top of page

Mission Statement

We help foster a safe and peaceful environment during public demonstrations, exercising their First Amendment rights by de-escalating tensions, promoting dialogue, and ensuring street safety. We train individuals and groups on nonviolent intervention techniques and courageous, creative engagement. We educate about the principles and strategies of nonviolence to build a more just and peaceful world through action for social change while upholding core values of respect and human dignity for all.

Overview

​The Gandhi Team is an unincorporated, all-volunteer group of individuals engaged in three primary efforts which are offered free of charge: 

  • Hosting educational workshops and classes about nonviolence and nonviolent resistance to injustice.

  • Providing training in de-escalation techniques.

  • Serving as an official peace team at approved nonviolent actions hosted by other groups and organizations in San Jose, CA.

History

​The Gandhi Team was formed in 2017 by several peace and justice activists to educate about nonviolence and to promote commitment to nonviolence action and public safety at mass protests that followed the 2016 US presidential election.

image.png

We initially collaborated with the Women’s March movement by training over 1,000 individuals in nonviolence and de-escalation and forming a volunteer team of over 60 Gandhi Team Peace Ambassadors who serve at protests and rallies in the San Jose area.

 

For this work, we received received a commendation from San Jose City Council and Mayor Sam Liccardo. 

We continue to collaborate with a broad mix of political, labor, and faith-based groups through de-escalation training and peace team support.​

Team Leads

Joanna Thurmann headshot_edited.png

Joanna

Joanna bridges a career in technology with a commitment to social justice, especially those on the margins. Since 2007, she helped lead service and solidarity trips to Tijuana, Mexico. She ministers to the unhoused and teaches at the Institute for Leadership in Ministry. She is an advanced lay leader in the Diocese of San Jose and holds an MA in Pastoral Ministries from Santa Clara University. She co-founded the Gandhi Team in 2016.

Chris_edited.png

Chris

Chris works in technology, sings, and serves as a peace ambassador.

Fresca_edited.png

Francesca

Francesca is an Unhoused Advocate. She provides food, clothing, tents, and housing search assistance to the unhoused in San Jose.

Lori_edited_edited.png

Lori

Lori retired from public school teaching (Masters in Curriculum and Instruction) in 2020 but stays active with tutoring, substitute teaching, leading history trips to DC and NY, and resisting. She has participated with the Gandhi Nonviolence group since 2017 at the first Women's March, and she is active in a local Indivisible Group.

stan_edited_edited.png

Stan

Stan is an activist working for peace, nonviolence, and social justice. After 6 years in a Catholic seminary, he enlisted in the Navy. That began his journey to nonviolence and a rejection of war. He served as a co-coordinator for Vietnam Veterans Against the War, later discovered Pax Christi, the Catholic peace and nonviolence movement, served on the Interfaith Council on Economics and Justice, and is a member of the Gandhi Team.

Clipped_image_20240201_201800.png

Andre

Andre has served as Peace Ambassador liaison with the Gandhi Team since 2018. He is also a glider pilot.

Lorin_edited.png

Lorin

Biography 

  • AB Physics, University of California, Berkeley 1965

  • Peace Corps, Thailand 1965-69

  • Married a Thai Catholic, chose to join her practice

  • Received a death threat 1968, which eventually led him to Gandhi,

  • And back to his father’s Mennonite roots

  • Taught physics at Bishop O’Dowd HS, Oakland, CA 1971–2001

  • Created and taught a course on war, peace and nonviolence 1972-2014

  • Still trying to save the United States 

  • Supporting the United Farm Workers 1970s

  • Working against nuclear weapons since 1972

  • Resisting war taxes since 1975

  • Studied nonviolence under Michael Nagler at UC Berkeley 2001-02

  • Began meditating September 11, 2001

  • Spent summers with Christian Peacemaker Teams, Palestine 2002-09

  • Teaches Gandhian nonviolence at the International Institute of Peace and Development Studies, Bangkok Thailand winters 2011-2019

  • Active with the Metta Center for Nonviolence Education,

  • And with Pax Christi Northern California

  • Steering committee forming a small UCP team to break a siege in Western Sahara

bottom of page