Spirituality and Political Commitment Notes on a Liberation Theology of Nonviolence

BELDEN CLANE Spirituality and Political Commitment Notes on a Liberation Theology of Nonviolence

In his new book Giving Up the Gun: pathos in the world around us (especially into lofty speculations. It forces the right Japan's Reversion to the Sword, 1543- in the third world). Spirituality and poli- si{ie of the brain into gear, seeking intu- 1879, Noel Perrin describes the decision of tical commitment can no longer be dis- itive, unconventional answers so that ac- the Japanese under the Tokugawa sho- joined. tion can be renewed with greater purpose. gunate not to use the firearms recently in- How, then, does one begin with Galilea The idea is nothing new. Impasse situa- troduced to their nation by the Portu- the task of "transforming contemplatives tions have long been viewed by visionaries guese. They based their decision not sim- into prophets and militants into mystics"? as creative junctures. St. James told his ply upon a national abhorrence of blood- Where do the two poles of action and.con- readers to "count it all joy when you meet shed, but rather upon the values tradition- templation come together? This article various trials" (1:2). But Christians have ally associated with tKe samurai warrior. will make an effort at proposing a model never taken that as seriously as they might The gun unfairly enabled any common for relating the two through an analysis of have; nor have they applied it sufficiently soldier to overcome all the prowess, learn- impasse situations and their resolution. to political realities. Ironically, we seldom ing and piety that constituted samurai Making use of change theory, Laingian are fully aware of the trials or impasses we spirituality. Hence, for 250 years Toku- psychoanalysis and the Zen conception of actually face. Therefore, we carry on with gawa Japan enjoyed peace without guns. the koan, it will suggest ways of rethinking the came hopeless activity and fail to re- By the end of that period, only scholars the Sermon on the Mount as a theology of flect on new alternatives long after the were still familiar with the words used to the unexpected, offering an appreciation need for change has become apparent. describe such weapons. Furthermore, the of the power of the paradoxical in behavr Particularly, we find ourselves amidst im- nation escaped invasion during that ioral change. Drawing upon the experi- passe situations formed by social and poli- period (at least in part) by hanging canvas ence of contemporary proponents of non- tical forces, and we view them with a murals along the seacoasts to frighten violence, it seeks, in other words, to un- passive sense of inevitability. They con- away enemy ships. On the murals were derstand anew, the words of Our Lord: tain no joy, offer no promise of paradox. painted large fortresses with threatening "Blessed are the meek, for they shall in- Instead of letting them take form before cannons atop their walls. herit the earth." us as thoroughgoing impasses, forcing to This delightful story from Asian history an end our habitual methods of acting, we raises important questions about the inter- Impasse Situations and Consciousness simply carry on with conventional solu- relationship between nonviolent liberating tions. Nowhere is this more dan^rous action and the creative revisioning of the Impasse situations are those intensely ir- than in our attitudes toward violence and world that occurs through spiritual reflec- ritable frustrations that we invariably seek its structures. tion. It lends itself to rethinking the classic to avoid, but which sometimes^because Dom Helder Cámara, Archbishop of tension between action and contempla- of their very difficulty—result in break- Recife and Olinda in Brazil, speaks out of tion, especially as it relates to political throughs of enormous creativity. They his third world experience of the deadly decision making. In a post-Puebla, mid- form a meeting place for the world of ac- impasse formed by the "spiral of vio- SALT II era, the need for an imaginative tivity and the world of refiection, the Tao-i mlençe>" This, he insists, is what most and liberating theology of nonviolence is ist yang and yin. On the one hand, in a ge- threatens our world today, primarily be- more prevalent than ever. And it can only nuine impasse every normal way of action cause we are unconscious of its operation. be discovered as praxis and meditation are is brought to a standstill. The left side of The spiral begins with what he calls vio- drawn inseparably together. Segundo the brain, with its usual application of lence number one, the injustice that is Galilea has urged that "as well as a theolo- conventional thinking, is ground to a halt. written into society and readily accepted gy, we need a spirituality of liberation." The impasse forces us to start all over by those in power'. It is an institutionalized Paradoxically, our lives require both the again, driving us to contemplation. On violence, often of the white-collar variety ap^theia of which the desert fathers wrote the other hand, the same impasse provides though seldom identified as such. But it (a spiritual distance from our own suffer- a challenge and concrete focus for con- breeds an angry frustration among the op- ring) and a consciousness of the deepest templation, keeping it from evaporating pressed, which often breaks out into vio-

