Impact of Non-Violence Approach on Community and Social Action Campaigns and Movements - Report Example

Impact of Non-Violence Approach on Community & Social Action Campaigns and Movements Name: Institution: Course Title: Tutor: Date: Impact of Non-Violence Approach on Community & Social Action Campaigns and Movements 1.0 Introduction Societies are dynamic entities and are bound to change. The required changes arise as result of dissatisfaction by elements within it. There are numerous ways of driving change in a society. These include transformational leadership, planned change, violent revolution and non-violence change process. Non-violence approach advocates for peaceful engagement while clamouring for social or political change (Stephan and Chenoweth, 2008, p.10). Since the emergence of the concept of non-violence approach in India’s clamour for independence as pushed for by Mahatma Gandhi the concept has influenced, impacted community and social actions campaigns and movements. The concept has found application in numerous aspects of human life as they strive for change. Case examples have been seen in the fight for black’s rights in America, independent of Tibet and Arab revolution as witnessed recently in certain countries. This paper examines how the concept of non-violence has influenced, impacted community & social action campaigns and movements. 2.0 How the Concept of Non-Violence Has Influenced and Impacted Community & Social Action Campaigns and Movements The growth and adoption of non-violent approach in clamouring for change has over the years been exhibited by different personalities and movements. The underlying notion for this kind of approach is based on the fact that violence is not the solution to the problem bewildering societies, but on engagements that irks the morality of the opponent. Non-violence movements in numerous ways have influenced, impacted community and social actions campaigns and movements (Lemke, 2008, p.11). When one engages in this kind of discourse, the thought of Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jnr. & Dalai Lama comes into forefront. These three iconic figures in time of their generation took the concept of non-violence action as a means of driving societal change. Other movements that come in the limelight include the people power in Philippines, revocation of minority rule in South Africa and green movement in Iran after claims that the elections had some irregularities (Moore-Backman, 2011, p.15). Non-violence concept is tied to religious beliefs that requires one to be peaceful, but at the same time driven by the need to attain certain social and political change by winning the opponent’s heart rather than inflicting harm through non-cooperation, education and civil disobedience among others. The ultimate result is to undermine those they feel are against their cause with the belief that they will succumb to the pressure at long last (Stephan and Chenoweth, 2008, p.11). Apart from the later, the concept embraces the need to see the other person on the opposite divide with respect and love. The basis of this is to win the person through morals and showing love even under siege so that the opposing side can engage their cognitive faculties to the maximum and see the need for change. In addition, the process can help tilt public opinion in favour of the non-violent actors so as to coerce their exact opposite to engage them in a positive manner (Stephan and Chenoweth, 2008, p.7). To give a wider coverage on the topic on how the concept has impacted on movements and communities that envision change, let’s indulge in general discussions that borrow from wider literatures and various non-violent movements. 2.1 Galvanising Public Will for Change The first impact that non-violence approach has had on social actions campaigns and movements is the ability of the concept to elicit public sympathy and influence public opinion. Martin Luther in her Campaigns for more rights for the blacks utilised the approach to gain across board support. The most evident was when John F. Kennedy intervened in 1960 when he was jailed. The letter which Luther wrote when he was in Birmingham Jail in 1963 further shows how the process of using non-violence to gain public sympathy and convince people across the board has worked. In his speech he noted that while the white brothers tried to induce suffering to them, they will counter the same with their capacity to endure suffering (King, 2012). The same approach has consequently been replicated in numerous movements. In his quest for Tibet independence, Dalai Lama has pushed for the same (Mehrotra, 2009, p.189). The next pointer to the above is the velvet revolution of 1989 that contributed significantly to the fall of communism regime in Czechoslovakia by then. The revolution which lasted for six weeks (November 17 to December 29) signalled the end of communist government in a bloodless revolution. The hall mark of this process and topic of discussion is during 50th commemoration of Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia the students turned the anniversary into a political rally by demanding political reforms. During to the procession towards Czech National Cemetery where Jan Opletal was buried the students encountered riot police. The astonishing fact about the encounter was that instead of engaging them physical in a running battle, the students offered the riot police flowers. According to later report, one student died out of the beating (this has been proven to a rumour) allowing them to gain sympathy and galvanise public support (Radio Prague, 2012, p.14). Creation of public tenet relies on the leadership skills that are employed by the movers of the process. Gandhi and Luther Jnr. had had the audacity to create the hope among their followers without relenting as seen in the above discourse that not anything directed towards them should deter them from attaining their desires. This is a critical ingredient that social action campaigns and movements have come to appreciate this where the goal is to create culture of possibilities through transformational leadership. Leadership is about soft skills and doing what you believe in through people so as to attain organizational goals. Leadership is a soft skill or people skill that is derived from interpersonal skills and cognitive power. Leadership deals with the future, ideas, people and personalities (Gillard, 2009, p.726). 