Spiritually Grounded Activism (w/ Kazu Haga)

Wider Roots

“Can we actually lead with fierceness and the vulnerability of saying, I'm not here because I hate you. I'm actually here because I love you. I'm here because I love the sanctity of life and beauty, and those things are being destroyed all over our ecosystem.”

Check out the episode page for the transcript and a full list of the resources mentioned in this episode: https://widerroots.com/5

Today’s episode is with Kazu Haga, a nonviolence trainer in the lineage of Dr. King, based in Oakland who's been involved in social change movements since he was 17. He leads trainings for youth, incarcerated populations, and activists. He's the author of Healing Resistance: A Radically Different Response to Harm.

In this conversation, Kazu and I explore how to bring more spiritually grounded practice into our social change movements. I appreciated his invitation for us to think about how we can bring an energy of opening things up, even if outwardly we're doing direct actions that are shutting things down. He also shares his perspective that much of the injustice we witness is actually a manifestation of unhealed wounds, both at the individual level and the societal level. And I particularly loved the part of this conversation where we talked about leading from heartbreak and vulnerability as a way to create connection, especially during conflict.

Key moments

• 03:24 - Kazu's spiritual lineage and politicization through nonviolence
• 07:51 - Opening things up spiritually while shutting them down tactically
• 14:38 - Exploring trauma healing as a modality for social change
• 22:43 - The necessity of deep practice in movements
• 26:07 - Allowing messiness as we learn to hold conflict
• 33:56 - Breaking up with "cancel culture" and creating deep belonging
• 37:51 - We need skills to not only name harm, but repair it
• 46:45 - Embracing complexity over black-and-white thinking
• 50:08 - Anekāntavāda: Holding multiple truths
• 53:06 - Finding beauty in challenging times
• 54:55 - Nourishment: Hospicing Modernity & unplugged time

Resources & Links

• Healing Resistance (book by Kazu Haga)
• Fierce Vulnerability (upcoming book by Kazu Haga, scheduled for early 2025)
• A Force More Powerful (documentary about nonviolent movements)
• Ayni Institute
• Building Belonging (organization)
• Prentice Hemphill
• Hospicing Modernity (book)
• Movement Generation
• Thich Nhat Hanh
• Anekāntavāda: Holding multiple truths (principle form Jainism)
• Canticle Farm (community in Oakland)

Connect with Kazu

• KazuHaga.com (join his email list)

Other episodes you might like

• Ep. 2 - Making space for imperfection in activist spaces (w/ Mazin Jamal)

Follow the podcast

• WiderRoots.com - Join the newsletter for more resources on personal + systemic transformation
• @WiderRootsPod - Follow the podcast on Instagram to get a peek behind the scenes
• Leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts to help others find this show.
• Connect with Jeremy on his coaching website.

I’d love to hear how this episode resonated with you or any suggestions for future topics/guests. You can email me at [e-mail].