Happy birthday Gandhi!
On this day in 1869 in India, Mohandas Gandhi is born. He goes on to lead some of the most successful and wide-reaching nonviolence campaigns in history, first to achieve rights for Indians in South Africa, and later freeing India from the most powerful military empire in the world, Great Britain.
Gandhi was no wizard -- he used rational, practical "realpolitik" strategies that relied on the power of people working together without the use of violence.
Since then, nonviolent revolutions have been successful around the world - in Serbia, Chile, Poland, Nepal, Georgia and elsewhere.
Could Gandhi's principals be applied to the USA's present-day "War on Terror?"
Here are some interesting articles that discuss that issue:
From Daedalus magazine
Here is a US State Dept analysis of possible nonviolent approaches to
fighting terrorism.
Here is a religious response.
- SW