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On April 11-13, 2008 Garrison Institute's Initiative on Transformational Ecology kicked off its Satyagraha Project, an exploration of Mahatma Gandhi's concept of nonviolent struggle, satyagraha or "truth force," part of lineage of thought which also included of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau and Martin Luther King, Jr., in the new context of climate change and the deep social and environmental changes we must make in our time.

Garrison Institute Satyagraha Project events included a retreat and a free, public event April 13 at the Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine in New York City, which featured Rajmohan Gandhi, Gandhi's biographer and grandson, performances by Philip Glass, Dr. A. T. Ariyaratne, founder of Sri Lanka's Sarvodaya movement; Sulak Sivaraksa, founder of the Thailand Spirit in Education Movement, and other distinguished participants. See videos of Garrison Institute's Satyagraha Public Forum on YouTube.

These programs coincide with performances of Philip Glass's opera Satyagraha, at the New York Metropolitan Opera on April 11. This year, marking the 60th anniversary of Gandhi's assassination and the 40th anniversary of Dr. King's, many New York area organizations are presenting satyagraha-themed events in conjunction with the Satyagraha NYC Forum.

"We ought to have a mass movement around a carbon freeze; it's scalable from the individual level to the company, community, state, and national level. Gandhi used the word Satyagraha or "truth force." In American politics, there have been soaring moments throughout our history when the truth has swept aside entrenched power." - Al Gore, in a 2007 speech before the Sierra Club Forum
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