Gandhi and Revolution by Devi Prasad

Author:Devi Prasad [Prasad, Devi]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Philosophy, Social Science, Political Science, History, General
ISBN: 9781000365832
Google: gucJEAAAQBAJ
Goodreads: 13711557
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Published: 2012-03-06T00:00:00+00:00

Use of Non-violent Methods

The conclusion we have to draw from these experiences is that in order to bring about a revolution in which today’s liberators will not become tomorrow’s oppressors, a new approach to social change has to be discovered. The new kind of revolution should progress towards a society in which there will be no place for any ‘Big Brother’, a society in which the freedom fighters refuse to kill or even inflict physical injury on the opponent — the oppressor. The example is that of the Indian freedom struggle against British rule. It was led by Gandhi after he had fought a successful fight against the apartheid laws in South Africa. Gandhi used non-violent methods, of which the weapons are non-cooperation and civil disobedience — in one word ‘satyagraha’, which means ‘fearless insistence on truth’. It is the same force which the Blacks of the United States used to regain their dignity and civil rights under the leadership of Martin Luther King. Although hundreds of examples can be given of successful non-violent actions in the past, these two, particularly the Indian example, are those in which masses of people took part. In India, the entire nation of four hundred million people compelled the British to withdraw unconditionally. I do recognise that such an achievement cannot be attributed to only a single factor; yet, there is not a shadow of doubt that it was the power of non-violence that was the most over-whelming factor in the overthrow of the British Raj.

Let us make it clear right at this point that non-violence is not preferable because we are afraid of violence and bloodshed. In fact, a true votary of non-violence knows that his or her method may be as uncomfortable and painful and may cause as much, if not more, repression and killing as a revolutionary struggle does with weapons. One who believes in non-violence as a weapon of the brave refuses to inflict injury on the other party, knowing very well that if blood is to be shed it would be his and not his opponent’s. We want to use non-violence because it seems to be the only known way by which we can hope to break the vicious cycle of today’s liberators becoming tomorrow’s oppressors.

A point that should be emphasised here is that non-violence is not a force that will continue working ‘forever’ once it is applied with success. The Indian example is an appropriate one in this context. We are often asked: ‘But what about India? Gandhi and his followers used non-violence to win independence. Now India has large armed forces, it has become a very violent society with gross poverty and injustices’. It is true that Indian society is as far away from non-violence as any other society in the world. In this context, we should note that despite Gandhi’s plans for building a free Indian society based on its non-violent traditions, the Congress leadership had told him and the country that they were accepting non-violence only as a tactic for the attainment of political freedom.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.