“I have been most impressed with the initiatives of Moji Agha,
especially as he has been developing the comprehensive [Intersectional] Circles Movement project [a.k.a. Circles of Nonviolence/Community Collaboratives Initiative] and with their efforts
to engage people to undertake the tasks that must be addressed with dedication and commitment if there are to be hopes of decent survival.
And I am pleased to endorse these very valuable policies and actions.”
~Professor Noam Chomsky, August 3, 2016
About Brother Moji
A retired mental health professional and university educator in psychology and related social sciences (including conflict resolution), brother Moji Agha (a Sufi “monk” or dervish—with a vow of service and poverty) left a promising career well over two decades ago, shifting his extensive education and experience to the healing of “Grandmother Earth.” He has had a four-decades-long professional, clinical, and academic background in behavioral, cultural (and ecological) studies and conflict understanding and healing. His peace, justice, human rights, democracy, interfaith dialogue, and Mother Earth activism has been endorsed by many legendary figures, such as Professors Noam Chomsky and Richard Falk.
For more detailed information on
brother Moji’s background, visit his biography page and also see PATH’s “Special Endorsements” page.
Peace And Truth Heals (PATH) Speaking Tour
Brother Moji Agha has distilled the essence of his (almost) five decades of scholarship and especially “civility” activism into the currently unfolding Peace and Truth Heals (PATH) initiative, which is an educational speaking tour (commencing in 2024) hosted by many civil society groups and open-minded spiritual congregations, fellowships, and churches (including Unitarian Universalist or UU) in the Western U.S. and Canada. In the presentations of this “peace pilgrim” journey, brother Moji will cover the three topics that are outlined in this introductory summary profile.
More Information: For more information and context about the PATH initiative, please visit this simple site — and in particular please note the two-part DIRECTORY section in its Home Page.
Contact/Hosting: For more details about PATH–and its related initiatives–and to discuss hosting brother Moji Agha’s offerings on this “intersectional” speaking tour, please email him at moji.agha@gmail.com. And about hosting, please notice the “Two Kinds of UU” section (for the UU congregations that may be interested in PATH) in the initiative’s above-linked Home Page — and also please note the “no honorarium” concluding paragraph, below.
Peace And Truth Heals (PATH) Speaking Tour:
Iranian Nonviolence (Un-demonization Clubs), Native/American Truth and Reconciliation (NATR Tents), and Intersectional Circles (Chambers of Compassion)
In this peace-building speaking tour, brother Moji offers the following three presentations:
The Basic (Main) Presentation.
Intended for the general community. This 2-hour talk and Q&A session is an overview of PATH’s three topics and goals outlined below, followed by an extensive discussion with the gathering’s physically present and Zoom audiences.
The Teach-in/Workshop Presentation.
This presentation is adapted to the needs of the “activist” community of any given area. In this 3-hour action-oriented gathering brother Moji will provide a more interactive and in-depth review of the tour’s three topics, with lots of examples.
The Sunday “Un-sermon” Presentation.
In these Sunday Service-type (Sufism-informed) “un-sermons” brother Moji will explore, in part from his own lived experiences, the spiritual and moral/ethical dimensions of nonviolent “civility” activism and sacrifice.
Topical Elements of PATH
Iranian Nonviolence.
Brother Moji will discuss the critical role indigenous nonviolence is playing in the struggle for peaceful change in Iran (especially among the youth) and how the nonviolent resistance of the Iranian civil society has patiently eroded the very legitimacy of a violent regime that claims to be “religious.” He will talk about how Iranian peace and nonviolence communities and leaders (a lot of them imprisoned such as Mostafa Tajzadeh and the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize winner, Ms. Narges Mohammadi) can still build connections and synergies with their North American counterparts, in order to support one another, hence preventing further violence among nations.
Goals:
- To reduce the level of systematic dehumanization and demonization of Iranians and Muslims in North America, by a) familiarizing the PATH speaking tour’s diverse audiences with the rich and ancient heritage of indigenous Iranian nonviolence, and b) by encouraging an “Un-demonization Club” to be formed in each community; and thus
- To help support or build the needed foundations for various forms of peace-building dialogue between Iranians (inside Iran, as possible) and North-Americans, as a non-colonial way of supporting the nonviolent civil society struggles of the Iranian people, who are seeking “good governance,” democracy, human rights, social justice, religious freedom, ecological preservation, etc.
