The Art of De-escalation: Practical Peacekeeping in the November 3rd Election Environment
Nationally-recognized trainer Michael Lazrus will provide BCD members with a condensed training and toolkit to use in working with ourselves and others in potentially conflictual public situations, as we prepare for the November 3 midterm election.
Highlights of the 75-minute program will include brief presentation; role-play-demos; reference tools: and Q & A.
This program is for BCD members only. Registration is required.
To Register, click on: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/ojc0iJo9ROmKinR8eWbXVA
Michael Lazrus has been an organizer, nonviolent activist, trainer, mentor, and peacekeeper since 1977. His work has spanned movements for civil rights, racial justice, peace, nuclear disarmament, Central American solidarity, economic justice, gender justice, and immigrant rights. Today, he is active in efforts to defend democratic rights and resist the abuses of state power, including organizing and leadership around ICE.
At the center of Michael’s work is a simple principle: deed before creed. For him, nonviolence is not simply a belief or a personal ethic. It is a practice, a discipline, and a way of exercising power. He has spent decades helping people translate their values into effective action while maintaining nonviolent discipline, human connection, and care for one another.
Michael is a certified Trainer of Trainers in nonviolent civil disobedience and direct action. He has trained activists and organizers in campaign strategy, direct action, civil disobedience, leadership, and the practical application of nonviolent principles. He is also an experienced peacekeeper and trainer in de-escalation, safety, and conflict intervention. He has organized and led rallies and demonstrations in Pennsylvania, New York, and Washington, DC, ranging from smaller community actions to events drawing more than 100,000 people. Most recently, he has been helping manage safety and peacekeeping for Indivisible events and actions.
His approach to organizing was deeply influenced by George Lakey, whose work helped Michael understand that effective movements are built not only through courage and conviction, but through preparation, strategy, leadership development, and the deliberate training of others. Michael has also drawn deeply from the teachings of Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., Gene Sharp, Erica Chenoweth, and Ram Dass, among others.
Over nearly five decades, Michael has worked across movements and generations, from the anti-nuclear and Central America movements of the 1970s and 1980s to contemporary struggles for racial justice, women’s rights, immigrant rights, and democracy. He has organized, trained, mentored, and worked alongside people from many different political, religious, and cultural traditions.
What has remained constant is his belief that movements become stronger when ordinary people discover their own capacity to lead. His particular commitment is to developing that capacity in others: helping people find their voice, understand their power, prepare for difficult moments, take care of one another, and become the next generation of leaders.
Michael brings to Buddhist engagement a lifetime of experience putting compassion, courage, nonviolence, and responsibility into practice. For him, engaged Buddhism is not a departure from spiritual practice. It is where practice meets the world.
