I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary. The evil it does is permanent
Mahatma Gandhi
In the face of growing violence and chaos in the world, reliving Gandhian principles surely seems out of place. Yet, time and again, we have witnessed world leaders invoke Gandhi and endorse his philosophy of non-violence. The latest in the long list of such leaders is Prince Turki Al-Faisal, Saudi Arabia’s former intelligence head. Recently, while delivering a lecture at the Baker Institute for Public Policy at Rice University in Houston, US, he said:
All militarily occupied people have a right to resist their occupation, even militarily. I prefer the other option: civil insurrection and disobedience. It brought down the British Empire in India and the Soviet Empire in Eastern Europe.
This brings the question of relevance of the Gandhian philosophy of non-violence in the current political scenario back into the limelight.
We live in a world racked by chaos and conflict. It could be a conflict of interests or ideology; it could be a fight for independence; it could be a war against poverty and disease; or, for that matter, it could be a struggle for equality. Every country seems to be embroiled in some conflict or the other and the outcome is almost the same: a war-ravaged Syria, a devastated Gaza, or a war-torn Columbia.
Many human lives have been lost, many more are on the verge of getting extinguished due to war, hunger or disease. But, in the race for greater authority, perhaps, the heaviest price is paid by children who are left with nothing, neither a secure present nor a protected future.
The Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights website reports it monitors well over a hundred armed conflicts in different parts of the world and provides information about the latest development and applicable international law.
But why has Gandhi become relevant now?
There are three crucial aspects of the Gandhian philosophy that make it relevant to the world political order today.
At the core of his philosophy is, besides truth and non-violence, altruism. A society can progress only when all its stakeholders work in tandem. This applies at the global level too, considering that the world is getting increasingly smaller. In essence, it means keeping others’ well being and happiness above one’s own needs. This is one way of reaching a fruitful solution to the conflicts facing the human race.
Gandhi criticized modern Western civilization because of two primary reasons: first, it promoted individualism; and second, it was gravitating towards materialism. Perhaps he had foreseen the fallout of such a society, one that we are witnessing now, where the gap between the haves and the have nots has been steadily increasing. And as we move towards hyper consumerism, the problem of unequal distribution of wealth has taken a gigantic form, and it comes with its own set of problems.
Another important aspect that makes Gandhi as relevant today as he was 76 years back is his concept of non-violence. He showed the world that peaceful resistance to unjust laws and authoritarianism could be successful and much less damaging than the violent one. India’s struggle for independence is a fine example of that and probably the only (almost) bloodless war in the history of the modern world. From Nelson Mandela to Martin Luther King, James Lawson, El Gore and Barack Obama, there is no dearth of leaders who were inspired and influenced by Gandhi and his philosophy of non-violence.
Finally, the most crucial aspect of the Gandhian philosophy, considering the current world political situation, is religious tolerance.
Once one assumes an attitude of intolerance, there is no knowing where it will take one. Intolerance, someone has said, is violence to the intellect and hatred is violence to the heart,
he said in one of his public addresses. His words ring true when we look at the massive destruction around us.
Religious intolerance has been on the rise everywhere. At the very core of Israel-Hamas conflict is religious intolerance and it has polarised the world into two groups: Islamic and non-Islamic. As nationalism takes the form of religious identities resulting in unabated violence, the need for religious tolerance has become imperative. It is the key to world peace today.
On January 30, we will be observing the 76th death anniversary of the Mahatma. While the threat of a nuclear war looms large over the world, it is perhaps time to ponder over his teachings once more: see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil.
- Image Prince Turki Al-Faisal: Marc Müller, CC BY 3.0 DE, via Wikimedia Commons ↩︎
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