Articles by Robert J. Burrowes

We found 246 results.


(Castellano) La psicología del fascismo
Robert J. Burrowes, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 5 Nov 2018

El continuo aumento del fascismo en todo el mundo está atrayendo cada vez más la atención, sobre todo porque se necesita un mayor control dentro de las sociedades nacionales que durante mucho tiempo se ha visto que lo han rechazado. Algunos estudios recientes nos han recordado las características de los movimientos e individuos fascistas, particularmente cuando se manifiestan entre fascistas políticamente activos.

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The Psychology of Fascism
Robert J. Burrowes, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 29 Oct 2018

29 Oct 2018 – The continuing rise of fascism around the world is drawing increasing attention particularly as it takes firmer grip within national societies long seen to have rejected it. Some recent studies have reminded us of the characteristics of fascist movements and individuals, particularly as they manifest among politically active fascists.

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Nonviolence Charter: Progress Report #13 (Oct 2018)
Robert J. Burrowes, Anita McKone & Anahata Giri – TRANSCEND Media Service, 15 Oct 2018

This is the latest six-monthly report on progress in relation to ‘The People’s Charter to Create a Nonviolent World’ together with a sample of news about Charter signatories and organizations. Our collective effort to build a worldwide consensus against the use of violence in all contexts continues to make progress, even against rather overwhelming odds!

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Gandhi’s Despair and the Struggle for Truth and Love
Robert J. Burrowes, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 1 Oct 2018

“When I despair, I remember that all through history the ways of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants, and murderers, and for a time they can seem invincible, but in the end they always fall. Think of it – always.”
— M.K. Gandhi

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Exposing the Giants: The Global Power Elite
Robert J. Burrowes, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 3 Sep 2018

This $41 trillion represents the wealth invested for profit by thousands of millionaires, billionaires and corporations. The seventeen Giants operate in nearly every country in the world and are ‘the central institutions of the financial capital that powers the global economic system’. They invest in anything considered profitable, ranging from ‘agricultural lands on which indigenous farmers are replaced by power elite investors’ to public assets (such as energy and water utilities) to war.

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(Italiano) I Giganti: l’élite del potere globale
Robert J. Burrowes | Znet – TRANSCEND Media Service, 3 Sep 2018

Questi 41 trilioni di dollari rappresentano la ricchezza investito per profitto da migliaia di milionari, miliardari e imprese. I diciassette Giganti operano in quasi ogni paese del mondo e sono “le istituzioni centrali del capitale finanziario che alimenta il sistema economico globale”. Investono in qualsiasi cosa sia considerata redditizia da “terre agricole sulle quali i coltivatori indigeni sono sostituiti da investitori dell’élite del potere” ad attività pubbliche (quali le reti elettriche e idriche).

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Human Extinction by 2026? A Last Ditch Strategy to Fight for Human Survival
Robert J. Burrowes, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 13 Aug 2018

The evidence in relation to destruction of the Earth’s biosphere, leading to ongoing and rapid degradation of all ecosystems and their services, is readily available and overwhelming. The many and varied forms of destruction are having synergistic impact. An insignificant amount of the vast evidence in relation to this destruction is sampled here. It is going to be a tough fight for human survival, particularly this late in the ‘game’.

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Strategy and Conscience: Subverting Elite Power So We End Human Violence
Robert J. Burrowes, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 30 Jul 2018

The military forces of the United States are not intended to defend it against military attack. The military forces of the countries in NATO are not intended to defend them against military attack. The military forces of the USA and NATO are controlled by the global elite and used by them to aggressively attack, in violation of all relevant national and international laws, any country that seeks independent control and development of its resources, particularly fossil fuels, strategic minerals and water. The global elite, which is in total control of the global economy and world affairs generally, does this in order to expand its own power, profit and privilege. It does this no matter what the cost to any individual (outside the elite), people, country and the biosphere. Why does the global elite do all of this? Because it is completely insane. So what do we do?

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Starving and Bombed Children of Yemen Seek Entrapment in Flooded Thai Cave
Robert J. Burrowes, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 16 Jul 2018

11 Jul 2018 – While the world watched and waited with bated breath for the outcome of the substantial global effort – involving over 100 cave divers from various countries, 1,000 members of the Thai Army and 10,000 others in various roles – to rescue a team of 12 young football players and their coach, who were trapped inside a flooded cave in Thailand for 17 days, 850,000 children were killed by human adults in other parts of the world, many of them simply starved to death in Yemen or other parts of Africa, Asia and Central/South America.

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Humanity’s ‘Dirty Little Secret’: Starving, Enslaving, Raping, Torturing and Killing our Children
Robert J. Burrowes, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 20 Jun 2018

Let me illustrate and explain the nature and extent of this secret war and what we can do about it. .. We can acknowledge the painful truth that we inflict enormous violence on our children (which then manifests in a myriad complex ways) and respond powerfully to that truth. Or we can keep deluding ourselves and continue to observe, powerlessly, as the violence in our world proliferates until human beings are extinct.

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(Italiano) Uccidere la Biosfera per Accelerare l’Estinzione Umana
Robert J. Burrowes, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 11 Jun 2018

Un lungo articolo di non facile lettura che propone una marea di fonti di approfondimento. L’autore Robert J. Burrowes traccia un quadro complesso di un umanità follemente omicida-suicida. Cercando di individuare le cause suggerisce vie di uscita.

