CIRCLES MOVEMENT OF MOVEMENTS:
A BRIEF BACKGROUND
Regarding his "civility" activism efforts, Moji Agha has been in contact with Prof. Noam
Chomsky (mostly via e-mail) at least for over a decade. In these years he [For brother Moji's
brief bio please see the Founder's Background section below] has had the honor of receiving
the legendary thinker's encouragement and support for the many civil society initiatives he
has founded since 9/11. For just one example, Prof. Chomsky has been a lead signatory
(along with the legendary South African Noble Peace Prize laureate, Archbishop Desmond
Tutu) of four peace and climate change petitions brother Moji has authored--details below.
In November of 2012 Prof. Chomsky officially endorsed the Mossadegh Legacy Institute
(MLI) one of Moji's more recent initiatives--please see its Home page, here:
http://mossadeghlegacyinstitute.blogspot.com/.
Since then, as the Circles Movement of Movements initiative has gradually evolved (as an
independent project--initially within the MLI) he has updated Prof. Chomsky of the
project's progress, and has been consistently encouraged by his support and immensely
valuable guidance.
In March of 2015 Prof. Chomsky signed a flyer (while in Tucson for a number of addresses
and lectures at the University of Arizona) announcing a number of the Circles' upcoming
meetings (then) to document his endorsement of the initiative. With a similar intent, another
of the initiative's flyer announcements was signed by the renowned author and activist,
Karen Armstrong (Founder of the Charter for Compassion) in October of 2015, after her
“Fields of Blood: Religion and the History of Violence” lecture at the Arizona State
university in Tempe--near Phoenix.
The renowned Prof. Cornel West (the "Living MLK") honored with his endorsing signature
another flyer of the Circles initiative in December of 2016 (at the Sacred Fire of the
Standing Rock uprising in N. Dakota) and later on he became the first Lead Honorary
Advisor to the Circle-related initiative (link is given above) called the Native/American
Truth and Reconciliation (NATR) Process: A Grassroots Initiative--also founded by brother
Moji.
In August of 2016, we began planning for an outreach effort, initially within the community
of the Charter for Compassion's "Charter Partners" – of which our Circles initiative has
been a proud community organization Partner since 2015. To help this campaign, in the late
Spring of 2016 brother Moji wondered if Prof. Chomsky would be willing to bestow onto the
Circles Movement of Movements the honor of an official and public Statement of
Endorsement; and as seen above, he has--quite generously. The project summary found
below was sent to him (in two of Moji's major e-mails--in May and July of 2016) providing
the information to which Prof. Chomsky refers in his Endorsement Statement.
For further context and information about the Circles of Nonviolence/Community
Collaboratives Initiative, a.k.a. the Circles Movement of Movements, please go to the
“America for Nonviolence” page – from which the information below has been adapted,
herein: http://mossadeghlegacyinstitute.blogspot.com/p/america-for-nonviolence-anv.html.
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
The Circles Movement of Movements:
Circles of Nonviolence/Community Collaboratives Initiative
INTRODUCTION
We believe that ours is an era in which the need for fundamental structural transformation
is increasingly and self-evidently dire. But the effective realization of such a systemic change
requires a comprehensive movement of movements that is organized in a profoundly
innovative and different manner, structurally inclusive across various nonviolent causes
(i.e., peace, justice, environment, interfaith collaboration, etc.) and thus, able to generate
"integra-cumulative impact" sustainably. In other words, we need a grass-roots nonviolent
movement of movements capable of gathering, in effective integrated collaboration across
various causes, the needed "critical mass" to effect sustained profound systemic change.
Thus, the Circles of Nonviolence/Community Collaboratives Initiative, a.k.a., the Circles
Movement of Movements, is a collaborative ("in the trenches") theory-praxis work, of
building the needed infrastructure for systemic collaboration, "genetically" inclusive of
various causes, for a sustained post-modern (i.e., truly bottom-up) popular movement of
movements, capable of generating the needed "critical mass" for EFFECTIVE and
SUSTAINED systemic transformation for the better.
WHAT WE DO: A STEP BY STEP SUMMARY
Here is a way of summarizing what we do concretely:
a) Holding many orientation/introduction meetings (as many as the local "area of
integration focus" needs) to find the Circle/Collaborative's initial core participants;
b) Identifying pertinent issues in the community, and concurrently starting to bring "civility
actors" of the area together--in or outside the "formal" meetings of the
Circle/Collaborative; and
c) Nurturing genuine relationships and (non-competitive) networking, leading to initial
collaborations within and among the local persons, groups, and organizations already
engaged nonviolently in the area's peace, justice, interfaith dialogue/cooperation,
safeguarding Mother Earth, etc.
