Martin Luther King, Jr.
On a day the US has set aside to commemorate the work of Martin Luther King, Jr., we can also remind ourselves that non-violence is not confined to King's Southern Christian Leadership Conference or Gandhi's India.A November 2007 article in The Tide News (Port Harcourt) reminds us that the ideals of non-violence are still around in Nigeria.
Foundation plans non violence centres in Nigeria
"Against the background of the need to sustain the current impact of non violence Education programme in Nigeria a non governmental organisation in the country, Foundation for Ethnic Harmony in Nigeria (FEHN) has planned to establish community centres for non violence in the 36 states of the federation..."
We should also remind ourselves about Ken Saro Wiwa
There's an Iranian Center for Applied Nonviolence in Dubai.
"About 200,000 Iranians live in Dubai... Iranians in Dubai have been attracted here in large part because of the city's openness and freewheeling business climate. The emirate is an important transshipment point for goods and products headed to Iran. And Iranians can use its banks and financial institutions to do business with other countries, which is harder to do in Iran thanks to trade sanctions and U.S. pressure not to do business with Iran.
"Among the nongovernmental groups seizing on those links [between Iran and the UAE] is the Iranian Center for Applied Nonviolence, which invites Iranians to workshops here to teach them how peaceful revolts in Georgia, the Philippines and elsewhere were set off. The center, led by Ramin Ahmadi, an Iranian-American opposition figure, says he holds the training sessions every three months or so on civil disobedience..."
The first reference that comes to mind for most people when thinking about non-violence in China is 1989. The protests in Tiananmen Square in the spring of 1989 were dramatic demonstrations of the power of non-violence. The government's violent suppression of those demonstrations was a dramatic demonstration of the limits of the power of non-violence.
The Dalai Lama in his 1996 book, Beyond Dogma: The Challenge of the Modern World, reminded people of his insistence on nonviolence, even in dealing with China. In response to a question, he replied, "Yes, I absolutely refuse the use of violence. For several years now I have been asked on several occasions what I would do if the despair of certain Tibetans drove them to violence, and I have always replied that if that were to happen I would give up and step back...
"In our case, what is most important is the fact that we Tibetans and our Chinese brothers and sisters have always been neighbours and must remain so. The only alternative for the future is to learn to get along and live in harmony with our neighbours. We must seek a solution between the Chinese and the Tibetans that will offer mutual benefits. Because of our nonviolent attitude, Chinese people both within China and abroad have already expressed sympathy and concern for our cause; some have even said they greatly appreciate our nonviolent attitude."
Somehow, non-violence is not part of my stereotype of Russian political culture. The images of police and "hooligans" beating up non-violent political demonstrators in the run-up to the recent Duma elections stick in my mind.
However, the Forum on Early Warning and Early Response lists
a number of groups dedicated to non-violence:
- Peace Mission of General Lebed in Pyatigorsk
- Network of Ethnological Monitoring and Early Warning of Conflict in Moscow
- Nonviolence International, also in Moscow
- Dialogue with the World in Moscow
The Global Non-violence Network lists five other groups dedicated to non-violence:
- Research and Education Centre for the Ethics of Nonviolence in Moscow
- Golubka Ul Garibaldi, also in Moscow
- Nonviolent Direct Action Initiatives Centre in Kaliningrad
- the St Petersburg Peace Group
- Mothers Against Violence in Moscow
In 2002, anthropologist Arturo Ortega Vela wrote a paper, Peace is not the silence of cemeteries, for a conference in Seoul, Korea. In it he wrote, "In Mexico, my country, there is a culture of inequality and injustice...
"I want to make special mention of the year 1968, because it was the culmination of one period where society began to question the antidemocratic forms of the régime. The protests carried out by the young students were non-violent in form. Students took to the streets, they organized acts of civil disobedience and strikes, and demanded sweeping reforms of the Mexican political system. Within this context the Non-Violent Movement was born...
"The Mexican indigenous movement and their struggle for their rights gained worldwide attention due to the uprising of the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN) on January 1st of 1994. What many people outside of Mexico don't know is that the indigenous movement has a long history, one linked to non-violence. This was the case in the state of Chiapas before, and after, the appearance of the EZLN..."
And what of non-violence in the UK?
The political culture in some ways is non-violent. That, of course, does not extend to the maintenance and use of military power, but even India is a nuclear power.
Civil society groups advocating and teaching about non-violence are common. The Global Nonviolence Network lists a dozen British groups.
And the shock of the 2005 subway bombings is another illustration of the prevalence of nonviolence in British culture.
Labels: political culture
posted by Ken Wedding @ 8:53 AM
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