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500 Years Is Long Enough! Human Depravity in the Congo
Robert J. Burrowes, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 28 May 2018

I would like to tell you something about human depravity and illustrate just how widespread it is among those we often regard as ‘responsible’ and am going to use the Democratic Republic of the Congo as my example. As I illustrate and explain what has happened to the Congo and its people during the past 500 years, I invite you to consider my essential point.

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Conflict Theory and Biosphere Annihilation
Robert J. Burrowes, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 28 May 2018

I would like to explain the psychological origin of this biosphere-annihilating conflict and how this origin has nurtured the incredibly destructive aspects of capitalism (and socialism, for that matter) from the beginning. I would also like to explain what we can do about it.

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(Castellano) Carta de la No-Violencia: Informe de Progreso 12 (abril 2018)
Robert J. Burrowes, Anita McKone & Anahata Giri | Pressenza – TRANSCEND Media Service, 7 May 2018

23 abril 2018- Nuestro esfuerzo colectivo para construir un consenso mundial contra el uso de la violencia en todos los contextos continúa progresando, ¡incluso en contra de obstáculos abrumadores!

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Nonviolence Charter: Progress Report 12 (April 2018)
Robert J. Burrowes, Anita McKone & Anahata Giri – TRANSCEND Media Service, 23 Apr 2018

This is the latest six-monthly report on progress in relation to ‘The People’s Charter to Create a Nonviolent World’ together with a sample of news about Charter signatories and organizations. Our collective effort to build a worldwide consensus against the use of violence in all contexts continues to make progress, even against rather overwhelming odds!

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Challenges for Resolving Complex Conflicts
Robert J. Burrowes, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 9 Apr 2018

While conflict theories and resolution processes advanced dramatically during the second half of the 20th century, particularly thanks to the important work of several key scholars such as Professor Johan Galtung, significant gaps remain in the conflict literature on how to deal with particular conflict configurations. Notably, these include the following four.

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Nonviolence or Nonexistence? The Legacy of Martin Luther King Jr.
Robert J. Burrowes, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 2 Apr 2018

2 Apr 2018 – Fifty years ago, on 4 April 1968, the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. The night before he died, King gave another of his many evocative speeches; this one at the packed Mason Temple in Memphis. The speech included these words: ‘Men for years now have been talking about war and peace. Now no longer can they just talk about it. It is no longer a choice between violence and non-violence in this world, it is non-violence or non-existence. That is where we are today.’

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‘The Global Elite Is Insane’ Revisited
Robert J. Burrowes, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 26 Mar 2018

21 Mar 2018 – In 2014 I wrote an article titled ‘The Global Elite Is Insane’. I want to elaborate what I explained in the earlier article so that people have a clearer sense of what we are up against in our struggle to create a world of peace, justice and ecological sustainability.

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On Track for Extinction: Can Humanity Survive?
Robert J. Burrowes, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 12 Mar 2018

8 Mar 2018 – The climate is not the only imminent threat to human survival. With an insane leadership in the White House we are faced with the prospect of nuclear war. And even if the climate and nuclear threats to our survival are removed, there is still a substantial range of environmental threats: rainforest destruction, the ongoing dumping of Fukushima radiation into the Pacific Ocean, extensive contamination from military violence…

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Junk Planet: Is Earth the Largest Garbage Dump in the Universe?
Robert J. Burrowes, Ph. D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 26 Feb 2018

26 Feb 2018 – I don’t know. But it’s a safe bet that Earth would be a contender were such a competition to be held. Let me explain why. To start, just listing the types of rubbish generated by humans or the locations into which each of these is dumped is a staggering task beyond the scope of one article.

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The Fear Driving US Nuclear Strategy
Robert J. Burrowes, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 12 Feb 2018

The US Department of Defense released its latest ‘Nuclear Posture Review 2018’ on 2 February. Several authors have already thoughtfully exposed a phenomenal variety of obvious lies, invented threats, strategic misconceptions and flaws – such as the fallacious thinking behind ‘deterrence’ and significantly increased risk of nuclear war given the delusional ‘thinking’ in the document – as well as the political fear-mongering in the NPR. So what can we do? Well, I would tackle the problem at several levels and I invite you to consider participating in one or more of these.

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Why Fear and Self-hatred Destroy Human Sharing and Solidarity
Robert J. Burrowes, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 29 Jan 2018

24 Jan 2018 – The lack of solidarity is utterly pervasive and readily evident in our lacklustre official and personal responses to the many ongoing crises in which humanity finds itself. To mention just the most obvious: Every day governments spend $US2 billion on weapons and warfare while a billion people lack the basic resources to live a decent life (and more than 100,000 of these people starve to death)… So what can we do?

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To Liberate Cambodia
Robert J. Burrowes, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 15 Jan 2018

10 Jan 2018 – Cambodian activists require enormous courage to take nonviolent action as the possibility of violent state repression in response to popular mobilization is a real one. So what can Cambodians do? Fortunately, there is a long history of repressive regimes being overthrown by nonviolent grassroots movements. And nonviolent action has proven powerfully effective in Cambodia with Buddhist monk Maha Gosananda.

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(Français) Tuer la biosphère pour accélérer l’extinction humaine
Robert J. Burrowes, Ph.D. | Prepare for Change – TRANSCEND Media Service, 1 Jan 2018

Il y a plusieurs années au Cameroun, un pays d’Afrique de l’Ouest, un rhinocéros noir occidental a été tué. C’était le dernier de son genre sur Terre.

