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Home Articles Relevance of Gandhi The Relevance of Gandhian Satyagraha in the 21st Century
The Relevance of Gandhian Satyagraha in the 21st Century
- By S. Abdul Sattar
We are today passing through an extremely critical and controversial phase of terrorism. The climate of terrorist violence is explosive. Terrorism is being used every where, either with enthusiasm or with fear. In recent years, we have witnessed terrorist violence affecting almost all countries. Even the so-called advanced, affluent nations suffer from the menace of terrorist violence. There are two fundamental causes for this global phenomenon. Firstly, the tremendous advancement in science and technology has helped the arms industry to produce massive quantities of lethal weapons and the same weapons are being purchased by different terrorist organizations who are using them to execute their satanic designs.
Secondly, it is due to the lack of human relations. Today, people are divided not only on an economic basis but also on national, regional and religious basis. The development of science and technology has made it possible to unite the world through technological globalizations. But this technological globalization does not influence in any way the mental make up of the individual. As the noted Indian poet Nissim Ezekiel observed, "We use one another for the satisfaction of the need if not for the advancement of our interest in a spirit of manufactured cordiality." We do not know the difference between the need and the interest and we perceive these goals in confusion, without any sense of spontaneity in exhibiting cordiality. Man still thinks that he belongs to a particularly group, community, religion, region and nation. Precisely because of this, he confuses the manufactured cordiality for spontaneity. Present day politics has also failed to reconstruct socio-economic life and has only added to the confusion and despair. The decline of human relations or of public spirit in politics has opened ways for political degenerations. Indian proposals and organizations are working on combating terrorist violence, but the solution is not yet in sight. It has become one of the paradoxes of the 21st Century that, on the one hand, the establishment of peace has become a matter of the greatest importance for the survival of human civilization, while on the other, traditional instruments of preserving peace have become less effective.
Mahatma Gandhi was unique in this modern world to advocate non-violent methods for solving social, economic, political and religious problems. It is in this context that we have to examine the efficacy of warfare without weapons. There have been a number of times, however, when one or the other aspect of Gandhi's non-violent technique has been questioned and its validity and its practicability doubted. This essay tries to show that the technique of non-violence as advocated by Gandhi is the most effective and the least expensive method of solving social, economic, political and religious problems. Firstly, I shall detail how the strategies of violence and terrorism to bring about social, political and economic changes have now become obsolete. Secondly, I shall try to explain Satyagraha and its different forms and show how Satyagraha can be used as a powerful method of direct action in contemporary politics. This will also establish the effectiveness of Satyagraha as a device for fighting destructive ways and violent conflict.
Violence and Terrorism
Terrorism can be both individual as well as State sponsored. In recent times, religious fundamentalism has assumed dangerous proportions though it has always existed in one form or the other. Racism, which yields violence, has become a device to assume important positions in public life, not only in India and Muslim countries but even in the USA. Religious fundamentalism is one of the handiest instruments of the terrorist. The situation demands that non-violent techniques as means of social change are put into practice immediately.