RSS FeedsOctober 2 will be the global non-violence day
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18 Jun
2007 |
The UN has declared October 2, Mahatma Gandhi’s birthday, as the Global non-Violence Day. The Indian media and the Indian politicians are calling it a fitting tribute to the great Mahatma but I wonder how much they really mean by their cloying utterances.
Recently Mahatma Gandhi’s grandson, Ramchandra Gandhi, was found dead in a room at the India International Center. He had been living like a recluse for thirty years in Bengali Market and his neighbors didn’t even know who there neighbor was. It was only after his death that his neighbors found out that he was the Mahatma’s grandson. I’m not saying he should have screamed from the rooftop about his relationship, but it was a stark contrast to how the other Gandhis (the Soniaji types) keep harping about their “sacrifices” and keep screwing an entire population with the dick of martyrdom. So one feels frustrated when these politicians lay claim upon Gandhi’s (the real one) Satyagrah and the philosophy of non-violence.
A few years ago I created a blog for an American activist who was organizing country-wide protests against the US government’s tax policies, and he following Gandhi’s path of non-violence. He even dressed like Gandhi. People are more aware about Gandhi than they are in India.
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The idea of Ahimsa Day, International Day of Non-Violence is an initiative of an English language class of mainly Japanese and Korean children in Paris, working on Attenborough’s film ‘Gandhi’. This proposal was taken to the 2004 Bombay WSF by Peace Nobel laureate, Shirin Ebadi of Iran, and supported by Romila Thapar, Asma Jahangir, Noam Chomsky, K.R. Narayanan, Immanuel Wallerstein, etc. Krishna Kumar (now director NCERT) had predicted that this call will take 3 years to be properly heard…
Hard News, the Indian associate of the international French monthly Le Monde Diplomatique, supported the initiative. Editor Sanjay Kapoor discussed it with Mohsina Kidwai, General Secretary of the Indian National Congress, who took it to party president Sonia Gandhi just before the January 2007 Satyagraha convention where archbishob Desmond Tutu on January 30th formally proposed that a call for an ahimsa day (on 2nd October) be sent to the UN.
We can speculate about the wish to transform the earlier initiative into a huge but harmless birthday bash emceed by ministers and diplomats, the opposite of what it is conceived to be in the Non-Violence Manifesto, or more pathetically, a cause for nationalist hoots of victory at the UN (over whom? Pakistan? see Hindustan Times Non-violence day - Victory for India)).
Maybe a “Christmas” bash (2nd October, day of a holy birth?) was seen as a better bet than 30th January (day of crucifixion), especially if chidren are to participate ? Preferring the day of Gandhi’s assassination by a Hindu nationalist will uncomfortably focus worldwide attention on the latters’ admiration for the Mahatma’s assassin Godse, editor of “Hindu Rashtra” (see Arnaud Mandagaran’s film on Gandhi’s assassins, and search: Hard News Purushottam Agrawal - an Ahimsa day, But When?
Also search : Ahimsa Day, Shirin Ebadi, Non-Violence Manifesto. Also see FAQ on Ahimsa Online.
October 2nd was the 136th Gandhi Jayanti, the celebration of Gandhi’s birthday.
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born in 1869 and is most famous for leading India
to independence through a nonviolent revolution. A follower of Tolstoy’s philosophy
of nonviolence, Gandhi went on to become one of the most famous and important
persons in modern history. Though we should celebrate this hero of peace every day,
his birthday is a good enough time to remember him, what he stood for, and what he
accomplished.
Happy Gandhi jayanthi
very nice
i copmletely agree with all of these staements…we deserve world peace and justice in all comunities all around the world!
this is an good co-incidence between Gandhiji’s birthday and non-violence day.perhaps Gandhiji has done this…….