A SPECIAL FREE TELECOUNCIL IN HONOR OF MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. AND THE OCCUPY MOVEMENT WITH INTERNATIONALLY RENOWNED FILMMAKER AND

Velcrow "Crow" Ripper on the ground at Occupy
MOVEON.ORG'S FEATURED OCCUPY DOCUMENTARIAN; OCCUPY LOVE'S VELCROW "CROW" RIPPER

DOCUMENTARY AT WWW.OCCUPYLOVE.ORG

Velcrow will share about the Occupy Love Movement and his first-hand experiences on the ground in NYC since the beginning of the Occupy Movement. He'll share his insights as a globally renowned documentarian as to the profound state of our world's possibility to shift into love and human-based systems. Join us Monday evening in honor of Martin Luther King Jr's life and conscience.

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that."
~ Martin Luther King Jr.

Today the Occupy Movement will be engaging in global actions centered around the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The heart of Dr. King's vision offers wonderful inspiration for the movement - one that is deeply rooted in love. King's approach to activism was all about "love in action."
The activists of the civil rights era faced incredible repression and brutality, yet remained firm in their conviction to love, their conviction to non-violence. This gave them tremendous "moral capital." Violence, as an activist tactic, very rarely is successful. It is speaking the language of the opressor, and they respond with even greater violence. But the images of loving activists in contrast to brutality, is poignant, moving and transformative. It opens the hearts of the undecided, and calls them to join in the quest for justice. Those who seek to undermine the Occupy Movement, or any activist movement, invariably point to acts of violence.
King taught that while legislative changes were important, such as desegregation (a focal point for the movement at that time), unless we also change our hearts and minds, we would end up with, "a society where men are physically desegregated and spiritually segregated, where elbows are together and hearts apart. It gives us social togetherness and spiritual apartness. It leaves us with a stagnant equality of sameness rather than a constructive equality of oneness." He beautifully said that, "we are tied together in the single garment of destiny, caught in an inescapable network of mutuality."

Dr. King's greatest vision was that the world would come together in a "Beloved Community." The civil rights movement represented an attempt to created that Beloved Community in microcosm. Today, within the Occupy Movement, we can also create this kind of community, founded on compassion, non-violence and mutuality. This is turn can help lead to the tipping point, towards that day when we are able to live in a world that works for everyone. King's profound dream was to enlarge "the concept of brotherhood to a vision of total interrelatedness." If he were alive today, I believe he would have recognized the incredible potential of this remarkable time in history.
By remaining firmly grounded in love, we are practicing "prefigurative politics." Instead of waiting for some far off dream of a peaceful, loving world, we are living it, right now, in real time. The principles of participatory democracy, central to the Occupy Movement, allow us to practice a world where everyone is important. Having a leaderless movement is also a radical step - we all are leaders today.

"Everybody can be great...because anybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace." -MLK, Jr.

Martin Luther King, Jr. is one of my deepest heroes. He faced insurmountable hatred, prejudice, and systemic challenge and yet the force within and through him of love made an indelible mark upon our world and collective heart. Likewise my friend and colleague Velcrow "Crow" Ripper has been around the world filming in the name of love and truth. See you tonight for this very special telecouncil!
TRIBUTE TO HERB BLAKE

The continuation of this series is dedicated to the memory and life of Herb Blake, former prisoner and advocate of Restorative Justice, and recent guest on this series. Bless your life-spark, Herb.

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JAMES O'DEA was Director of the Washington D.C. Office of James O'Dea, Former Director of Amnesty Int'l Washington DC Office, and Internationally renowned Peacebuilder Amnesty International for a decade, represented the US to the UN and is famous for challenging both former Presidents Clinton and Bush Sr. on their human rights records. O'Dea is an internationally renowned Peacebuilder and has teamed up with fellow leaders Arun Gandhi and Deepak Chopra for last summer's World Peace Festival in Berlin. He has an international student body from over 25 countries who participate in ongoing trainings and he is an author of multiple works including Creative Stress (2010) and the upcoming Cultivating Peace (Spring 2012). He has consulted with numerous governmental organizations and has led reconciliation talks in N. Ireland, Rwanda, Israel/Palestine and in the US. He is considered to be one of the most knowledgeable facilitators of peace and conflict resolution in our world. Recently he also began working directly with Law firms in the US and is co-hosting an Intensive for Lawyers in February 2012 with J. Kim Wright, "Lawyers as Agents of Evolutionary Change".