PHILOSOPHY / METHOD
The Circles Movement of Movement's ambitious and demanding (but not impossible)
mission is to cause foundational change by facilitating the co-creation of a comprehensive
grid of autonomous Circles of Nonviolence/Community Collaboratives, integrated in
systemic and synergistic collaboration (through the actions of their gradually developing
common-ground projects/campaigns) across the U.S., and eventually around the world.
Thus, emphasizing the initiative's facilitative nature, our mission statement emphasizes that
as a "non-partisan horizontal META-organization” we are NOT yet another project to add
to (and unintentionally compete with) already existing civil society efforts. Hence, by
systemically facilitating mutual co-empowerment, our movement of movements' process
aims to retain and indeed cherish the unique and needed roles of all participating actors
(persons or organizations) within the U.S. civil society, eventually resulting in systemic
synergistic impact.
In other words (and quite critically), rather than the modernist temptation toward the
"unification of mission or identity" under one overall umbrella (hence unavoidable
hierarchy), this is a "post-modern" method of systemic organizing that aims to build a
comprehensive movement of movements through the "co-strengthening integration of the
results" of civil society struggles (currently un-integrated, if not fragmented), toward
generating that elusive "integra-cumulative impact" which is required unavoidably to
produce the needed "critical mass" sustainably (not episodically or crisis-specifically); if one
wishes actual profound peaceful change on our deeply distressed Mother Earth--before it is
too late.
THE TWIN STRUCTURE:
THE "SOCRATIC" INTEGRATION PROCESS
Perhaps the most critical characteristic of the Circles Movement of Movements initiative is
that the "Circles of Nonviolence" it generates have (by design) no ideology, religion,
spirituality, project, action, or any agenda of their own, except for fostering authentic
nonviolence as a foundational common ground value and practice.
THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE ANALOGY
The critical movement-building significance of the above distinction is revealed through the
following analogy:
In each community of significant size there is a Chamber of Commerce with the mission of
"facilitating mutually strengthening collaboration" (hence fostering "integra-cumulative
impact") among FOR-PROFIT corporations; whereby the Chamber is not supposed to have
an agenda favoring certain industries over others. By the way of a rather imperfect analogy,
due to their exclusively dialogue-centered and networking nature, our initiative's "Circles of
Nonviolence" serve to co-strengthen the not-for-profit civil society efforts (and activists)
regardless of action or struggle, i.e., peace, justice, environment, interfaith collaboration,
etc.
In other words, the Chamber of Commerce of each area is "genetically" prohibited from
engaging in any for-profit business of its own (or favoring one corporation over another),
thus preserving its systemic neutrality, so that it can be (and remain) a welcoming
"container" for the systemic collaboration (despite competition) of all corporations that
pursue private profit.
On the other hand, we "civility actors" (of each area/community) currently do not have a
similar agenda-free welcoming container for effective systemic collaboration--among our
not-for-profit nonviolent civility pursuits. Thus our efforts are not effectively connected
(through systemic collaborative action) to the civility efforts in other areas/communities.
This welcoming agenda-free "chamber" we call the CIRCLE OF NONVIOLENCE.
Thus, civil society activists and groups (who have accepted the Circles initiative's mission)
come together in the welcoming and un-biased environment of their area's "Circle of
Nonviolence" for the purpose of building systemic collaboration across cause.
This coming together (as in the "Chamber of Commerce” of for-profit corporations) will
inevitably result in mutually beneficial collaborative projects or actions, reflecting each
community's needs. But because the Circle of Nonviolence cannot engage in any action of its
own (for the reasons explained) such collaborations (in action) are undertaken in the action-
capable "Community Collaborative" co-component (or “twin”) of the area's Circle of
Nonviolence. So, the mission of such a Community Collaborative (functioning organically
alongside its twin Circle of Nonviolence) is to facilitate pervasive participatory
collaboration, especially in systemic movement-building action, locally, regionally,
nationally, and eventually globally.
