Satyagraha and Open Animal Rescue

IME Journal, 2020

BRIEF BACKGROUND At the outset, let us believe that Gandhi witnessed the most violent world having fought two world wars and apex of asymmetrical power equation between metropolitan and colonial countries. These geopolitical realities would have certainly affected his thought process among other things. Besides his family background, studies, professional situations and some events happening to him in South Africa proved catalyst in shaping his mind and propelled him into action in South Africa as well as in India. Among many of his agenda of actions, Satyagraha is of utmost importance and known as the most sophisticated tool of protest in a totally non-violent manner. Satyagraha, in fact, was and is, indeed, an innovative invention of Mohan Das Karamchand Gandhi in the 19 th Century South Africa and that continued in India till the end of his life in mid 20 th century. This methodology of Gandhian Protest proved so popular that it is being carried out globally even after his death.

Social History, 2014

APA Studies on Asian and Asian American Philosophers and Philosophies, Vol. 22, No. 1 , 2022

The 153rd Anniversary of the birth of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi is as much a cause for celebration as for reflection on the future of this globe we inhabit. The global spurt in the incidence of violence, intolerance, and hatred in the twenty-first century has given rise to vast cultural and moral chaos. This phenomenon has its roots in the sad demise of humanitarianism and the concomitant history of moral decomposition the world over. At this crucial juncture, Gandhi’s worldview invariably activates the moral impulse towards building a nonviolent social order. Gandhi’s worldview in its pristine form represents an idea of an accommodative truth built not merely on mutual tolerance but on acceptance of the other as an equal and dignified soul. Gandhi’s life journey evolved through experiments for building a humane society based upon the troika of truth, nonviolence, and satyagraha. This paper aims to deliberate upon Gandhi’s worldview grounded in his moral philosophy of satyagraha and show how it can work as an effective countervailing tool and method to understand the growing culture and discourse of violence today.

Peace, conflict, and …, 2001

This article was the fruit of two conceptions. The first was that it was part of a book-length manuscript on the making of Gandhi's Satyagraha movement that I started in 1993, a completed manuscript that has been revised at least six times, and remains unfinished. The second motive arose from a deep concern over the consequences of terrorism, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, on the one hand, and, on the other, by the recent horrific acts of violence in America, especially the murder of children at an elementary school. To this horror was added the sordid and painful story of the gang-rape and death in Delhi of the physiotherapy student, a young woman, Nirbhaya.

As Alasdair MacIntyre has argued in AFTER VIRTUE, the threat of relativism plagues the Western tradition in ethics because it lacks a framing metaphysics and epistemology that allows for grounding prescriptive knowledge in morals. As a result, unresolvable debates between rival ethical principles and traditions leave people at odds with incommensurable views. Gandhi's method of satyagraha offers a way out of this impasse because it: 1.) Adopts a dialogical, conflict resolution and negotiation approach to differences and ethical questions rather than a monological, deductive, foundationalist approach. 2.) Frames its metaphysics and epistemology in emergentist terms – understanding objectivity, truth and meaning as occurring in matters of degree and lesser or fuller completeness rather than in absolute, universal and dichotomous ways. 3.) Introduces a method of testing truths through practices of self-­‐sacrifice in dialogical engagements with others. The aim of this paper is to clarify the nature of Gandhi's innovation in ethical reasoning and to explain its potential for resolving the impasse faced by Western Ethics. As an activist , I am, interested in Gandhian Satyagraha because it is such a powerful method for social change – and has inspired so many other important practices. i We face grave, existential challenges which we will only be able to address, as activists, by continuing to innovate in the Gandhian tradition. As a philosopher, I am interested in Gandhian Satyagraha and the practices it inspired because they, collectively, offer an alternative tradition of reasoning and wisdom – a dialogical one. And this dialogical tradition may provide solutions to key problems facing contemporary Western ethical and political theory which has been dominated by a monological model of reasoning.

J I G Y A S A AN INTERDISCIPLINARY PEER REVIEWED REFEREED RESEARCH JOURNAL, 2022

Satyagraha is one of the main nonviolent philosophical methods of Gandhiji. Gandhi gave form to this philosophy and made it a life practice. By practising this philosophy, Gandhi successfully fought against multidimensional colonialism in India and sent a message to the world that battles can be won through nonviolent methods and by nonviolent weapons too. Gandhian philosophy of nonviolent struggle was studied extensively by the scholars and researchers of the West who simultaneously emphasized over its institutionalization. In the process, Western scholars made a subtle division between the theoretical and practical nonviolent struggle to further develop it in to the form of a concept. In the present article, the western scholarship of nonviolent struggle philosophy, partition, and its new form has been studied in post-Gandhian times.

Prabuddha Journal of Social Equality, 2020

This book review draws attention to Bojja Tharakam's posthumously published work, 'Mahad: The March That's Launched Every Day'. In this work, Tharakam has compared Ambedkar's Mahad march with Gandhi's Dandi march. By touching upon the broad themes explored in the work the book review draws attention to the methods deployed by Tharakam to bring to light a much neglected yet immensely significant event in the history of the Indian subcontinent.