tHtje p o ttia n i» (©bsertier
Martin Luther King Jr. Special Edition — Jan. 13,1999
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T r u True ITbveerw e r
Sharif M. Abdullah
B y S harif M. A bdullah
There’s a picture on my desk, a
picture of myself and a woman in
front o f a modem glass and steel
building. 1 took that picture last year,
during a visit to Columbo, Sri Lanka.
The interesting thing about that pic
ture is that two days after 1 took the
picture, that building was blown up
by terrorists.
I was in the Hilton and the adjoin
ing World Trade Center, taking a
brief respite from my two weeks of
strategic planning and staff devel
opment work with the Sarvodaya
movement, an organization practic
ing nonviolence and Gandhian-style
economic and social development
in over 2,000 villages. Had the bomb
attack happened while 1 was eating,
you wouldn’t be reading this.
In Sri Lanka, the World Trade
Center and its adjoining Hilton ho
tel complex were the latest victims
in a civil/ethnic war that won’t go
away. Ethnic wars cannot be “won”;
they will go on as long as Singhalese
and Tamils are having babies. War is
an obsolete method to resolve con-
flict - it’s just that those with guns
and bombs haven’t figured that out
yet.
What was the goal of the dozen
Tamil Tigers who carried out the
bombing? At the bottom line, it was
a pitiful attempt at projecting power
into a powerless situation. It is piti
ful in that the display cannot ever
achieve the aims o f the young ter
rorists.
The futility of their behavior is
evident once one understands what
The Power of
Peacemakers
Paul Von Ward
B y P aul V on W ard
“M ost people do not under
stand the com plicated m achin
ery o f the government. They do
not realize every citizen silently
but none the less certainly sus
tains the governm ent o f the day
in w ays o f w hich he has no
know ledge. Every citizen there
fore ren d ers h im se lf re sp o n
sible for every act o f his gov
ernm ent. And it is quite proper
to support it so long as the ac
tions o f the government are bear
able. But when they hurt him and
his nation it becomes his duty to
withdraw his support.” Gandhi
People who wish to bring out
peaceful change or correct in
ju stice prom ote the techniques
o f nonviolence by explaining
that it: (1) creates guilt by set
ting a higher moral example for
the oppressors, (2) indicates a
mode o f noncooperation, p ar
ticularly in terms o f spending
votes or dollars, (3) follows the
precepts o f this or that religion,
invoking the intervention o f its
own “ god,” and (4) elicits the
support o f the uncommitted.
But the prim ary reason for its
success lies in having truly be
nevolent intentions, clearly and
strongly expressed by a few in
dividuals, sending a powerful
wave o f positive energy.
This is why a m inority, or
even a significant m ajority, can
not co n tin u ally im pose nega
tive forces on those profoundly
com m itted to the ideal o f peace
and ju stice. The challenge is to
be truly com m itted to the good
o f all, avoiding the desire to
o v erth ro w one p a rtic u la r re
gime by another. C ounterrevo
lutions end up laying the foun
dations for their own dem ise.
Look at the cases o f Russia,
N icaragua, Iran, and other ex
am ples o f violent overthrows
o f existing regimes.
The United States has avoided
th is tro u b le s o m e o u tco m e
longer than any other nation be
cause its birth was based more
on constructive ideals than m ili
tary might. However, the seeds
o f its own negative forces have
survived and are rearing their
ugly sprouts, feeding American
government institutions that sup
press individual rights. To avoid
the full flowering of their op
pressive tendencies, the institu
tions must now be transformed
through a nonviolent, altruistic
set o f co n sc io u s in ten tio n s.
What is required is not a frontal
assault on currently regressive
leaders and their staffs, but an
effort to redefine the inalien
able nature o f the rights o f con
scious beings.
If the crime rate can be re
duced to its lowest level in 25
years by a significant shift of
the public’s mindset in favor of
“we are all responsible” in lieu
o f ‘i t ’s som eone else’s prob
lem ,” as I believe it has, then
political institutions will be re
formed when enough people fa
vor the concept o f “we govern
ourselves best” in contrast to
that o f "governm ent is by elites,
whether elected or appointed.”
W hen c itiz e n s ’ charge such
ideas o f self responsibility with
em otion, it leads to behavioral
changes. A perceptible reposi
tioning along these lines by as
piring leaders is already under
way. Traditionalists pushing for
m ore a u to c ra tic gov ern m en t
control will not find the ener
getic support necessary for long
term success.
T hey can have only the c o n
trol ceded to them by in d i
v id u a ls ; one can lead only
w hen o th ers co n sc io u sly d e
cide ti? follow . The num ber o f
peo p le who give th e ir m ental
and p sy ch o lo g ica l support to
o ffic ia ls is m ore im portant in
a d em o cracy than the m echan
ic s o f v o te t o t a l s ( a
N ew to n ian p ro ced u re b elied
by co n sc io u sn e ss in a q u an
tum u n iv e rse ). W hen people
w ith h o ld in n er support from
those in p o sitio n s o f pow er,
th ro u g h the p ro cess o f d is e n
fra n c h isin g , it w ill be im p o s
s ib le fo r a u th o r ita r ia n s to
p e rp etu ate o p p re ssio n and in
ju s tic e .
power is (and is not). True power is
the ability to manifest one’s inten
tions. It involves the will to move
forward to accomplish one’s objec
tives.
With this definition, it becomes
obvious that the disaffected young
people in the various militarized
groups throughout the world cannot
wield true power. Like boats with
out paddles or rudders, they drift
toward the chasm, knowing some
thing is wrong but not knowing what
to do about it. There is an emptiness
within, and destroying such a blatant
symbol of Western arrogance does
not fill it. Rambo teaches us that an
assault rifle puts one in a position of
power. This is a lie, but unfortu
nately, we are not learning that les
son quickly.
What is the answer? What is the
answer to those who feel so disaf
fected that violence is not only a
solution but the only solution? What
is the answer to those committing
the slow suicide of drugs and casual
violence, those for whom prison or
execution is no deterrent, since it is
not worse than the life in which they
find themselves? (Remember this:
“senseless” acts of violence make
all the sense in the world to those
who perpetrate them.)
The answer is inclusivity. The
answer lies in adopting a simple but
profound statement as a way of life:
all of life forms one seamless, in
terrelated web. Therefore, anything
I do to anyone 1 am doing to myself.
With inclusivity, I choose to re
solve all conflicts through negotia
tion rather than violent confronta
tion. A person who is whole does
not have the need for violence: they
see other alternatives.
If we ask the IRA or Saddam
Hussein or the Crips or the Bloods
to renounce violence, we must be
prepared to set an example and re
nounce violence FIRST. If violence
is wrong for Tamil Tigers, it is
wrong for the Sri Lankan govern
ment. Anything less is asking an
adversary to hold still while you
beat him up.
Ending the violence of power
lessness means ending military sup
port. To all sides. Period. It means
being committed to “win-win” situ
ations. It means recognizing that
parties can differ without killing one
another. It means being committed
to creating a world which works for
all.
A-ZEBRA Reallv Ine
The Dream is Any Home Anywhere.
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desire Call us at:
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Martin Luther King’s Six Step Process Toward Social Change
• Information Gathering
• Education
• Personal Commitments
• Negotiation
• Direct Action
• Reconciliation and beginning the healing process
Living the Dvetifji
—Last Celebration of the Century—
14th A nnuaf Tribute to
Martin Luther King, Jr.
M onday , J anuary 18,1999
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