Non-Violent Struggles of the Twentieth Century
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Foreword Narayan Desai Chancellor, Gujarat Vidyapith, Ahmedabad I am happy to write a foreword for the set of papers written for an international workshop held in New Delhi on the theme of "Non-violent struggles of the Twentieth Century and their lessons for the Twenty-first Century" in the form of a well edited book, I venture to add a few lines of my own as a humble contribution. The twentieth century is known to be the most violent century witnessed in human history. It had two dreadful world wars; devastation of two cities by the use of nuclear bombs and hundreds of other wars in between World Wars and following them, leaving tens of millions dead and injured. The civilian victims outnumbered the military soldiers in these wars. The development of technology made our planet easier for communications and also more vulnerable. More and more people were exploited by fewer and fewer persons, dividing the world into two unequal halves of the favoured and the marginalized. Not only were human beings killed, but mother earth and its surrounding atmosphere were ruined. Nature, and its flora and fauna were treated mercilessly by men. The tragic division between the rulers and the ruled was sharper than ever before. The minorities and the poor were more unfortunate victims in this tragedy, and the women and the children among them the most severely affected. While science and technology advanced rapidly, the schism between the privileged and the deprived became wider and deeper, leaving several sections of society utterly destitute. The structural violence of the twentieth century was often more cold-bloodedly ruinous than overt violence. ii Non-violent Struggles of the Twentieth Century… But twentieth century, was at the same time a period of most innovative experiments of non-violent action. Never before in history had man defied violence so civilly and so successfully. Spectacular scenes of women in their thousands facing baton- charges smilingly; teenagers confronting bayonets with open chests, soldiers refusing to use force against peaceful protestors, thereby inviting punishment on themselves for disobeying military orders; young men and women approaching armoured cars and tanks cheerfully offering roses to aggressive soldiers, were witnessed during this century. There were scenes of people versus armies. Prisons swelled with thousands of Satyagrahis voluntarily courting jails. Century old law had to be dragged out of old records to indict men and women who openly defied the unjust laws, but who were willing to accept the sentences passed on them by loyal judges of the day. Millions of citizens crowded roads, buildings and harbours defying laws preventing the assembly of more than three persons. Punishments, convictions, imprisonments and tortures of various sorts became totally ineffective when people defied the oppressor with voluntary suffering. The families of those who accepted imprisonment were supported by unknown families sympathetic with their cause. When dictators ordered certain sections of the society to wear a particular coloured armbands when going out of their homes, with a view to distinguish them from others and insult or injure them for no fault of theirs excepting their religion, the rest of the population came out wearing similar armbands reducing the dictator's order to a ridiculous farce. Entire teaching staff of a whole nation refused to accept the curricula imposed by a conquering despot and willingly accepted the punishment for defying the authority, eventually putting the whole education apparatus to a standstill thus compelling the authority to revert to the original curricula. Peaceful citizens were soon rallying against roaring military and para-military personnel, drowning the din of their commands in the melody of prayerful spirituals or joyous songs of freedom and solidarity. Foreword iii The twentieth century witnessed the forces of life pitched against the forces of death, it was a war between two unequals often being one of the strong against the weak, the insolent against the meek, the wicked against the wretched, the exploiting few against the exploited many. It was in this atmosphere of apparent inequality that the seeds of peace were sown. On a soil littered with bodies of the injured, the diseased or the dead sprouted the plant of peace. Peace appeared in the form of absolute novel- kind of leadership which revolutionized the means of struggle. It appeared in the uprising of people hitherto unheard of. It appeared in the quake of the oppressed. It appeared in the form of eternal values like truth, love and compassion once again raising their heads after long periods of dormancy. Though evidently the most violent century in history, the twentieth century gave birth to hope for just and sustained peace. What were the reasons behind this change? There are a few that seem to be most evident:- a) The appearance of leaders who practiced what they preached. b) The clarity of mind among the leaders about the direct relationship between the ends and the means. c) Total lack of viability of violence and some viability of non- violence. d) Sufficient conscientization among the victims of violence to cast off their fear and inertia. iv Non-violent Struggles of the Twentieth Century… e) Release of waves of sympathy towards victims of injustice, oppression and exploitation in a world with much developed means of communication. Perhaps the greatest lesson that has to be learnt at the dawn of the twentyfirst century is as follows:- The world has learnt enough about the futility of violence, producing ever increasing counter-violence, but non-violence has yet to prove its practical efficacy in several spheres of life. The practicability of non-violence in many aspects of life is the great challenge that faces mankind today. Lessons from past experience have to be learnt and the knowledge thus acquired has to be applied to the changing circumstances. It appears that the first thing needed in the struggle against injustice, oppression and exploitation is the awareness of the masses regarding prevailing injustice. Conscientization of the oppressed is the first step that anyone concerned with peace and justice has to take. Making the affected people conscious about their conditions is only the beginning of this process. The general public around should also be made aware about the state of affairs. This helps a lot in creating waves of sympathy for the oppressed. Ideally, those responsible for the cause of injustice should also be made conscious about the truth of the situation. That is likely to change their attitude favourably, or at least, decrease the intensity of their opposition. There could be innumerable methods of conscientization. But, perhaps the best among them are person-to- person dialogue on one hand and people's active participation in the campaign on the other. The next step that could be taken after awakening the people may be to organize them. Truth and justice can be effective only when they are well organized, for ill organized or disorganized campaigns may be totally futile. Organization of non-violent Foreword v campaigns has to be developed not on the model of violent organizations, which generally are centralized and hierarchical in nature. It may be noted that breaking or bending centralized institutions is much easier for the tyrant than organizations with a wide base and whose members make their own independent decisions, rather than obeying orders from the top. While considering ways of struggle against injustice, it is of utmost importance to reflect about the question of ends and means. No method of violence could ever be beneficial to the oppressed people. The forces of death are much better equipped in arms, they have much more experiences of violence and they usually, are more trained. Violence becomes counter-productive when it generates more severe counter-violence. Violence has to be ruled out both from the practical point of view as well as a matter of principle. But training is as much needed for non-violent action as it is for violent action. This is a field which will have to be developed considerably during the twenty-first century. Non-violent action could both be positive and negative. They may be for reconstruction as well as resistance. Even as non- violent action tries to eliminate the evils of a system based on fear and greed, it can simultaneously try to build alternate models of society. Building alternate models may vary from place to place and from time to time. This would mean setting up centres or creating communities which would serve as models for a non-violent society. The members of these communities would share a common objective, they would work together for the realization of the objective and in doing so, they would enjoy and suffer together, caring for and sharing with each other. They would live together as un-labled human beings without any discrimination of caste, class, faith, colour or sex. One vital lesson that the twentieth century has to give is that of faith. Those who wish that the seeds of non-violence and peace sown in the twenty-first century grow into a great fructuous vi Non-violent Struggles of the Twentieth Century… tree must have faith in the goodness of human beings and in the future of mankind. In order to develop such deep faith the non- violent activist will have to cultivate faith first of all in her/himself. That will sustain her/him against all odds. Then he/she must have faith in her/his colleagues. That will be the foundation of the non- violent community. They must also have faith in the cause for which they are working. It perhaps goes without saying that nonviolent activist must have firm faith in their means.