Sonia, global leaders relaunch satyagraha against terror

By Staff
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Google Oneindia News

New Delhi, Jan 29 (UNI) Mahatma Gandhi's century-old non-violent weapon, satyagraha, could still be used to blunt terror, state-sponsored or otherwise, and resolve global conflicts, Congress President Sonia Gandhi and a host of leaders from across the world averred today.

Cautioning the world against jettisoning the Gandhian approach as irrelevent to our age, Ms Sonia Gandhi called for evolving a satyagraha appropriate times, marked by terrorism, fuelled by religious, political, ethnic or sectarian conflict.

''The challenge for us now is to find creative inspiration from Gandhian ways to evolve a satyagraha appropriate to our times,'' Ms Gandhi said in her inaugural address at the two-day international conference organised as part of the 'satyagraha' centenary celebrations.

The conference, organised by the Congress at Vigyan Bhavan here, is being attended by global leaders, including Maldives President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, his counterpart from Slovenia, Janez Drnovsek, and Mauritius Prime Minister Navinchandra Ramagoolam.

Mr Nelson Mandela, former President of South Africa where Mahatma Gandhi had launched the satyagraha movement on September 11 in 1906, in a message that was screened at the inaugural session described the Father of the Nation as a ''sacred warrior'' and asked the world to re-invent his approach of non-violence and tolerance to resolve global conflicts.

''His (Gandhi's) philosophy contributed in no small measure to bringing about a peaceful transformation in South Africa and in healing the destructive human divisions that had been spawned by the abhorrent practice of apartheid,'' the 88-year-old leader said.

Addressing the meet, Dr Kenneth Kaunda, first President of Zambia, called for arming the world with values and wisdom espoused by Mahatma Gandhi as the hope of the future and not with weapons of mass destruction.

Dr Kaunda appealed to US President George Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair and their allies to end their campaign of war as it had failed at great cost to life and property and opportunities for development.

''As we re-launch the satyagraha movement worldwide...let us stand up with a united voice and say no to war, no to terrorism, no to war mongers, warlords and arms dealers trading in weapons of death, no to government leaders sending young men and women to die for senseless causes to glorify themselves,'' he appealed to the gathering of world leaders attending the conference.

Ms Gandhi, pointing out that the end of the Cold War had not seen a pandemic of peace as it was hoped, said large-scale violence continued to break out across the world, targeting innocent men, women and children.

''Millions have been killed and displaced from their homes...In too many parts of the globe, societies are in discord, nations are at war, human security is at risk,'' she said.

In a keen observation, Ms Gandhi said that ''in many cases, violence is the cry of the oppressed and the exploited. It is a sad reality that in many instances violence has to be resorted to in order to be heard.'' In the same breath, she said that while the underlying causes of conflict had to be understood, ''it does humanity no good to rationalise, let alone romanticise, violence in any way. It provides no lasting solutions. It leads to untold suffering and atrocities.'' At the same time, violence was not an answer to violence as ''an eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind,'' Ms Gandhi said, quoting Mahatma Gandhi.

In view of all these complexities, it was only natural to question, ''is the Gandhian way feasible at all today? Can it prevail against terrorism and extremism?'', she said.

''It would...etc etc Editors: pl pick up from line one, para one of DI 18, POLITICS-SATYAGRAHA-LEAD SONIA TWO LAST NEW DELHI UNI

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