|
628feb9
|
You see, love for the victim demanded struggle, while love for the opponent ruled out doing harm. But in fact, love for the opponent likewise demanded struggle. Why? Because by hurting others, the oppressor also hurts himself. Of course, the oppressor isn't likely to be aware of that. He may be thoroughly enjoying his power and wealth. But beneath all that, his injustice is cutting him off from his fellow humans and from his own deeper self..
|
|
|
Mark Shepard |
|
31fb6d7
|
I must warn you against the impression that mine is the final word on nonviolence. All I claim is that every experiment of mine has deepened my faith in nonviolence as the greatest force at the disposal of mankind.
|
|
|
Mark Shepard |
|
33ee509
|
Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's need, but not every man's greed. Gandhi
|
|
|
Mark Shepard |
|
72e74bc
|
Gandhi's most decisive influence on his opponents was more indirect than direct.
|
|
|
Mark Shepard |
|
746a966
|
Satyagraha was instead an instrument of unity.
|
|
|
Mark Shepard |
|
7beb2f2
|
Gandhi said that only people with a high regard for the law were qualified for civil disobedience.
|
|
|
Mark Shepard |
|
b9cc664
|
All my actions have their source in my inalienable love of humankind.
|
|
|
Mark Shepard |
|
be9b6b8
|
You don't always need friends. Sometimes it's enough to have a witness.
|
|
|
Thom Mark Shepard |
|
f7f8d35
|
Maybe the most amazing thing about Gandhi's nonviolent revolution is, not that the British left, but that they left as friends, and that Britain and India became partners in the British Commonwealth.
|
|
|
Mark Shepard |
|
2579a3f
|
When Satyagraha worked, both sides won.
|
|
|
Mark Shepard |
|
343969e
|
Gandhi believed that the means of struggle a people used would shape the society that grew out of the struggle.
|
|
|
Mark Shepard |
|
f3a680f
|
Former petroleum industry analyst Jan Lundberg puts it this way, "The nation and most of the rest of the world is chasing a technofix instead of adjusting to ecological/economic reality."
|
|
|
Mark Shepard |
|
7d7f01d
|
Gandhi said, "I believe that no government can exist for a single moment without the cooperation of the people, willing or forced, and if people suddenly withdraw their cooperation in every detail, the government will come to a standstill." That was Gandhi's concept of power--the one he's accused of not having. It's a hard one to grasp, for those used to seeing power in the barrel of a gun. Their filters do not pass it. And so they call Gan..
|
|
|
Mark Shepard |
|
ed193b5
|
Plants removing carbon from the air is, in fact, how the earth's vast coal deposits were formed.
|
|
|
Mark Shepard |
|
341c38e
|
Gandhi and followers break a law--politely. Public leader has them arrested, tried, put in prison. Gandhi and followers cheerfully accept it all. Members of the public are impressed by the protest, public sympathy is aroused for the protesters and their cause. Members of the public put pressure on public leader to negotiate with Gandhi. As cycles of civil disobedience recur, public pressure grows stronger. Finally, public leader gives in to..
|
|
|
Mark Shepard |
|
b309b82
|
Gandhi ruled out direct coercion, such as trying to physically block someone. Hostile language was banned. Destroying property was forbidden. Not even secrecy was allowed.
|
|
|
Mark Shepard |
|
d1b1b2a
|
Of course, noncooperation and civil disobedience overlapped. Noncooperation too was to be carried out in a "civil" manner. Here too, Gandhi's followers had to cheerfully face beating, imprisonment, confiscation of their property--and it was hoped that this willing suffering would cause a "change of heart."
|
|
|
Mark Shepard |
|
126c7ec
|
Gandhi saw that the power of any tyrant depends entirely on people being willing to obey. The tyrant may get people to obey by threatening to throw them in prison, or by holding guns to their heads. But the power still resides in the obedience, not in the prison or the guns.
|
|
|
Mark Shepard |
|
ab856ba
|
Nonviolent action, on the other hand, requires more patience because the action is less thrilling.
|
|
|
Mark Shepard |
|
e2ffd2a
|
Gandhi saw that the power of any tyrant depends entirely on people being willing to obey.
|
|
|
Mark Shepard |
|
07c1c8c
|
Gandhi was not talking about defeating or overthrowing anyone. Satyagraha--Gandhi's nonviolent action--was not a way for one group to seize what it wanted from another. It was not a weapon of class struggle, or of any other kind of division. Satyagraha was instead an instrument of unity. It was a way to remove injustice and restore social harmony, to the benefit of both sides.
