Hate begets hate; violence begets violence; toughness begets a greater toughness. We must meet the forces of hate with the power of love. (1958)
- Martin Luther King
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| A well known sign of the destructive power of 20th century people |
The intentions of people involved in a conflict seem to decide its nature and its outcome. A revolution that is meant to improve the living conditions of people can't start as a violent one regardless of the nature of change desired. The whole point of avoiding violence is placing value on human lives and at times life itself. Hence any organized protest that is meant for ameliorating the condition of people has to at least start in a non-violent fashion. It doesn't make sense within any system to kill a bunch of people in the name of progress. How that specific protest is maintained and how it evolves is much more complex and it depends on the nature of response from the other people involved and the protester's tenacity to their principle of non-violence.
Most systems of justice consider a defensive use of violence as not an act of aggression and hence pardonable. However, some religious philosophers would debate about this as it means we are placing a higher value on one life over the other. For example, spiritual practitioners in some traditions would go to the extent of sacrificing their lives even if they know the attacking party is at wrong. The underlying idea is equanimity and compassion towards those beings. I believe that equanimity can be understood in two contexts. One within the framework of duty and the other within the framework of compassion. In the former, we do our duty regardless of who the action is targeted towards. In the latter, equanimity is considering all beings equal regardless of their moral actions or their value to societies and treating them with compassion in a non-self interested manner.
In a small scale, sacrificing the lives of non-aggressive people for repeated aggressors and exploiters doesn't affect the system. However, after a point of time, the majority in the system may become repeated offenders as those practices and way of life spreads widely in the system. In a social milieu of violence, it becomes increasingly difficult to practice compassion as distrust rapidly spreads in such a system and fear predominates. Genuine compassion is one of the strongest cohesive factors among human societies. When that is replaced by distrust and paranoia, the society eventually fragments and may lead to various social ills. Then in light of the current and future health of the system, it is important to practice equanimity in both the contexts. As participants in a conflict we've to make some judgement regarding the situation and act accordingly. Sacrificing my life with out a fight with someone who is a repeated aggressor in such a case is not good and may even be considered inaction and immoral. As king pointed out "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." The basis for that argument comes from the inter-dependent and inter-connected nature of condition. King captured this notion really well here: "In a real sense, all life is interrelated. All men are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly."
The nature of the people and the forces we are fighting against also determine to a large extent, the nature of the struggle we need to undertake. It is possible to protest non-violently against an organized system for change, but it is mostly not possible to do that with aggressive criminal regimes. Even the fathers of non-violent movements in our modern society didn't stand a chance against criminals. Gandhi successfully led a non-violent protest against a whole empire at the peak of its power. However, he didn't stand a chance against one criminal with a serious intention to kill him. Obviously it is not possible to "protest" non-violently against criminals.
Acts of Violence and Defense:
Even though, with every act of violence we reduce the chances of leading a peaceful and joyous life, some situations arise in life that calls us to look beyond our own joy and even peace. Only when we deal with those situations can we ever taste the sweetness of peace. There are two aspects to dealing with such situations from an individual's point of view. One is the inner response to the situation which mostly has to do with our conviction, will and skill to maintain certain mental states. Several people have shown extreme levels of tolerance and endurance to adversity and still have remained non-violent towards actively harmful people. The other is the external situation over which we have limited control. There are situations where when we don't stop the harmful activities of some people, it may cause greater harm to the society at large and to immediate relations of all kind. When the offenders are doing this in a very systematic way, it becomes important to stop their harmful activities sometimes using force.
Whether we deal those situations in a non-violent way or use force to overcome destructive forces is a matter of discrimination and wisdom. Such acts of wisdom require courage, strong will and a sense of non-attachment to their own interests and pleasures. It is also important to remember such acts of courage is not for a display of strength or even for pride, it is for ensuring that peaceful conditions exist for people in the community where they can flourish. Given the possibility of getting carried away by so many other confounding motives that can lead to even more destruction, it is crucial that we are constantly aware of our motives that can prevent such a disaster.
Acts of Forgiving:
Forgiving is another crucial aspect in dealing with people committing harmful acts that needs wisdom. It is important to know when to forgive a person committing harmful acts. It is based on the premise that compassion needs to be for the person and not for the wrong and harmful actions they perpetrate. Sometimes forgiving people when they are indulging in wrongs actions may allow them to grow in their destructive power and cause further harm. Ideally, we should try our best to stop their destructive ways with out harming them. But given the nature of weapons that are widely used for attacking and defending people, it is becoming increasingly difficult to stop a violent act with out harming people.
Even if people are imprisoned for acts of violence, physical or otherwise, the way they are punished needs to be done with caution with out losing sight of our intentions. When the compassion principle warrants only a restriction of freedom and less physical punishment, some people do seem to respond only to fear and pain. These are difficult questions that needs to be examined repeatedly taking multiple perspectives to find a balanced approach in dealing with this.
Acts of Terrorism:
Wars are no longer being fought in battle fields. Most act of violence happens in places with civilian populations. What are considered codes of war are largely forgotten in this age of terrorism. Extreme inequalities in the distribution of wealth and military power among world nations have led some to dominate the weaker and smaller nations. As it has been observed several times over history, such repression and exploitation inevitably leads to rebellion and conflicts. Even some big governments who try to maintain stable order with in their regions have supported terrorist organizations backdoor and have paid exorbitant prices in human lives and economic prosperity. It is quite common to underestimate the will to power inherent to such organizations initially and support such groups for short term benefits. When these grow in power, they inevitably try to take over the initial supporters. Dealing with such terrorist groups seems to be the focus of defense departments of major countries. The evolution of fighting methods and war strategies sans war codes almost makes us yearn for some kind of warrior ethos. Some how ignoring the ethos of war and extreme inequality in military power has led to a situation where anything, anywhere is fine as long as the enemy suffers damage. But it is not possible to re-establish such ethos in our conflicts with organizations that have committed themselves to devious and deceptive means of propagating fear and hatred for reaching their political goals.
Glimpses of Peace:
All these acts of violence done with an intention for greater order and peace, the acts of forgiving and the actions done out of a sincere yearning for peaceful existence of freedom and human flourishing are in fact an expression of the love instinct widely called as eros. Where as those acts meant to take humanity in a regressive, self-destructive way that leads to greater human suffering are indeed an expression of the death instinct thanatos. With the constant play of eros and thanatos going on in the universe, peace becomes possible largely when eros dominates. A predominant expression of eros is manifested in the larger world when both our hearts and minds are cultivated and as a result there is stability for human flourishing. Despite the recent increase in violent conflicts in some parts of the world, several opportunities for establishing peaceful conditions have arisen. There are great changes going on in the world at several levels. There has been remarkable technological and material progress over the past several centuries and there are signs of awakening to a larger and deeper dimension of our existence. The prospects for peaceful times of abundance are only strengthened by the glimpses of the light of love. What we need now is eros in full bloom that can transform or subdue the hatred and destructive instincts we have imbibed from a largely repressive and violent first half of the 20th century and a highly unequal pattern of economic and human development during the second half of the 20th century. As we go along the 21st century, it is important to recommit ourselves to some of the timeless principles at work in human societies and always base our actions on compassion and wisdom, sometimes even forsaking our own short term interests.
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