Neda's Martyrdom, Gandhi's Insight
Monday June 22, 2009
Though Mohandas Gandhi valued simplicity, he would undoubtedly be delighted that the rampant spread of technology has made Gandhian non-violence more effective. Indeed, the digital age -- when every phone is a camera and a telegraph -- makes Gandhism...
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It truly would be an inspiration if non-violent action brought down the Iranian regime. It would also show a skeptical West that Muslims too can be inspired to non-violent action. (Even though many Americans forget that many Muslims joined Gandhi in his non-violent struggle.) Let us hope and pray that the protesters succeed!
In truth it seems to be less learning the lesson of Ghandi than the government ignoring the lesson of Stalin. By killing one person at a time, they created the image of a martyr. If they had mowed the crowds down with heavy weapons fire, there would have only been numbers.
In truth, I cannot see non-violent action succeeding against the Mullahs. They honestly do not care what the rest of the world thinks.
Charles,
But the world also that non-violent action would never overthrow Marcos in the Phillipines, the communist dictators of Poland and East Germany, the apartheid South African government, etc. I have great hopes for the people of Iran. Collective non-violent action is stronger than the strongest army.
If it were only non-violent street protests against the police, the militia goons and the Revolutionary guards, I agree that the superior forces of Khameni and Ahamdinejad would win out.
But, the longer the protests continue, the more cracks are appearing across the entire society, including within the ranks of the ruling clerics and in the military. It is possible that continued pressure could lead to defections by military or even to refusal to attack the demonstrators. A successful general strike could do even more to change the status quo.
I'm hopeful.
Richard, but it failed bloodily in China and Iran has an interesting history of dealing with the outside world. Amnesty International had to stop sponsoring arrestees under the Ayatollah because the moment the Iranians got one letter on someone's behalf, the person was immediately executed. And of course there was the famous episode in Stalin's gulags when a couple of prisoners decided to go on a hunger strike and discovered that their hunger strike was made permanent as the NKVD guards said, "Good, more food for us."
The success of non-violence is linked more the weakness of the will of the government than the power of the demonstrators. Ghandi never faced Stalin or Hitler.
Charles, the points you make are, unfortunately, excellent. Non-violence works better against "oppressors" who are clearly violating their own values, such as the British in India, and America in the era of legal segregation.
On the other hand, the fact that the actions of Khameni and Ahmadinejad are against many of the stated values of the Iranian Revolution is made clear by the rather large number of clerics and mullahs who appear to be breaking ranks with the "Supreme Leader."
I agree that peaceful means will not necessarily be effective against brutally repressive regimes, but do think there may be some real hope in Iran.
And the naivete continues.
Ghandi succeeded because GB was a democracy subject to political pressure from its citizenry. Ditto the United States.
Nonviolent protests never did anything to overthrow a dictatorship. And, no, it didn't overthrow communism. U.S. military pressure and the raw economic power produced by capitalism pushed the USSR into economic collapse.
This article becomes more and more irrelevant as time passes and all the predictions made by those of us who understand dictatorships happened one by one.
The current situation right now in Iran? No more street protests. Protest leaders rounded up and awaiting trial. No "cracks" among the Mullahs.
The prediction for next week? The re-assertion of the grip of dictatorship on the people of Iran.
It does not matter how many mullahs break ranks. What matters is if the generals break ranks. The historic precedent being the 1991 Soviet coup which ended because the army did not go along with it including General Lebed's remark that if the coup leaders did not give up he would drop his paratroopers on the Kremlin.
It all goes back to the wisdom of the Roman Emperor Septimus Severus who said, "Keep the soldiers rich and don't worry about anything else."
It is so true that non-violent protesting and acts of selfless martyrdom work to show the opposition for what it is and illustrates just how far they will go.
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