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Violence against Women: Why the UN Secretary-General Got It Wrong
Robert J. Burrowes, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 11 Dec 2017

6 Dec 2017 – In his remarks on the recent International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women UN Secretary-General António Guterres inadvertently demonstrated why well-meaning efforts being undertaken globally to reduce violence against women fail to make any progress in addressing this pervasive crisis.

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Killing the Biosphere to Fast-track Human Extinction
Robert J. Burrowes, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 4 Dec 2017

Unless and until you make a conscious personal decision to participate strategically in the struggle to save life on Earth, you will be one of those individuals who kills the biosphere as a byproduct of living without awareness and commitment. So next time you ponder the fate of humanity, which is inextricably tied to the fate of the Earth, it might be worth considering the unparalleled beauty of what Earth has generated.

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Why Are Police in the USA So Terrified?
Robert J. Burrowes, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 20 Nov 2017

15 Nov 2017 – For those who follow news in the United States, the routine killing of innocent civilians by the police has become a national crisis despite concerted attempts by political and legal authorities and the corporate media to obscure what is happening. So far this year, US police have killed 1,044 people. In contrast, from 1990 to 2016, police in England and Wales killed just 62 people. So why are the police so violent? you might ask.

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A Nonviolent Strategy to End Violence and Avert Human Extinction
Robert J. Burrowes, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 30 Oct 2017

24 Oct 2017 – Around the world activists who are strategic thinkers face a daunting challenge to effectively tackle the multitude of violent conflicts, including the threat of human extinction, confronting human society in the early 21st century… Given the overwhelming violence that we must tackle, can we succeed? I do not know but I intend to fight, strategically, to the last breath. I hope that you will too.

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The Psychology of Mass Killers: What Causes It? How Can You Prevent It?
Robert J. Burrowes, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 16 Oct 2017

While there has been a flood of commentary on the incident, including suggestions about what might be done in response based on a variety of analyses of the cause, none that I have read explain the underlying cause of all these mass killings. And if we do not understand this, then any other suggestions, whatever their apparent merits, can have little impact.

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Nonviolence Charter: Progress Report #11 (October 2017)
Robert J. Burrowes, Anita McKone & Anahata Giri – TRANSCEND Media Service, 9 Oct 2017

This is the latest six-monthly report on progress in relation to ‘The People’s Charter to Create a Nonviolent World’ together with a sample of news about Charter signatories and organizations. Our collective effort to build a worldwide consensus against the use of violence in all contexts continues to make progress, even against rather overwhelming odds!

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Gandhi’s Truth: Ending Human Violence One Commitment at a Time
Robert J. Burrowes, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 2 Oct 2017

Gandhi Jayanti – 2 October, the date of Mohandas K. Gandhi’s birth in 1869 and the International Day of Nonviolence – offers an opportunity to reflect on human violence and to ponder ways to end it. There may be a fast way to end human violence but, if there is, Gandhi did not know it. Nor do I. Nor does anyone else that I have read or asked either. But this does not mean there is no way to end human violence.

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(Italiano) La verità di Gandhi: porre fine alla violenza umana, un passo alla volta
Robert J. Burrowes, Ph.D. | Centro Studi Sereno Regis – TRANSCEND Media Service, 2 Oct 2017

La ricorrenza di Gandhi Jayanti – il 2 Ottobre, offre l’opportunità di riflettere sulla violenza umana e di prendere in considerazione dei modi per porle fine. Ci può essere una via rapida per metter fine alla violenza umana, ma – se c’è – Gandhi non la conosceva. Né la conosco io. E neppure altri di cui ho letto o che ho interpellato. Ma questo non vuol dire che non ci siano vie per porre fine alla violenza umana.

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Profit Maximization Is Easy: Invest in Violence
Robert J. Burrowes, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 11 Sep 2017

6 Sep 2017 – For those of us committed to systematically reducing and, one day, ending human violence, it is vital to understand what is causing and driving it so that effective strategies can be developed for dealing with violence in its myriad contexts… Of course, these choices aren’t for everyone. As Gandhi observed: ‘Cowards can never be moral.’

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Why Are All Those Racists So Terrified?
Robert J. Burrowes, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 28 Aug 2017

Racism – fear of, and hatred for, those of another race coupled with the beliefs that the other race is inferior and should be dominated (by your race) – is now highly visible among European populations impacted by refugee flows from the Middle East and North Africa. In addition, racism is ongoingly and highly evident among sectors of the US population but also in countries like South Africa as well as Australia and throughout Central and South America where indigenous populations are particularly impacted.

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You Cannot Trap the ‘Magic Rat’: Trump, Congress and Geopolitics
Robert J. Burrowes, Ph. D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 14 Aug 2017

The ‘magic rat’ is simply the mechanism by which an unconscious and terrified mind instantly switches its attention from something frightening to something more pleasant to avoid having any time to consciously engage with the presented information. The switch happens instantaneously.

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Biological Annihilation on Earth Accelerating
Robert J. Burrowes, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 31 Jul 2017

26 Jul 2017 – Human beings are now waging war against life itself as we continue to destroy not just individual lives, local populations and entire species in vast numbers but also destroy the ecological systems that make life on Earth possible.

