Indian-Nordic Encounters 1917-2006 - Det danske Fredsakademi

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New national working camp organisations thus started to prepare for reconstruction work after the war built on volunteer efforts and international solidarity for peace. IAL started in Sweden 1943, Fredsvenners Hjælpearbejde in Denmark 1944, in 1949 renamed Mellomfolkelig Samvirke, Internasjonal Dugnad in Norway states their origin already in 1939 and IAL in Finland 1947 (in Finnish Kansanvälinen Vapaeeitonen Työleirijärjistö, KVT), in all countries with Quakers as central in supporting the initiatives. The Norwegians having the sharpest experiences on resistance in different forms, the Danes well-equipped, the Swedes most idealistic and wide in their concern and the Finns utterly aware of their balance position between East and West. Participants at Swedish International Work Camp in Hildesheim in Germany 1947 saw the final goal of the Indian liberation movement ending British colonial rule but partioning Pakistan and India in the polarised way Britain many times left their colonies. Soon thereafter, Gandhi was killed 1948 by a Hindu extremist during the many conflicts between Hindus and Muslims killing millions. The allied anti-fascist forces of the Soviet Union and the US brought hopes to many around the world with the liberation of India and the declaration of both political and social rights as indivisible in the United Nations Human Rights Charter as positive signs. But it became the end of a period and the course of events took a new direction. What characterise this period 1917 – 1947 in the Nordic-Indian popular movement contacts is the vitality of nationalist movements meeting each other, nationalist movements striving for more social equality between country and town, men and women. When Esther Færing and Anne Mari Petersen meet Gandhi it is Grundtvig’s mass movement meeting Gandhi’s mass movement. But it is also liberation theology inspiring each other, whether Hindu, Muslim or Christian. Denmark had always had been independent and yet the kind of social forces that the Indian nationalist mass movement needed to make a meaningful contribution to the liberation of India were the same which Grundtvig mobilised in his national revival in the 1840s in a country that felt threatened and later was at war with Germany. Denmark was the socially most advanced country among the Nordic states in the 19 th century. It was here that the Marxist social democratic movement first established itself and then 20
spread to Sweden and other parts of the Nordic countries. It was here that this worker’s movement first met repression forcing many pioneer leaders to leave the country and also here the first compromise was made between the social classes in 1899. In Norway which received independence as late as 1905 and Finland even later in 1918, the same capacity to be part of a fruitful theoretical and practical dialogue maybe could not yet have the same backing although both countries soon did take active part. Sweden though had the capacity and had as Denmark always been independent. But when Sweden lost Finland to Russia in 1819 the nationalistic aggression of the past lost its appeal and a new vision was formulated. What had been lost to the outside world should be regained within. Instead of continued national imperialism it was social development that should bring the country forward. Thus the popular movements in Sweden mobilised against drinking of alcohol by personal pledges and a constructive programme building cultural houses all over the country, for a free religion and for the interest of workers and farmers. Together these popular movements mobilised the broad masses of people in common against the ruling elite. In this type of country the kind of strong relationship that emerged between Denmark and India did not occur. It was in the next period’s great struggle for racial freedom that the same kind of strong connection between national liberation movements in the South and Nordic countries occurred again. Once more it was heralded by a missionary, Gunnar Helander, publishing articles criticising apartheid in South Africa in the Swedish press in 1941, Helander went to England in 1937 to improve his English before he went on a mission to South Africa. Here he became close friend to Kassim Lakhi, an Indian student from South Africa. When they both came to South Africa 1938 Helander soon became a committed opponent of apartheid when he saw how Lakhi was treated. “We could socialize at his place or mine. But it could happen at my place that whites came in and refused to shake his hand, and then I had to say, either you shake his hand or you leave! I became furious.” 14 This furious priest became the main initiator of the Swedish anti-apartheid movement carrying on an antiracist work that the Swedish priest Birger Forell inspired by Gandhi already started in Berlin 1933 against the oppression of Jews. The Swedish Christian intervention was in a less degree carried out in opposition against the Swedish state Church compared to the Danish interventions three decades earlier. Although Swedish antiracist priests met some obstacles and criticism from within the church it never had to oppose the church institutions the way the Danish missionaries had to do. Sometimes even it recieved support from well established institutions within the church that publish books written by Gandhi or replace Forell in Berlin when the German authorities throws him out of the country 1942 with two successive as stubborn priest opposing the repression. It would take many decades until the antiracist task became a task for the whole church but individuals were allowed to take their own path within the institution while others actively promoted racism and European overlordship. But to the most radical groups race oppression rather than national independence became important. This also meant a new period for Nordic-Indian movement relations. The cold war now set new hindrances in the way for South-North cooperation. To break that cold war thinking apart was not only necessary to built new South- North cooperation but also to renew domestic politics. 14 Thörn, 2006, p34. 21
