E-Book - Mahatma Gandhi

Gandhi and Contemporary… 105difficult candidates for nonviolent action. Based on his study ofIntifada in Palestine, Andrew Rigby tells us that what Israelwants is to rule over the territory of Palestine and do not wantthe people of Palestine, thereby foreclosing the space forPalestinian resistance based on the consent theory. 9Every nonviolent action should be home grown- notimported from outside - although harnessing internationalsupport for it is necessary and immensely possible in ourglobalised world. External support was provided by theinternational community in the struggle against apartheid.Galtung talks about the “great chain of nonviolence”, to refer tosuch international links. 10 While one should plan for actionsand learn from previous cases (both successful and failed), eachaction has to be sensitive to the local context. Salt may notcatch the imagination of the public elsewhere as it did in India.Hunger strike common in India, may not have much appeal inother cultures. Using proxies for nonviolent action (on variousgrounds) may be acceptable in the West, but may not be so inother cultures.There is need for greater engagement with believers inviolence. The cause of nonviolence is better served throughsuch debates. Planning for nonviolent actions, improvingunderstanding of nonviolent action (many activists participatewithout knowing its potential or knowing Gandhi), makingnon-violence a whole system organising principle, transformingthe sciences- especially social and political sciences – arenecessary. We also need to be aware that there is the danger ofnonviolent action being used for wrong causes as it becomesmore popular. For example, in the US both abortionists andantiabortionists use nonviolent protest for achieving theirdemands or goals.Reckless violence will lead people to think that theintention of such violence is to destroy society. But if we