9/11 has another significance

September 11th 2006 has a special significance. It not only marks the fifth anniversary of the attacks on New York and Washington, it also marks 100 years to the day that Mahatma Gandhi launched the modern nonviolent resistance movement. The non-vilolent movement known as 'Satyagraha' is made of two words- 'Satya' and 'Agraha' means 'Pursuit of truth' or 'Endeavour in Truth'.

Next Monday September 11th, the film Gandhi will be screened across the USA. Try and catch it in your city.

With so much violence and hatred plaguing the world even today, Gandhiji's message still stands true. His simple technique goes beyond religion, culture and political boundaries. It is so basic to human nature that it is nothing but the truth itself.

Gandhiji noted:

In the application of Satyagraha, I discovered, in the earliest stages, that pursuit of Truth did not admit of violence being inflicted on one's opponent, but that he must be weaned from error by patience and sympathy. For, what appears to be truth to the one may appear to be error to the other. And patience means self-suffering. So the doctrine came to mean vindication of Truth, not by infliction of suffering on the opponent but one's own self.

He also pointed out:

I have drawn the distinction between passive resistance as understood and practised in the West and satyagraha before I had evolved the doctrine of the latter to its full logical and spiritual extent. I often used 'passive resistance' and 'satyagraha' as synonymous terms: but as the doctrine of satyagraha developed, the expression 'passive resistance' ceases even to be synonymous, as passive resistance has admitted of violence as in the case of suffragettes and has been universally acknowledged to be a weapon of the weak. Moreover passive resistance does not necessarily involve complete adherence to truth under every circumstance. Therefore it is different from satyagraha in three essentials: Satyagraha is a weapon of the strong; it admits of no violence under any circumstance whatever; and it ever insists upon truth. I think I have now made the distinction perfectly clear.

He said, “Violence will prevail over violence, only when someone can prove to me that darkness can be dispelled by darkness.”

On September 11th, 1906, speaking before 3,000 Indians gathered at a theater in Johannesburg, the Mahatma organized a strategy of nonviolent resistance to oppose racist policies in South Africa. Satyagraha was born and since then, it has been adopted by many around the world to resist social injustice and oppression.

Mahatma Gandhi used it in India to lead the resistance against the British. The Reverend Martin Luther King used it in the United States to oppose segregation and Nelson Mandela used it in South Africa to end apartheid.

Please listen to a recent interview on Democracy Now with Arun Gandhi, Mahatma Gandhi's grandson [here].

More information on democracynow.org and wikipedia.

Additional comment based on a reader's feedback: Perhaps it is important to mention that the 1893 session of the Parliament of the World's Religions took place between Sep 11 and Sep 18 in Chicago. It was here that the 7000 odd audience greeted Swami Vivekananda with a 3 minute standing applause stirred by his historic speech. Read more here.[Link]