Page 1 and 2: Indian-Nordic Encounters 1917-2006
Page 3 and 4: Introduction When the Indian Muslim
Page 5 and 6: of a high level of confrontation se
Page 7 and 8: Dialogue, Constructive Programme an
Page 9 and 10: ”For me they can do as they like,
Page 11 and 12: Anne Marie Petersen with pupils at
Page 13 and 14: daughter of the anti-militaristic a
Page 15 and 16: was developed into a women’s teac
Page 17 and 18: The key lasting Gandhian influence
Page 19: territory for the German army and i
Page 23 and 24: Very soon the young couple decided
Page 25 and 26: speech was finished I received appl
Page 27 and 28: this that the NATO tried to stop wi
Page 29 and 30: anticommunist dependence on the US
Page 31 and 32: In this polarised world it was nece
Page 33 and 34: adical workers and the state was al
Page 35 and 36: The four inspirations were boycotts
Page 37 and 38: efore. On Iceland, Denmark and Norw
Page 39 and 40: swim to the beach the marchers had
Page 41 and 42: The fourth Indian inspired action b
Page 43 and 44: This movement was very influential
Page 45 and 46: The outcome is that in Finland it i
Page 47 and 48: Sweden was similarly influenced by
Page 49 and 50: issue organisations closely related
Page 51 and 52: young Europeans to counteract the W
Page 53 and 54: to implement its stand in any way t
Page 55 and 56: Global Environmental Movement Perio
Page 57 and 58: around 1960. But primarily non-viol
Page 59 and 60: The two key organisations in Denmar
Page 61 and 62: then mostly as a way to establish a
Page 63 and 64: coordinator could intervene at the
Page 65 and 66: The Provie movement was closed but
Page 67 and 68: up his post officially as Secretary
Page 69 and 70: places." From the politicians, corp
Page 71 and 72:
The obstacles for non-accredited NG
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they had to stand in the line as ev
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Environmental Forum At the Environm
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The content of the debate was heate
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NGOs in the UN system. The governme
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The accusations against the Swedish
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The US press was afraid of the conf
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Jan Fjellander, Oi Committee The yo
Page 87 and 88:
its close collaboration with Aspen
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way where the distinctions between
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Anti-nuclear Power and Alternative
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On the continent strong local resis
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A strong boycott against Nestlé wa
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unions and peace and solidarity org
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promoting or looking positively at
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In Denmark the organisation model f
Page 103 and 104:
In the beginning of the 1980s Nordi
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democratic discussion about the fut
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articles criticising the alternativ
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Chipko movement in India visiting S
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soon followed by other UN conferenc
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The Global Democracy Period 1989 -
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issues on the agenda. Fundamental c
Page 117 and 118:
against further integration of Denm
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there is a Gandhi statue in Copenha
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movements are more blatantly than a
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violence fundamentalism was often u
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during the whole previous century i
Page 127 and 128:
democrats and Marxist-Leninist revo
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Carrying planks for the foot-bridge
Page 131 and 132:
Toni Liversage speaks at citizens
Page 133 and 134:
technology and the social and econo
Page 135 and 136:
We denounce the United States' bomb
Page 137 and 138:
Appendix II The Oeresund Committe f
Page 139 and 140:
V. A struggle for life and for the
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Indian-Nordic Encounters 1917-2006 - Det danske Fredsakademi

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