“Margaret Moore, left, and Asha Machala conducted a three-day workshop called Alternatives to Violence aong some peple familiar with it: inmates at the Monroe penitentiary.Kate Poss, staff photoWhy would two South Whidbey women want to travel to a men’s prison and work in a room full of convicted felons?For Margaret Moore and Asha Machala, the trip to the State Penitentiary in Monroe, Wash., is an opportunity to stem the tide of world violence by working with those who are no strangers to it.The two women are facilitators of the program Alternatives to Violence, a three-day intensive workshop that involves a series of structured experiences or exercises. Founded in 1975 in the wake of the Attica, N.Y. prison riots, Alternatives to Violence began in a prisoners’ think tank and is based on Quaker principles.The society we live in is one of the most violent in the world, according to the project’s precepts. The high level of violence among our people is in part a response to the violence embedded in our institutions and our values. Some people more than others are entrapped by this violence and find that it fills their lives with trouble.In Monroe, the only prison in Washington that runs the Alternatives to Violence workshops, Machala and Moore lead their captive audience–who voluntarily attend the workshops-in rounds of bump tag, clapping and singing to lighten the mood. Then they get down to the serious stuff.We cover themes of self-esteem, cooperation, conflict resolution, communication and community building, Moore said. We ask the men to put themselves in another’s shoes. And these are men who wouldn’t normally talk to another and open up. It’s powerful. The men spend time talking one on one.Like the mixed race football team in the popular film Remember the Titans, the men attending the Alternatives to Violence workshops are asked to get to know something about another inmate. This getting-acquainted process breaks down barriers, and when someone knows another it is harder to be violent toward that person, the women said.After each exercise, the men are asked to respond to questions such as How did you feel? How does this apply to your everyday life? Were you surprised? Would you do it differently if you weren’t in role play?Moore, who has taught the Alternatives to Violence program for the past nine years, said she is impressed by the powerful effects the program has both on her and on the men she works with. She became interested after hearing about the program from a good friend who worked in the prisons.Impressed by her friend=s enthusiasm for Alternatives to Violence, Machala, also a Southender, took a workshop and subsequent facilitator training and nowadays accompanies her friend four to five times a year to spend three days practicing non-violence via role plays and transforming power raps.The workshop takes place from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. each day, and includes 20 participants. These men are desperate for knowledge and this program is a place they can feel safe, Moore said. We’re two women in a room of 20 men, Machala said. We get down to deep emotion. I remember a role play where a man pulled a ‘gun’ on me in the form of a stapler. But at that moment…it was a gun to both of us.Moore added that the program’s appeal comes from the fact that she and Machala co-facilitate on a team with men within the prison system who have already gone through the program.Four or five are facilitators, she said. There are two of us from the outside and two or three men who have gone through the facilitation training. It is compelling to the other guys who think, Wow! So-and-So is trying this stuff and it’s working for him. Maybe I could too.’Moore and Machala said they want to host workshops on Whidbey to teach others about the Alternatives to Violence program. Though they would like to train others to work with prisoners in Monroe, the women believe the program’s practices extend beyond prison and could benefit the community as well. Some of the points covered in the Transforming Power Raps, which are used in the workshops, are published in the Alternatives to Violence Program Training Manual. The idea is to have one person lead off on the rap and encourage participants to tell their own stories, share their thoughts and ask questions. The point is not one of experts vs. non-experts. The point is to get one to open up. Some of the most notable premises are:*There is a power that is able to transform violent and destructive situations and behavior into liberating constructive experiences and cooperative behavior.*This power is always present-in one and in his/her opponent and it surrounds them both. It is able to work through people who are open to it. *The program asks participants to lay aside the assumption that violent or destructive solutions are the only ones possible; that one must believe that a win-win solution is possible and that one’s opponent, however hidden the motives, is willing to join in the solution.*Non-violence is NOT about passivity. On the contrary, it involves a respect for the worth of every person.*Non-violence is NOT submissiveness; it is NOT letting someone take advantage of you. Your rights are worthy of respect and you are entitled to assert them.*Non-violence is NOT martyrdom-it does not seek suffering. The choice is not between suffering and security; but rather between destructive and life-affirming actions and response. Alternatives to Violence workshops have spread beyond the United States to Europe and Croatia. Besides working well in prisons, they have been used in empowering battered women, in homeless shelters, in Red Cross emergency centers and with friends and families of prisoners. For more information call Margaret Moore at 321-5210. “