Reweaving Our Human Fabric: Working Together to Create a Nonviolent Future

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Reweaving Final front cover small

Imagine: A future world in which we all value people and life and participate in a flow of generosity. A world where sharing our gifts and the mundane tasks of life are both done with wholehearted willingness, free of coercion. A world where attending to everyone’s needs is the organizing principle.

Miki Kashtan weaves together vivid social science fiction stories that bring that world to life with compelling nonfiction about how to get there.

“Her matter-of-fact style in the stories makes what for most people is unimaginable seem what it should be – the norm.”
– Michael Nagler, peace scholar and author, The Nonviolence Handbook

 

Kashtan invites us to dream the future on a global scale and to bring this future into being by living and working for change as if that world already exists. In particular, her novel approach to dilemmas of leadership challenges us to align our use of power with our deepest longings and values.

Read three of the book’s “Wisdom Tales from the Future” here:

Collective Triage: a medic faces a problem: what does she do in a gift economy when medicines run short and children’s lives are at risk? (This page includes a short intro to the Tales as a whole).

It’s Water Again: a skilled facilitator has the unenviable task of trying to help Californians to work out who gets how much water, when they are divided on urban vs. rural interests.

What Can I Do?: a young man wrestles with what he’s going to do with his life, how he can be happy and useful.

Reviews

Tikkun magazine published 2 reviews of Reweaving Our Human Fabric in their Fall 2015 Issue:

Praise for Reweaving Our Human Fabric

(Brief excerpts. View all endorsements in full.)

“A potent dose of grounded idealism.”
– Ocean Robbins, CEO, The Food Revolution Network

“A vivid, practicable glimpse of what an ecological, nonviolent society could be.”
– Charles Eisenstein, author, Sacred Economics

“A roadmap to the world we can live in.… her thinking changed mine.”
– Shariff Abdullah, author, Creating a World That Works for All

“This brave and brilliant book brings me fresh insights into how to be a more effective and happier agent of change. I am particularly grateful for her stories from the future, showing ordinary people practicing the principles she teaches.”
– Joanna Macy, teacher-activist and author, Coming Back to Life

“I have never read a vision of possibility at once so intimate, articulate, wise, and immediately useful – a raw and powerful innovation in the lineage of Gandhi and Martin Luther King, a gift to us all.”
–Tom Atlee, founder, The Co-Intelligence Institute,

“If nonviolent movements adopted the insights contained in this volume, the world would be a better place for all.”
– Erica Chenoweth, co-author of Why Civil Resistance Works

“Kashtan shows how nonviolent social transformation is not only possible, but immensely appealing.”
– David Bollier, activist and author, Think Like a Commoner

“Miki Kashtan’s work is prophetic, passionate, precisely argued, and original. Read her.”
– Andrew Harvey, author, The Hope: a Guide to Sacred Activism

“This is a book that squarely addresses how to bring into being the lived experience of the positive social change that we all long for but often despair of creating.”
– Peter Gabel, law professor, therapist, author, The Bank Teller and Other Essays on the Politics of Meaning, editor-at-large of Tikkun

“One of the most engaging books I have read in a long time.”
– David Hartsough,  Director, PEACEWORKERS, co-founder, Nonviolent Peaceforce and author, Waging  Peace: Global Adventures of a Life-long Activist

“I dream about placing this book in the hands of every leader, so they can be nourished by the vision and the radically new tools that Miki provides.”
– Cindy Mercer, Co-Founder, Planet Heritage Foundation

“Miki Kashtan brings decades of patient, committed work to bear in this stunningly clear and honest book about how we can live now into the peaceful, respectful, everyone-counts future we want.
– Vicki Robin, co-author, Your Money or Your Life, author, Blessing the Hands that Feed Us

“Kashtan seems to go straight to the “big” questions I ask myself during moments of doubt and wonder.”
– Elaine Shpungin, Ph.D., Director, UIUC Psychological Services Center, Psychology Today Blogger

“Finishing this book, we each feel inspired and more empowered to step deeper into our roles in the restructuring of this global system – from an impersonal corporate profit driven machine to a system which attends to needs, human and nonhuman – starting locally.”
– Pancho Ramos and Adelaja Simon, Canticle Farm, Oakland, CA

“Even though many will say it is naive and wishful thinking, I would argue that this kind of wishful thinking is exactly what we need in the world today. After all, it is not impossible.”
– Harald Sandø, creator of the movie Waking Up

“Never have I been so challenged and so compelled by one piece of writing.”
– Sarah Belzile, CEO, Phoenix Coffee Company

“Thank you, Miki, for debunking the myths about power and NVC.”
– Lorraine Aguilar, Chief Engagement Officer, Working Harmony, Inc.

“Having seen Miki in action now for many months, I believe it can be done!”
– Bruce Peterson, presiding judge of Hennepin County, Minnesota, Drug Court, Co-Parent Court, and Homelessness Court

“From historical examples of nonviolent movements to fictional visions of what our future could be, from the personal to the global, this book provides a complete and holistic view of the nonviolent philosophy.”
– Kazu Haga, Kingian Nonviolence trainer based in Oakland, California.

“I experienced an energizing hope arise in me as I read Reweaving our Human Fabric.”
– Teresa Speakman, Communication Studies professor at Ohio University and compassionate communication consultant for organizations and individuals.

“With deep sadness, I told Miki that I think a book which portrays a thriving future without addressing very specific issues of climate and resources, and without recognizing how far we have already gone down the path of global catastrophe, is holding out false hopes. Then Miki did an amazing thing. She invited me to write a qualified endorsement, stating what I think is valuable about her book but also my reservations. ”
– Steven Wineman, Ed.D., author, The Politics of Human Services and Power-Under: Trauma and Nonviolent Social Change

” It’s a deep activism that is a prescription for this moment.”
– Matthew Albracht, Executive Vice President, Director of Programs and Communications, The Peace Alliance

“I am forever grateful to Miki Kashtan for putting this book and Spinning Threads of Radical Aliveness together for us to join the great journey of co-creating a world where everyone’s needs are considered with love and care.”
– Yumi Kikuchi, author/environmental health advocate, co-founder, Fukushima Kids Hawaii

“This book is honest. And I’m more honest with myself for having read it.”
– Jim Rough, author, Society’s Breakthrough! Releasing Essential Wisdom and Virtue in All the People; Founder and President, Dynamic Facilitation Associates

“This book is an inspirational guide, a love letter to a world in need.”
– Karen Murphy, Jesuit Volunteer Corps 2009-10; M.Div. student, Andover Newton Theological School, MA.

“I’m as inspired as always by Miki Kashtan’s words and work. Nurtured and curious about exploring ways to living together after reading her sharp book.”
– Liv Larsson, mediator and author, A Helping Hand and Anger, Guilt and Shame Reclaiming Power and Choice.

“A must-read for anyone interested in accelerating social change and social justice.”
– Marie R. Miyashiro, author, The Empathy Factor and co-author with Marshall Rosenberg of “Integrated Clarity: Energizing How We Talk and What We Talk About in Organizations” in The Change Handbook, 2nd Edition

“Miki takes us on a journey to discover how practical and powerful nonviolence is.”
– Mathis Wackernagel, Ph.D., President, Global Footprint Network