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Why War? Building on the Legacy of Einstein, Freud and Gandhi
Robert J. Burrowes, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 10 Jul 2017

In 1932, Sigmund Freud and Albert Einstein conducted a correspondence subsequently published under the title ‘Why War?’ In many ways, this dialogue between two giants of the 20th century is symbolic of the effort made by many humans to understand the institution of war. In a recent article, the founder of peace research, Professor Johan Galtung, reminded us of the legacy of Freud and Einstein and reflected on their dialogue, noting some shortcomings including their failure to ‘unpack conflict’.

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A Nonviolent Strategy to Defeat Genocide
Robert J. Burrowes, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 26 Jun 2017

26 Jun 2017 – It is a tragic measure of the depravity of human existence that genocide is a continuing and prevalent manifestation of violence in the international system. It is not difficult to nonviolently defend a targeted population against genocide. Vitally, however, it requires a leadership that can develop a sound strategy so that people are mobilized and deployed effectively.

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An Open Letter to People with ‘Mental Health’ Issues
Robert J. Burrowes, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 5 Jun 2017

So if you or someone you know is supposed to have a ‘mental illness’ such as anxiety, depression, schizophrenia, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), bipolar disorder, anorexia nervosa or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), I would like to give you the opportunity to consider an explanation and a way forward that you are unlikely to have come across.

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Truth or Delusion?
Robert J. Burrowes, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 22 May 2017

22 May 2017 – One inevitable outcome of the phenomenal violence we all suffer as children is that most of us live in a state of delusion throughout our lives. This makes it extraordinarily difficult for accurate information, including vital information about the endangered state of our world and how to respond appropriately, to penetrate the typical human mind.

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Nonviolence Charter: Progress Report 10 (Apr 2017)
Robert J. Burrowes, Anita McKone & Anahata Giri – TRANSCEND Media Service, 8 May 2017

This is the latest six-monthly report on progress in relation to ‘The People’s Charter to Create a Nonviolent World’ together with a sample of news about Charter signatories and organizations. Our collective effort to build a worldwide consensus against the use of violence in all contexts continues to make progress, even against rather overwhelming odds!

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(Castellanto) Colaboración internacional para poner fin a la violencia
Robert J. Burrowes, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 1 May 2017

Mientras gran parte del mundo está envuelto en violencia de uno u otro tipo (ya sea violencia en el hogar o en la calle, explotación, destrucción ecológica o la guerra), una red global de individuos y organizaciones se han comprometido a ponerle fin a la violencia en todas sus manifestaciones.

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International Collaboration to End Violence
Robert J. Burrowes, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 24 Apr 2017

24 Apr 2017 – While much of the world is engulfed in violence of one sort or another (whether violence in the home or on the street, exploitation, ecological destruction or war), a global network of individuals and organizations is committed to ending this violence in all of its manifestations. Here is an outline of what some of these individual signatories of ‘The People’s Charter to Create a Nonviolent World’ are doing. You are welcome to join them.

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Why Do Some Men Rape?
Robert J. Burrowes, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 20 Mar 2017

Given the overwhelming evidence that violence is rampant in our world and that the violence of the legal system simply contributes to and reinforces this cycle of violence, it seems patently obvious that we would be better off identifying the cause of violence and then designing approaches to address this cause and its many symptoms effectively. And reallocating resources away from the legal and prison systems in support of approaches that actually work.

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Resisting Donald Trump’s Violence Strategically
Robert J. Burrowes, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 6 Mar 2017

So what are we to do? Well, if you are inclined to resist the diabolical actions of Donald Trump (and his insane and violent equivalents in the United States and other countries around the world), I invite you to respond powerfully. This includes maintaining a large measure of empathy for the emotionally damaged individual who is now president of the US (and his many equivalents). It also includes recognizing that this individual and his equivalents are the current ‘face’ of a global system of violence and exploitation built on many long-standing structures that we must systematically dismantle.

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Nonviolent Action: Why and How It Works
Robert J. Burrowes, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 30 Jan 2017

Nonviolent action is extremely powerful. Unfortunately, however, activists do not always understand why nonviolence is so powerful and they design ‘direct actions’ that are virtually powerless. I would like to start by posing two questions.

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(Turkish-Türk) Yeryüzünde Yaşam Sona Eriyor. Binlerce Tür Yok Oluyor
Robert J. Burrowes, Ph.D. | Özgür Üniversite – TRANSCEND Media Service, 2 Jan 2017

Sizin bu yazıyı okuduğunuz gün, yeryüzünde 200 türün ( bitki, kuş, hayvan, balık, amfibi, böcek, sürüngen ) varlığı ortadan kalkmış olacak. Ertesi gün bir 200 tür daha sonsuza kadar yok olmuş olacak.

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Life on Earth Is Dying
Robert J. Burrowes, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 12 Dec 2016

The human onslaught to destroy life is unprecedented in Earth’s history. Planet Earth is now experiencing its sixth mass extinction event and Homo sapiens sapiens is the cause… One of the hidden tragedies of modern human existence is that we have been terrorized into believing that we are not personally responsible. And every time you decide to do nothing and to leave it to someone else, you demonstrate why no-one else should do anything either.

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Nonviolence for Brazilians: Suggested Direct Actions
Robert J. Burrowes, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 5 Dec 2016

As I see and read about the ongoing massive protests, as well as calls by prominent community leaders to mobilize in defense of your country’s democracy, I feel great hope for Brazil. Having been a nonviolent activist for many years, I would like to support Brazilian activists to develop a nonviolent strategy that will increase your chances of success.

