The Gandhi Principle & The Middle East

“The function of a civil resistor is to invoke a response’, one of the wisest men once said.  The notion that ‘ 100,000 Englishmen simply can not control 350,000,000 Indians if those Indians refuse to cooperate.’ amazed me at a young age. Those were great words. That was among the greatest of men: Mohandis Gandhi.

The sheer rationale, self respect, and overwhelming sense of dignity remain in the possession of a singular man who has, long ago, passed unto another world. Turn on any TV, flick through the pages of any newspaper regarding MENA and you will quickly discover how deeply 10’s of millions are in desperate need of genuis like Gandhi’s.. But it is not Ganndhi, per se, that MENA needs; it is the notion of civil resistance that needs to come rise to the forefront of political discourse.

In every one of the nations experiencing strife,instability or war in MENA, whether it be Palestine, Syria, Iraq or Egypt, Lybia or Yemen, size of population far outnumbers the governing elite so why is the language of bullets one that predominates? Another famous film, All The President’s Men, holds the key phrase ‘Follow The Money’. Bullets and artillary shells and rockets are the domain of international arms constortiums. Profits, in the arms industry, at times, exceed those of the drug trade. Naturally, it follows  that some powerful nations and forces stand to gain a great deal by contiuation of conflict. Othher reasons germaine to local specifics that make civil resistance currently, sadly, an unfeasable option. Two chief missing ingridients are a magnatic and credible leader to bring civil resistance to the helm of discussion coupled with nations,in all aforementioned cases, that are divided. It takes, nearly, superhuman courage to faceoff against modern weaponary with nothing to defend you but your chest.

But in the last 3 years hundreds of thousands of Arabs have perished because roads other than civil resistance have been the chosen route. History insists that it, often, takes the blood of many to bring about significant change. But we must look at that same history to understand ‘that all through history the way of truth and love has always won’ as Gandhi, once declared.

Ill take my chances following such a man.

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