In other words, participants of the Circle and of the Collaborative (who usually would be
the same volunteer individuals) dialogue and network in the welcoming environment (free of
pre-determined agendas) of the area's Circle/Collaborative, adding to the strength of one
another systemically. And when the participants of the Circle/Collaborative decide
(collaboratively--using a form of Socratic inquiry as guiding methodology) to undertake a
project or action, the interested participants do the work through the area's action-capable
movement-building engine, namely the Community Collaborative, which (similar to the
Circle) is not focused on any pre-determined issue or struggle.
And because unlike its "twin" Circle this Collaborative is able (by design) to undertake
projects and actions in any appropriate area of nonviolent community, regional, or even
global concern (offering its collaborative services free of charge―like the Circle), the core
mission of such a Community Collaborative is to promote pervasive participatory
collaboration (in systemic action) in the authentic public interest (initially) of its immediate
area/community.
WHAT IS "SOCRATIC" INTEGRATION?
It is a method of creating (or enhancing) synergistic systemic collaboration, hence impact,
based on finding answers to this simple (yet difficult) open-ended diversity-enhancing
movement-building “Socratic” question:
While I and (or) my group (i.e., the "civility actors" who are engaged in various peace,
justice, environment, interfaith dialogue, etc. struggles) remain who we are and continue to
do what we do, HOW can we do our specific and focused work in such a way that would
ALSO build bridges of collaboration with other civil society persons or groups in our area?
(Eventually resulting in a sustained and integrated movement of movements across our
various nonviolent causes.)
Here is the same Socratic inquiry (i.e., open-ended question) in other, more defined words:
How can we, regardless of cause, begin (or continue/grow) the process of INTEGRATING
the results of the actions and efforts of the civil society of our area (i.e., our
Circle/Collaborative's "area of integration focus") toward producing CUMULATIVE (i.e.,
mutually strengthening and synergistic) systemic impact, in this "we are all in the same
boat" struggle?
In still other words, while remaining faithful and committed to our own organizational and
personal missions, how can we begin having "integra-cumulative" effectiveness (hence
synergy-causing impact—creating critical mass) through mutually beneficial systemic
collaboration across our various nonviolent civil society causes?
SPECIFIC MOVEMENT-BUILDING COLLABORATIVE PROCEDURES
1- From among the participants of the Circle/Collaborative of the area, at least two persons
who are interested in undertaking a specific nonviolent project or action (which can be a
new one or supporting an on-going project or action that already exists in the civil society of
the area) would seek the supportive endorsement of the Community Collaborative, by
submitting a brief proposal (verbal or written) either in one of Circle/Collaborative
meetings or by writing to the person(s) tasked with receiving such written proposals.
b) Then, as soon as it is possible, the participants in the Circle/Collaborative would consider
and possibly decide (using consensus-based decision-making; and preferably in the same or
in the next meeting of the area's Circle/Collaborative) to endorse supportively (i.e., adopt)
the project or action, as appropriate and possible.
c) Upon such adoption, other individual participants in the Circle/Collaborative (besides the
proposing two--who may concurrently be members or supporters of other civil society
formations in the community) would have the option of joining the adopted undertaking, as
free-agent volunteers, possibly beginning to collaborate immediately in a "working group"
that would be formed for that particular project, campaign, or action.
Thus, given our initiative's foundationally collaborative and integrational grassroots nature,
the projects, campaigns, or actions that result from this movement-building “post-modern”
process reflect (unavoidably and organically) the authentic and unique needs of the
communities in which these Circles/Collaboratives (which are and should remain
independent organizationally) are formed.
UN-FRAGMENTING INTEGRATION
Because "UN-fragmentation" of the civil society is the central goal of the Circles Movement
of Movements, our Circles/Collaboratives would ultimately and systemically coordinate
their activities locally and (as appropriate and possible) regionally, nationally, and
eventually globally--through this initiative's integration-of-results collaboration system.
Thus, such a "Socratic" integration--i.e., un-fragmenting collaboration--among local
Circles/Collaboratives (which are autonomously functioning horizontally structured non-
hierarchical genuinely democratic "gathering" groups of civility actors) would eventually
result in the coming-to-be of "regional integration committees" and eventually a "central
integration council," all focusing (locally, regionally, and nationally--initially in the U.S.) on
the theoretical and practical integration of the currently fragmented American civil society,
as described above.
These "regional integration committees" will be composed of the representatives of all the
local circles/collaboratives that the area of each regional committee covers; while the
decision-making persons (versus advisory and honorary members) of the initiative's to-be-
formed "central integration council" will be comprised of the authorized representatives of
all such regional committees.