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Seeking the True Path
Robert J. Burrowes, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 28 Nov 2016

One of the more subtle manifestations of the intimate link between (unconscious) human emotions and behaviour is illustrated by the simple concept of choice and how this is so often reduced to a dichotomy between two bad options. In such circumstances, most people choose whatever they consider to be ‘the lesser evil’.

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(Italiano) Una strategia nonviolenta per la liberazione della Siria
Robert J. Burrowes | Centro Studi Sereno Regis – TRANSCEND Media Service, 28 Nov 2016

All’inizio del 2011, mentre le Primavere Arabe si diffondevano nel Nord Africa e nel Medio Oriente, in Siria, sottoposta alla legge marziale dal 1963, piccoli gruppi di attivisti nonviolenti iniziarono a protestare contro la dittatura brutale di Bashar al-Assad e a chiedere riforme democratiche, il rilascio dei prigionieri politici, maggiori libertà, l’abolizione della legge d’emergenza e la fine della corruzione.

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A Nonviolent Strategy to Liberate Syria
Robert J. Burrowes, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 21 Nov 2016

It is the responsibility of the struggle’s strategic leadership to ensure that each of the strategic goals, which should be identified and prioritized according to their precise understanding of the circumstances in Syria, is being addressed. So here is a set of strategic goals to end the war in/on Syria.

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(Português) Carta Aberta aos Ativistas Brasileiros
Robert J. Burrowes, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 14 Nov 2016

A julgar pelos protestos que têm sido noticiados, bem como pelas mobilizações por influentes líderes comunitários em defesa da democracia, nutro grandes esperanças pelo Brasil. Tendo sido um ativista da não-violência por muitos anos, gostaria de oferecer o meu apoio para que os ativistas brasileiros possam desenvolver uma estratégia não-violenta que irá aumentar suas chances de sucesso.

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Punishment Is Violent and Counterproductive
Robert J. Burrowes, Ph. D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 31 Oct 2016

Next time you hear a public official, judge, terrorist or police officer promising ‘justice’ (that is, retribution), remember that you are listening to an emotionally damaged individual who suffered enormous violence as a child and internalized the delusional message that ‘punishment works’. You might also ponder how bad it could be if we didn’t require obedience and use punishment to get it, but loved and nurtured children, by listening to them deeply, to become the unique, enormously loving and powerful individuals for which evolution genetically programmed them.

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Nonviolence Charter: Progress Report #9 (Oct 2016)
Robert J. Burrowes, Anita McKone & Anahata Giri – TRANSCEND Media Service, 24 Oct 2016

This is the latest six-monthly report on progress in relation to ‘The People’s Charter to Create a Nonviolent World’ together with a sample of news about Charter signatories and organizations. Our collective effort to build a worldwide consensus against the use of violence in all contexts continues to make progress, even against rather overwhelming odds!

→ read full article

A Nonviolent Strategy to End the Climate Catastrophe
Robert J. Burrowes, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 17 Oct 2016

As the evidence mounts that we are fast approaching the final point-of-no-return beyond which it will be impossible to take sufficient effective action to prevent climate catastrophe – the evidence of ineffective official responses climbs too. So what are we to do?

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(Italiano) Gandhi: ‘La mia vita è il mio messaggio’
Robert J. Burrowes | Z Net Italy – TRANSCEND Media Service, 17 Oct 2016

La vita di Gandhi fu contrassegnata da molte citazioni memorabili, ma una che è meno nota è questa: “Non puoi mai sapere quali risultati produrranno le tue azioni, ma se non fai nulla non ci saranno risultati”. Fortunatamente ci sono molte persone impegnate che hanno identificato l’importanza di agire per por fine alla violenza nel nostro mondo.

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After the Coup: Nonviolent Strategic Actions for Brazilians
Robert J. Burrowes, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 10 Oct 2016

As I see and read about the ongoing massive protests, as well as calls by prominent community leaders to mobilize in defense of your country’s democracy, I feel great hope for Brazil. Having been a nonviolent activist for many years, I would like to support Brazilian activists to develop a nonviolent strategy that will increase your chances of success. Please read on.

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Gandhi: ‘My Life Is My Message’
Robert J. Burrowes, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 3 Oct 2016

Gandhi’s life was dotted with many memorable quotes but one that is less well known is this: ‘You may never know what results come of your actions but if you do nothing there will be no results’. Fortunately, there are many committed people who have identified the importance of taking action to end the violence in our world – whether it occurs in the home or on the street, in wars, as a result of economic exploitation or ecological destruction – and this includes the courageous people below.

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An Open Letter to the People of the United States: Election or Revolution?
Robert J. Burrowes, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 26 Sep 2016

To reiterate: I am not saying ‘Don’t vote and do nothing’ (as so many people do already). I am suggesting that you ponder the dysfunctionality of your society, do some research into the secretive ‘deep state’ (or military-industrial complex or power elite or the 1% or however you wish to describe it) that controls your ‘republic’ with its electoral system designed to delude you into believing that you have a say in governing your nation, and then consider how you want to engage politically and act in accord with your conscience in doing so.

