Gandhis Return to India: Nonviolence - Essay Example

Gandhi expresses the importance of nonviolent love (Page 460).Ahimsa, or nonviolent love, requires a deep respect for the humanity of others, an insistence on sympathy and kindness, and, most importantly, unrelenting firmness. It means that each individual needs to accept their responsibility for reforming the planet and, when needed, to suffer in the process (Page 460).Gandhi emphasized the concept that nonviolence was not an absence of courage, but a desire to avoid conflict at any price. Nonviolence is the strength of the courageous and of the outraged.

It is not a passive response by the weak and cowardly. Nonviolence is an extremely active force (Page 461).Satyagraha is the expression of ahimsa and requires respect for the opposition and persistence in weaning the opposition from error. This is done in place of injuring or annihilating the other person. It must be conducted without hate and truthfulness. Furthermore, the purpose of satyagraha is to resolve the source of the conflict, not to defeat or destroy the opposition. More is to be gained by acting in harmony than by acting in violence (Page 462).

Gandhi believed that nonviolence protesting, such as marches, picketing, strikes, and civil disobedience, required more strength, determination, and courage than is required to pull the trigger of a gun (Page 463). For nonviolence to be successful, one needs to have determination, self-respect, and respect for the opposition (Page 464).Followers of nonviolence believe that people are at their most powerful when they have moral courage. They also have the ability to throw their opponent off balance as they are not expecting nonviolent reactions (Page 465).

Martin Luther King, Jr. And the U.S. Civil Rights MovementReverend Martin Luther King, Jr. adopted Gandhi’s methods for the modern age of America to promote his dislike of racial segregation (Page 466). During the violent reactions to Martin Luther King’s nonviolent reactions, King and his followers refused to give in to the violent threats. King followed the Christian principle of “Let no man pull you so low as to make you hate him (Page 467).”Some Nonviolent SuccessesAn example of a successful nonviolent protest can be seen in South Korea in 1987 when nonviolent demonstrations led to the downfall of the military dictatorship, which allowed for the first democratic elections ever held in South Korea (Page 468).

In 1989, peaceful protests and demonstrations brought about the removal of the Communist Party in Czechoslovakia (Page 469).Nonviolence, especially when compared to vicious government response, has a greater power to influence the human mind (Page 470). While successful independent movements are usually associated with war, armed rebellion, and much death, there are plenty of historical examples that reveal achieved independence through completely nonviolent means, such as the separations of Canada from Great Britain in the 19th century.

Similarly, in 1905, Norway achieved peace from Sweden without any violence at all (Page 471).Civilian-Based DefensePromoters and practitioners of nonviolence need to adopt realistic approaches that are practical for the majority of the people (Page 472).To gain a national policy of nonviolent civilian-based defense, the state would have to forgo the prospect of direct military intervention (Page 473).Prospects for NonviolenceIt can be argued that nonviolence offers the chance of hope for the survival of the human race, while violence only promises our downfall.

As long as violence continues to reign, more people will continue to die, often in vain (Page 474). Nonviolence is for defending certain people and for overthrowing entire relationships that are based on violence and oppression. It is not just the prevention of war, but the establishment of social justice and the defense of human rights (Page 474).Practitioners of nonviolence are often accused of lacking patriotism because their actions seem rebellious to mainstream American values (Page 475).

Military force has become so familiar to humans, even though it is not always successful, that nonviolent actions seem foreign (Page 476).