|
|
|
Mark Shepard |
|
fab8560
|
Let me give a general description of what seems really to have happened when Gandhi and his followers committed civil disobedience: Gandhi and followers break a law--politely. Public leader has them arrested, tried, put in prison. Gandhi and followers cheerfully accept it all. Members of the public are impressed by the protest, public sympathy is aroused for the protesters and their cause. Members of the public put pressure on public leader..
|
|
|
Mark Shepard |
|
ff1dc50
|
Each of us too sees the world through our own "filter"--a filter made up of our assumptions, our motivations, and the categories we use to sort out and organize our experience. This filter determines how we see the world. When we come across something that doesn't match our assumptions, motivations, and categories, our filter blocks it out. It's not that we choose to reject it. Consciously, we don't even perceive it. Or else we perceive it ..
|
|
|
Mark Shepard |
|
145e8eb
|
you look closely at so-called popular liberation movements, you'll find that they're seldom started by the peasants or workers they're supposed to benefit. These armed struggles may gradually build wider support--but in almost every case, they're launched by students or other intellectuals in the name of the people.
|
|
|
Mark Shepard |
|
60c6099
|
People try nonviolence for a week, and when it 'doesn't work,' they go back to violence, which hasn't worked for centuries.
|
|
|
Mark Shepard |
|
b9222e8
|
Gandhi noted also that violent revolutions almost always end in repressive dictatorships. Once the rebel troops gain control, they naturally keep acting as they're used to--in other words, they start running the country like a military camp.
|
|
|
Mark Shepard |
|
6b80fec
|
Satyagraha--Gandhi's nonviolent action--was not a way for one group to seize what it wanted from another. It was not a weapon of class struggle, or of any other kind of division. Satyagraha was instead an instrument of unity. It was a way to remove injustice and restore social harmony, to the benefit of both sides.
|
|
|
Mark Shepard |
|
36959ac
|
Salvation will not come from the legislators. Salvation will not come from the military. If there is any salvation, it will come from the people. Jayaprakash Narayan
|
|
|
Mark Shepard |
|
7f69a24
|
almanacs
|
|
|
Mark Shepard |
|
b639f65
|
Gandhi called his overall method of nonviolent action Satyagraha. This translates roughly as "Truth-force."
|
|
|
Mark Shepard |
|
e47370a
|
Fearlessness is indispensable for the growth of the other noble qualities. How can one seek Truth, or cherish Love, without fearlessness?
|
|
|
Mark Shepard |
|
56cc5e7
|
Each of us too sees the world through our own "filter"--a filter made up of our assumptions, our motivations, and the categories we use to sort out and organize our experience. This filter determines how we see the world. When we come across something that doesn't match our assumptions, motivations, and categories, our filter blocks it out. It's not that we choose to reject it. Consciously, we don't even perceive it. Or else we perceive it ..
|
|
|
Mark Shepard |
|
23e9c4b
|
For example, say that a Third World country undergoes a spontaneous, country-wide, mass noncooperation campaign against its dictator, lasting weeks or even months. Tens of thousands march in the streets, newspapers and radio stations defy the censors, whole cities are shut down for days at a time as people go on strike. Noted citizens call for the dictator's resignation, no one follows his orders, he has completely lost control. Finally, fo..
|
|
|
Mark Shepard |
|
e324321
|
Other negative side-effects of violence come into view once the struggle comes to an end. For instance, violence generally leaves the two sides as long-standing enemies. Maybe the most amazing thing about Gandhi's nonviolent revolution is, not that the British left, but that they left as friends, and that Britain and India became partners in the British Commonwealth.
|
|
|
Mark Shepard |
|
3736ea4
|
Already legal and political moves are being made to drain the Great Lakes as a water supply for a thirsty western region.
|
|
|
Mark Shepard |
|
c2601ee
|
What is needed are ecosystems that are designed to produce our food, fuel, animal feed, medicine and fibers, and ecosystems that can do so without the use of fossil fuel technology, those that can tolerate extremes of weather and potentially changing climates, and that can thrive without supplemental irrigation from vulnerable and increasingly expensive public utilities.
|
|
|
Mark Shepard |
|
37cdad8
|
Other negative side-effects of violence come into view once the struggle comes to an end. For instance, violence generally leaves the two sides as long-standing enemies. Maybe the most amazing thing about Gandhi's nonviolent revolution is, not that the British left, but that they left as friends, and that Britain and India became partners in the British Commonwealth. Gandhi noted also that violent revolutions almost always end in repressive..
|
|
|
Mark Shepard |
|
06790cb
|
If exponents of armed struggle were less concerned with proving their manliness and more concerned with the welfare of the people they claim to stand up for, they might discover that nonviolent forms of struggle, everything considered, work better.
|
|
|
Mark Shepard |