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From a Nonviolent Strategist to Brazilian Activists: An Open Letter
Robert J. Burrowes, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 19 Sep 2016

As I see and read about the ongoing massive protests, as well as calls by prominent community leaders to mobilize in defense of your country’s democracy, I feel great hope for Brazil. Having been a nonviolent activist for many years, I would like to support Brazilian activists to develop a nonviolent strategy that will increase your chances of success. Please read on.

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An Open Letter to the People of Brazil
Robert J. Burrowes, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 5 Sep 2016

5 Sep 2016 – As I see and read about the ongoing massive protests, as well as calls by prominent community leaders to mobilize in defense of your country’s democracy, I feel great hope for Brazil. Having been a nonviolent activist for many years, I would like to support Brazilian activists to develop a nonviolent strategy that will increase your chances of success. Please read on.

→ read full article

Nonviolent Revolt in the Twenty-First Century
Robert J. Burrowes, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 29 Aug 2016

The incorrect attribution of Gandhi’s insights to others starts on page 3 of the book where Gene Sharp is credited with an ‘epiphany … that nonviolence should not be simply a moral code for a small group of true believers to live by’. But it is not exclusively the fault of the authors that they incorrectly attribute Sharp because Sharp himself claims credit for this insight and they cite his claim, from an interview conducted in 2003, on page 4.

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(Türk) İdeoloji ve din psikolojisi
Robert J. Burrowes, Ph. D. | Alternatif Siyaset – TRANSCEND Media Service, 15 Aug 2016

Yaşantımızı sürdürmek üzere günlük kararlarımızın alınmasında etkili ve dünyevi konularda da önem arz eden iki faktör; din ve ideolojidir.

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A Nonviolent Strategy to End War
Robert J. Burrowes, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 15 Aug 2016

There is a long history of anti-war and peace activism. Much of this activism has focused on ending a particular war, other at ending a particular aspect of war, such as the use of a type of weapon. Some of it has aimed to prevent a type of war, such as ‘aggressive war’ or nuclear war. For those activists who regard war as the scourge of human existence, however, ‘the holy grail’ has always been much deeper: to end war.

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The Psychology of Ideology and Religion
Robert J. Burrowes, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 1 Aug 2016

At the macro level, there are worldwide or regional ideologies such as capitalism, fascism, conservatism, communism, socialism, feminism, pacifism and environmentalism as well as religions including Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam and Judaism. There are also variations of these major ideologies and religions. But even at the micro level, the local service club, neighborhood charity and sporting club operates in accordance with an ideology or religion that is shared by its members too.

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The Delusion ‘I Am Not Responsible’
Robert J. Burrowes, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 18 Jul 2016

You might have had a good laugh at some of the examples above. The real challenge is to ask yourself this question: where do I evade responsibility? And to then ponder how you will take responsibility in future.

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Lament for Humanity: A 50 Year Reflection
Robert J. Burrowes, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 4 Jul 2016

Deeply affected by the death of my two uncles in World War II, on 1 July 1966, the 24th anniversary of the USS Sturgeon sinking of the Japanese prisoner-of-war ship Montevideo Maru which killed the man after whom I am named, I decided that I would devote my life to working out why human beings are violent and then developing a strategy to end it. Here is my report on 50 years of concerted effort to understand and end human violence.

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A Critique of Human Society since the Neolithic Revolution
Robert J. Burrowes, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 20 Jun 2016

There is a long history of social critics and progressive thinkers offering critiques of human society. While these and other critiques have much to offer, if we want to trace the origin of the dysfunctional and violent human behaviours that now threaten human extinction, I believe it is necessary to examine what has been happening since the Neolithic (agricultural) revolution some 12,000 years ago.

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(Italiano) Islamofobia: perché sono così tanti, così spaventati
Robert J. Burrowes, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 13 Jun 2016

Infatti ora, naturalmente, i musulmani sono l’obiettivo primario di questa paura e odio di se stessi proiettati, cosa che spiega la guerra dell’Occidente al Medio Oriente guidata dagli Stati Uniti. L’islamofobia quindi permette alle élite e ad altri di proiettare la loro paura e il loro odio per se stessi contro i musulmani, cosicché le élite possano poi cercare di distruggere questa paura e questo odio. Ovviamente, questo non può funzionare. Non si può distruggere la paura, sia propria che di chiunque altro. Si può tuttavia causare un danno eccezionale a coloro contro i quali sono proiettati la propria paura e il proprio odio per se stessi. Naturalmente, non c’è nulla di intelligente in questo processo.

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Islamophobia: Why Are So Many People So Frightened?
Robert J. Burrowes, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 6 Jun 2016

For now, of course, Muslims are the primary target for this projected fear and self-hatred, which accounts for the US-led western war on the Middle East. Islamophobia thus allows elites and others to project their fear and self-hatred onto Muslims so that elites can then seek to destroy this fear and self-hatred. Obviously, this cannot work. You cannot destroy fear, whether yours or that of anyone else. However, you can cause phenomenal damage to those onto whom your fear and self-hatred are projected. Of course, there is nothing intelligent about this process.

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A Friendly Critique of the Break Free Climate Actions
Robert J. Burrowes, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 23 May 2016

My friendly criticism is directed at those key organizers who planned the nonviolent actions without understanding how to make the commitment and courage of those who were mobilized have maximum strategic impact on the ongoing climate catastrophe.

