The legacies of the world's most influential proponents of nonviolent social change, Mahatma Gandhi and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, live on through Cities4Peace. An initiative of the International Association for Human Values, Cities4Peace is a global initiative that helps cities improve their quality of life by actively promoting peace, compassion, and nonviolence. It does so through a series of intensive workshops that bring together groups of indivduals who have lived in conflict with one another.
Los Angeles is benefiting from its work. For example, from April to June 2019, the organization brought together LAPD officers, former gang members and community members for an eight week Nonviolence Ambassador Certification training program. For more on the impact of this program and others, click here.
Another initiative of Cities4Peace is a compelling and inspiring documentary, From India With Love. The film draws upon the inspiration of King and Gandhi. In 1959, King traveled to India to immerse himself more fully in Gandhian principles of social change through nonviolence. King went, he said, as a "pilgrim" not a "tourist".
Inspired King's journey, the film follows a diverse group of American victims of gang and gun violence as they embark on an epic experience. It showcases how the culture of India empowered the participants with tools, wisdom, and inspiration to find healing and solace.
After returning home from this transformational journey, the participants became Ambassadors of Nonviolence in their own communities.
Prepare to be inspired, encouraged, and energized.