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FOCUS:
At the Heart of Justice: The Role of Spiral Dynamics and Beyond in Societal and Global Transformation

Dr.Don Beck brings a lifetime dedicated to societal healing and true justice. We'll engage him about his service in South Africa and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, his take on Prisons in the US and beyond and what he has done and has in the works to help reform them, and his profound theories and wisdom from research and experiences over 5 decades.

Don Beck has been developing, implementing, and teaching the evolutionary theory of Spiral Dynamics for more than three decades. Beck has elaborated upon the work of his mentor, Clare Graves, to develop a multidimensional model for understanding the evolutionary transformation of human values and cultures. As co-founder of the National Values Center in Denton, Texas, and CEO of the Spiral Dynamics Group, Inc., Beck is employing the Spiral Dynamics model to effect large-scale systems change in and among various sectors and societies of the world. He is the author of Spiral Dynamics: Mastering Values, Leadership & Change, written with Christopher Cowan in 1996.

Beck's long consulting career has taken him to such diverse settings as 10 Downing Street to consult with Tony Blair's Policy Unit; the south side of Chicago to address the problems faced by inner-city schools; the World Bank to consider the future of Afghanistan; and the boardrooms of major banks, energy companies, airlines, and government agencies. In his 63 trips to South Africa between 1981 and 1988, he had significant impact on political leaders, the business sector, religious leadership, and the general public in order to help bring about the peaceful transition from apartheid to democracy. Out of his experiences there, Beck wrote The Crucible: Forging South Africa's Future (1991) with Graham Linscott.

Before his work in South Africa, Beck taught for twenty years at the University of North Texas. There he was named Outstanding Professor in 1978, named Honor Professor in 1979, and listed as an "Outstanding Educator in America" in 1980. Beck has also been the team psychologist for The South African Springboks, winners of the 1995 Rugby World Cup, and has been associated with the Dallas Cowboys, New Orleans Saints, the Texas Rangers (baseball), and the U.S. Olympic Committee for Men's Track and Field. He writes a "sports values" column for the Dallas Morning News. He makes his home in Denton, Texas.

IMPORTANT LINKS TO DON'S WORK:
Center for Human Emergence: http://www.humanemergence.org
Spiral Dynamics website: http://www.spiraldynamics.net

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I have always admired Sarah for her dedication to giving the world an honest look at solutions and for her brilliant intellect as a writer, activist and beyond. To me she emulates and ignites the power of the media in changing our world, by committed and steadfast focus on vetting the solutions in action that are often not reported in "mainstream" corporate owned media. Sarah is editor of "This Changes Everything: Occupy Wall Street and the 99% Movement" and co-founder of YES! Magazine and YesMagazine.org.

This Changes Everything,
Edited by Sarah van Gelder and staff of YES!

YES! reframes today's crises, showing how a radically different approach can bring about a more just and sustainable world. Each issue highlights the leadership coming from grassroots communities, social movements, and activists who are building a future that can work for all.

Sarah has interviewed Pete Seeger, Winona LaDuke, George Shultz, Harry Belafonte, Vandana Shiva, Chris Hedges, Danny Glover, and many other known and unknown leaders who are working to create a better world.

In addition to her regular features in the printed magazine, Sarah blogs at www.yesmagazine.org/svgblog, lectures nationally and internationally, and interviews regularly on radio talk shows nationwide. YES! Website: http://www.yesmagazine.org

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by Sujatha Baliga January 10, 2012
When I got the call from Howard Zehr, I balked at the idea.

“In a capital case? He shot her in the head? No chance, Howard.”

Howard agreed, but encouraged me to speak with the young man’s mother and explain, from a restorative lawyer’s perspective, why it wouldn’t work.

Learn More

LEONARD SCHEFF is a practicing attorney in Tucson, Arizona -- and a practicing Zen Buddhist.

He created the Letting Go of Anger seminars and workshops with input by John Tarrant Roshi, and has taught them since 1993.

He has attended several of the public teachings by His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama including the four day workshop in Tucson in 1993, and a more recent 2003 teaching. He has participated in and led numerous Gestalt workshops. While Leonard's anger transformation seminar is based on Buddhism through the teachings of the Dalai Lama, he believes these same principles are universal in all spiritual traditions. Leonard is a graduate of the University of Arizona and Boalt School of Law at Berkeley. He has been a trial and transactional attorney in Tucson, Arizona, for more than fifty years. His primary area of practice has been in advising businesses dealing with complex real estate transactions. In addition, he has been active in litigation involving civil liberties and social justice.

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