Non-Violence: Merely a Dream Essay

The history of violence in the world is well documented. However it is also possible to use non-violence to bring about change. This DBQ will look at two countries where a non-violent movement was successful.

As I was reading the passages in Gandhi and Beyond: Nonviolence For a New Political Age, the theme that kept coming up was that nothing has ever been solved by violence. Gandhi, a man with less earthly belongings than anybody I have ever met or ever read about, dedicated his entire life promoting the importance of peace amongst us.

When Mahatma Gandhi first picked up those raw grains of salt, he couldn’t have imagined the effect his actions would have on the future. Throughout his life as a passive resistor, he created for himself a difficult path by resisting the temptation to fight back. In his Doctrine of the Sword I, he speaks about the need for suffering in passive resistance. To Gandhi, if you did not suffer for your cause than you weren’t resisting; you are merely laying down obediently at the feet of evildoers.

Mohandas Gandhi was born in 1869 in the Indian coastal city of Porbandar (Background Essay). He then studied law in London, where he noticed that Indians were expected to imitate their rulers, the Englishmen (Background Essay). Gandhi wanted all people to live free, even those imposed by India’s caste system so he decided to take action in a peaceful manner (Background Essay). By doing so he was able to gain India’s independence in 1947 (Background Essay). This caused Gandhi to be known as “ Mahatma” or “ Great Soul” because he was able to do it without violence (Background Essay). Gandhi’s nonviolent movement worked because he accepted the consequences to his actions, strived for fairness to all mankind, and didn’t think of the British as enemies.

While when discussing the history of the world’s power forces, violence makes for stimulating discussion, other tactics were put to good use, one of these alternatives being non-violence. With the guidance of three worldwide heroes - Mohandas Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., and Nelson Mandela - with contagious optimism and high spirits, it became apparent just how much of a difference could be made carried out through non-violent terms. Mankind was introduced to another way to resolve major problems just as effectively, if not more, than violence could.

It would be wrong to say violence ends when you turn the television off or act as if injustice didn’t exist anymore, but if you reflect back on 2016 so far, one of the biggest topics that often dominates the news and blogosphere concerned the high frequency of assaults on college campuses around the country. In the place where many young adults begin to learn who they are and who they want to be while enjoying a comfortable freedom and safety among their peers discovered freedom and safety could not always be guaranteed.

Throughout history, many conflicts have happened, some with resolution, and other without. We often tend to think of solving conflicts with war, since most of our history classes are based around World War I, World War II, and so forth, but many conflicts were fought, and successfully won using nonviolent resistance. Many people would use Gandhi as a well known example. Gandhi’s plan of civil disobedience revolved around this big idea called “satyagraha,” which he explains as, “a satyagrahi should always possess civility and humility, qualities that indicated self-control and an humble approach to truth” (Gandhi 50). He later explains that satyagraha is “truth-force” and that truth is soul and spirit, or “spirit-force.” “It excludes the use of violence because man is not capable of knowing the absolute truth and, therefore, not competent to punish” (51). He used this strategy to fight for indian independence. Many other incidents in the world have been fought using civil disobedience, including Women’s Suffrage.

Nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral questions of our time; the need for mankind to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to oppression and violence. Mankind must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression, and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.

The Civil Rights Movement brought many accomplishments to African Americans such as the 1964 Civil Rights Act, Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the Fair Housing Act of 1968. The key issues that African Americans fought for were voting rights, integration and racial equality. They were tired of the discrimination and humiliation they received as a result of the segregation laws imposed on them. “State laws mandated racial separation in schools, parks, playgrounds, restaurants, hotels, public transportation, theaters, restrooms and so on” (Blumberg 40). Lawsuits had been tried to gain rights such as the unsuccessful Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896 and the successful Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka. Although, the Brown v. Board of Education of

In the words of Mahatma Ghandi, "There are many causes that I am prepared to die for, but no causes that I am prepared to kill for" (Knapp 1). A strong believer in civil disobedience, and the refusal to obey unjust laws, Ghandi engaged in many forms of passive resistance, which eventually brought about much political change in India. Leaders who fought for change in other parts of the world, such as Martin Luther King, Jr. and Nelson Mandela, also believed that non violent tactics were the most effective way to bring about lasting change. On the other hand, many extremist organizations feel strongly that the change they are seeking needs to have broad attention, and to come about quickly. As a result, they pursue violent action as they feel

Even though Gandhi is a Hindu, he uses Christ as support for non-violence. There are two components that play into the reason why non-violence should be practiced. One part is that taking violence is righteous, in a sense, since Christ accepted the violence put on him. Gandhi argues that offering your left cheek to be hit was not just to be meant figuratively, but that it is used to show courage when receiving violence without striking back. The other part to non-violence is that when you receive blow after blow, the offender seems to lose his hate for you and begins to respect you. When this change of heart eventually happens the violence ends. Although Gandhi is not a Christian, he values the way Jesus lived his life. From this short scene it can be inferred that Gandhi believes that acting non-violently, the way Christ did, is a model for the way he should live his own

Blessed is the man who can perceive the law of ahimsa (nonviolence)" (Gandhi's Philosophy of Nonviolence). He believes that violence is never the answer and that people should stay away from it. Violence will create another violence and there would be no end. Also, the government takes the violence resistant harshly. They ignore people who cause disturbance to the society and to the citizens. Having a peaceful resistance, the government sees the people and consider their resistance and try to come with a solution to satisfy their citizens.

For my book project I read the book Way of the Peaceful Warrior, by Dan Millman. Set in Berkeley California, Dan Millman a college student struggles to find the part of himself that has always been missing. One night while out walking from his dorm, Dan comes across a gas station and a strange man that is soon to turn his life upside down. This man, known as Socrates, shows Dan a side of existence that only few people had ever seen. To become a warrior like Socrates and have the mind to not allow the regular struggles of life to control a single part of you. Socrates takes Dan in and tries to create a warrior from a young star athlete with the ignorance of every other human on this earth. Through his

Mahatma Gandhi once said, “Nonviolence is not a garment to be put on and off at will. Its seat is in the heart, and it must be an inseparable part of our being". The book The Essential Gandhi expresses Gandhi’s views on issues like untouchability, religion, nationality, his movements like civil-disobedience are deeply shown in this book. Readers can learn about Gandhi’s childhood, his early married life, his realization and transition in South Africa, and his ways of approach towards attaining Independence in India. The book did a fantastic job in showing the Gandhi’s principles like non-violence with exemplary contexts.

One of Gandhi’s beliefs on nonviolence was to use non-cooperation when needed. Non-cooperation was a way of showing how empty the