The lessons of Gandhi

Albert Einstein was a Gandhi fan. He described Gandhi as “the most enlightened of all the political men in our time” and that “generations to come will scarce believe that such a one as this in flesh and blood ever walked upon this earth”.

Sixty years ago, on January 30 1948, Gandhi was gunned down by a religious fanatic. Three shots to the chest extinguished a most extraordinary life.

Despite Gandhi being one of the 20th century’s towering figures, a liberator of hundreds of millions of people, his lessons in the politics of peace seem lost in the haze of history. Yet even the most iconic peacemakers; Nelson Mandela, Dr Martin Luther King, the Dalai Lama, all acknowledged themselves as following in Gandhi’s footsteps. If these moral giants and a genius like Einstein were inspired by Gandhi then maybe we mortals should take notice too. Indeed, with terrorism on the resurgence, the whole world needs to be reminded of Gandhi’s lessons. As Martin Luther King warned, "If humanity is to progress, Gandhi is inescapable. We may ignore Gandhi at our own risk."

Gandhi had no wealth or property, he led no army, he held no formal position in any government, and he was no great orator. Garbed in his self-weaved loin cloth, he was just a humble man who voiced simple truths that spoke to the conscience of all humanity.

Gandhi rejected conventional politics as we know it. Instead, his “politics” drew out the best of our human qualities. In contrast to everything we see in contemporary politics, Gandhi proved that political debate can have a supremely enlightening role. As Albert Einstein observed, “Gandhi demonstrated that a powerful human following can be assembled not only through the cunning game of the usual political manoeuvres and trickeries but through the cogent example of a morally superior conduct of life”.

That may sound quaint and romantic, but Gandhi’s politics and his “morally superior conduct of life” brought the greatest empire of the day to its knees.

Gandhi’s famous “Salt March” in 1930 illustrated how he conducted “politics”. The British financed their military domination of India through their monopoly on the salt market. It was illegal for Indian people to even collect salt off the beach.

Gandhi led a mass of people on a 380km protest march to the coast. The climax being Gandhi publicly scraping up a hand-full of beach salt for his personal use. In a grain of salt Gandhi found the perfect symbol of freedom. This led to thousands of Gandhi’s followers literally queuing up to passively submit themselves to being beaten with wooden clubs by the British forces.

For its time this was a shockingly innovative form of symbolic politics. Its logic and political impact was literally beyond the comprehension of the British political establishment. But in front of the whole world’s media, the British destroyed any moral authority they thought they had to rule India.

Gandhi left great historical lessons for oppressed peoples. His main lesson was that nothing of real value can ever be achieved through a politics of violence, but enormous positive change can be won through non-violent politics. Gandhi condemned all forms of terrorism and hate rhetoric. He knew that such strategies were politically unproductive and self-damaging for oppressed peoples. In this sense, Gandhi is the antithesis of Osama Bin Laden.

But Gandhi’s peace-politics had lessons for his oppressors also. His politics forced the British people to reflect on the immorality of their tyranny over India. In the end the British Empire was unable to justify to itself what it was doing to the Indian population. In effect, Gandhi also raised the moral conscience of the British people.

What Gandhi did in the Salt March was a watershed in human history. He kicked off the global de-colonisation process by proving to the whole world the greater value and power of non-violent politics. Without Gandhi’s lead, the latter half of the 20th century may have been a lot bloodier than it was.

But are Gandhi’s lessons still relevant today? The British Empire long ago relinquished its role as the earth’s dominant colonialist. But now a new type of empire has emerged, the “American Empire”: an amorphous global capitalist system that has infiltrated every corner of the globe. The colonising tendency of this new empire is just as real. Economic domination may not be as direct or obvious as having a foreign army on their home soil. But in millions of people’s eyes the result is even more severe. Gandhi warned long ago that the excesses of unrestrained capitalism would inevitably lead to hatred, conflict and war.

The “American Empire” has brought some good to the world. But it is also responsible for more suffering than the West likes to admit. The blank cheques for Israel and the ongoing humiliation of the Palestinian people are seen as symbolic of the new empire’s double standards. The political manipulation of third world governments and the invasion of oil rich Iraq based on the lie of WMD have not helped. President Bush’s rhetoric about “justice” is scoffed at. And an epidemic of anger is emerging against the new empire’s hypocrisy.

This is not just a problem for the USA. Have no doubt, we Australians are clearly one of the beneficiaries of this global power structure. And as Bali showed, this also makes us a target.

How can Gandhi’s lessons guide us today? If Gandhi was here today he would be asking us all in the West to open our eyes beyond our self interest and try to see the effects of the global system through the eyes of those that it oppresses. He would want us to reflect on the injustices of the economic system that dominates the globe in the interests of a wealthy minority.

Unfortunately this honest self-assessment is not happening. Certainly not at the top. The denial is symbolised by President Bush’s glib statement that terrorists attack the West simply because they “hate our freedoms”. In this apple-pie statement the “leader of the free world” brushed aside the real and genuine grievances of millions of oppressed peoples.

President Bush claims he speaks with “moral clarity”. This is seen by millions as a sick joke. Bush, and indeed the West, have lost any moral power we may have had as the origin of the Enlightenment ideals of justice, liberty and truth. Our image is now too tarnished to speak any longer with ethical credibility. Our rhetoric and our actions are too disparate. Like the British Empire at its most arrogant, we are blind to our own moral decadence and the injustices we are perpetrating.

Unlike Gandhi, the leaders of the “free world” are not nurturing the best of our human qualities. Devoid of a genuine vision and firmly in the pocket of the corporate giants, our “leaders” actively encourage our greed and downplay our role in global injustice. Their rhetoric is often more suited to selling margarine than any philosophical vision for a better world.

Without any authentic moral inspiration from our leaders, the ethical standards of the West are increasingly being moulded by the global economic machine. The global economy is driving our destiny. Consumerism has become the pivotal dynamic of our societies and economic rationalism has accentuated our most selfish instincts. We are nurtured to hold conspicuous consumption as our most prized value.

We have become what Gandhi feared we would. Gandhi, more than any 20th century leader, stridently warned the world against taking the consumerist path. He saw it as a road to nowhere.

Gandhi could have lived a life of luxury, yet he chose a life of material simplicity. His total possessions could barely fill a shoe box. His point was simple. The craving for material things leads to psychological, spiritual and ethical poverty. A path to meaninglessness, environmental destruction and gross inequality.

In a world riddled with suffering and injustice, Gandhi’s message challenges all of us to examine our personal lifestyle and acknowledge our own individual responsibility for global tensions. Gandhi said, “be the change you want to see”.

His message is now more relevant than ever. We need draw upon the best of our human qualities to curtail the negative excesses of global capitalism. And with the planet edging towards environmental catastrophe, surely it is time to reassess the utter madness of our consumer culture.

This does not mean being anti-capitalist or anti-globalist. It simply means finding ways to civilise global-capitalism. The better qualities of our human spirit must regain control of the capitalist system to promote global justice, compassion and environmental sustainability. If nothing changes, then we are all going to pay a huge price for this. The madness and horror of September 11 may just a preview of what is to come.

The world needs to remember Gandhi’s lessons for two reasons: to cut away any legitimacy for terrorism as a strategy for the oppressed, but also to raise the moral consciousness of the rich nations. Indeed, the West could well do with another moral giant of Gandhi’s stature to confront us, jolt us out of our complacency and force us to face our demons. The West needs another Gandhi, not only to save us from the terrorists, but also to save us from ourselves.