On Sunday, June 19th, ICNC welcomed 48 participants from over 35 different countries and kicked off the 11th annual ICNC Summer Institute at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. Renowned US Civil Rights strategist and professor Reverend James Lawson gave the keynote address to launch the Summer Institute, where he discussed the role of nonviolent struggle in challenging the future of violence:

“Because it’s important for civil resistancers to understand that there must be an implacable, steady, pragmatic criticism of violence in all of its different forms that we know of in the world today. If the 21st century is not to repeat the bad mistakes of the human family of the last four of five hundred years, then there must be some way that this violence is replaced. You may or not have thought about this, I don’t know, but you need to recognize that the future of violence does not offer much promise to the human family or any of your countries.”

On Wednesday, June 22nd, Rev. Lawson will be announcing the winners of the James Lawson Award for Outstanding Achievement in Nonviolent Conflict. You can follow the live stream of the award ceremony, which begins at 1:10pm ET.