Down to the wire : confronting climate collapse / David - Index of
Down to the wire : confronting climate collapse / David - Index of
Down to the wire : confronting climate collapse / David - Index of
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200 S far<strong>the</strong>r horizons<br />
“fi rmness” (Gandhi, 1954, p. 109). Gandhi honed <strong>the</strong> philosophy<br />
<strong>of</strong> nonviolence in<strong>to</strong> an effective <strong>to</strong>ol <strong>of</strong> change in India as Martin<br />
Lu<strong>the</strong>r King Jr. later did in <strong>the</strong> United States, but we’ve never<br />
known what <strong>to</strong> do with people like Gandhi and King. On one<br />
hand we occasionally pay <strong>the</strong>m lip service in public speeches and<br />
name holidays in <strong>the</strong>ir honor, but on <strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r hand we ignore<br />
what <strong>the</strong>y had <strong>to</strong> say about how we live and how we conduct <strong>the</strong><br />
public business. The time has come <strong>to</strong> pay closer attention <strong>to</strong> what<br />
<strong>the</strong>y said and did, and <strong>to</strong> fathom what that means for us now and<br />
in <strong>the</strong> long emergency ahead.<br />
The beginning <strong>of</strong> a more realistic realism is in <strong>the</strong> recognition<br />
that violence <strong>of</strong> any sort is a sure path <strong>to</strong> ruin on all levels and that<br />
<strong>the</strong> practice <strong>of</strong> nonviolence is a viable alternative—indeed, our<br />
only alternative <strong>to</strong> collective suicide. But that implies changing<br />
a great deal that we presently take for granted, beginning with<br />
<strong>the</strong> belief in an unmovable and implacably evil enemy. Richard<br />
Gregg, an associate <strong>of</strong> Gandhi, for example, said that <strong>the</strong> goal <strong>of</strong> a<br />
practitioner <strong>of</strong> nonviolence<br />
is not <strong>to</strong> injure, or <strong>to</strong> crush and humiliate his opponent, or <strong>to</strong><br />
“break his will” . . . [but] <strong>to</strong> convert <strong>the</strong> opponent, <strong>to</strong> change his<br />
understanding and his sense <strong>of</strong> values so that he will join wholeheartedly<br />
[<strong>to</strong> seek] a settlement truly amicable and truly satisfying<br />
<strong>to</strong> both sides (Gregg, 1971, 51).<br />
As with war, <strong>the</strong> practice <strong>of</strong> nonviolence requires training, discipline,<br />
self-denial, strategy, courage, stamina, and heroism. Its aim is<br />
not <strong>to</strong> defeat but <strong>to</strong> convert and <strong>the</strong>reby resolve <strong>the</strong> particulars <strong>of</strong><br />
confl ict at a higher level. For Gandhi, living nonviolently required<br />
its practitioners fi rst <strong>to</strong> transcend animosity and hatred <strong>to</strong> reach<br />
a higher level <strong>of</strong> being in “self-restraint, unselfi shness, patience,<br />
gentleness” (Gandhi, 1962, p. 326). The aim is not <strong>to</strong> win a confl ict<br />
but <strong>to</strong> change <strong>the</strong> mind-set that leads <strong>to</strong> confl ict, and ultimately <strong>to</strong><br />
form a “broad human movement which is seeking not merely <strong>the</strong><br />
end <strong>of</strong> war but [<strong>the</strong> end <strong>of</strong> ] our equally non-pacifi st civilization.”