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13
May 25, 2012
The Great Soul: Mahatma Gandhi and his use of nonviolence
BY JOE MARTIN
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
he “unspeakable,” according to
author James W. Douglass, “exists in
the shadow of all government and
corporate power, but reaches a special
depth of murderous deceit in a democracy
with nuclear weapons.”
The term is derived from the Catholic
monk Thomas Merton and his profound
meditation on the vile corruption,
mendacity and violence that permeates
much of our contemporary world. In
Merton’s own trenchant prose, the
unspeakable “is the void that contradicts
everything spoken even before the words
are said; the void that gets into the language
of public and official declarations at the very
moment when they are pronounced, and
makes them ring dead with the hollowness
of the abyss. It is the void out of which
(Nazi war criminal Adolf) Eichmann drew
the punctilious exactitude of his obedience.”
Our murderous epoch has seen world
wars, endless armed conflicts, genocidal
atrocities, increasingly sophisticated killing
devices and the proliferation of nuclear
weapons. Early in the 20th century an
unlikely figure strode onto history’s
tumultuous stage. Mohandas Karamchand
Gandhi would emerge as the most steadfast
and eloquent proponent of nonviolence the
modern world has ever witnessed. He would
be revered as the Mahatma or Great Soul.
In his riveting new work, “Gandhi and the
Unspeakable,” Douglass details the
Mahatma’s extraordinary journey for Indian
independence, which ended in his
assassination. Of Gandhi’s pacific message
Douglass writes: “In the nuclear age, it had
come right on time. If we awaken to truth
and nonviolence in the depth of a new
world, we can confront the Unspeakable
with hope.”
Gandhi and his unwavering d ed icatio n to
peace and truth stand in luminous
opposition to the unspeakable. Loved by
Indians from a diversity of religious,
cultural, class and ethnic backgrounds,
T
Gandhi and the
Unspeakable by
James W.
Douglass
Gandhi’s personal spiritual practice
embraced an eclectic blend of the deep
wisdom found in all authentic religious
experience. His spirituality and politics were
inextricably intertwined. Yet there were
individuals and movements vehemently
opposed to him. It was not only the Islamic
separatist Muhammad Ali Jinnah, whose
obstinacy would divide India and bring about
the nation of Pakistan. Certain right wing
nationalist Hindus subscribed to a doctrine
of revolutionary violence, and such a one
would assassinate the Mahatma in 1948.
On a visit to London in 1906 Gandhi met
Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, “the leader of a
cadre of militant Indian students living at a
London hostel he ran, India House.” Their
philosophical and political differences were
clear from the start. Savarkar openly
supported “revolt, bloodshed, and revenge”
to rid the British from India. In 1909, a
young Indian man groomed by Savarkar
assassinated a British official. The young
man was executed. Savarkar escaped
prosecution.
Gandhi arrived again in London only days
after this incident and suspected Savarkar
was behind the deed. “For the next four
decades, Gandhi’s and Savarkar’s own lives
would embody their diametrically opposed
visions of social change, with both visions
culminating finally in Gandhi’s assassination
by Savarkar and his followers.”
In addition to developing a nonviolent
revolutionary alternative to violent rebellion,
Gandhi pursued genuine reconciliation
between Hindus and Muslims. Savarkar and
his followers would have no part of it. In
1925, an adherent of Savarkar founded the
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (rss), “an
organization that consciously copied the
strategy of Mussolini’s fascist Blackshirts.
The rss would become infamous by
terrorizing Muslims in order to gain political
between Hindus and Muslims. Gandhi’s last
fast was undertaken in order to stop the
myrderous mayhem that engulfed the land.
His hope for a united India had been
dashed. Even his closest disciples seemed
unwilling to adopt policies that might point
to a new and hopeful nonviolent direction,
not only for India, but for the future of all
humanity. In the midst of stark
disappointment, he remained focused on
peace, truth and forgiveness. “Gandhi’s
death dramatized his commitment to a
nonviolent vision that included yet
transcended India ... (H)e sought God in the
hearts of his enemies, including those who
wanted to kill him.”
The philosopher Hegel stated that history
is an abattoir, a slaughterhouse. Oceans of
blood have been shed in the name of God,
the state, the tribe or political ideology.
Firebrands and fanatics have rationalized
the subjugation and eradication of perceived
enemies deemed dangerous, different or
inferior. By way of numbers, organization
and superior weaponry, bullies with
imperialist designs have beaten and subdued
the weak. Victims of injustice have seethed
with understandable anger and resentment
awaiting the opportunity to visit violence on
the oppressor. Indeed there is much to
substantiate Hegel’s view of history as a
slaughterhouse.
Upon this blood-soaked tapestry of
history stands the legacy of Gandhi pointing
to a way out of the sanguine quagmire. Of
this great peacemaker, Albert Einstein said,
“Generations to come, it may be, will scarce
believe that such a one as this ever in flesh
and blood walked upon this earth.” Let us
hope that there is a future for humanity in
all its vibrant manifestations. Gandhi’s
greatest American disciple, Martin Luther
King Jr., said, “The choice today is no
p o w er in India a t th e e n d of th e tw e n tie th
lo n g e r b e tw ee n v io len ce an d n o n v io le n c e . I t
century.” Today the rss remains a huge and
influential presence in Indian politics.
In the wake of Britain’s evacuation and
the partition of the country, chaos erupted
is either nonviolence or nonexistence.”
Concluding this exigent and most critical
little tome, Douglass says: “The choice is
ours.”
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