Going back to the local level, in the areas (initially of the U.S.) where civil society struggles
(or awareness) either does not exist or is present minimally, the role of the volunteer
participants that gather in such local circles/collaboratives would be to stimulate creation or
development of "civility" formations (such as peace groups, environmental action projects,
etc.) without getting the Circles/Collaboratives involved in them organizationally--due to the
critically important agenda-free principle outlined above.
CIRCLE/COLLABORATIVE FORMATION:
INITIAL STEPS
As mentioned above, the Community Collaborative of a given area is formed by its Circle of
Nonviolence--as its action-capable "twin." Here is how such a Circle would form:
a) One person learns about the Circles initiative (and in consultation with Moji Agha--the
initiative's founder and at-large advocate for all Circles/Collaboratives) plans a meeting at a
public place (if possible) inviting potentially interested persons in the area to attend.
b) Given that our initiative's foundation is built on collaboration, the minimum number to
form a Circle of Nonviolence is two persons. So in this initial meeting as long as one person
joins the convener, the area's Circle of Nonviolence can be formed. And the very first dual-
task of the (at least two) participants is:
i) To define and come to consensus about the Circle's "area of integration focus" (AIF), i.e.,
a reasonably sized (not too small or large) area with clearly defined geographic boundaries;
and then ii) To decide on a name for the Circle/Collaborative. Here is an example:
Circle of Nonviolence/Community Collaborative of the Oak Flat/San Carlos Region, East-
Central Arizona.
[Formed in] Globe, Arizona -- Date of Formation: July 15, 2015
NOTE: The "Area of Integration Focus (AIF)" of this Circle/Collaborative covers the
communities of Superior, Hayden/Winkelman, Globe/Miami, Roosevelt, San Carlos/Peridot,
and Bylas (and their surrounding areas) in East-Central Arizona.
CRITICALLY IMPORTANT NOTE:
As expressed in its name, the Circles initiative's foundational aim is to help foster a
sustained movement of movements. Learning (in part) from the Occupy Wall Street
Movement, it is critically important that all Circles/Collaboratives share a uniform name,
basically because the main thing that "connected" all Occupy encampments (thus making it
a "movement") was the word "Occupy" hence, Occupy Tucson, Occupy Chicago, Occupy
Oakland, etc. In this case, our initiative's movement-making "glue" (giving the various
Circles/Collaboratives of the Circles initiative a minimal common identity) is the phrase:
"Circle of Nonviolence/Community Collaborative."
Here is another example--please note its connection with the one indicated above:
Circle of Nonviolence/Community Collaborative of the High Plains, Northwest Texas
[Formed in] Amarillo, Texas -- Date of Formation: November 16, 2013
NOTE: The "Area of Integration Focus (AIF)" of this Circle/Collaborative covers the
communities that are included in the Potter and Randall counties in the High Plains area of
Northwest Texas.
Now let us go back to the initial steps:
c) After holding as many "orientation/introduction" meetings as it is necessary to find the
Circle/Collaborative's initial "core" group in each area, the participants, i.e., facilitators,
would choose (by consensus--which is the basic decision-making method of the Circles
initiative) from among themselves at least one (initial) "Group Facilitator."
d) Given our mission, all participants/facilitators of the Circles/Collaboratives should try to
be models-in-action for i) fair, attentive, deep, and CARE-ful listening, and just as crucially
for ii) adaptive-learning from the process. This is much like the way a caring skilled
counselor would only facilitate the process (rather than providing "the answer") by which
her/his client would eventually arrive at the "indigenously" appropriate solution that would
resolve his/her problem(s) sustainably.
e) In time, such a patient evolutionary process would hopefully result in a mutuality-
informed process of gradually increasing "integra-cumulative" impact-ful systemic
collaboration (minimal at the beginning), toward authentic "indigenous integration" in all
areas of "common ground," initially within each local Circle/Collaborative's area of
integration focus--and then regionally, nationally, and eventually globally.
SOME EXAMPLES
To make concrete the Circle Movement of Movements' practical effects (leading to
"cumulative impact" -- hence "critical mass" for foundational nonviolent transformation),
this section presents a few examples of unique-to-each-area projects/campaigns (all in early
infancy--despite being promising) that have begun to ORGANICALLY emerge from some
of the Community Collaboratives "twins" of their respective Circles of Nonviolence.
