The greatness of the Gandhian
approach lies in the fact that it recognizes the humanity of those we are opposed to. People are not
black and white in real life. People who fight power are not always averse to
the temptations of power. Gandhi's fundamental point is that the violence of
the Germans under Nazism is an example of the same principle of extremism that
power can induce in certain kinds of men. To that extent, the Germans are as
"human" as the other aggressors who engineered the genocides of history. The
so-called oppressor whether he is a dictator or an army general is an ordinary
man in flesh and blood. The pathetic images of Saddam Hussein and Gaddafi in
their last days prove my point. You can't help being sorry for them. The images
of Hitler and Mussolini in their final moments seen simply as ordinary men can
only elicit pity despite their countless wrongs. The vindictive hatred that
blinds the soul -- Gandhi frees you of that. Bertrand Russell thus noted: " When I met Lenin " my most vivid impressions were of
bigotry and Mongolian cruelty." You get to see none of that in Gandhi though he
may have been in many ways a lesser strategist than Lenin. Gandhi's nobility is
that he believes as an act of faith in the goodness of his "enemy." Something of
that is terribly missing in the way protests are carried out in the modern
world. There is no acknowledgement of the humanity of the other person. Needless
to say, Finkelstein is conscious of this aspect in Gandhi.
Book: What Gandhi says about Nonviolence, Resistance and Courage
Author: Norman G. Finkelstein
Publisher: OR BOOKS, 2012
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