If we have learned anything in the past five years, it should be that all the information and education on an issue has little purpose without a sustainable means for change.
When most citizens in the U.S. learned the war on Iraq was started without justification, that there was no imminent threat to our nation, or weapons of mass destruction, it made little difference. Information alone was not enough to end an illegal war or for citizens to make their political leaders accountable for their actions.
In 2007, Democrats refused to honor a mandate by voters to end the war on Iraq. They instead sought the middle ground of the electorate by continuing to fund the war while speaking against it.
Few bother to question the yearly allocation of over $700 billion for the U.S. military. Fewer still question the threat or use of military force as a way to keep the peace.
As another election cycle begins, the noise of partisan politics drowns out our ability for thought or constructive action. Even progressive news sources report on each new tick in the polls, or new strategies for candidates, as though any of it matters.
Meanwhile, the anti-war movement in the U.S. is proclaimed irrelevant by many in the mainstream media. Many nonviolent activists involved in anti-corporate, environmental, and animal rights movements are portrayed as terrorists.
How do activists work against the tide of media misinformation and political stagnation to create the future they want to live in?
One way is by disconnecting from governmental agencies and organizations that fail us and leave us demoralized. Why give our energies to a political machine when we can work together toward our own common goal?
Why should we, for example, willingly pay taxes to a system that is turned against us and promotes the use of violence in any dispute? Instead, we may join those who openly declare their intentions to withhold payment while redirecting their tax dollars to better use.
Nonviolent direct action modeled by Henry David Thoreau, Mahatma Gandhi, and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., is based upon the principle that government cannot exist without the consent and cooperation of its citizens. Nonviolence tells us that citizens have a moral obligation to act on their conscience, and that dissent without action is consent.
One common misconception of nonviolent direct action is that when used, the opponent will also refrain from violence. Although casualties and destruction are comparatively much lower with nonviolent struggle, the real power of nonviolent direct action is that it brings the inherent violence and injustice of systems in power to the surface for all to see.
Central to the thinking of Martin Luther King was the concept of an inclusive society, referred to as “the Beloved Community.” In one of his first published articles he stated that the purpose of the Montgomery bus boycott “is reconciliation, … redemption, the creation of the beloved community.” For Dr. King, it followed that the liberation of Black people would also mean the emancipation of white people. To end our nation’s wars abroad would also serve to uplift ourselves from our own economic and moral demise.
“In a real sense,” Dr. King wrote, “all life is interrelated…. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly.”
Nonviolent direct action is not merely a stagnant belief system, but a force to be continually explored. Mahatma Gandhi so named his autobiography My Experiments with Truth.
Nonviolence is the unshakable belief, as Gandhi said, that everyone has a piece of the truth. We must maintain this belief at all times. When we act with truth and conviction, ordinary people can make extraordinary sacrifices and sometimes reach their goals.
Nonviolent action works because of its capacity to create a favorable political atmosphere by building trust through honesty, creating a non-threatening physical environment, and altering the psychological conditions that make people resist new ideas. Nonviolent activists precipitate change because people are inspired by their candor, discipline, integrity, courage, and determination, and are thus inclined to identify with them. Moreover, as an extension of this, they are inclined to act in solidarity.
In the end, our ability to inspire one another is what will save us. Our ability to persevere and to sacrifice serves as an inspiration to one another. In doing so, we support one another in our efforts to build a sustainable means for change. |
