critical currents Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation Occasional Paper Series Camus and Gandhi Essays on Political Philosophy in Hammarskjöld’s Times no.3 April 2008 Beyond Diplomacy – Perspectives on Dag Hammarskjöld 1 critical currents no.3 April 2008 Camus and Gandhi Essays on Political Philosophy in Hammarskjöld’s Times Lou Marin Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation Uppsala 2008 The Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation pays tribute to the memory of the second Secretary-General of the UN by searching for and examining workable alternatives for a socially and economically just, ecologically sustainable, peaceful and secure world. Critical Currents is an In the spirit of Dag Hammarskjöld's Occasional Paper Series integrity, his readiness to challenge the published by the dominant powers and his passionate plea Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation. for the sovereignty of small nations and It is also available online at their right to shape their own destiny, the www.dhf.uu.se. Foundation seeks to examine mainstream understanding of development and bring to Statements of fact or opinion the debate alternative perspectives of often are those of the authors and unheard voices. do not imply endorsement by the Foundation. By making possible the meeting of minds, Manuscripts for review experiences and perspectives through the should be sent to organising of seminars and dialogues, [email protected]. the Foundation plays a catalysing role in the identifi cation of new issues and Series editor: Henning Melber the formulation of new concepts, policy Language editor: Wendy Davies proposals, strategies and work plans towards Layout: Mattias Lasson solutions. The Foundation seeks to be at the Printed by X-O Graf Tryckeri AB cutting edge of the debates on development, ISSN 1654-4250 security and environment, thereby Copyright on the text is with the continuously embarking on new themes authors and the Foundation. in close collaboration with a wide and Copyright on pictures of Gandhi: constantly expanding international network. Vithalbhai Jhaveri/GandhiServe Contents Preface .........................................................................................................5 The Unknown Camus Albert Camus and the Impact of his Contributions as a Journalist to the Pacifi st, Anarchist and Syndicalist Press ......................................9 Gandhi - National Icon or Non-modern Radical? On the Legacy of the Life and Writings of M. K. Gandhi in India and the World ...................................................................... 23 Challenging the Warrior Culture Ashis Nandy’s The Intimate Enemy as a Classic Post-Colonial Study of M. K. Gandhi’s Non-Violent and Androgynous Anti-Colonialism ..................... 39 Preface This issue of Critical Currents is the result of Hammarskjöld had a very diff erent social the author’s three-month stay at the Dag background and never presented himself Hammarskjöld Centre in Uppsala between as a person guided by political convictions. July and September 2007. As a scholar in resi- Instead he cherished the concept of a me- dence, he used the creative period to com- ticulous international civil servant abstaining plete the fundamental introductory chapter to from daily party politics. His fundamental his German translation of a groundbreaking values and principles, however, which pro- work by Ashis Nandy1 and furthermore draft- vided him with guidance throughout his ed the three essays presented in this volume. life, were anything but remote from those of Gandhi and Camus. Although he almost cer- These highlight in diff erent ways aspects of a tainly disagreed fundamentally with the lat- political philosophy that remains a meaning- ter’s existentialism, which was devoid of any ful discourse today. At the same time, the con- religious spirituality, he shared Camus’ strong temporary thinking of both Mahatma Gan- moral integrity and uncompromising loyalty dhi and Albert Camus as presented in these to fundamentally humanist principles. essays – while inspired by diff erent points of departure and political practices – relates to It is striking that Hammarskjöld – who was some of the more substantive political-phil- extraordinarily conversant with philosophy osophical elements guiding Dag Hammar- and the arts, in particular creative writing skjöld’s perspectives and commitments, even – hardly ever acknowledged the work of though the parallels might not be immediate- Camus. The reason for this might lie not ly visible. There are no direct (in the sense of only in the fundamental diff erences over re- explicit) links that can be identifi ed between ligion, but also in Hammarskjöld’s relentless the articulated views of Mahatma Gandhi campaigning for the French diplomat Alexis (1869-1948), Albert Camus (1913-1960) and Leger (who published his poetry as St. John Dag Hammarskjöld (1905-1961). But when Perse) as a Nobel Prize Laureate for litera- one takes note of their postulates with regard ture. This ultimate honour was bestowed to a true humanism, they are at times surpris- upon Albert Camus