Arun Gandhi Quits Peace Institute in Flap Over Blog Posting
By Michelle Boorstein
Washington Post, January 26, 2008
http://tinyurl.com/ysj2xy
The grandson of Indian spiritual leader Mahatma Gandhi resigned
yesterday as president of the board of a conflict resolution institute
after writing an online essay on a Washington Post blog calling Jews
and Israel "the biggest players" in a global culture of violence.
In his resignation letter to the board of the M.K. Gandhi Institute
for Nonviolence, founder Arun Gandhi wrote that his Jan. 7 essay "was
couched in language that was hurtful and contrary to the principles of
nonviolence. My intention was to generate a healthy discussion on the
proliferation of violence. Clearly I did not achieve my goal. Instead,
unintentionally, my words have resulted in pain, anger, confusion and
embarrassment."
The institute is housed at the University of Rochester and has a
university-paid director. Gandhi submitted his resignation to the
board Thursday and it was accepted yesterday.
Board members could not be reached immediately yesterday, but a brief
unsigned statement on the university's Web site said: "The essence of
Arun Gandhi's work has been to educate and promote the principles of
nonviolence. In that spirit, the Institute plans to work with the
University of Rochester and other community groups to use the recent
events as an opportunity to deepen mutual understanding through
dialogue employing the principles of nonviolence and peace."
Gandhi's comments were part of a discussion about the future of Jewish
identity on the religion blog On Faith at washingtonpost.com. He wrote
that Jewish identity is "locked into the holocaust experience," which
Jews "overplay . . . to the point that it begins to repulse friends."
The Jewish nation -- Israel, he wrote -- is too reliant upon weapons
and bombs and should instead befriend its enemies.
"Apparently, in the modern world, so determined to live by the bomb,
this is an alien concept. You don't befriend anyone, you dominate
them. We have created a culture of violence (Israel and the Jews are
the biggest players) and that Culture of Violence is eventually going
to destroy humanity," he wrote.
The posting drew 438 comments -- an exceptionally high response for an
On Faith essay -- and prompted such a backlash that Gandhi later
posted an apology. The Web site also apologized.
On Jan. 11, university President Joel Seligman labeled Gandhi's
initial comments stereotyping and said they were "fundamentally
inconsistent with the core values" of the school. Yesterday, he called
the resignation "appropriate."
The institute will remain at the university, which will host a forum
later this year "to provide Arun Gandhi, a leader of the Jewish
community and other speakers the opportunity to address the issues
raised by Mr. Gandhi's statements and related issues. A University can
and should promote dialogue in which we can learn from each other even
when the most painful or difficult issues will be discussed," Seligman
said in his statement yesterday.
