Saturday, March 12, 2016

The Dharasana Salt Works, Gandhi, and Peace

"India is free. She has taken all that steel and cruelty can give and she has neither cringed nor retreated" - Webb Gill (played by Martin Sheen as Walker in the movie).

Unknown why the name was changed when Walker wasn't just based on Gill, he was Gill.  That was Gill's speech, sent as a report to his editor from India where he saw the march and the British response.


This is regarding the march on the Dharasana Salt Works for the independence of India and which met with similar savagery and cruelty to that seen in the earlier abomination by Brigadier General Dyer at Amritsar.  Both of these events are major symbols of the consequences of nonviolent resistance.  Gandhi emphasized the importance of provoking a reaction but know that reaction may be savage.

While the brutality from that march precipitated substantial action, it did not immediately bring about independence and not long after Gandhi went to England to discuss independence, he was arrested again and spent quite some time in jail.  Katurba was jailed as well and she ultimately died there.



The prospect of savage violence is precisely that which #BlackLivesMatter provokes and specifically so.  The state threatens to let out the dogs and still the nonviolence must stand although the dogs are heavily-armed and bereft of any kind of conscience.  The consequences may well be savage.

These things came to me from Martin Luther King and from those I learned of Gandhi.  Both gave their lives for peace and freedom and, I suspect, both likely expected that would come.  Their bravery is that they did it anyway.



Counting on any kind of 'moral' behavior is not realistic as it has already been made clear by one segment of the GOP, corporations are not bound by any morality, their mandate is strictly to make money.  In the same way, cops are not bound by any mandate other than to bring about order in what they perceive as the only way to do it.  The potential savagery in such thinking is, regrettably, easily imaginable and we have seen quite a bit of it already.

Note:  it has to be qualified regarding GOP having segments because the organization is so scattered it's like a girls' slumber party and they're all trying to figure out who farted.

Wasn't me.  Nah, wasn't me.  No way it was me.  And they all end up hating each other except for the one who really did fart as she just laughs and laughs to herself and then sleeps happily.  The others get little sleep as they hope to catch the one who did it when she does it again.


There was discussion earlier regarding the efficacy of nonviolent resistance in ending the war in Vietnam.  It escalated to major violence during the Democratic National Convention in 1968 and America finally withdrew from Vietnam in 1975.

In an novel manifestation of governance with mirrors, the contention is generally the protests from 1968 forward were forcing Nixon so much he made a mistake with his order to start carpet bombing Haiphong in 1972.  That blew any peace talks all to hell and it was another three years before it was over.

Blaming Nixon's foolish posturing as a general on the hippies is a bit weak even for the GOP.  That one really doesn't play since there has been very little antiwar protest during fifteen years of chaos in Iraq and there's no serious initiative to stop it.  Based on those two situations, I conclude the antiwar protesters in the sixties did, in fact, hasten the end of the war and only military incompetence (i.e. Nixon's order to carpet bomb Haiphong) prolonged it.

AP U.S. History Notes:  Nixon and Foreign Policy (scroll to the Vietnam heading) - a generally even-handed review of the handling of the war.

Note:  it was not a war but I use the term out of convenience because there hasn't been a legal declaration of war since WWII and none since have seen a legitimate declaration by Congress.  From this we conclude the term 'war' doesn't mean much of anything anymore except killing lots of people.


The mindset of guilt and retaliation has become ubiquitous with endless cycles of retaliation commonly found.  That the dominant forces in most governments are conservative and military has meant aggressive military solutions are the only ones which have been tried except for one notable example in the opening of Iran.


You know already they are ruthless and they are savage.  The consequence of resistance and non-cooperation may well go far past anything we have seen already because, I repeat, expecting any kind of reasonable behavior is not reasonable, it will not happen.  The kids at Kent State were unarmed but the National Guard still shot them.  The beatings by cops at the convention in Chicago in 1968 were so savage I won't even post them.

Multiple savage beatings and worse toward black people happened as well but that wasn't overtly the same cause and the beatings weren't for the same reason except insofar as the state was determined to dominate both.


My strongest support goes out to #BlackLivesMatter but I strongly caution to be aware of the consequences and to say again the words of the masters, nonviolence is paramount.  We must not strike back or it justifies them pulling out all the artillery they have got and don't for a moment underestimate what they will do with it.  You can see their lack of concern about collateral damage in the B-52s they are flying over Syria right now or quite soon.  It's carpet bombing all over again.

As you have seen from the last fifteen years, without protest it will never stop but we face another Dharasana and make no mistake the GOP is willing.

No comments: