Beneath all the glitter of big cities and luxury goods, our world today is deeply troubled by a wide range of serious problems, culminating in the existential crisis posed by some of the most serious environmental problems and by weapons of mass destruction.
As the most enlightened of scholars, activists and leaders seek to focus attention on finding credible, effective solutions before it is too late, they need all the help they can from the common heritage of some of those thinkers and leaders of the past whose work and ideas remain very relevant and useful for resolving the present day crisis.
Mahatma Gandhi is widely regarded as one such leader and thinker. His remarkable contributions and their increasing relevance for our times has been confirmed by such diverse leaders of exceptional brilliance as Albert Einstein and Ho Chi Minh. While finding the path to carry forward their very important struggles, other equally great leaders Martin Luther King, Jr. and Nelson Mandela found the inspirational methods followed by Mahatma Gandhi very useful. A wide range of social and environmental movements in India continue to regard the legacy of Mahatma Gandhi as their main inspirational strength.
A very important message of Mahatma Gandhi is to accept non-violence as a basic principle of human life, as a way of life and as the base of social relationships.
Immense distress and stress in daily life is caused for many people because of the urge for dominating others, getting ahead of others in whatever way possible, using them for their own selfish purpose only and forming ego-centric relationships. All this involves violence and injustice of some kind, and a lot of mental health problems, stress and depression in the world are also related to this. On the other hand having a firm base in non-violence enables one to avoid all this for oneself and for others to a significant extent. If a significant number of people in a community base their life on non-violence, it is possible to create communities based on non-violence and finally larger units of human life based on non-violence.
Over a period of progress along these lines, say in five or ten years, if there is steady progress, it becomes much more possible at the international level to avoid wars, to take forward disarmament in a big way and may be even achieve elimination of weapons of destruction to a significant extent as due to the steady progress of non-violence at the level of common people, public opinion becomes much more favorable for this progress on the path of peace.
However, progress can never be so smooth as several powerful forces of injustice are always there. Hence the concept of non-violence includes the concept of non-violence while resisting injustice. Injustice and violence are often related, so it makes sense to thinking of resisting injustice in non-violent ways. In fact Mahatma Gandhi emphasized that the path of non-violence while resisting injustice is the best path as even though this may at times involve more sacrifice among those fighting for justice, yet it is possible to achieve more durable gains in transparent ways, ensuring the honesty and sincerity of the struggle. In favorable conditions and in competent hands, the ethical strength of the non-violent struggle may be so high that the objective may be achieved without violence on the part of the forces of injustice. For Mahatma Gandhi it was important to attempt a change of heart on the part of the perpetrators of injustice too, and at times when he went to meet his opponents he even managed to collect a donation from them for his cause. On the other hand, the possibility remains that the sacrifice involved in fighting too cruel an opponent may be too high, and therefore it is best in certain conditions to at least prepare some sort of self-defense strategy. On the whole, in the face of more complex issues emerging now, the need for more transparent and non-secretive struggles and movements is increasing, and in addition non-violent movements also provide many more opportunities for debates and for explaining the stand being taken on difficult issues. Hence for resistance the importance of the path of non-violence is increasing. This does not mean copying the struggles led by Mahatma Gandhi; instead this means staying true to the basic principle but applying this in ways that are more suitable to present conditions.
Mahatma Gandhi’s emphasis on non-violence is important also for the emergence of a wider, continuing peace movement at the regional, national and international levels. This is helped by the fact that in the realm of economics, Mahatma Gandhi wanted life to be based always on need and never on greed. Walking on this path there is no tendency to snatch the fair share of others or to advance by pushing away others. Mahatma Gandhi emphasized that any economic discourse to be credible and acceptable should give the due importance to ethical aspects (such as justice, equality, environment protection).
Hence highest priority should be given to ensuring the well-being of the poorest and the more vulnerable people. Their capabilities, and those of women, must get adequate opportunities so that they have creative work and livelihoods, instead of new technologies and machinery being indiscriminately spread in ways that can be harmful for them.
Whether in health and education, there should be special concern for the weaker and more vulnerable sections. Instead of alienating students from their people, education should prepare students to respect dignity of labor, so that students grow up to serve their communities in various important roles instead of feeling alienated from them and merely serving elite interests.
In the context of health, more emphasis should be given to preventive aspects, following hygiene and principles of good health including avoiding various hazards and remaining close to nature and natural ways. If in the context of such experimentation and learning, Mahatma Gandhi at times when into some extremes this can be ignored keeping in view the overall sound objective of ensuring good health for all at low cost. He happily took on the responsibility of tending to several patients.
Although Mahatma Gandhi did not use words like protection of environment his ideas together added up to a world that would avoid waste and luxury to ensure environment protection while meeting the needs of all poor and weaker people in dignified ways.
With his emphasis on this and non-violence and peace, Mahatma Gandhi, if he had his way, would have avoided the existential crisis that today threatens the basic life-nurturing conditions of the planet in the form of several serious environmental problems (including climate change) and weapons of mass destruction.
Hence the mutually consistent wide range of ideas that form the core of the vision of Mahatma Gandhi (and leaving aside some of the less important issues that may be open to debate) remain highly relevant in terms of being helpful for resolving the many-sided present-day world crisis.
*
Click the share button below to email/forward this article. Follow us on Instagram and X and subscribe to our Telegram Channel. Feel free to repost Global Research articles with proper attribution.
Bharat Dogra is Honorary Convener, Campaign to Save Earth Now. His recent books include Planet in Peril, Protecting Earth for Children, Earth without Borders, Man over Machine and A Day in 2071. He is a regular contributor to Global Research.
Global Research is a reader-funded media. We do not accept any funding from corporations or governments. Help us stay afloat. Click the image below to make a one-time or recurring donation.
Counter Information publish all articles following the Creative Commons rule creative commons. If you don't want your article to appear in this blog email me and I will remove it asap.
No comments:
Post a Comment