Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Monday, February 13, 2012
Peace Approach : From Gandhi to Galtung and beyond
Peace Approach : From Gandhi to Galtung and beyond
By Dr. Anupama Kaushik
Associate Professor in Political Science, Banasthali University,
Rajasthan, India.
Peace can be defined as a two sided
concept. On the one hand it implies absence of violence and on the other the
presence of positive, harmonious, cooperative relationships. These two aspects
are referred to as negative and positive peace. Johan Galtung clarifies that
peace research is based on the assumption that peace is as consensual a value
as health…..
……The people who established peace studies in the west- Johan
Galtung and Kenneth Boulding were admirers of Gandhi.13 However
in west peace studies have taken a very different path to that of Gandhi.
Probably the reason was that Gandhian peace demands a great deal of sacrifice
from the practitioner. He calls it satyagraha i.e. ‘adherence to truth’ and
truth and non violence are the main planks of satyagraha. A person who resolves
to adhere to truth cannot remain silent at the sight of violence which is
negative of truth. Truth functions in form of non violence or love. While the
lover of truth ought to oppose violence such an opposition would mean ‘fight
the evil’ while ‘love the evil doer’. It is a dynamic soul force based on the
concept of self- suffering. As there are many forms of injustices there are
many forms of satyagaha too such as- non cooperation, civil disobedience,
fasting, hijrat, hartal, picketing, boycott, and renunciation of titles,
honours and positions.
Saturday, February 11, 2012
Friday, February 10, 2012
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Non-violence : A Force for Radical Change
Non-violence : A Force for Radical
Change
By Narayan Desai
Chancellor,
Gujarat Vidyapith, Ahmedabad, India (the University founded by Mahatma Gandhi)
The days that have been chosen for this international Congress on
Peace and Non-violence are more significant than probably what we think about
it. 30th January is the death anniversary of Gandhi. But I consider 29th
January also to be important. It was on this day, Gandhi mentioned about his
own death. It seems that he foresaw his death. During the year 1947 he repeated
the vision thrice. He said to his grand-niece one day before his death. ‘If I
die of any common disease, please announce to the world that Gandhi was not a
Mahatma. But if I would be going for my prayers, and somebody comes and shoots
at me, and I receive the bullets on my open chest, and have the name of God on
my lips without having any ill will or hatred in my heart, then tell the world
that I was an humble servant of God’. He was also foreseeing and describing
which was going happen the next day. READ MORE…
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