America/March 14,1981 197 lence number two, the violence of despair. of the decision not to avoid the impasse. Given the situation as so construed, one This, in turn, usually becomes an excuse Robert Pirsig, in Zen and the Art of becomes hopelessly lost within the tangles for the reaction of those in power and the Motorcycle Maintenance, describes the of such a bind. The more Jack tries to continuation of the spiral into violence same experience in terms of the concept of comfort Jill, the less she is comforted. But number three, the violence of backlash, or "stuckness." This is an impasse situation the very process of describing the impasse fascist violence, with its ersatz appeal to where, in his understanding, "classical situation in this way is itself therapeutic, law and order. Hence the impasse is thinking" breaks down and "romantic says Laing. It offers a way of recognizing brought to completion, with all its seem- thinking" has to struggle for a new focus. the conflict as a first step toward resolving ing inescapability. Each stage is a conven- He describes sitting along the highway one it. Again, conscientization (to use Freire's tional and predictable response to the one afternoon confronted with a screw that term) is the beginning of change. previous. sticks on the side cover assembly of his As a way out of this spiral, Dom Helder stalled motorcycle. Experience in the past The Principle of Second Order Change looks to those Abrahamic minorities in has told him to apply force to a stuck screw. So he clamps the vice grips onto his the world who possess tremendous energy In each of the illustrations offered above, screwdriver, twists as hard as he can and in their "hope against hope." Daring to a genuine impasse situation is such that suddenly tears the slot right out of the imagine the impossible, they respond out the more action one applies to escape it, screw. Immediately he is caught in the of the full consciousness of their own suf- the worse it gets. Ordinary ways of pro- kind of impasse we all have experienced. fering within situations of violent im- ceeding fail directly in proportion to the His first inclination is to push the whole passe. Their consciousness then becomes intensity with which they are tried. The machine over the embankment on the side the key to identifying and awakening the only way to resolve the problem, there- of the road. But instead; he suggests that consciousness of all those involved di- fore, is to completely reframe the situa- now is the time to roll a cigarette, to sit rectly or indirectly in the formation of tion in one's mind, looking again at the back and to let the right side of the brain such conditions. With Paulo Freiré, he assumptions previously made about it and begin to wander. He thinks about the knows that only as people recognize the formulating altogether new plans for ac- screw not as an object to be moved, but as spiral of violence to be the impasse that it tion (or inaction). Three Stanford psychi- a set of functions of rigidness and ad- is can there be any hope of resolution. atrists have recently proposed a theory of hesiveness. This may lead him to thoughts Consciousness must always precede behaviord change designed to enable their of solvents or the use of a torch or drill. In change. clients to work through problems not fact, if he stayed at it long enough, he This .focus of consciousness directly readily solved by ordinary psychothera- might come up with a way of extracting upon impasse situations is an extremely pies. They offer a contrast between what screws never thought of before, some- important concept, finding parallels in they label as principles of first- and sec- thing patentable and able to make him a many other fields. A fascination with ond-order change; their conclusions speak millionaire. Such are the possibilities in- mind-boggling problems, for example, directly to the question of impasse situa- herent in cases of "stuckness." has deep roots in Zen Buddhist thought. tions and their resolution. In Zen meditation there is a deliberate R. D. Laing uses a different language First-order change, they suggest, is our concern to cultivate impasse situations as but suggests