August 1, 2022
The Center for Nonviolence and Peace Studies at the University of Rhode Island (URI) congratulates Kazu Haga for winning our Nonviolence Trainer’s Award for August 2022. Kazu Haga is the founder of the East Point Peace Academy, a core member of the Ahimsa Collective, and the Fierce Vulnerability Network, which strives for racial healing and climate justice.
Based in Oakland, CA, Haga, and his organization, the East Point Peace Academy, have significantly contributed to positive social changes in the United States and other countries through peace education and nonviolent activism. His team has trained thousands of incarcerated people in California county jails and state prisons. By teaching Nonviolence, mindfulness, and peace, Haga helped improve the well-being and peaceful transformation of many incarcerated people, benefitting personal and social development.
Kazu Haga holds the highest Level 3 certification in Kingian Nonviolence and Conflict Reconciliation from the URI Center for Nonviolence and Peace Studies. He completed his Level 2 Advanced Leadership Training in Kingian Nonviolence in 2010 and Level 1 Training of Trainers in Kingian Nonviolence and Conflict Reconciliation in 2009 from the URI Center for Nonviolence and Peace Studies. Haga also received additional nonviolence teachings from Dr. Bernard Lafayette, Rev. James Lawson, and Joanna Macy. He spent a year studying Nonviolence and Buddhism while living in monasteries throughout South Asia and began a lifelong path in social justice work upon his return to the US.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “Nonviolence is a powerful and just weapon, which cuts without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it. It is a sword that heals.” Haga carries this wisdom in his heart and passionately applies the power of Nonviolence for individual and social healing with concrete results. He has been one of the main co-trainers for the Level 2 Advanced Leadership Training in Kingian Nonviolence at the URI Center for Nonviolence and Peace Studies.
In addition to many nonviolence workshops and training, Haga shares his Nonviolence experience and expertise through published articles and other forms of social communications. His recent book Healing Resistance: A Radically Different Response to Harm is widely praised for its accessibility, profundity, and practicality. This book has become a rich and indispensable resource for conscientious activists, faith leaders, restorative justice, and other practitioners interested in humanity and social goodness.
As a person, Haga is a courageous and compassionate friend and mentor to many people. His upcoming projects include more nonviolence training in prison systems, community workshops on Nonviolent Conflict Reconciliation, Dharma of Justice, and More than a Protest. Many people highly anticipate his forthcoming book Fierce Vulnerability, which brings a trauma healing lens to resistance work. Again, we sincerely congratulate Kazu Haga for winning this Nonviolence Trainer’s Award. To learn more and support his projects, please visit his organization’s website: https://www.eastpointpeace.org/