At the beginning of a new century marked already by war and seemingly intractable conflicts, it is more important than ever to listen to thinkers and leaders with historical knowledge, cultivated insight, and practical approaches to peace. We have invited four such people to Stanford for a symposium on ways and means to improve our prospects for a less threatening future at home and abroad.

If the last century saw escalating levels of social conflict, it also demonstrated the effectiveness of nonviolent responses to injustice in Russia, India, Denmark, Argentina, Chile, South Africa, Poland, the Philippines, Burma, Czechoslovakia, and the United States. Are we now able to identify key attitudes, strategies, and tested practices that may free us from the ongoing cycle of violence? This question will guide our discussions.

ARUN GANDHI
Arun Gandhi, the fifth grandson of India's late spiritual leader, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, was born in 1934 in Durban, South Africa. Lessons learned daily from his grandfather are recorded and discussed in his new book, Legacy of Love: My Education in the Path of Nonviolence. Gandhi appears at conferences and workshops throughout the United States, addressing issues of racism, nonviolence and international cooperation.

JAMES GILLIGAN
James Gilligan served on the faculty at Harvard Medical School for more than 25 years before taking his current position as the director for the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence at the University of Pennsylvania. Gilligan's books on violence, drawn from firsthand experience as a prison psychiatrist, lay the foundation for a complete re-thinking of the nature and meaning of violence in society.

FRANCES MOORE LAPPE

Frances Moore Lappé became a public figure upon the release of the now classic Diet for a Small Planet in 1971. Lappé, a sought-after public speaker, travels the world addressing the problems of hunger, sustainability, the environment, and human rights. In her latest book, You Have the Power: Choosing Courage in a Culture of Fear, she and co-author Jeffrey Perkins offer the radical notion that fear can actually be a precious resource that we can use to create the lives we want and the world we want.

MICHAEL NAGLER
Michael Nagler is professor emeritus of classics and comparative literature at the University of California, Berkeley, and co-founder of its Peace and Conflict Studies Program. He is the author of Is There No Other Way? The Search for a Nonviolent Future, which won an American Book Award in 2002.

MARK GONNERMAN (moderator)
This symposium was convened by Mark Gonnerman, director of the Aurora Forum. It comes at the conclusion of his Stanford Summer Session course, "Waging Peace: Gandhi, King, and the Politics of Resistance."