the same thing when he de- usual procedure for solving problems. a way of breaking through into new un- scribes the "knots" or paradoxical binds \yhen confronted with an obstacle, we derstandings or enlightenment. The Zen in which we sometimes get ourselves in in- generally resort to emphasizing its op- ko;\n serves precisely that purpose. A terpersonal relationships. In a genuine posite, opposing force with force. We master has his disciple intentionally stump knot there is no escape. Both parties are assume that when something is bad, then his mind on a question that defies rational trapped by their mutual misunderstanding its opposite has to be good. When resolu- explanation, such as the classic example, or the power they use against each other tion is not immediately forthcoming, our "What is the sound of one hand clap- or the games they can't help but play. Wit- response then is usually to double the in- ping?" After days, maybe even weeks of ness this exchange: tensity of our effort. Yet what often hap- intense concentration, the solution may pens is that the opposite becomes simply suddenly come to him unexpectedly, as a JILL: I am frightened. more of the same. The more Jack urges flash of insight, at the peak of this spirit- JACK: Don't be frightened. Jill not to be frightened, the more anxious ual tension. It results in a creative new JILL: I am frightened to be frightened she becomes. Genuine change, therefore, synthesis which would formerly have been ( when you tell me I ought not to only occurs through a second-order re- inconceivable. All this is possible because feel frightened. sponse, one which rethinks the solution previously tried and suggests something 'Ordinary ways of proceeding fail directly altogether unexpected. This quality of paradox is at the heart of second-order in proportion to the intensity with which they change. It requires a radical breaking out are tried; The only way to resolve the problem, of the conceptual blocks that normally therefore, is to completely reframe the situation limit our thinking. Paul Watzalawick, John Weakland and Richard Fisch begin . . . looking again at the assumptions previously their book Change: Principles of Problem made about it and formulating altogether new plans'. Formation and Probiem Resolution with a compelling illustration of this:

198 America/March 14,1981 "When in 1334 the Duchess of Tyrol, Margareta Maultasch, encircled the castle 'But the discovery of such solutions demands of Hochosterwitz in the province of Carinthia, she knew only too well that the a consistent eye for the unexpected, a keen taste fortress, situated on an incredibly steep for paradox. As Heraditus, that great student rock rising high above the valley floor, of change, understood, ''If you do not expect it, was impregnable to direct attack and would yield only to a long siege. In due you will not find the unexpected, course, the situation of the defenders for it is hard to find and difficult'' ' became critical: They were down to their last ox and had only two bags of barley about how little she knew. Maybe they hid sword and shouted at the top of his lungs: left. Margareta's situation was becoming behind the door before she came in, 'Mesdames, m'sieurs, I have orders to fire equally pressing, albeit for different waiting to see what ignorant thing she at the canaille. But as I see a great number reasons: Her troops were beginning to be might do next. And, of course, the ab- of honest, respectable citizens before me, I unruly, there seemed to be no end to the surdity of it all made us both laugh. There request that they leave so that I can safely siege in sight and she had similarly urgent is a refreshing quality about being able to shoot the canaille.' The square was empty military business elsewhere. At this point, imagine the worst in a situation, especially in a few minutes." the commandant of the castle decided on after one has been repeatedly told that she In the face of a hostile, violent crowd, a desperate course of action which to his has no reason whatever to fear. The ele- the commander refused to view the situa- men must have seemed sheer folly. He had ment of laughter, surprise, paradox is cen- tion as it had been framed for him by his the last ox slaughtered, had its abdominal tral here. The solution is so immediately superiors. Instead of pitting himself and cavity filled with the remaining barley and welcomed because of its sudden release of his men against the people, his redefini- ordered the carcass thrown down the steep pressure. tion of the impasse allowed him to iden- cliff onto a meadow in front of the enemy But the discovery of such solutions tify with them and still accomplish his camp. Upon receiving this scornful demands a consistent eye for the unex- task. message from above, the discouraged