Page 75 - Encyclopedia Of World History Vol IV

1376 berkshire encyclopedia of world history

A war should never be waged against human
beings until you call out to them ‘Shalom’.
• Moses Maimonides (1135–1204)

voting rights (1964–1965).The movement championed Desaparecidos Movement
the use of nonviolent action as a form of social protest in Argentina
and mobilized the African-American population across In 1977 fourteen mothers organized a march in Buenos
the nation. King’s speech at the Lincoln Memorial in Aires, Argentina, with the motto, “We will walk until we
Washington, DC, in 1963, during which he articulated drop.” Wearing white scarves, these women in their six-
his dream of racial equality, attracted the largest nonvio- ties, seventies, and eighties fearlessly walked into the
lent demonstration after Gandhi’s mass movement in Plaza de Mayo and were joined by hundreds of other
India and helped bring about the Civil Rights Act of people in their protests against the “disappearance” of
1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. their sons, daughters, husbands, and other relatives under
the authoritarian regime of General Jorge Videla. March-
ing, writing letters to international agencies, advertising
United Farm Workers Movement in newspapers, and collecting twenty-four thousand sig-
While the civil rights movement was still in its infancy, a natures on a petition, members of the desaparecidos (the
young Mexican-American farm worker, Cesar Chavez disappeared) movement created international awareness
(1927–1993), was searching for a solution to his com- about the violation of human rights in their country while
munity’s economic problems. He found a sense of direc- refusing to be silenced at any cost.Their efforts eventually
tion in Gandhi’s autobiography, The Story of My Experi- led to the downfall of the military government.
ments with Truth. Imbued with the spirit of satyagraha,
energized by King’s civil rights campaigns, and drawing
upon his Christian ethic, Chavez during the period Chilean Resistance to a Dictator
1960–1980 led members of the United Farm Workers Like protesters in El Salvador and Argentina, protesters in
(UFW) of America in nonviolent campaigns to secure Chile remained committed to nonviolent noncoopera-
their rights and protest their exploitation. Through pol- tion as they opposed the dictatorship of General Augusto
icy changes and legislation Chavez achieved numerous Pinochet (b. 1915). As the protest movement grew, pro-
improvements, such as an increase in wages, work rule testers gained courage and refused to pretend that
reforms, workers’ benefits, and a ban on the use of danger- Pinochet had their consent to rule. On the contrary, they
ous pesticides on farms.The movement relied on nation- worked to convince people that Pinochet commanded
wide consumer boycotts and labor strikes, pickets, pro- no popular support of Chileans. Challenged by such
cessions, and fasting. The movement not only achieved protests, in 1988 Pinochet called for plebiscite (vote),
its goals, but also demonstrated the power of an under- which he lost. Clinging to authority, he tried to bypass
class who previously had had no political standing. the plebiscite results. However, his own supporters, in
the wake of mounting popular protest, refused to sup-
port him, and he was defeated.
Civic Strike in El Salvador
After people discovered the power of nonviolence, the
scope of its application assumed several dimensions. In Nonviolent Struggles
El Salvador in Central America students, doctors, and mer- in Europe
chants in 1944 used nonviolent action to bring down the Soon after Gandhi began his nonviolent mass cam-
longtime military dictator, General Hernandez Martinez. paigns of noncooperation and civil disobedience against
Opponents of Martinez’s brutal policies organized a the British in India, Europeans faced aggression from
civic strike using nonviolent tactics.They detached Mar- Nazi Germany. Nonviolent revolutions occurred in sev-
tinez from his closest friends, allies, and members of the eral places in Europe during the Nazi occupation, most
military and forced him into exile. notably in Norway and Denmark.