Date: 15/04/2008 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohandas_Karamchand_Gandhi In South Africa, Gandhi faced discrimination directed at Indians. Initially, he was thrown off a train at Pietermaritzburg, after refusing to move from the first class to a third class coach while holding a valid first class ticket.... Although the Quit India movement had moderate success in its objective, the ruthless suppression of the movement brought order to India by the end of 1943. At the end of the war, the British gave clear indications that power would be transferred to Indian hands. http://meaindia.nic.in/indiaperspective/2008/032008-8.pdf Mohandas was one of the select few Indians to know Great Britain very well, its customs and its laws, which will be of course a great asset when he had to fight against it. He never stopped calling for a nation that would turn its back on technology to prosper through village self-sufficiency, but not even the Mahatma could hold back progress.... In 1906, confronting a government move to fingerprint all Indians, Gandhi countered with a new idea — "passive resistance," securing political rights through personal suffering and the power of truth and love. http://www.answers.com/topic/mohandas-gandhi During these agitations Gandhi perfected the technique of non-violent protest that he was to use later in India.... This award led Gandhi to undertake a fast that led to the Poona Pact (1932) by which untouchable leaders renounced separate representation for remaining within the Hindu fold. http://www.calpeacepower.org/0202/pdf/PeacePower_0202_Complete.pdf Women in nonviolence.... People, it seems, are willing to consider the possibility that nonviolence offers a better remedy for the world’s ailments, yet remain wary of its true capacity for transformation. http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/time/1999/12/27/gandhi.html An aspirant to a godly life must observe the Hindu practice of Brahmacharya, or celibacy, as a means of self-control and a way to devote all energy to public service.... Those credos came together in the two principles that ruled his public life: what he called Satyagraha, the force of truth and love; and the ancient Hindu ideal of ahimsa, or nonviolence to all living things. http://www.enlightened-spirituality.org/Mahatma_Gandhi.html Twelfth, Gandhi understood these basic principles of truth and nonviolence not just as romantic ideals or pious platitudes, but as actual laws of the universe, with the same palpable hold as the law of gravity.... Society must naturally be based on truth and non-violence which, in my opinion, are not possible without a living belief in God, meaning a self-existent, all-knowing living Force. http://www.forusa.org/nonviolence/0900_73deats.html While "nonviolence is as old as the hills," as Gandhi said, it is in our century in which the philosophy and practice of nonviolence have grasped the human imagination. In an amazing and unexpected manner, as individuals, groups, and movements have developed creative, life-affirming ways to resolve conflict, overcome oppression, establish justice, protect the earth, and build democracy. More and more, active nonviolence is taking the center stage in the struggle for liberation among oppressed peoples across the world. http://www.globalexchange.org/countries/asia/india/IndiaCountryReader.pdf Our Human Rights Programs are divided into two areas: campaigns to monitor and report on human rights and elections in conflict areas and to support pro-democracy movements in those countries; and campaigns to improve relations between the U.S. and countries with whom we have been in conflict.... Our Fair Trade Program helps build economic justice from the bottom-up.... The program also educates first-world consumers about the social and environmental implications of their spending and about the importance of building a more just global economy. http://www.indianembassy.org/US_Media/2000/Gandhi_jan_01_2000.htm An aspirant to a godly life must observe the Hindu practice of Brahmacharya, or celibacy, as a means of self-control and a way to devote all energy to public service.... South Africa was dress rehearsal for Gandhi's great cause, independence for India. From the day he arrived back home at 45, he dedicated himself to "Hind swaraj," Indian self-rule. http://www.krf.se/download/global_spread.pdf The Global Spread of Active Nonviolence. Many, perhaps most, still do not recognize the significance of this development and persist in thinking that in the final analysis it is lethal force, or the threat of it, that is the decisive arbiter of human affairs. ... In an amazing and unexpected manner, as individuals, groups, and movements have developed creative, life-affirming ways to resolve conflict, overcome oppression, establish justice, protect the earth, and build democracy. http://www.lysistrataproject.org/nonviolence.htm When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, extreme materialism and militarism are incapable of being conquered.... Our government presses for war with Iraq, condemns our traditional allies, considers using tactical nuclear weapons, curtails our civil liberties, shreds our social services and offers the rich even more of the nation's wealth. http://www.mincava.umn.edu/documents/pnvcur7-12/pnvcur7-12.html After passing the entrance examination for Bombay University, Mohandas decided to study law in England. Gandhi's mother was loath to let him go, although the family was preparing Mohandas to take his father's ancestral job.... It said that peoples' hearts must first change in order for integration to work; that laws cannot change peoples' hearts and attitudes; and that the time was not yet ripe for integrating the races. http://www.mkgandhi.org/articles/Radhakrishnan.htm While the power of money was never under-estimated anywhere, never before in human history everything is being measured in terms of per capita income or GNP or the relative purchasing power or such other material considerations. ... No body seems to be worried about the terrific manner in which all aspects that sustain humanity and regulate growth and other issues receive scant attention from those who control our lives.... What Gandhi left is not a set of theoretical formulations, on the contrary, a carefully evolved vision of an organically sound and mutually supportive and respecting independent world order. http://www.moreorless.au.com/heroes/king.html "But you can win against an economic power structure when you have the economic power to make the difference between a merchant's profit and loss." ... "It is the method which seeks to implement the just law by appealing to the conscience of the great decent majority who through blindness, fear, pride, and irrationality have allowed their consciences to sleep." http://www.ploughshares.ca/libraries/monitor/monj97C.html The Gandhian and Kingian movements have provided a seed-bed for social ferment and revolutionary change across the planet, providing a mighty impetus for human and ecological transformation. Many, perhaps most, still do not recognize the significance of this development and persist in thinking that in the final analysis it is lethal force, or the threat of it, that is the decisive arbiter of human affairs. http://www.steinergraphics.com/pdf/bite_not_screen.pdf ‘BITE NOT ONE ANOTHER’ Selected Accounts of Nonviolent Struggle in Africa. http://www.unpo.org/downloads/nonviolencereport97.pdf It is with this conviction that I remain fully committed to the nonviolent Tibetan struggle for freedom and have been persuading my people not to abandon nonviolence as the appropriate form of struggle [Dalai Lama]. http://www.xavier.edu/peace/nonviole.htm It's a question of risking your life. It's a question of living your life in drastically different ways." Dorothy Day knew that war and violence was not the answer and dedicated her life to radical change in a non-violent way. Dorothy followed "the little way" of St. Therese of Lisieux, loving those close to us in daily life, but also the big way of struggle against economic violence and war. | ||||||