pected, a keen taste for paradox. As The question, of course, is how one de- duchess abandoned the siege and moved Heraclitus, that great student of change, velops this facility for recognizing new on." understood, "If you do not expect it, you possibilities in a world tragically lacking in will not find the unexpected, for it is hard second-order change. Is it possible to Had the commandant persisted in an to find and difficult." G.K. Chesterton prepare in advance for discovering the attempt at first-order change, he would speaks of St. Francis of Assisi as God's unexpected? In a sense, that is precisely have ordered a further cut in rations, hop- jester or tumbler—one who stands on his one of the byproducts of Christian spirit- ing to outlast the enemy by countering head for the pleasure of God, a fool for uality. Taking-time for refiection on the their siege. But his second-order response Christ's sake. The image is an apt one for character of the Christian faith reveals the was a stroke of genius, an absurd and those \yho would understand second- paradox that lies at its very heart. The wholly unexpected action that put the en- order change. By standing on his head, whole scandal of the Gospel is that it is not tire impasse into a new light. The duchess Francis sees the world in a new way, "with what people expect. "God chose what is departed, fully persuaded that the castle all the trees and towers hanging head foolish in the world to shame the wise and had food to last for months. downwards." The result is a new percep- . . . what is weak in the world to shame In such a way, second-order change re- tion of reality. "Instead of being merely the strong" (1 Cor. 1:27). At its best, defines one's conception of the impasse.' proud of his strong city because it would then, Christian contemplation leads to an Previous solutions are evaluated and at- not be moved, he would be thankful to appreciation of paradox. It is critical of tempts are made at doing less instead of God Almighty that it had not been action which has become conventional, more of the same. As a result, there is a dropped." He would be struck by the de- customary and merely traditional, and it lessening of the tension caused by oppo- pendence of all things upon God, the nurtures instead that action which pro- site joined against opposite. In the case of world for him would be reframed and vokes surprise, laughter, the joy of the Jack's efforts at easing Jill's fear, for ex- with divine absurdity he would embrace unexpected. Here then is an action-con- ample, he may have to choose a wholly poverty as his greatest joy. • • templation synthesis which is rooted in a different and unexpected approach. This One last illustration of this principle of celebrative theology of the unexpected. happened by accident in our home recent- second-order change, given by Watza- '¿I Its specific implications for political ly. My wife expressed fear about a gradu- lawick, Weakland and Fisch, will help to life, however, need to be drawn out more ate course in which she was involved, and indicate its particuleir application to im- carefully. How do action and contempla- my initial response was to follow exactly passe situations charged with violence: tion so conceived lend themselves to a lib- the'lines of the Ledngian knot, assuring, "During one of the many 19th-century erating theology of nonviolence? Can the her that she had nothing to be afraid of. riots in Paris, the commander of an army element of surprise or paradox be applied But on later reflection (as this obviously detachment received orders to clear a city to sociopolitical impasses, for example, in did nothing to help), I suggested that square by firing at the canaille. He com- a way similar to the philosophy and tech- maybe she really did have reason to fear. manded his soldiers to take up firing posi- nique of judo? Instead of opposing the Maybe the professor and other students in tions, their rifles leveled at the crowd, and opponent's thrust with a counterthrust, is the class were secretly laughing together as a ghastly silence descended he drew his it possible to find ways of yielding to the