Here is the list of such seedling projects/actions, in the realms of peace, justice, environment,
and interfaith collaboration/understanding--all with the co-empowering potential to be
shared with other Circles/Collaboratives--regionally for now:
- Native/American Truth and Reconciliation (NATR) Process: A Grassroots Initiative, in
order to build peace;
- Climate Change Inter-connectivity, in order to protect life itself;
- Abraham's Peace Tent (APT), to build peace -- and related to it,
- 6 Weeks of Abrahamic 1-ness: Interfaith Exchange of Peace Across 6 Continents, for
peace-building/interfaith understanding;
- Interfaith Understanding and Dialogue (IUD), to build one-to-one and community peace;
- Kindred Civility Klan (KCK), to build civil society community burden-sharing;
- Pantex Planting Peace (3P), to demand the dismantling (instead of refurbishing and
“modernizing”) nuclear weapons;
- Honoring Medicaid Coverage Nationwide (HMCN), a.k.a. the "Pinkie Project" – to reform
health care services for people of limited means;
- Copper Corridor Cancer Cluster Campaign (5C) – A public health and environmental
justice effort;
- Cancer Awareness and Support Together (CAST) – A community health/peer support
group;
- Peer Education And Counseling in Empathy (PEACE) – A peer support/community-
building group;
- And finally, one Circle/Collaborative is trying to work with its community to organize: i) A
local chapter of the anti-war organization, Veterans For Peace (VFP), and ii) A regional
chapter of the violence/harm-reduction organization, Mothers Against Drunk
Driving/Drugs (MADDD) collaborating with the indigenous groups that already exist within
the local Native American reservation/community.
AND IN CONCLUSION...
Based on the above, here is a "super-summarized" mission statement for the Circles
Movement of Movements―which is trying to build upon and move beyond the (still badly
needed) reincarnation of the Occupy Wall Street Movement:
SUMMARY MISSION STATEMENT
A non-partisan, facilitative, and horizontal META-organization, the Circles of
Nonviolence/Community Collaboratives (a.k.a. the Circles Movement of Movements) is
NOT yet another initiative to add to, and unintentionally compete with, the already existing
peace, justice, interfaith-dialogue, Earth-protection, etc. efforts and groups within the
American civil society.
Rather, this is a MOVEMENT-BUILDING synergistic initiative, started but not run by the
Mossadegh Legacy Institute―MLI. So, our ethically informed core mission is to facilitate
effectively the "indigenous" co-creation of a comprehensive grid of "Circles of
Nonviolence/Community Collaboratives" integrated-in-collaboration across the whole of the
U.S. -- and eventually around the world.
Therefore, "We the People" will tackle this profoundly challenging task non-ideologically,
democratically, systematically, interfaithfully, and interculturally; or in other words
"integra-cumulatively." Hence, this grass roots co-empowering integration process is
impact-focused. It will try to integrate (not "unify" -- see below) the inevitably and
invaluably diverse (but currently systematically un-integrated) nonviolent actions and
efforts of our "divided and conquered" currently fragmented American civil society.
In other words, the heart of this "Socratic" integration process is retaining, and indeed
cherishing (by definition) the unique and needed roles of all participating actors (persons or
organizations) within the U.S. civil society, while facilitating an effective process of
"indigenous" mutual co-empowerment among such actors--aiming to manifest synergistic
impact.
So, we believe that this ethically-informed diversity-cherishing nonviolent "post-modern"
form of co-strengthening integration of action (in contrast with "unification" of mission or
identity) is profoundly needed at this point in our history. WHY?
Because "We the People" are struggling against militarism/violence, injustice/inequality,
and nature abuse/ecocide. And we recognize that this historic challenge is a critical (initially)
American nonviolent movement of movements for real and sustainable change--toward
restoring a Mother Earth on which all potentials of life, in nurtured synergy, balance, and
justice, would flourish sustainably in the peaceful bosom of true wisdom.
FOUNDER'S BACKGROUND
In November of 2012 Moji Agha (a.k.a. Mojtaba Aghamohammadi) founded the Mossadegh
Legacy Institute (MLI http://mossadeghlegacyinstitute.blogspot.com/), and the Circles
Movement of Movements eventually evolved out of the MLI as an independent initiative--outlined in the
“America for Nonviolence” page in the MLI's website:
http://mossadeghlegacyinstitute.blogspot.com/p/america-for-nonviolence-anv.html.
