HI, I am pasting Jenny's mail on Chengara struggle at the bottom of this thread. To make the terrain clear, let me clarify why I want Gandhi (the historical person) to be forgotten in this new thread.
If the attempt in the other thread by some friends was to convince all that Gandhi as an actor is historically not recommendable and Ambedkar is more acceptable, i personally have nothing against it. but in order to reject certain principles ( even if those are invented by Gandhi) we need more reasons . Is there somethinng inherently doubtful about them/Then that should be visible to everybody. thus I insisted on providing reasons. If somebody tell why it is unacceptable, there is scope for debate. Otherwise , the exclusivist attitude will demand the other to accept ones terms .which means the end of communication.Are there terms in between all of us? can we temporarily give up our own terms? Jenny, I am still sticking to the role of reporter in this mail. I find some scope for debate betwween your take and Nizar's position. So, let me first explore it before articulating my own position. The reasons given by Nizar to qualify Chengara struggle as satyagraha were the following. 1.They have violated the law. 2.They are fiercely holding on to what they have found as truth. 3.They have consciously opted self injury instead of injury on others. 4.this existential dimention, that they are ready to hold on to truth unto death , is different from other struggles. 5.This is satyagraha. 6.The point you raise, that, it is not a choice but forced situation, doesn't nullify such a proposition. 7.Satyagraha, even in gandhi's imagination, was the tool of oppressed/powerlwess. It is not the first step, but final step, when all attempts at negotiating failed. 8.It is not necessary that activists in Chengara should opt this form. They could become violent or join other political parties. Jenny: A few lines about the difference between non-violent resistance and Gandhian Satyagraha and why Chengara does not fit the bill - Non-violent resistance, tries to attain a political goal without averting to violence and yet at the same time putting pressure on governments and other authorities through various means like picketing, campaigning, consiousness raising, etc.. In this the need is to forcefully gain, procure, reach, a certain goal which is considered to be socially just and which is politically empowering to subjugated groups. - Gandhian Sathyagraha in Gandhi's own words "is a kind of truth-force or love-force or soul-force." Here the "pursuit of truth did not admit of violence being inflicted on one's opponent" and he would instead be weaned from error by patience and sympathy. Here, patience means self-suffering. And the doctrine came to mean vindication of truth, not by infliction of suffering on the opponent, but on oneself. In Chengara, nothing of this sort is/was happening. The suffering that is happening in Chengara is not a choice. It is not to convert the opponent. The threat of suicide is not used to hurt oneself, but because as people in Chengara have already said, they cannot return to their even worse lives. See the whole point is this.... An upper caste person like Gandhi, is giving up so much of a great life - including his clothes, his meat eating habits, sex, etc etc - to fight the British. He is choosing TRUTH over material comforts and this TRUTH clothes him and satisfies him and that becomes his moral weapon. An agitating person in Chengara (and in many other spheres too) is not anywhere like this. They are not giving up something - going to suffer something - so as to gain something better - NO. They are always already placed within suffering due to social injustice and they are looking for a political way out. Without patience and with anger. This cliched urge to look at all this in the Gandhian mode, tells us nothing about the political passions surrouding this new struggle, which needs new ways of understanding, and which also needs to be seen in the way it wants to be seen...as a continuation of the Ayyankali and Ambedkarite politics.. -- Dileep R I thuravoor --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To post to this group, send email to greenyouth@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth?hl=en-GB -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