America/March 14,1981 199 initial force, disarming the opponent by collapse by the pressure constantly to pro- on seeing both parties within a conflict as one's nonresistance, and thus creating a duce more pieces on the lathe or metal subject to truth and in need of its whole- new situation altogether? Such is the tech- press. "Exhaustion ends by making me ness. Gustavo Gutiérrez urges similarly nique as applied by proponents of non- forget the real reasons for my working in that the liberating love of Christ has to be violent resistance in this century. The the factory," she wrote. But in the process applied in two directions. The oppressed model of the impasse situation and sec- the workers' consciousness of grinding need to be liberated from their misery, ond-order change can readily be applied monotony became her own. and the oppressors need to be liberated to their experience in order to suggest ele- Liberating change can only emerge out from their sin. He writes: "One loves the ments that will be common to any of conscientization. As Paulo Freiré so oppressors by liberating them from their liberating theology of nonviolence, well insists, the initiative for such libera- inhuman condition as oppressors, by lib- especially one that is Christian. Specifi- tion always lies with the oppressed and erating them from themselves. ... It is' cally, five axioms can be set forth, each their own struggle for consciousness. not a question of having no enemies, but put in the form of a paradox, each char- Those of us in the first world, therefore, rather of not excluding them from our acterized by the unexpected. find ourselves in many ways dependent love." upon others for our own liberation. The The conviction, therefore, is strong that Axioms for Nonviolent Liberating Action Gospel can only be heard by people who full liberation occurs only when both op- are caught in impasses, by those who are pressor and oppressed are set free. Instead 1. Liberating change will always begin oppressed. Only to them does it ring as a of hardening the impasse by matching with consciousness rather than action. liberating "good news." Freiré suggests: force against force, the two sides are aow Danilo Dolci, the Italian architect who seen to be mutual parts of a larger whole. became the "Gandhi of Sicily," went to "Only the third world—not in the geo- The satyagrahi acts toward his ojjponent the wretched village of Trappeto 27 years graphic sense, but in the sense of the not simply so as to get power from him, ago to do nothing. He simply began ask- world that is dominated, dependent, but so as someday to make him his neigh- ing questions, gradually urging the people voiceless—is able to hear the Word of bor. Gandhi's experience with Gen. Jan to think about their plight through a proc- God. For the first world to hear that Christaan Smuts is a classic example. ess he liked to call "popular self-analy- Word, it must previously undergo an Eas- When the Indian leader left South Africa sis." His imaginative "strike in reverse," ter. It must die as first world and be for the last time in 1914, he presented a the construction of the dam on the lato reborn as third world. Only from the third pair of leather sandals he had made in River and his direct opposition to Mafia world, too, in the sense I am giving it here, prison to the very man responsible for rule all came later. He knew that the rais- can a Utopian theology emerge, a theology placing him there. Twenty-five years later. ing of consciousness had to precede any of denouncing and announcing, implying Smuts returned them as a gesture of liberating action. Gandhi, of course, had prophecy and hope." friendship, saying that while he had often worn them he had never felt worthy to discovered the same axiom half a century Liberation, therefore, must begin not stand in the shoes of such a man. The earlier on his first train ride to Pretoria in with action (especially not with the simple beauty of Gandhi's action was that he had South Africa. Dressed fully the part of an expenditure of large sums of money for not merely won a victory over his oppo- English barrister, with top hat, leather the schooling of society, as Ivan IUich nent; he had won his opponent over. In gloves and spats, he was nevertheless de- deplores), but with the raising of con- their conflict they had enhanced each prived of his first-class seat because of sciousness, with' the awareness of suffer- other's stature, growing together into a racial discrimination. Forcibly evicted, he ing and repentance. The various impasses mutual respect. One sees a similar dy- spent a long, lonely night in the train sta- of poverty and oppression can never be namic at work in Dag Hammarskjöld's tion at Maritzburg and as a result both his moved by first-order change. and the British Empire's consciousness extraordinary displomatic encounter with 2. Liberating change will involve re- would never be the same. After her first Chou En-lai in 1955 as well as in Martin spect for the opponent, not his repudia- foray into labor organization among mine Luther King's pause in the Birmingham tion. A second paradoxical axiom for lib- workers in southern France, while still a boycott to pray on the steps of the hospi- erating nonviolent action involves the re- teacher in the girls' lycée at Le Puy, Si- tal where Eugene (Bull) Connor was ill. framing of one's perception of both op- mone Weil realized her utter lack of the The persuasive force that one uses against pressor and oppressed. The image of the consciousness that workers possessed. his opponent here is not basically manipu- V intractable enemy is particularly called in- Therefore, she spent most of 1934-35 as a lative or coercive. The strongest appeal vto question here. Gandhi's conception of factory worker in Paris, driven to physical the satyagrahi is able to make is rooted in osatyagraha, or the force of truth, insisted '' his own suffering. 