Tuesday, May 3, 2011 at 6:40pm
The method of nonviolent resistance is effective in that it has a way of disarming the opponent, it exposes his moral defenses, it weakens his morale and at the same time it works on his conscience.
It also makes it possible for the individual to struggle to secure moral ends through moral means. One of the most persistent philosophical debates of the centuries has been over the question of ends and means. There have been those from Machiavelli on down who have argued that the end justifies the means. This, I feel, is one of the greatest tragedies of communism. Read Lenin as he says, "lying, deceit, and violence are justifiable means to bring about the end of a classless society." This is where nonviolence breaks with communism and any other method which contends that the end justifies the means. In a real sense, the means represent the ideal in the making and the end in process. So in the long run destructive means cannot bring about constructive ends, because the end is preexistent in the means.
This is the beauty of nonviolence. It says you can struggle without hating; you can fight war without violence. Nonviolent resistance also provides a creative force through which men can channelize their discontent. It does not require that they abandon their discontent. This discontent is sound and healthy. Nonviolence saves it from degenerating into morbid bitterness and hatred. Hate is always tragic. It is as injurious to the hater as it is to the hated. It distorts the personality and scars the soul. Psychiatrists are telling us now that many of the inner conflicts and strange things that happen in the subconscious are rooted in hate. So they are now saying,
"Love or perish."
This is the beauty of nonviolence. It says you can struggle without hating; you can fight war without violence.
It is my great hope that as the Negro plunges deeper into the quest for freedom, he will plunge even deeper into the philosophy of nonviolence. As a race we must work passionately and unrelentingly for first-class citizenship, but we must never use second-class methods to gain it. We must never succumb to the temptation of using violence in the struggle, for if this happens, unborn generations will be the recipients of a long and desolate night of bitterness and our chief legacy to the future will be an endless reign of meaningless chaos.
I feel that this way of nonviolence is vital because it is the only way toreestablish the broken community. it is the method which seeks to implement the just law by appealing to the conscience of the great decent majority who through blindness, fear, pride, or irrationality have allowed their consciences to sleep.
The nonviolent resisters can summarize their message in the following simple terms: We will take direct action against injustice without waiting for other agencies to act. We will not obey unjust laws or submit to unjust practices. We will do this peacefully, openly, cheerfully because our aim is to persuade. We adopt the means of nonviolence because our end is a community at peace with itself. We will try to persuade with our words, but if our words fail, we will try to persuade with our acts. We will always be willing to talk and seek fair compromise, but we are ready to suffer when necessary and even risk our lives to become witnesses to the truth as we see it.
This approach to the problem is not without successful precedent. We have the magnificent example of Gandhi who challenged the might of the British Empire and won independence for his people by using only the weapons of truth, non-injury, courage, and soul force.
This is all an excerpt from one of my favorite speeches by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. It was given as an address to the National Press Club in Washington DC, July 19th, 1962. I feel that more than ever, the message of Dr. King's speech is still relevant today. In a time, when people are celebrating the death and violent destruction of Osama Bin Laden, I feel a dissatisfaction within myself and for the obscene joy and revelry that my fellow countrymen are exibiting. Hate begets hate. Violence will only give birth to more violence and bitterness within us. There are better -more powerful ways of fighting injustice in the world. Through love, understanding, compassion for others, living with *humanistic* values, and nonviolent resistance to the injustices of the world, we can make this world a better -more peaceful place.
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