Gandhian methods work in many placesWith almost the entire Arab world in turmoil and various non-Arab tyrants watching events in the Middle East warily, thoughtful people everywhere are trying to formulate answers to such questions. The debate is no longer so much between those who want violence and those who advocate a non-violent path. It revolves today around the idea of non-violent civil disobedience, its efficacy as a revolutionary tactic and whether it should have an expiry date. Inevitably, M K Gandhi's ideas figure prominently in the discussion.
The young revolutionaries of Egypt and Tunisia organised a tactically brilliant movement against a despot by using Twitter, Facebook and texting via mobile phones. They drew inspiration from many sources, including the tactics of Serbian youth who had mobilised against tyranny a decade ago by using the internet and the cell phone. Some reportedly drew ideas from an obscure, 83-year-old American academician, Gene Sharp, who has studied Gandhi closely and listed 198 methods of non-violence in his book, The Politics of Nonviolent Action.
It worked for them. But does non-violent civil disobedience work every time? Clearly not. It worked for Gandhi and the Indian nationalist movement even as it took decades to achieve its goal. It didn't work in Hungary in 1956, in Czechoslovakia in 1968, and in Tiananmen Square in 1989, where the authorities employed armed force to stifle the cry for democracy.
It worked in Eastern Europe in the late 1980s when, starting with Poland. Dictatorship after dictatorship collapsed after that
In short, there's no simple formula for revolutionary success through non-violent civil disobedience. What works in one society may not in another. But today it's increasingly apparent that non-violent resistance has acquired critical mass.
The young revolutionaries of Egypt and Tunisia organised a tactically brilliant movement against a despot by using Twitter, Facebook and texting via mobile phones. They drew inspiration from many sources, including the tactics of Serbian youth who had mobilised against tyranny a decade ago by using the internet and the cell phone. Some reportedly drew ideas from an obscure, 83-year-old American academician, Gene Sharp, who has studied Gandhi closely and listed 198 methods of non-violence in his book, The Politics of Nonviolent Action.
It worked for them. But does non-violent civil disobedience work every time? Clearly not. It worked for Gandhi and the Indian nationalist movement even as it took decades to achieve its goal. It didn't work in Hungary in 1956, in Czechoslovakia in 1968, and in Tiananmen Square in 1989, where the authorities employed armed force to stifle the cry for democracy.
It worked in Eastern Europe in the late 1980s when, starting with Poland. Dictatorship after dictatorship collapsed after that
In short, there's no simple formula for revolutionary success through non-violent civil disobedience. What works in one society may not in another. But today it's increasingly apparent that non-violent resistance has acquired critical mass.
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