Native American Truth and Reconciliation (NATR).
Brother Moji, who participated actively in the nonviolent Standing Rock “decolonization” uprising (Nov. to Dec. of 2016), will talk about the deep need for a genuine and comprehensive Native/American Truth and Reconciliation (NATR) nonviolent process. Thus, the NATR/PATH initiative believes, for obvious moral/ethical and historical reasons, that the initial impetus and demand for the herein envisioned “truth and reconciliation” (and healing) drive, should emerge from, and be substantively moved forward, by the morally sensitive “whites” especially in the U.S.
Such a comprehensive NATR movement would collaboratively develop a similar history-building “PATH” that the “white” South Africans (whose consciences were becoming increasingly awake) travelled, finally accepting the moral/ethical responsibility of saying NO to Apartheid (and gradual genocide) in action and policy. In this manner, white South Africans placed themselves in the forefront of the truth and reconciliation drive, stretching their pleading hands toward “blacks” (and other BIPOC civility actors) requesting their collaborative participation. It is in this way that such a glorious (and living) chapter in the civilizing history of nonviolence was written, through such a profoundly healing truth and reconciliation process.
Goals:
- To help solidify the understanding that the initial impetus and moral/ethical responsibility for such a genuine NATR drive should be moved forward by the “whites” (especially in the U.S.), who would then stretch their pleading hands toward the indigenous people of the continent, requesting their collaborative guidance and participation; and thus
- To help foster and build an effective nonviolent grassroots movement (by encouraging a “NATR Tent” to be formed in each community) that would demand, effectively, a genuine and comprehensive NATR process of authentic healing, obviously supporting the already existing “residential schools” truth and reconciliation foundations on both sides of the Canada-U.S. border; and
- To help facilitate effective cross-border collaboration, hopefully with the help of the interested Unitarian Universalist (UU) congregations in the U.S. and Canada, toward actualizing such a civilizing nonviolent grassroots NATR process and sustained organized movement, and thus, working for the realization of the in-depth healing of both the victims as well as the perpetrators.
Intersectional Circles (IC).
Brother Moji will discuss the systemic need for Intersectional Circles, that try to build, initially locally (and later on regionally, nationally, and eventually globally) an integrated “Chamber of Compassion” infrastructure for systemic collaboration across various community-rooted civil society causes and nonviolent struggles. Namely, such ICs will try to “defrag” our presently highly fragmented civil society–and community. Thus, persons and groups come together to form their local area’s Intersectional Circle (IC) in order to begin the process of realizing a diversity-preserving, not-for-profit nonviolent movement of movements, for an authentically sustainable, systemic transformational progress toward true civility on our deeply distressed Grandmother Earth.
Goals:
- To help build and foster the needed grassroots deep understanding for a critically important nonviolent “Chamber of Compassion” Intersectional Circles (IC) movement of movements; and
- To begin the hard journey to actually form as many effective ICs as possible (initially locally), in order to build and/or strengthen an integrated not-for-profit infrastructure for systemic collaboration across various community-rooted civil society causes and nonviolent struggles; and thus
- To help bring together systemically (while preserving and, indeed, enhancing diversity) our presently highly fragmented civil society, so that through such an effective IC / Chamber of Compassion, nonviolent movement of movements we can then help develop the badly needed “critical mass” for an authentically sustainable evolution toward true civility on our deeply distressed Grandmother Earth.
The Overall Organizing Objective of Path
Forming in each community the above-mentioned “Un-demonization Club” and “NATR Tent” which would then, hopefully, collaborate systematically within the area’s “Intersectional Circle/Chamber of Compassion.”
No Honorarium Required
Given brother Moji’s vow of service and poverty as a sufi “monk” or dervish, he would welcome home stays for his time on the road. He does not ask for an honorarium, but will gladly and gratefully accept “free-spirited” donations to cover his travel expenses on the PATH speaking tour. If/when such donations are made to help support this difficult peace-building effort, brother Moji would prefer a portion of such “civility-building” contributions to become a small revenue source, especially for the social justice components of the civil society groups and spiritually open-hearted congregations that host (or co-host) his various presentations on this “PATH” of the heart.