Among the few movies that I kept returning to was the 1982 "Gandhi." It made me
reflect often on how nonviolence had taken by storm a world that used to accept
nothing but an eye for an eye. "You've given them a way to fight." said Khan to
Gandhi when they were prisoned for defying an unjust British law. It turned out,
his way of fighting had since spread like a killer app.
In the American Civil Rights Movement, e.g., Malcolm X and Martin Luther King
Jr. took different paths. Charismatic, faithful, and living like a saint,
Malcolm nonetheless failed to win the hearts and minds with separatism ideas*. It
was Gandhi's apostle MLK, despised by many blacks as an Uncle Tom, who carried
the day with his peaceful rallies and his "I have a dream" speech.
Exposing evil and injustice is a sharp weapon for Gandhi. He brought in
reporters since his debut in South Africa and both the British and American
presses played a deciding role in swaying public opinions in his entire career
as a nonviolent movement leader. I have never doubted Gandhi's intelligence and
inner strength, but without a witness, he probably would have thought twice
before venturing to resist anything. It was strictly business.
As his practice and theory developed, he became even bolder. "The function of a
civil resister is to provoke response. And we will continue to provoke until
they respond, or they change the law. They are not in control – we are. That is
the strength of civil resistance." as he told a New York Times reporter in his
Salt March.
In the light of the movie and history, today, what can Asians do to thwart the
new waves of hate toward them, a recurring American virus as lethal as Covid?
Christ would say: "Turn the other cheek." and here is how Gandhi understood it:
I suspect he meant you must show courage – be willing to take a blow –
several blows – to show you will not strike back – nor will you be turned
aside and when you do that it calls upon something in human nature –
something that makes his hate for you diminish and his respect increase. I
think Christ grasped that and I – I have seen it work.
Compared with the criminals, many of us are smaller and physically weaker but it
does not mean we lack powerful leverages. On the other hand, violence only
belies the haters' desperation. These days, smartphones and social media help to
cross the language barrier and the repulsive images and videos speak for
themselves. Indeed, many recordings were uploaded by passersby. We can at least
try to suffer bravely and expose the haters.
"What you cannot do is accept injustice. From Hitler – or anyone. You must make
the injustice visible – be prepared to die like a soldier to do so." insisted
the Mahatama.
[Texts marked blue were taken from the 1982 film "Gandhi."]
* To be fair, the original ideas were not his and Malcolm did grow out of them.
* Recently, reading about the attack on police at US Capitol, I was surprised to
learn that the Nation of Islam not only survived Malcolm X but had been active
till this day.
