Nonviolence And Just War Theory

Nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral questions of our time; the need for mankind to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to oppression and violence. Mankind must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression, and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.

Martin Luther King Jr. is looked up as a hero and a role model because of his use of nonviolence. Around the world, many people were using violence to solve their problems, but King, inspired by Mahatma Gandhi, decided that the problem around segregation in the United States would not be solved with guns but with words of harmony. This article, published by Cesar Chavez conveys the powerful effect nonviolence has in resolving conflicts by using comparisons, historical evidence, and powerful vocabulary.

It is not out for the conversion of the wicked to the ideas of the good, but for the healing and reconciliation of man with himself, man the person and man the human family” (209). The “strength and weakness of nonviolence” rests upon the fact that it is a commitment not to one’s beliefs or conscience,

unjust” (Banks 1). “Principle four – accept suffering without retaliation for the sake of the cause to achieve the goal – this characterizes that nonviolent resistance is a willingness to accept suffering without retaliation, to accept blows from the opponent without striking back; accept the violence, if necessary; but to never inflict violence on another” (Banks 2). “Principle five – avoid internal violence of the spirit, as well as, external physical violence – a nonviolent resister not only refuses to fight or shoot his opponent, but he also refuses to hate him; at the center of nonviolence stands the principle of love for one another” (Banks 2). “Principle six – the universe is on the side of justice – this basic fact pertaining to nonviolent resistance is that it is based on the conviction that the universe is on the side of justice which is positive peace, consequently, the believer in nonviolence has a deep faith in the future and therefore, can accept suffering without retaliation. There is a creative force in this universe, that by whatever name we decide to call it, it works to bring the disconnected aspects of reality into a harmonious whole; a universal wholeness for each of us to share with one another and that nonviolence is both the means and the end” (Banks 3). Dr. King also had a couple of

The contemporary scholar of political perspective on passive protest Gene Sharp views that nonviolent struggle may reflect a moral commitment to pacifism by leaders or activists in a movement such as Martin Luther King Jr and Mohandas Gandhi.

Stating that “nonviolence means avoiding not only external physical violence but also internal violence of spirit. You not only refuse to shoot a man, but you refuse to hate him”.

He believed that truth and nonviolence, above all were of the highest value. Raghavan Iyer, in discussing the writings of Gandhi states “Gandhi teaches that Truth is God, and that it is our sacred duty to seek it. If Truth was to Gandhi the Ultimate End, then ahimsa (nonviolence) was the perfect means of attaining that end.” Gandhi truly believed that the greatest power that any individual has is the power of non-violence.

Gandhi taught many lessons to his Christian clergyman friend, but the principal was probably that the lesson taught in the bible need it to be implemented in real life, on each act of our life and not only be preach.

“An unjust law is itself a species of violence. Arrest for its breach is more so. Now the law of nonviolence says that violence should be resisted not by counter-violence but by nonviolence. This I do by breaking the law and by peacefully submitting to arrest and imprisonment.” (Mahatma Gandhi) Since Americas independence until today people try to find different approaches to defeat the inequality and the oppression. An old traditional thought is that violence can only be treated with violence, there is no room left for an analysis of the situation and try to approach it differently. Yet, there are ways like Gandhi quote states if we have to break the law and accept the consequences to counter violence by non-violence might as well accept this method; either way people suffer the consequences for “breaking the law”. On the onther hand, a nonviolence movement will shift people view on the positive side rather than the negative side; demonstrating that nonviolence method will achieve justice in a peaceful way without the consequences of violence. The best method to advocate justice is by fostering a Non-violent character to people and to stand up against the enemy with intelligence.

Gandhi once said, “In the dictionary of Satyagraha, there is no enemy.” Through this appealing and amusing topic of Satyagraha, Gandhi and his followers went through a lot of highs and lows. Gandhi pronounced, “Sacrifice is the law of life. It runs through and governs every walk of life.”. The Importance of understanding Satyagraha implies on many levels of intuitively thoughts. Many people may not consider that Satyagraha was not only created to help the causes that Gandhi ran. But the term “Satyagraha” is to perpetuate to into his generation, and the generation after his. Gandhi understood Satyagraha as a “‘Soul Force’ and defined Satyagraha as power through suffering.” Gandhi further emphasized on the meaning of Satyagraha as a ‘force

The idea of non violence has stemmed off Gandhi in many forms. Gandhi once quoted “Non-violence is the greatest force at the disposal of mankind. It is mightier than the mightiest weapon of destruction devised by the ingenuity of man” and he fulfilled what he said.

Non-violence is another imperative feature of civil disobedient acts whereby the act of resistance is done without consideration of any extremist measure such as damaging property or harming other civilians. This element of non-violence corresponds with the public nature of the civil disobedience that are normally undertaken such as peaceful march, candlelight vigil , hunger strike and the famous Salt Satyagraha which was undertaken by Mahatma Gandhi and is deemed as one of the most effective and influential part of his civil disobedience actions in his fight for India`s independence.13

Gandhi was leader of the Indian people. He wanted peace and nothing more. People took advantage of Gandhi because he was all speech, but physical action such as war. When looking at the quote by Gandhi we can break it down peace by peace. The quote starts off by saying “An eye for an eye.” The meaning of the quote is that the aggressive or harmful action committed against

One of Gandhi’s beliefs on nonviolence was to use non-cooperation when needed. Non-cooperation was a way of showing how empty the

Blessed is the man who can perceive the law of ahimsa (nonviolence)" (Gandhi's Philosophy of Nonviolence). He believes that violence is never the answer and that people should stay away from it. Violence will create another violence and there would be no end. Also, the government takes the violence resistant harshly. They ignore people who cause disturbance to the society and to the citizens. Having a peaceful resistance, the government sees the people and consider their resistance and try to come with a solution to satisfy their citizens.