Page 72 - Encyclopedia Of World History Vol IV

nonviolence 1373

Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth:
But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee
on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. • Matthew 5:38–39

values of all major religions. People have long relied on (1947–1948) during and after partition of the subcon-
nonviolent means to redress their grievances. However, tinent into India and Pakistan.
the idea of nonviolence as a deliberate and preferred Gandhi’s demonstrations of satyagraha—both in spirit
strategy of action for political and social change acquired and strategy—touched people around the world and
widespread credibility and currency only during the inspired hundreds of leaders across geographical, ethnic,
twentieth century. No person was more central to that racial, and religious boundaries. Many people who fol-
credibility and currency than Gandhi himself. With lowed Gandhi on the path of nonviolent action, even if
Gandhi nonviolence assumed a revolutionary dimension pursuing different trajectories, have been internationally
unprecedented in scope and global impact. acclaimed. These people include the Indian freedom
fighter Vinoba Bhave; the Dalai Lama (spiritual and polit-
ical leader of Tibet); South African Archbishop Desmond
Gandhi and the Power Tutu; U.S. civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr.; U.S.
of Nonviolent Action farm worker activist Cesar Chavez; Aung San Suu Kyi, a
Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869–1948) was the first person prodemocracy activist in Myanmar (Burma); Polish trade
to develop a coherent worldview of nonviolent action union activist Lech Walesa; and Czech political activist
and to propose a well-articulated strategy to realize such Vaclav Havel. After Gandhi nonviolent action became a
a worldview. Gandhi’s strategy was “war” armed with a powerful trend during the twentieth century and shaped
moral force. He called this force “satyagraha”—an active scores of social and political movements around the world.
pursuit of truth through love and nonviolence. A satya-
grahi (a person who undertakes satyagraha) must
renounce not only violence, but also revenge and hate. Nonviolent Struggles
Gandhi’s dedication to nonviolence as a moral force to in Asia
question, reform, and transform the unjust establish- In Asia people used nonviolent action to combat oppres-
ments of authority is unparalleled in the history of non- sion arising from colonialism or authoritarian regimes
violent mass action. and to mobilize support for democratic reform and
Gandhi’s initial experiments in satyagraha were in the human rights. Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan (1890–1988),
context of South Africa’s policies of racial discrimination later known as “Badshah Khan” or “Frontier Gandhi,”
at the dawn of the twentieth century. He subsequently was a Muslim leader of the Pathan people in the North
used satyagraha to transform the economic, political, West Frontier Provinces (NWFP) of India. He was a fol-
and social realities in British colonial India. To him the lower of Islam and Gandhi and founded the world’s first
purpose of satyagraha was not to force one’s adversaries nonviolent army, known as the “KhudaiKhidmatgars”
into submission but rather to transform the interrelation- (Servants of God), to protest British atrocities, including
ships of those people engaged in conflict. Gandhi’s cam- plundering of Pathan villages.The army eventually grew
paigns relied on methods such as fasting, hartal (strike), to a force of eighty thousand Pathans dedicated to non-
noncooperation, boycotts, marches, and civil disobedi- violent action. Badshah Khan supported Gandhi’s vision
ence and were aimed at the injustices of British colonial- of a united India. However, partition could not be avoid-
ism as well as the moral crises among Indians. For in- ed, and NWFP became part of Pakistan. With the sup-
stance, he undertook nonviolent campaigns to relieve the port of KhudaiKhidmatgars, Badshah Khan mobilized a
peasants of Champaran of the economic exploitation of nonviolent movement to gain democratic rights for the
British planters (1917–1918); to free India from British Pathans in newly created Pakistan. During the next three
rule (1920–1921, 1930–1934, 1940–1942); and to fos- decades he spent fifteen years in prison and seven years
ter unity and heal tensions between Hindus and Muslims in exile as Pakistan continued to be ruled by the military.