Nonviolent Communication is not a panacea that solves all problems—and yet, NVC has a critical role to play!

NVC is uniquely positioned to address extremism because it focuses on uncovering the unmet needs beneath human behaviors.

In NVC, every action is seen as an attempt to meet needs, whether security, significance, community, or something else.

By shifting the focus from judgment (“this person is dangerous”) to curiosity (“what needs are they trying to meet?”), NVC creates opportunities for understanding and constructive dialogue. …

At its heart, extremism often stems from unmet human needs. These could include needs for safety, belonging, meaning, purpose, autonomy, and/or significance.

(With regard to the last one, significance, I include it here both in the sense of mattering as well as in the sense of having power in your world. Many people have lost a sense of their needs mattering within social and political structures, as distinct from but often along with, a sense of powerlessness to address what is not working).

When these needs are persistently unfulfilled, individuals understandably give in to a temptation to meet them through rigid ideologies or groups that promise meaning, acceptance, or power.

When I say “understandably” it’s because…