2.2 Tool of Gaining People Centred Change The second is people centred change instead of individual driven process. The above argument can be best exemplified by happenings that have been experienced in Philippines in 1986. Through what is commonly known as people’s power, Philippines have been able to shape in their destiny in numerous occasions by pushing the government of the day to relinquish power. This is normally done with one specific individual claiming the accolade, but an output of concerted effort (Abueva, 2012). During this historic moment all Filipinos irrespective of their social and background were armed with rosaries and flowers in mass matched in support for system change. This courageous act forced the military who were initially pro government to embrace them. The end result of the process was that Ferdinand Marcos was forced to relinquish power (Regilme, Jr., 2010, p.4). The revolution in certain Arab countries especially in North Africa affirms the same. The first is the revolution in Tunisia where the government of the day was overthrown as a result of police mistreatment. The same extended to Algeria and Egypt where massive civil disobedience were encountered leading to economic halt (Khalidi, 2011). This concept of non –violence in attaining change albeit with limited success has gain a phenomenal following in different aspects of human life. When employees go on strike to demand better working conditions and pay, they normally go slow and engage in defiance. This is done in a peaceful manner without any bloodshed so as to coerce the other party to constructively engage them. The best example is the mine workers in Chile who up against oppressive nature of Dictator Augustino Pinochet (Kurtz, 2009, p.3). This realisation has been embraced by community, social action campaigns and movements. The basis of this is premised on the fact that without public engagement nothing can succeed. The opposite can be said where the public has be engaged constructively. The hallmark of non-violence approach is involvement of masses as much as possible (Nippon Foundation Fellowship for Asian Public Intellectual, 2006, p.2). This is why it common for community and movement to engage the locals through a bottom up approach where if they want to drive change, they involve the affected. Participatory approach to planning is based on the fact that people have the capacity against any military hardware or force so long as they have the will within them. To drive that required change, movements and social action campaigns try as much as possible to engage masses as much as possible so that they can gain public will through agenda building. 3.0 Conclusion The aim of this paper was to examine how the concept of non-violence has influenced, impacted community & social action campaigns and movements. The first realisation is that societies are dynamic and thus, keep changing through various means and actors. One of these approaches is through non-violence clamour. The process has been successfully applied in India, black’s civil rights in America and in Philippines. The paper found out that these happening have impacted on community & social action campaigns and movements in two ways. The first emerging lesson is the role of public will in driving change. In most non-violent movements, they rely on good will from the public to drive for change. The second theme is based on people centred change. This means that after having that will, allow the public or the concerned to own and drive the same process. References Abueva, J. V. 2012. People’s Perception of People Power. Retrieved on 9 October, 2012 from: http://www.seasite.niu.edu/Tagalog/Tagalog_Default_files/Philippine_Culture/remember ing_the_1986_people_power_revolution.htm. Gillard, S 2009, Soft skills and technical expertise of effective project manager, Issues in informing science and information and technology Vol. 6, pp. 78-90. Khalidi, R. March 21, 2011. Preliminary Historical Observations on the Arab Revolutions of 2011. Jadaliyya. Retrieved on 9 October, 2012 from: http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/970/preliminary-historical-observations-on-the- arab-re. King, M. E. January 15, 2012. How to learn nonviolent resistance as King did. Retrieved on 9 October, 2012 from: http://wagingnonviolence.org/2012/01/how-to-learn-nonviolent- resistance-as-king-did/. Kurtz, L. R. 2009. Chile: Struggle against a military dictator (1985-1988). International Centre on Nonviolent Conflict. Retrieved on 9 October, 2012 from: http://www.nonviolent- conflict.org/images/stories/pdfs/kurtz_chile.pdf. Lemke, S. 2008. Non – violence in the Civil Rights Movement in the United States of America. Retrieved on 9 October, 2012 from: http://www.diss.fu- berlin.de/diss/servlets/MCRFileNodeServlet/FUDISS_derivate_000000005337/Non- violence.pdf?hosts=. Mehrotra, R. 2009. Understanding the Dalai Lama. Tenzin Gyasto: New Delhi. Moore-Backman, C. 2011. The African-American Freedom Movement through the lens of Gandhian Nonviolence. Retrieved on 9 October, 2012 from: http://peaceworkersus.org/docs/freedom-movement-through-gandhian-lens-may-2012- release.pdf. Nippon Foundation Fellowship for Asian Public Intellectual, 2006. Non – Violent Political Movement in Thailand: A work in Progress. Retrieved on 9 October, 2012 from: http://www.api-fellowships.org/body/newsletter/issue11.pdf. Radio Prague, 2012. The “Velvet Revolution.” Retrieved on 9 October, 2012 from: http://archiv.radio.cz/history/history15.html. Regilme, Jr., S. S. F. 2010. The Philippines after the 1986 People Power Revolution: A Case Study on Democratization and Political Development. Paper prepared for the 3rd ECPR Graduate Conference, Dublin 30 August to 1 September 2010. Stephan, M. J. and Chenoweth. E. 2008. Why Civil Resistance Works: The Strategic Logic of Nonviolent Conflict. Journal of International Security, Vol. 33, No. 1, pp. 7-44. 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