Gandhi’s Non-Aggressive Activism:A solution for today

"Little deeds of kindness, Little deeds of love , will help to make this earth happy, like the heaven above……. "

Mahatma Gandhi’s theories if applied judiciously can serve as a way out of many problems for current world’s situation where faith has lost its value, where individualistic concern has surpassed love for others, where non-violence has become merely a word in dictionary and where we don’t know what value system we would be transferring to next generations since we have neither created or carried any from previous generations.

In Mahatma Gandhi's terminology, truth (Satya) implies love, which should engenders firmness/dedication (Agraha)- thus, Satyagraha refers to the "firmness in a good cause." Gandhi's philosophy of Satyagraha is often conflated with the passive resistance in social movement literature, though a better descriptor would be dedicated non-violent resistance. For Gandhi, any system that used violence, psychological or physical, blunted a society's moral sensibility and rarely achieved lasting results. Every successful use of violence inured people to that level; increasingly larger amounts of violence would be required to achieve the same results. As an alternative, Gandhi offered the idea of Satyagraha, a process by which marginalized groups could confront the opponent by first trying to work out a mutually agreed upon solution, and if that failed, by disobeying the law, refusing to carry out the opponent's orders or co-operating with the opponent. Gandhi's idea of non-violent conflict resolution rose from a deep appreciation of the idea of oneness/interconnectedness of the universe. He marked out a new domain of public intervention by insisting that the method of fighting an objective was an integral part of the objective, and the goal did not exist at the end of a series of actions, but was part of it. Thus no action for a just society could be conducted by unjust/violent means. Non-violent means of conflict resolution (Satyagraha) described above, was the only way which reflected unity of belief and conduct, and therefore the ethical way of resolving social differences.

In promoting the idea of Satyagraha, Gandhi rejected the abstract, rational, institutionalized violence that is central to the structure of nation-states. Instead, Gandhi drew on "feminine" principles for action in the public arena, particularly the "superior capacity for suffering and self-sacrifice rather than forceful intervention to protect self interests”. The two central symbols associated with Gandhi in the antiimperialist struggle – spinning khadi and making salt – were quintessential "domestic" tasks. Gandhi effectively used these symbols to breach the symbolic dual spheres divide, legitimate the participation of women and other peripheral groups into the public political arena, and demonstrate a process by which marginalized people could resist psychological and political colonization in a non-violent manner. He popularized these ideas through mobilization of the masses, who, lacking weapons of violence or access to legal channels, would engage in non-cooperation as a means for expressing dissent and/or resolving conflict. "It has become disloyal, almost sacrilegious to say no to the government. This deliberate refusal to co-operate is like the necessary weeding processes that the cultivator has to resort before he sows”. According to Gandhi, by refusing to co-operate with marginalizing forces, by resisting without violence, and by becoming victims of state sanctioned violence, the dissenters could wrest the moral power from the ruling elite, and restore some dignity and power of their communities.