'The conviction, therefore, is strong 3. Liberating change will require the appropriation of suffering rather than the that full liberation occurs only when escape from it. For 25 years, Cesar Cha- both oppressor and oppressed are set free. vez has been rallying farm workers around the principle that their suffering is the only Instead of hardening the impasse by matching thing they can truly call their own. They force against force, the two sides are now seen are painfully familiar with' it and good at to be mutual parts of a larger whole' it. Hence, all they need to learn is how to claim it as their own and use it as a per-

200 America/March 14, 1981 suasive tool. Ironically, as he knows, liberation is discovered not through the es- 'Martin Luther King was . . . grateful cape from one's suffering, but through for Bull Connor's crucial and ironic role one's own appropriation of it. Suffering exerts a far greater persuasive force than in the success of the demonstrations in Birmingham reason ever could alone. As Gandhi un- in 1963 .... The police commissioner made derstood, "reason has to be strengthened by suffering and suffering opens the eyes the impasse so complete as to virtually welcome of understanding." When it is made one's the new solution King proposed' own, suffering can then become a powerful moral force. Mr. Chavez has known usual recourse to violence. Lanza del Vas- for making their own salt. The British this since his earliest days in community to's writings on the technique of nonvio- made perfect fools of themselves, the organizing under Saul Alinsky. In fact, his lence are appropriately entitled Warriors world laughed and Gandhi had made his life growing up reads like a page taken of Peace. Since his founding of the Com- point. from Steinbeck's description of dustbowl munity of the Ark in France a generation Martin Luther King was similarly grate- migrants in the 193O's. Never has he es- ago, this gentle man has been unrelenting ful for Bull Connor's crucial and ironic caped the anguished experience of strug- in his resistance to injustice, not the least role in the success of the demonstrations gling migrant workers. in his protest of the use of torture by the in Birmingham in 1963. Using all thé His celebrated fast at Delano in 1968, French Army in the Algerian war. Non- weapons of first-order change—from bil- therefore, came as a natural recourse to violent liberating action can never be the ly clubs and police dogs to fire hoses and him. For 25 days hé fasted, not to humili- choice of those who are by nature weak mass arrests—the police commissioner ate or threaten the growers who had re- and submissive. Gandhi insisted that made the impasse so complete as to virtu- fused negotiation, but rather to urge a ahimsa can be practiced only by those ally welcome the new solution King pro- commitment to nonviolence within the who know themselves to be strong. "The posed. With singing children being loaded United Farm Workers movement itself. clemency of a sheep or a rabbit means into patrol wagons and school buses to be His self-assumed suffering was directed nothing. One must possess power in order carried away to jail, the nation recognized toward those who could most be moved to renounce it," says Lanza del Vasto. that the impasse had reached that absurd by it. Hence, the poignant story of the Hence, only the fearless are free to explore point at which it must break into some- rough old campesino who came to Delano the energies of peace, whereas cowardice thing new. The tension had been carried one night during the fast with a sackful of is necessarily the mother of violence. to a glorious conclusion. tacos, determined to force Cesar to eat be- The warrior of peace recognizes the im- 5. Finally, liberating change will be cause he was the only hope his people had. portance of initiating tensions in which made possible by a spiritual discipline, not Dorothy Day made a similar appropria- impasse situations will become fully visi- simply a political ideology. John Paul II at tion of suffering when she and Peter Mau- ble as such. His hope will always be that the CELAM conference in Puebla this rin repeatedly refused in the 195O's to be the opponent will play into his hand by a year called for "a correct Christian idea of "saved" from nuclear destruction by relentless application of first-order liberation" which