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(Italiano) Una critica amichevole alle azioni per il clima
Robert J. Burrowes, Ph.D. | Centro Studi Sereno Regis - TRANSCEND Media Service, 23 May 2016

Ma le mie considerazioni, amichevolmente critiche, sono rivolte agli organizzatori principali, che hanno progettato quelle azioni nonviolente senza capire in che modo la dedizione e il coraggio delle persone che sono state coinvolte potessero avere il massimo impatto possibile.

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Why Set Up a Shell Company in Panama? The Psychology Driving Illicit Financial Flows
Robert J. Burrowes, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 16 May 2016

There is an important reason why wealthy individuals want to maximise their wealth and evade contributing to any country that gave them the opportunity to make this wealth. You might think that you know this reason too: greed. However, greed is a simplistic explanation that fails to explain, psychologically, why an individual might be greedy. So let me explain it now.

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Nonviolence Charter: Progress Report #8 (April 2016)
Robert J. Burrowes, Ph.D., Anita McKone and Anahata Giri – TRANSCEND Media Service, 18 Apr 2016

Here is the latest six-monthly report on progress in relation to ‘The People’s Charter to Create a Nonviolent World’ and a sample of news about Charter signatories. Building a worldwide consensus against the use of violence in all contexts is quite a challenge but we are making solid progress!

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Ending Human Violence Is a Task for Each of Us
Robert J. Burrowes, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 11 Apr 2016

Do you think that ending human violence is impossible? Do you believe that even aiming to do so is unrealistic? Well, you might be right. But you might also be interested to know that there are a lot of people around the world who are committed to trying. And, if you think the aim is worthwhile, you could be one of them.

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Understanding Self-Hatred in World Affairs
Robert J. Burrowes, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 21 Mar 2016

Conscious self-hatred is an intensely unpleasant feeling to experience and, consequently, people who feel self-hatred learn to fearfully and deeply suppress their awareness of it when they are very young. Having learned to do this, subsequent opportunities for this self-hatred to be felt are progressively more easily suppressed. I emphasise the word fearfully suppressed.

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An Open Letter to the People of West Papua
James Burrowes & Robert J. Burrowes, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 29 Feb 2016

We have recently been discussing your ongoing courageous struggle to liberate yourselves from more than 100 years of occupation, first by the Netherlands, briefly and brutally by Japan during World War II, and now by Indonesia. In that regard, we would each like to share a brief message with you, our friends from West Papua.

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Dispossessed in the Name of ‘Security’
Robert J. Burrowes, Ph. D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 1 Feb 2016

A new book, edited by Nick Buxton and Ben Hayes, both involved with The Transnational Institute, brings together a thoughtful collection of scholars, journalists and activists to explain the pre-eminence of the military and corporations in shaping the global response to the climate catastrophe as an ‘opportunity’.

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The Struggle for Merdeka in West Papua
Robert J. Burrowes, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 18 Jan 2016

In Jason MacLeod’s new book, Merdeka and the Morning Star: Civil Resistance in West Papua, the failure to develop a comprehensive strategy of any kind, violent or nonviolent, to liberate West Papua is overwhelmingly evident. And MacLeod does an excellent job of identifying why this has happened as he provides us with an overview of the history and geopolitical circumstances of the occupation of West Papua as well as a history of the resistance, both violent and nonviolent, to this occupation.

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Extinction is Forever
Robert J. Burrowes, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 14 Dec 2015

it is two things that drive species over the edge: our systematic destruction of land habitat – forests, grasslands, wetlands, peatlands, mangroves… – in our endless effort to capture more of the Earth’s wild places for human use (whether it be residential, commercial, mining, farming or military) and our destruction of waterways and the ocean habitat by dumping into them radioactive contaminants, carbon dioxide, a multitude of poisons and chemical pollutants, and even plastic.

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The Climate Talks in Paris Will Fail. Why?
Robert J. Burrowes, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 23 Nov 2015

As a nonviolent activist, I have never asked elites (or their governments and corporations) to change their behaviour. Instead, I have invited them to respond powerfully to circumstances that I create that compel change. If I invite others to participate in the action I am taking and enough do so, elites have no choice but to act as I prefer. Let me give some examples to explain this.

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Exposed by WikiLeaks: The US Empire According to Itself
Robert J. Burrowes, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 9 Nov 2015

In the book ‘The WikiLeaks Files: The World According to US Empire’ we are taken on a journey to understand just how the world works if we read the ‘top secret’ correspondence of those who regard themselves as our masters. Following a thoughtful contextual introduction by Julian Assange, our journey is guided by eighteen first-rate scholars who carefully explain the significance of a range of WikiLeaks-released documents in relation to the region of the world in which they specialize.

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Nonviolence Charter: Progress Report #7 (October 2015)
Robert J. Burrowes, Anita McKone and Anahata Giri – TRANSCEND Media Service, 19 Oct 2015

Dear fellow signatories of the Nonviolence Charter,
Here is the latest six-monthly report on progress in relation to ‘The People’s Charter to Create a Nonviolent World’ and a sample of news about, and reports of forthcoming events by, Charter signatories.

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Gandhi Jayanti, Gandhi’s Dream
Robert J. Burrowes, Ph. D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 5 Oct 2015

On behalf of those of us who struggle to honor Gandhi’s legacy to the world, I would like to wish Mohandas Karamchand (Mahatma) Gandhi ‘happy birthday!’ He was born on 2 October 1869. Gandhi’s dream of a world without violence might be fanciful. But, as John Lennon once sang, he is ‘not the only one’. Many of us share this dream. Are you a dreamer too?

