Healing Resistance

A Radically Different Response to Harm

By Kazu Haga

Forward by Dr. Bernard LaFayette Jr. and David Jehnsen.

“Kazu Haga’s deep, nuanced, and principled commitment to nonviolence has challenged and inspired me and many others who’ve had the privilege of encountering his work.”

—MICHELLE ALEXANDER, author of The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness

Read an edited excerpt of the book, available from our friends at www.wagingnonviolence.org. You can read more articles from the author on their site by clicking here.

Listen to the Audio Book

Check out the audiobook of Healing Resistance, narrated by Tom Parks. Available anywhere audiobooks are sold, including Audible, Google Play, Audiobooks, Kobo, Libro.fm and others!

The Book

Activists and change agents, restorative justice practitioners, faith leaders, and anybody engaged in social progress and shifting society will find this mindful approach to nonviolent action indispensable.

Nonviolence was once considered the highest form of activism and radical change. And yet its basic truth, its restorative power, has been forgotten.

In Healing Resistance, leading trainer Kazu Haga blazingly reclaims the energy and assertiveness of nonviolent practice and shows that a principled approach to nonviolence is the way to transform not only unjust systems but broken relationships.

With over 20 years of experience practicing and teaching Kingian Nonviolence, Haga offers us a practical approach to societal conflict first begun by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. during the Civil Rights Movement, which has been developed into a fully workable, step-by-step training and deeply transformative philosophy (as utilized by the Women's March and Black Lives Matter movements).

Kingian Nonviolence takes on the timely issues of endless protest and activist burnout, and presents tried-and-tested strategies for staying resilient, creating equity, and restoring peace.

“To resist today’s violence exploding everywhere, in ways that can actually heal our world, seems a pipe dream—until Kazu Haga makes it real. In his wry, funny, and utterly grounded fashion, he helps me believe we can do it and begin to become the Beloved Community. We need this book like oxygen.”

—JOANNA MACY, author of World as Lover, World as Self: Courage for Global Justice and Ecological Renewal

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"Kazu Haga reminds us of the power of nonviolence, building on the work of Gandhi and King and informed by his own life and insight in a way that touches us all today. Haga teaches us that true belonging … is a challenging process that takes constant work and training from the internal to the interpersonal to the institutional. We owe a debt of gratitude to Haga for his work and words and have in this book a manual for loving and for living nonviolence that will guide and inspire generations to come."

—JOHN A. POWELL, director of the Othering and Belonging Institute at UC Berkeley and author of Racing to Justice: Transforming Our Concept of Self and Other to Build an Inclusive Society

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“Kazu Haga has written an accessible, thorough, and deeply personal intro- duction to nonviolence as a power for personal and social transformation. He reflects upon common myths about nonviolent resistance, offers practical insight from his own experiences, and challenges readers to consider a radical, healing approach to confronting injustice. An inspiring read.”

—ERICA CHENOWETH, Berthold Beitz Professor in Human Rights and International Affairs at Harvard Kennedy School and coauthor of Why Civil Resistance Works: The Strategic Logic of Nonviolent Conflict

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“Peace is messy, and nonviolence is the work of the courageous. In Healing Resistance, Kazu Haga takes on the why of violence, breaks it down, and then builds us up for the work we need to do now.”

—MUSHIM PATRICIA IKEDA, Buddhist teacher, author of “I Vow Not to Burn Out,” and racial justice community activist

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“Few people are as grounded in the tenets and traditions of principled nonviolence as Kazu Haga. Any of the thousands of people that Haga has trained in nonviolence can attest to the great wisdom, care, and talent he brings to his craft. He is informed by a rich spiritual practice, deep practical experience in social movement organizing, and years of care- ful research into nonviolent campaigns. It is a rare combination that he brings to his writing, and we can all be grateful that Kazu has given us this offering.”

—PAUL ENGLER, coauthor of This is an Uprising: How Nonviolent Revolution is Shaping the 21st Century

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Healing Resistance is a powerful window into the world of Kingian Nonviolence. In these times, when our species is weak in its reciprocity with Mother Earth and with each other, this great tradition illuminates the need for reconciliation, struggle, and personal transformation. Haga honors this tradition by sharing a moving account of his personal journey with us.”

—CARLOS SAAVEDRA, founder of the Ayni Institute

“Kazu Haga broadens the landscape of nonviolence from an idealistic, often passively perceived, aspiration into a practical path of being deeply engaged and lovingly transformative of our world. Beautifully accessible and profound, Haga is a masterful teacher connecting our internal and external experiences of intending, of doing, and of being—living together with care and justice.”

—LARRY YANG, core teacher at the East Bay Meditation Center, member of the Spirit Rock Teachers Council, and author of Awakening Together: The Spiritual Practice of Inclusivity and Community

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“With very human stories—his own and others’—simple and relatable language, and engaging humor, Haga lays bare the power of nonviolence: what it is, what it isn’t, and what it takes to get to a more just, thriving, and beloved world. For those struggling to see ways forward for healing harm and repairing relationships in these polarizing times, this book will guide you.”

—SHILPA JAIN, executive director of YES!

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“An inspiring book about the power of nonviolence—living it in our lives and using it in our work for social transformation. Kazu Haga brings to life Martin Luther King Jr.’s six principles of nonviolence and his six steps for building powerful nonviolent campaigns. Read this book, feel empowered, and help build the Beloved Community.”

—DAVID HARTSOUGH, author of Waging Peace: Global Adventures of a Lifelong Activist and cofounder of Nonviolent Peaceforce and World Beyond War

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Healing Resistance is a beautiful book that allows us to think about how to reduce harm and live in harmony. It is a tool for sustaining movements and movement builders. The pages hold not only past movements and philosophy but the possibility for a better future.”

—SUSAN BURTON, founder of A New Way of Life Reentry Project

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“If anyone ever thought that enough has already been written about nonviolence, they haven’t read Kazu Haga’s book. What this book accomplishes is nothing short of making nonviolence accessible, hopefully to many more people than have previously engaged with it. This is a clear and friendly book, never compromising depth for simplicity, nor losing courage because of the core optimism woven through it. We learn about Haga himself, about the world, about power, about conflict, and about how all of us can increase our capacity to respond effectively to a world gone awry.”

—MIKI KASHTAN, author of Reweaving Our Human Fabric: Working Together to Create a Nonviolent Future

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Healing Resistance is refreshingly honest and direct in its approach. It is a homage to the experiences and teachers that shaped Kazu Haga and the reality that none of us arrive to greater consciousness alone. Drawing from his depth of experiences in movements in just thirty-eight years, Kazu is like a sponge, absorbing everything he can to be more healed, to fight for liberation and justice with a wealth of experience, tools, and knowledge behind him.”

—SONYA SHAH, founder and director of the Ahimsa Collective