Since the beginning, Moji has gone to extreme pains to make sure that the "theory-praxis"
process of this "post-modern" work would be an evolutionary product of actual movement-
building practice--emerging from his traveling the U.S. (in his "still-running NV Mobile"
nonviolence car) since May of 2013.
Brother Moji is an Iranian-American Sufi "monk" (dervish) with a life-long vow of poverty
and service. He is a bilingual poet and author of numerous essays, as well as a book on how
to quit smoking naturally. To dedicate his life to full-time "civility" work, he abandoned
well over two decades ago a promising clinical and academic career, shifting his extensive
education and experience to cultural psychology and conflict resolution.
The civility initiatives brother Moji has founded (in peace, social justice, democracy, human
rights, interfaith dialogue, and the environment) include a comprehensive list of projects
and campaigns. However, when a struggle/project has faced obstacles (or has had to be
stopped), rather than giving up he has started another one, because (as he says) "all these
struggles are deeply inter-related."
Apart from the initiatives mentioned above, here is the list of brother Moji's projects since
9/11, including their year(s) of initiation:
- Universal Coalition for Interfaith and Intercultural Knowledge and Action (Founded
purposefully on September 11, 2002);
- Around the Clock Interfaith Vigil to Stop Violence (Started in March 2003--protesting the
"Iraq War"); Re-named as Simple Peace Vigil in 2008. This 24/7 vigil is still on-going, and
January 26, 2017 marked VIGIL DAY 5,060, so far with over 19,000 vigilers around the
world;
- Project on Culture and Conflict (University of Arizona) and the Iran Peace Project
(2005/2006);
- International Institute to Study Climate Change in the Islamic World (2007/2008);
- Think Tent of Tucson (Part of the Occupy Movement--2011/2012);
- Active participation in the "Green Movement" of Iran (2009 to 2012);
- Truth and Reconciliation Process, Iran (2012--Continuation of the Green Movement);
- Mossadegh Awareness Begets American Nonviolence Speaking Tour of the U.S. (Started in
May 2013--An independent project of the Mossadegh Legacy Institute--2012);
- And finally, the following four self-explanatory petitions, of which Prof. Noam Chomsky
and Archbishop Desmond Tutu have been initial signers:
1) Gandhi/Mossadegh Nobel Peace Prize Petition (A project of the Mossadegh Legacy
Institute--2012/2013);
2- Supporting Iran's Nuclear Agreement Petition (2015);
3- Solidarity with the Climate Change Encyclical by Pope Francis Petition (2015); and,
4- Iran/Saudi Arabia Peace Petition (2016).
An important aspect of brother Moji Agha's “civility” activism is tied to him being a
Muslim (Sufi) from the Middle East. And defying stereotypes, he (an Iranian-American
Muslim male) happens to be building nonviolence, educating folks about Islamic
nonviolence in the process; for example, founding Abraham's Peace Tent--envisioned for the
rural areas of the U.S.
And all this at a time when the violent extremism of the likes of ISIS seems to be appreciated
by Islamophobic nativist extremists like Donald Trump--given that both sides need each
other as “enemy.”
In this dire context, such interfaith peace and human rights activism exposes brother Moji
even to the physical risks of savage ignorance from both sides; so all his civility-building
efforts need to be joined, and supported.
CONTACT INFORMATION
Location: Tucsan, Arizona, USA
Mailing Address:
C/O Moji Agha
P.O. Box 14705
Tucson, AZ 85732
To contact brother Moji Agha directly write to: moji.agha [at] gmail.com (preferred way of
contacting); and/or call or text him at (520) 325-3545 (in the U.S.).
And for more information, please go to this page (herein) in the website of the Charter for
Compassion (Founded by Karen Armstrong who--like Professors Noam Chomsky, Cornel
West, and Richard Falk--has graced our initiative with her endorsement) of which the
Circles Movement of Movements is a Charter Partner:
http://www.charterforcompassion.org/index.php/circles-of-nonviolence-community.
For still further information, please go to the website of the Mossadegh Legacy Institute
(MLI -- http://mossadeghlegacyinstitute.blogspot.com/), wherein you will find (among many
other informative pages—some in need of being updated) the “America for Nonviolence”
page, from which some of the above-outlined information has been excerpted:
http://mossadeghlegacyinstitute.blogspot.com/p/america-for-nonviolence-anv.html.
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