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Disaster Capitalism: Outsourcing Violence and Exploitation
Robert J. Burrowes, Ph. D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 28 Sep 2015

In his just-released book, ‘Disaster Capitalism: Making a Killing out of Catastrophe’, Antony Loewenstein offers us a superb description of the diminishing power of national governments and international organisations as multinational corporations consolidate their control over the political and economic life of the planet.

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Elites Want More Refugees: Why?
Robert J. Burrowes, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 14 Sep 2015

Refugees are just one symptom of a deeper crisis. Moreover, like other symptoms of this deeper crisis, the global elite is happy to use this symptom to keep us utterly preoccupied; after all, the immediacy of the refugee problem is all too demanding of our attention and our compassion.

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The Psychology of Projection in Conflict
Robert J. Burrowes, Ph. D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 31 Aug 2015

Unfortunately, understanding the psychology of conflict is not easy and I would like to illustrate one significant problem in this regard and explain what we can do about it. That problem is what is often called ‘projection’ or ‘transference’ and it illustrates the importance of emotional, as distinct from intellectual, content in any conflict.

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Nobel Peace Laureates Endorse Violence
Robert J. Burrowes, Ph. D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 17 Aug 2015

In a recent letter to U.S. President Barack Obama, twelve Nobel Peace laureates declared their support for the long history of US elite violence against Native Americans and enslaved Africans, as well as the US imperial violence around the world that has butchered tens of millions of people over the past 200 years.

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Revolting World
Robert J. Burrowes, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 3 Aug 2015

‘The World Order and Revolution! Essays from the Resistance’ – Using a combination of political, legal and economic analyses [in their new book], Vltchek, Black and Koenig carefully strip away the façade that the corporate media presents to us, and which the imperial elite wants us to believe, so that we can see some of the ugly, underlying truth about our world.

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Most Attitudes and Beliefs are Outcomes of Fear
Robert J. Burrowes, Ph. D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 13 Jul 2015

I routinely come across efforts to change an individual’s attitude, belief and/or value by using education to teach the ‘right’ one. I would like to explain why education cannot achieve such a change, except in the most superficial of circumstances, as the evidence clearly demonstrates.

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Comforting a Baby Is Violent
Robert J. Burrowes, Ph. D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 29 Jun 2015

In essence, the expression of feelings is a vital means of communication, for babies, children and adults. Interfering with the expression of feelings, by comforting for example, simply destroys a means of communication and virtually guarantees a dysfunctional behavioural outcome.

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Exposing Lies, Telling the Truth
Robert J. Burrowes, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 15 Jun 2015

I have just read Andre Vltchek’s new book ‘Exposing Lies of the Empire’. I have one word to describe this book: Great. Superb. Excellent. Brilliant. [However,] Vltchek pays virtually no attention to the effectiveness of nonviolent strategy in resisting empire.

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Why Elites Love Drones
Robert J. Burrowes, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Serviver, 25 May 2015

The Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. once said: ‘The enemy is violence.’ But I believe the true enemy is our fear: the fear of nonviolently resisting violence, in all of its manifestations. Are you afraid?

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Peace Lessons: How to Reduce Violence
Robert J. Burrowes, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 11 May 2015

If you are interested in learning more about the meaning of, and the relationships among, direct, structural and cultural violence–particularly developed by Professor Johan Galtung–and how one peace studies scholar suggests we use the integrative power of nonviolence to address violence constructively, then I suggest you read the new book by historian, playwright and novelist Professor Timothy Braatz called ‘Peace Lessons’.

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Legacy of War
Robert J. Burrowes, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 27 Apr 2015

Sometimes when we reflect on war, we talk about sacrifice for a good cause. Other times, we talk about the cost, in lives or liberties lost. Occasionally, we talk about the horror. Sometimes we talk about the gains, nationally or internationally, for freedom and democracy. And rarely, we analyse the causes of war and lament that one day we might end it.

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Nonviolence Charter: Progress Report 6 (Apr 2015)
Robert J. Burrowes, Ph.D., Anita McKone and Anahata Giri – TRANSCEND Media Service, 20 Apr 2015

20 Apr 2015 – Here is the latest six-monthly report on progress in relation to ‘The People’s Charter to Create a Nonviolent World’ and a sample of news about, and reports of forthcoming events by, Charter signatories.

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Saving Passengers of the Good Ship Titan… Earth
Robert J. Burrowes, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 13 Apr 2015

So what can we learn from the sinking of the Titanic and its huge death toll that can help us to avert sinking the Good Ship Earth and killing off most, if not all, humans and many other species besides? Let me consider each item above in turn.

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Vykom: Strategic Nonviolent Action against Untouchability – A Review
Robert J. Burrowes, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 30 Mar 2015

King is well qualified to undertake this study of the previously neglected Vykom satyagraha. She participated in the civil rights movement in the United States in the 1960s led by the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr and has been a prominent scholar in the field of nonviolence ever since. Moreover, she is thorough, as the extensive footnotes in her book illustrate.

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Violence against Women: Why We Keep Getting it Wrong
Robert J. Burrowes, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 16 Mar 2015

So let me briefly explain the fundamental cause of violence in our world, including the cause of violence against women, and invite you to do something very personal and effective about it.

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