Gandhi’S Principles Of Non-Violent Resistance

Gandhi’s principles of non-violent resistance

Ahimsa and Satyagraha are extremely relevant in today’s society. Ahimsa is the respect for all living things, treating them equally and urges people to refrain from violence under any circumstances. Satyagraha is the idea that non-violence can turn friends into enemies and promotes world peace. These ideas can inspire oppressed groups to free themselves through peaceful methods, thus eliminating the need for violent rebellions and genocides. However, these principles are impractical under the status quo, due to the inherent nature of humans to be corrupted being fuelled by the increasing prominence of capitalism.To begin with, Gandhi’s principles can inspire oppressed groups to rise up and defeat their problems in a peaceful way and promote peace. This has already been achieved, with Gandhi acting as a driving force towards India gaining independence from British rule and promoting peace between Hindus and Muslims.

Currently, many groups of people are oppressed and discriminated by others. For example, the amount of hate crimes being committed against people of colour and Muslim people has increased drastically since the 9/11 bombings. This is due to the emergence of stereotypes, where these people are abused merely due to their race and country of origin. Gandhi’s principle of ahimsa promotes peace and non-violent actions. These ideas prohibit these violent forms of discrimination and would contribute to cleansing the world of such activities. In addition, these principles, if put into practice, would also stop several devastating world events, such as, the mass genocide of Jews during WWII, the Rwandan Genocide, where an ethnic group, known as the Tutsis were murdered and various other events. The increasing number of threats and attacks nowadays increases the relevance of Gandhi’s principles in today’s society. These ideas promote world peace and are integral to maintaining healthy international relations. Furthermore, Gandhi’s ideologies would also de-incentivise world leaders from taking money from their education sector and using it to fund their military regimes. For example, the American president, Donald Trump plans to put an extra 54 billion dollars into military funding. The fact that world leaders are focusing on bulking up their army merely conveys the negative mindset that society has drifted into. In fact, if the whole world stopped spending money on the military for just 8 days, then we could provide 12 years of free quality education for every single child on the planet.

Our world has become characterised by violence and war and this is an increasingly concerning issue. The relevance of Gandhi’s principles has increased with this trend. Therefore, if world leaders and society in general realise that peace is important, then our world will surely become a safer place.Although, Gandhi’s principles are extremely relevant nowadays, they are unlikely to have any tangible effect on current society. This is due to the inherent nature of human beings to be corrupted. The best example of this in current society is the increasing popularity of capitalism. Although, capitalism encourages innovation and development of new technology, it also incentivises businesses to take advantage of the poor.

Currently, many businesses establish factories in third world countries, paying employees less than the minimum wage and making them work in undesirable conditions. This is due to the fact that businesses are incentivised by profit. The cheap labour available in third world countries reduces expenses and thus increases profits. Furthermore, these workers are faced with no other choice because they have no other avenues to sustain themselves and their families. Therefore, these multinational corporations take advantage of the situations faced by these poorer people and gain profits from it. This further increases the disparity between the rich and poor and further defines people by their class. For example, Nike uses sweatshops, where employees are faced with difficult working conditions and are paid minimal wages. Volkswagen uses defeat devices to trick tests into believing that their cars do not provide more than the maximum amount of pollution allowed. In addition, the amount of corruption and disregard for laws in increasing predominantly in the world. From this, it can be observed that the inherent nature of humans is to be corrupted.

Society has lost compassion for others and have become more inclined to profit off the hardships of others, rather than help them, due to the emergence of capitalist ideas. For Gandhi’s principles to have an effect on current society, society must first correct its mistakes and break out of these capitalist ideologies. When humans are corrupted, they are blinded to the benefits of Gandhi’s principles, such as, Ahimsa and Satyagraha. Therefore, for Gandhi’s principles to be practical and actually solve the problems of society, a democratic or communist approach is required. In these approaches, everybody is equal and there is no incentive for people to be corrupt and take advantage of others. In a world like this, Gandhi’s principles would be extremely relevant and would make the world a better place if implemented. Therefore, the world must adopt a democratic or communist approach for Gandhi’s principles to have an effect.In conclusion, Gandhi’s principles are extremely relevant in today’s society. They help to solve major problems, such as, the increasing prominence of war and the oppression of minority groups. However, they would be impractical due to the human beings being easily corruptible. Society must change for Gandhi’s principles to have an effect.