Gandhi

Posted on May 23, 2003 in Courage & Activism

Gandhi had a good sense of humor when it came to his adversaries. When he visited England, a reporter asked him “What do you think of Western Civilization, Mr. Gandhi?”

“I think it would be a very good idea,” Gandhi replied.

Gandhi saved his spirited remonstrations for his allies. You must not hate the British, he’d say to them. You must set yourself before them as a friend and make them feel shame. Our objective is liberation not eradication.

I am no Gandhi. But lately, I’ve seen my allies driven to tacit allowance for George W. Bush’s policies because they hate him so much as a person. The platform we’re offered by the DLC amounts to a kinder, gentler repression. So I’ve been remonstrating with my friends in the spirit of Gandhi, pointing out that the real adversary is that class of people who seek to consolidate political-economic power and those who make apologies for it.

It’s time to stop hating George W. Bush, though we may continue to laugh at his follies. It’s time to not hate the DLC either but to laugh at it’s follies, too. It’s time to focus on our objectives, to state our objectives clearly, to stand like human beings for our conscientious objectives, and to shame the powerful into ceding their power over us to us.

We must examine ourselves for acts that collude with our own repression and the repression of others in the name of our luxuries. We must never sanction violence, be it state terrorism or the terrorism of the disempowered. We may not be Gandhi, but we can start living for a better world.

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For a good book about Gandhian nonviolence in Gandhi’s own words, Thomas Merton’s Gandhi on Nonviolence is a fine, brief introduction. It may also serve as a book of aphorisms or meditations for those who want to change their attitudes about living in the world.