Nonviolence
January 31st, 2008 by I.C.
Sixty years after the passing of Mahatma Gandhi has witnessed the spread of war and greed to far reaches of the Earth. But it has also seen the spread of Gandhi’s ideals concerning nonviolence in ways that would have brought a shining grin to that great soul. In America, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., famously used Gandhi’s teachings to help end Jim Crow and bring Civil Rights to blacks one hundred years after the end of slavery; and in South Africa, Nelson Mandela used Gandhi’s teaching to help end apartheid.
We must never confuse nonviolence with capitulation or cowardice. Nonviolence is the exact opposite of such words. In the face of oppression, nonviolence does not yield; it resists — always — but instead of using the tools of the oppressor, nonviolence suggests that the more effective means of victory lies through other avenues.
In fact, it takes tremendous courage to employ nonviolence, and if nonviolence is not seen as effective today, it is because there are few who are courageous enough to wield it. The anonymous man in China standing in front of a line of tanks, the solidarity of a village in refusing to aid an attacking force, meeting the blows of the police baton in solidarity — who, in the coddled confines of the West could ever imagine that such tactics would ever be effective?
The courage of nonviolence comes from Truth. This is Truth with a capital T, Truth which understands that the power of freedom, peace and joy must always triumph over the power of oppression and tyranny. And it understands that one can never obtain one’s freedom using the weapons of the tyrant. To the extent victory is ever obtained through the use of violence, such victory will always be incomplete — by definition, violence must always breed more violence, more hatred, more sadness. In time, the violence of the past will lead to violence in the future. This is the way of things.
In contrast, victory secured through nonviolence is always complete and will end the cycle of violence permanently. When we consider places like India and South Africa — two countries mired in poverty, with a host of internal problems — we must nonetheless stand in awe of how so many with so little have been able to accomplish so much. If they are able to withstand the tremendous trials they face — trials that would be the end for many other nations — it is because they have been built on the foundation nonviolence.
The twenty first century, born in blood by the events of 9/11, will bear witness to many conflicts. Declining resources will lead to competition for what remains; meanwhile, the problems of climate change will strain the stamina of every country, big and small. Yet conflict does not necessarily mean more bloodshed. Those with the ability to see far can prepare themselves now and cultivate that courage which will enable them to lead others through the coming darkness to new terrains of peace and prosperity.
For so long, the great civilizations of this world have been caught in an endless whirlpool of violence — creating navies and armies to oppress and destroy wherever they are able. But there is another way, and there is hope that this world might finally lay aside these tools in favor of other ways of dealing with conflict.
It is telling that a solitary, diminutive man used the way of nonviolence and brought the greatest empire of the 19th and 20th centuries to its knees. This is the potential of nonviolence. This is not a thing of weakness, but a thing of illumination. No matter the technology of the oppressor, the caliber of the rifle, the tread of the tank or the gaze of the satellite, the wielder of nonviolence will always triumph. This is the lesson of Gandhi — and in time, it will be seen as the first tenet of a more enduring human consciousness.