would include "libera- entering one of the underground air raid change. If he can provoke a response of tion from everything that oppresses man shelters in New York City. Protesting the this kind, the situation suddenly becomes but... above all liberation from sin and climate of cold war hysteria that the air ripe for the introduction of a second- the evil one, in the joy of knowing raid drills promoted, she chose rather to order solution. God. ..." It is a spiritual discipline, sit on a bench above ground and subse- The confrontation Gandhi invited by rooted in the church's living tradition, he quently be taken to jail for the crime of his celebrated march to the sea in 1930 il- urges, that protects this social doctrine neglecting her own self-preservation. lustrates this axiom. Choosing the rela- froni "manipulation by ideological sys- There is an important Christological note tively innocuous Salt Laws as the particu- tems and political parties." This requires, here that is echoed in the Dogmatic Con- lar focus of his civil disobedience, he gal- therefore, not simply a commitment to stitution on the Church from Vatican II; vanized the attention of the nation on a certain ends, but also to certain means. It "Just as Christ carried out the work of _^ handful of India's poor marching to the is commitment with a particular content. redemption in poverty and under oppres- sea, the mother of life. Praying as they , In Gandhi's case, his commitment to sion, so the church is called to follow the went, sweating in the sun, they eventually truth (satya), as formed by his study ofthe same path in communicating to men the took water from an ocean that belongs to íBhagavad-Gita (as well as the Sermon on fruits of salvation." The point of the all people, heated it to make salt to relieve the Mount), gave him an amazing lack of church is not to survive, but to serve. The their suffering and thereby broke the law interest in the actual results of his action. church can never be viewed as simply an of the British Government. The British Since he was never anxious to achieve the end in itself, something to be carefully then went on to cooperate grandly in fur- ends of ideological struggle,, his life was preserved from adversity. Only as the ther demonstrating the absurdity of their marked rather by the quietness of a spirit- church aligns itself with those who suffer own law. Following the dynamics of first- ual discipline. His achievements in politics • and appropriates their suffering as its order change, they promptly arrested were always less important to him than the own can liberating change then occur. Gandhi and all those who followed his ex- quality of his life before God. As a result, 4. Liberatirtg change will necessitate the ample. As a result, within three months the discipline of a brahmacharya became initiation of tension, though without the 100,000 satyagrahis were in Indian prisons . for him a value in its own right, complete-

America/March 14,1981 201 ly apart from the ends of political action, haps they even suggest how the Japanese ing to be practical and tough-minded. although the two could never really be were able to give up the gun for some 250 As a result, second-order change, with separated. "Just as one must learn the art years of their history. The achievement of its appeal to the unexpected and uncon- of killing in the training for violence," he disarmament in Tokugawa Japan was, of ventional, is generally hampered by the wrote, "so one must le£U"n the art of dying course, a function of many factors. But in cultural blocks we throw up against it. in the training for nonviolence." This dy- part it required the same kind of imagina- One is taught not to waste^time in fantasy ing, in Christian theology, is rooted in tive reflection that is necessary to escape and reflection, for example. Playfulness one's baptism, wherein one dies to sin and the bounds of any impasse. Surely the and humor may be acceptable in our deal- is raised anew to life in Christ. It means painting of threatening murals, for exam- ings with children, but they have no role in the conquering of the fear of death and ple, is ah irregular means of nationeil de- the sober business of problem solving. the nurturing of a discipline that both fense, in any century. Yet the resources Dreaming is similarly impugned with a ve- pleases God and changes the world. Gil- the Japanese found in samurai spirituality hemence like that reserved for idleness by bert Murray's tribute to Gandhi indicates enabled them to set certain limits to the the Puritans. Yet dreams, as we have seen, the power of such a discipline: expression of violence and to avoid the are the stuff of which liberating action is impasse of a constantly improved weap- made. They carry us beyond the languish "Be careful in dealing