The Global Gandhian Moment

The year 2011 will remain for people in the Middle East and around the world as a momentous year in the history of Gandhian nonviolence. Despite their geographic and cultural diversity, nonviolent movements in Egypt, Tunisia, Syria, Bahrain and Yemen exhibited a remarkable similarity to Gandhi’s and King’s strategies for checking power and opposing violence in India and in the United States decades ago. Gandhi believed that human destiny has constantly been on the move to nonviolence. It is true that this view is challenged by new forms of conflict and violations of human rights in the world. The recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan showed us that the universality of nonviolence is ineffective to stop the dominating will of one nation or of one man. However, what is also true is the fact that there is a growing awareness of the need to go beyond this violence.