Theos-Talk Archives (September 2004 Message tt00809)

At 12:42 AM 09/27/04 +0000, prmoliveira wrote:
>--- In theos-talk@yahoogroups.com, Erica Letzerich <eletzerich@y...>
>wrote:
> > Gandhi would never agree with that.
>Probably not. But would he have watched, passively, gang-rape of
>women on a mass scale?
>
>It is said that Annie Besant (sorry to mention her name again) told
>him (about his civil disobedience strategy): "You can teach people
>to break the law, but once you do that you will never teach them to
>respect the law again". One of the legacies of his non-violent
>struggle was Partition, and it was, in all respects, unadulterated
>bloodshed, which is one of the outcomes of violence.

Partition did not have anything to do with Gandhi's civil disobedience 
strategy. I lived in India during the Partition days. The violence that 
took place was the result of politicians exploiting religion and uneducated 
poor population. India got its independence due to the sacrifices of Gandhi 
and many of his followers. One just needs to look at India today. After 
more than seven decades, it is still going strong as the world's largest 
democracy.

>Non-violence, as an ideology, has many merits but, like every thing
>under the sun, it is not absolute. The duty of the strong is to
>defend those who cannot defend themselves.
>
>Pedro

Agreed. Each situation needs to be looked at and appropriate action to be 
taken to solve the problem.

mkr


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