with a man who onry. Furthermore, they did this without of impasse to the impossible possibility of cares nothing for sensual pleasures, falling back upon a naively optimistic change. view of human nature that is frequently nothing for comfort or praise or promo- In 1947, Gandhi was assassinated by a the bête noire of nonviolent movements. tion; but is simply determined to do what tough-minded reedist named N. V. Godse, The Japemese possessed no blind and easy he believes to be right. He is a dangerous one who ridiculed the idea that Hindus trust in the restraint of their enemies. and uncomfortable enemy because his and Muslims could live together in peace. Their thinking was marked rather by a body, which you can always conquer, His words at his trial were an eloquent clever realism requiring the leaders of the gives you so little purchase over his soul." assault upon all that Gandhi had taught: shogunate to be wise as serpents while re- "To imagine that the bulk of mankind is maining essentially harmless as doves. or can ever become capable of scrupulous This was exactly what Martin Luther King Curiously, throughout this period the adherence to these lofty principles in its sought to instill in the volunteers who samurai maintained the image of a for- normal life from day to day is a mere satisfied his qualifications for service as midable opponent, an image projected dream." The image of the dream is an ap- demonstrators in the Birmingham strug- - more by the tradition of his discipline than propriate one. It is echoed in the words in- gle. All were required to pledge themselves by the unsheathing of his sword. to a strict discipline. It committed them to scribed on the stone over Martin Luther daily meditation on the teachings and life By contrast, our own culture remains King's grave. Taken from the story of of Jesus, as well as prayer that all men extremely wary of nonviolent alternatives Joseph and his brothers, the inscription might be free. It reminded them of the in general. Deeply suspicious of the quix- reads: "And they said one to another. nonviolent movement's quest for justice otic, we pride ourselves on a hardheaded Behold, this dreamer cometh. Come now and reconciliation rather than victory. It realism that deals with rugged certainties therefore, and let us slay him . . . and we enjoined them to observe the ordinary rather than imaginative possibilities. shall see what will become of his dreams" rules of courtesy with both friend and foe Hence, we find it difficult to entertain the (Gen. 37:19-20). and repudiated all violence of físt, tongue ideas that make second-order change Gandhi did have a dream, like Martin or heart. It made extraordinary demands. possible. A combination of American Luther King, a political dream that But it was only by such a discipline that pragmatism, the frontier experience and emerged out of the dreams which filled his Dr. King was able to commit his followers our extraordinary confidence in technolo- spiritual life. Whether it was a mere dream to the practice of second-order change. gy makes us unusually susceptible to the is something yet to be judged by ourselves logic of first-order chemge. We have al- in the world we will make. With all of its Rethinking the Politics of the Possible ways been persuaded that any impasse absurdity, the dream of nonviolent libera- could be broken if only sufficient pressure tion still lives today. There are people now These axioms help explain the effective- were brought to bear upon it. Therefore, living who lead us to ask if small may be ness of nonviolent action within a situa- the massive expenditure of force, money not only beautiful, but powerful as well. tion where violent response would most or technical savvy has been our usual ap- Their very existence raises tough questions often be expected. They emphasize the proach to problem solving. It may not about the mystery of evil and the triumph paradoxical character of that behavior often have worked in earlier circumstances, of liberating grace. What keeps Helder which evokes seconcf-order change. Per- \ but it always had the advantage of appear- Cámara or Danilo Dolci or Cesar Chavez alive? That question alone demands a *One is taught not to waste time in fantasy hearing for second-order change. It gives and reflection .... Dreanning is similarly pause to those who find themselves within impugned with a vehemence like that reserved the deepest of impasses. "Behold, this dreamer cometh. Come now therefore, for idleness by the Puritans. Yet dreams, as we and let us slay him . . . and we shall see have seen, are the stuff of which liberating what will become of his dreams." «Beiden C. Lane is director of historical action is made. They carry us beyond . . . impasse' theology àt St. Louis University. »

202 America/March 14, 1981