before Hammarsköld’s ingly close to each other.2 declared favourite, which was certainly not a decision that Hammarskjöld himself – as a 1 Ashis Nandy, The Intimate Enemy – Loss and Recovery member of the Swedish Academy – would of Self Under Colonialism. Oxford: Oxford University had opted for. On the other hand, as strik- Press 1984 (in German as Der Intimfeind. Verlust und ingly, Gandhi’s visions did not seem to play Wiederaneignung der Persönlichkeit im Kolonialismus. Nettersheim: Verlag Graswurzelrevolution 2008; any prominent role in Hammarskjöld’s translated and with an introduction by Lou Marin: views either, even though he had a great in- ‘Einleitung: Zur Rezeption von M.K. Gandhis lib- terest in India’s cultures and religions. ertärem Anti-Kolonialismus’, pp. 7-62). 2 As a banality, one only needs to ‘google’ the three names together. The result is an astonishingly wide Before Dag Hammarskjöld became the panorama of collected words of wisdom, which all United Nations’ second Secretary-General, off er quotes from the three men (and especially from Camus and Hammarskjöld) on related issues. Gandhi after landing at Folkestone (UK), 12 September 1931. Camus and Gandhi – Essays on Contemporary Political Philosophy in Hammarskjöld’s Times 5 Camus had already been publicly critical of Camus would not be fully recognised for the shortcomings of the United Nations Sys- his radically anti-violent and truly humanist tem, which he had welcomed when it was stance without the careful exploratory work established among the ruins of war-bombed of the likes of Lou Marin.4 Europe. As a follower of cosmopolitan ideas he was a supporter of the World Citizen After World War II the shocking truth about Movement and observed with reservations the forms of mass violence and the devastat- the all too obvious limitations of the state- ing impact it had – also on its survivors – centred new world body and emerging gradually emerged. It showed what human global order. Sensitised among other things beings and organised violence on the part of by the violence of the Spanish civil war, he states can do to other human beings both in refused in 1952 to remain personally affi li- the Holocaust and the Gulag, but also else- ated to UNESCO after it accepted Franco’s where and under other circumstances. Gan- Spain as a member state. dhi and Camus personifi ed in their particu- lar, individual ways the alternatives to the Gandhi and Camus both occupied positions deadly and devastating logic of violence and as practical as well as theoretical proponents counter-violence, which destroys and dehu- of a new historical phase after World War II manises. They resisted the pragmatism of a and before the international revolutionary ruthless utopian notion that those who want spirit of the students’ movement that emerged to change the world for the better have to some two decades later, culminating in the accept that this necessarily entails sacrifi cing revolts of 1968. The impact both Gandhi and and compromising certain principles that are Camus had on the struggles for social eman- central to the humanist notion. Both refused cipation was not confi ned to their lifetime; to accept this kind of pseudo-revolutionary the inspiration their ideas and thoughts had dictum, which in their view was an excuse off ered since the mid-20th century also had for not taking up the true challenge: that of a signifi cant impact on the new social move- humanising the world without abandoning ments emerging after their deaths. or betraying fundamental love for people and respect for human dignity – in oneself and Both were at times grossly misinterpreted, others. They both in their diff erent ways, and perceptions of their posthumous rele- during diff erent times and in diff erent social vance changed with the diff erent readings and historical contexts showed that living of their positions. The essays in this volume according to these convictions can have a bring this forcefully to the fore, particularly real impact, and need not involve personal so in the case of Albert Camus. Criticised, or political compromise. ridiculed and denounced as a petty bour- 3 geois liberal humanist since the mid-1950s , 4 Cf. Lou Marin, Ursprung der Revolte: Albert Camus und der Anarchismus. Heidelberg: Verlag Graswur- zelrevolution 1998. See also Henning Melber, ‘“Die 3 It was in the main hall of Uppsala University (where Welt hat den Sinn, den man ihr gibt”. Das Herz als the annual Dag Hammarskjöld Lecture is delivered Mass aller Dinge: Albert Camus und die Men- these days) that in early December 1957 Camus – schlichkeit’. In: Ethnopsychoanalyse 7. Solidarität, In- after having received the Nobel Prize for Literature dividualität, Emanzipation. Edited by Roland Apsel. – came under heavy attack by the students in the Frankfurt/Main: Brandes&Apsel 2006, pp. 201-222. audience for his views on the anti-colonial war in Algeria and his eff orts to seek a solution beyond the destructive forms of mass violence. 6 Critical Currents no. 3 Mahatma Gandhi shaped a particular em- visible physical impact, which is at times at pathy related to the processes of decoloni- least as devastating.