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Mahatma Gandhi taught that self-reliance and self-respect were necessary conditions for creating the energy to successfully adopt non-violence (ahimsa) as a revolutionary philosophy that will bring independence and change. In India he felt that the British had enslaved the Indian people by taking away their ability to be self-reliant. He believed that having an untouchable caste took away their self-respect. He chose the symbol of a spinning wheel to model self-reliance and he adopted into his family an untouchable that he named Harijan (child of god) to help heal the issues of self-respect. Much of the history of post civil war in the United States has had to face these same two issues. Martin Luther King realized late in his ministry that in order to change America that the country had to deal with both of these issues. He came out against the Viet Nam War and racism in order to help build our moral self-respect and he broadened his appeal to the poverty of all races in order to face the issue of self-reliance. The Arab masses have been oppressed for a long time. The cycle of violence appears to be almost unbreakable. There are problems between Israelis and Arabs, between rich and poor Arabs, and between Moslems. Our only hope is that we can rebuild self-reliance and self-respect in this part of the world. The Iraq War has once again proven that ³war is obsolete². It serves no purpose but to make things worse. It is time to become more creative and far less authoritarian. Someone once calculated that it would have been cheaper to give every Vietnamese person $35,000 as a peace dividend instead of fighting the war. Buckminster Fuller use to teach that 25% of what the world spends on arms could solve every social problem on this planet and therefore eliminate the need for wars. The problems in the Middle East can be solved with a massive economic plan to rebuild the entire region. The Western powers and the oil baron¹s of the world must pay the bulk of this program. It is the least expensive solution. All cultural classes should help in designing the plan. A major economic program would bring self-reliance to the region. Self-respect would certainly follow self-reliance as responsible leaders begin to rebuild a center by calling for moderation and understanding in order to make the economic program successful and by ensuring that all cultural concerns are being addressed. A period of healing and reconciliation like that accomplished in South Africa could then begin. Ahimsa Gentleness, Active Resistance or Non-Violence Victor Bremson DMin May 13, 2004 |
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