page last updated 4-11-2014
About Pietro Ameglio
IF has committed to supporting the crucial work of Pietro Ameglio in promoting active nonviolence in Mexico. Pietro is one of the founders of the Peace and Justice Service (SERPAJ), a Latin American organization present in ten countries working principally with poor communities to promote nonviolent culture and struggle, human rights and peace education. He is the founder and member of the Gandhian Collective, "Thinking Out Loud" (SERPAJ-PICASO), that combines nonviolent direct action and statistical research, creating databases about social conflicts and militarization processes in México.
His broad range of experience in practicing nonviolent direct action includes protests outside of military bases (the first of their kind in Mexico); civil disobedience during a recent struggle in defense of the rights of street vendors in Cuernavaca; and a national ecological civil resistance struggle to save the Casino de la Selva park space in Cuernavaca in the face of a Costco construction project (2001-2004), resulting in his incarcerated as a prisoner of conscience. In conflict zones such as Bosnia (1993) and Chiapas (1994-2006), the actions included human rights denunciations, peace camps, peace cordons (protective accompaniment), solidarity caravans, among others.
In the spirit of Gandhian "constructive program" initiatives, Pietro collaborates with indigenous education promoters in the autonomous territories of Chiapas, to develop a curriculum that includes their cultural and artistic expressions as well as their history of social struggle. The curriculum is taught within the Zapatista autonomous school system. He also has been a popular educator in poor neighborhoods of Cuernavaca with adults, young people and children. He frequently gives public lectures, courses and workshops in México and other countries (Ecuador, Guatemala, Colombia and Spain) on nonviolence, peace education and pedagogical constructivism. He currently teaches a class on "Gandhism and Civil Resistance" in the Department of Philosophy and Letters of the UNAM (Mexican National Autonomous University).
A prolific writer on history, peace, conflict resolution and nonviolence, Pietro is the author of the book, Gandhi and civil disobedience: México Today (Plaza and Valdés, Mexico, 2002). He has contributed to several other books, and often writes for local and national newspapers and magazines. In 1991 he co-founded the ecumenical and nonviolence review, Ixtus. Spirit and Culture.
IF has committed to supporting the crucial work of Pietro Ameglio in promoting active nonviolence in Mexico. Pietro is one of the founders of the Peace and Justice Service (SERPAJ), a Latin American organization present in ten countries working principally with poor communities to promote nonviolent culture and struggle, human rights and peace education. He is the founder and member of the Gandhian Collective, "Thinking Out Loud" (SERPAJ-PICASO), that combines nonviolent direct action and statistical research, creating databases about social conflicts and militarization processes in México.
His broad range of experience in practicing nonviolent direct action includes protests outside of military bases (the first of their kind in Mexico); civil disobedience during a recent struggle in defense of the rights of street vendors in Cuernavaca; and a national ecological civil resistance struggle to save the Casino de la Selva park space in Cuernavaca in the face of a Costco construction project (2001-2004), resulting in his incarcerated as a prisoner of conscience. In conflict zones such as Bosnia (1993) and Chiapas (1994-2006), the actions included human rights denunciations, peace camps, peace cordons (protective accompaniment), solidarity caravans, among others.
In the spirit of Gandhian "constructive program" initiatives, Pietro collaborates with indigenous education promoters in the autonomous territories of Chiapas, to develop a curriculum that includes their cultural and artistic expressions as well as their history of social struggle. The curriculum is taught within the Zapatista autonomous school system. He also has been a popular educator in poor neighborhoods of Cuernavaca with adults, young people and children. He frequently gives public lectures, courses and workshops in México and other countries (Ecuador, Guatemala, Colombia and Spain) on nonviolence, peace education and pedagogical constructivism. He currently teaches a class on "Gandhism and Civil Resistance" in the Department of Philosophy and Letters of the UNAM (Mexican National Autonomous University).
A prolific writer on history, peace, conflict resolution and nonviolence, Pietro is the author of the book, Gandhi and civil disobedience: México Today (Plaza and Valdés, Mexico, 2002). He has contributed to several other books, and often writes for local and national newspapers and magazines. In 1991 he co-founded the ecumenical and nonviolence review, Ixtus. Spirit and Culture.