"When in despair I remember that all through history the way oftruth and love has always won; there have been tyrants and murderers,and for a time they can seem invincible, but in the end they alwaysfall." M.K.Gandhi
Understandably, after the tragedy in New York and Washington DC onSeptember 11 many have written or called the office to find out whatwould be an appropriate nonviolent response to such an unbelievablyinhuman act of violence.
First, we must understand that nonviolence is not a strategy thatwe can use in times of peace and discard in a moment of crisis.Nonviolence is about personal attitudes, about becoming the change wewish to see in the world. Because, a nation's collective attitude isbased on the attitude of the individual. Nonviolence is aboutbuilding positive relationships with all human beings &endash;relationships that are based on love, compassion, respect,understanding and appreciation.
Nonviolence is also about not judging people as we perceive themto be &endash; that is, a murderer is not born a murderer; aterrorist is not born a terrorist. People become murderers, robbersand terrorists because of circumstances and experiences in life.
Killing or confining murders, robbers, terrorists, or the like isnot going to rid this world of them. For every one we kill or confinewe create another hundred to take their place. What we need to do isdispassionately analyze both the circumstances that create suchmonsters and how we can help eliminate those circumstances. Focusingour efforts on the monsters, rather than what creates the monsters,will not solve the problems of violence. Justice should meanreformation and not revenge.
We saw some people in Iraq and Palestine and I dare say many othercountries rejoicing over the tragedies at the World Trade Center andthe Pentagon. It horrified us, as it should. But let us not forgetthat we do the same thing. When Israel bombs the Palestinians weeither rejoice or show no compassion. Our attitude is that theydeserve what they get. When the Palestinians bomb the Israelis we areindignant and condemn them as vermin who need to be eliminated.
We reacted without compassion when we bombed the cities of Iraq. Iwas among the millions in the United States who sat glued to thetelevision and watched the drama as though it was a made fortelevision film. Thousands of innocent men, women and children werebeing blown to bits and, instead of feeling sorry for them, wemarveled at the efficiency of our military. For more than ten yearswe have continued to wreak havoc in Iraq &endash; an estimated 50,000children die every year because of sanctions that we have imposed&endash; and it hasn't moved us to compassion. All this is done, weare told, because we want to get rid of the Satan called SadamHussein.
Now we are getting ready to do this all over again to get rid ofanother Satan called Osama bin Laden. We will bomb the cities ofAfghanistan because they harbor the Satan and in the process we willhelp create a thousand other bin Ladens.
Some might say, "We don't care what the world thinks of us as longas they respect our strength. After all we have the means to blowthis world to pieces since we are the only surviving super-power." Iquestion whether we want other countries to respect us the way schoolchildren respect a bully. Is that our role in the world? If a bullyis what we want to be then we must be prepared to face the sameconsequences that a school-yard bully faces. On the other hand wecannot tell the world "leave us alone." Isolationism is not what thisworld is built for.
All of this brings us back to the question: How do we respondnonviolently to terrorism?
The consequences of a military response are not very rosy. Manythousands of innocent people will die both here and in the country orcountries we attack. Militancy will increase exponentially and,ultimately, we will be faced with other more pertinent moralquestions: What will we gain by destroying half the world? Will we beable to live with a clear conscience?
We must acknowledge our role in helping to create monsters in theworld, find ways to contain these monsters without hurting moreinnocent people, and then redefine our role in the world. I think wemust move from seeking to be respected for our military strength tobeing respected for our moral strength.
We need to appreciate that we are in a position to play a powerfulrole in helping the "other half" of the world attain a betterstandard of life not by throwing a few crumbs but by significantlyinvolving ourselves in constructive economic programs.
For too long our foreign policy has been based on "what is goodfor the United States." It smacks of selfishness. Our foreign policyshould now be based on what is good for the world and how can we dothe right thing to help the world become more peaceful.
To those who have lost loved one's in this and other terroristacts I say I share your grief. I am sorry that you have becomevictims of senseless violence. But let this sad episode not make youvengeful because no amount of violence is going to bring you innerpeace. Anger and hate never do. The memory of those victims who havedied in this and other violent incidents around the world will bebetter preserved and more meaningfully commemorated if we all learnto forgive. Let us dedicate our lives to creating a peaceful,respectful and understanding world.
Arun Gandhi
Mr. Arun Gandhi is a grandson of Mahatma Gandhi. He lives in theUnited States, and continues the legacy of Mahatma Gandhi through hisCENTER FOR NONVIOLENCE in Atlanta, Georgia.