While we as a Nation stand united in the fight against terrorism and grieve the loss of our brave CRPF Jawans, it is perhaps crucial to remember that terrorism has no respect for any religion, border or nationalities. It is a serious challenge for the world at large.
And so are issues like mass production, mass exploitation, the desire to manufacture more destructive and powerful weapons, climate change and its destabilizing consequences, science and education divorced from spirituality, poverty, massive violation of human rights …. these are contemporary challenges that are interlinked and not limited to any one Nation but are global and universal concerns.
All these, including terrorism, are quite capable of slow poisoning your surrounding or bring disaster within moments. The ignorant consumer, the innocent people, the law-abiding citizen…perhaps all remain unaware or maybe at times willingly are ignorant of the fact that we too are responsible for the global unrest, fear, insecurity, poverty etc and we are absolutely capable of restoring balance and creating a better world.
” I refuse to accept the idea that man is mere flotsam and jetsam in a river of life, unable to influence the unfolding events which surround him, I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality”.Martin Luther King Jr.
The concept of non-violence has been there for centuries as all spiritual thinkers, Prophets, Rishi and Munis have emphasized it but it was Gandhi in twentieth century who practically and creatively applied for freedom of the country.
Flower power was a slogan used during the late 1960s and early 1970s as a symbol of passive resistance and non-violence ideology. It is rooted in the opposition movement to the Vietnam War. The expression was coined by the American beat poet Allen Ginsberg in 1965 as a means to transform war protests into peaceful affirmative spectacles.
The despairing fact that even his ideologies have now been labeled as Gandhism, is another issue all together. This business of …isms, it is a set formula that works exactly against what all these radical thinkers and change makers wanted, and it continues to deepen the religious conflicts, and cultural and socio-economic divide. Hinduism to begin with, Buddhism, Jainism, Sufism … Gandhism – it is a trap! Free yourself from these externally-imposed labels and think …
India’s history is proof that people of this land are naturally spiritual in their temperament, thus a post colonial education system – devoid of truth, may not be the answer. In-spite of being home for great philosophies on education, the system is failing to pick up messages from the subtle frequencies of great philosophers. For India, a revolutionary change in the education system (still under colonial influence perhaps?) could do the trick. A feeling of spiritual nationalism (not religious) and a spirit of activism (not limited to theory), are sine qua non for a Better India and a Better World.
Non-violence of the brave could be the answer for those who want to take the garb of protectors of culture, religion, etc, so to say the identity of a particular race or group or draw inspiration from some ideology and take up arms in their hands to gain something.
It is sad but true that the problem of non-violence has become highly complex and destructive with the advent of technology. But does this mean that the concept of violence-free world is just a dream? Or we have to wait for another Gandhi to show us the way? It really comes down to what we really want and what kind of world we want to leave behind for the next generation.
Came across this interesting case study on ‘8 ways to defend against terror non-violently’ in which ‘Each student chose a country somewhere in the world that is presently threatened by terrorism and, taking the role of a consultant to that country, devised from our nonviolent toolbox a strategy for defense.’ by George Russell Lakey an activist, sociologist, and writer who added academic underpinning to the concept of nonviolent revolution.
Here is the link : https://wagingnonviolence.org/…/8-ways-defend-terror-nonvi…/
Puja Sharma 