Simi Mehta - Martin Luther King: Changing The World With Love

By Dilip -
Martin Luther King, Jr. needs no introduction. On the third Monday of January, Martin Luther King Day is observed to mark his birthday and to celebrate his legacy, which continues to establish and shape the ideals of an inclusive and tolerant society, not only building bridges between Americans of all races, creeds and colours, but also fostering intercultural and inter-faith understanding among people all over the world. He was deeply committed to the creation of the era in which people from all religious backgrounds would cooperate in the service of humanity.

Vinay Lal - Martin Luther King and the commitment to non-violence

Deeply influenced by the tenets of active pacifism -- utilised well by Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi in India's freedom struggle - Dr King gave a clarion call to the people of all walks of life to put an end to racism and concertedly act with a spirit of kindness and to cooperate in the pursuit of justice. Similar to Gandhi's means of non-violent resistance, he became the indispensable leader who inspired millions of people through his disciplined political action. Even amid instances of attacks directed towards him, he had said, "We want to love our enemies, be good to them. This is what we must live by, we must hate with love. We must love our White brothers no matter what they do to us".

By synthesising Gandhi's method of nonviolence and the ethics of love as the supreme unifying principle of human life, Dr King developed a powerful weapon in the African-American struggle for human dignity. In the largest ever political demonstration in the history of the US, in 1963, he avowed his "dream", where the African-Americans would "live in a nation where they would not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."

He was instrumental in the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that ended around two centuries of slavery, segregation, and legal inequality as well as the Voting Rights Act of 1965, that established the legal equality of African-Americans empowering them to politically assert themselves as full participant in the American democratic system. The Civil Rights Movement was not just about race, it was about the creation of hope for people from diverse backgrounds and countries of the world. 

With the support of over 300,000 Americans, he was successful in persuading the policy-makers to stand in support of the universal principles of equality and justice and interfaith cooperation -- the pillars that epitomise the socio-political fabric of the United States of America. He accepted the Nobel Peace Prize in December 1964 for his nonviolent resistance to racial injustice, "with an abiding faith in America and an audacious faith in the future of mankind".

Dr King's commitment to the cooperation between people from all faiths and walks of life changed the attitudes of the American populace and weaved a sense of religious tolerance into the national framework. His message of human solidarity continues to be relevant in the current times where hardliners and fundamentalists are trying to pit one faith against the other. His deep sense of rationality, embedded in spirituality to foster a greater appreciation of every religion, is reflected by his sermon that he offered in a Baptist Church in Montgomery, where he said, "O God, our gracious Heavenly Father, we call you this name. Some call thee Allah, some call you Elohim. Some call you Jehovah, some call you Brahma...", and established the philosophy that the force of love is the supreme unifying principle of life.

The triumph of Martin Luther King, Jr's dream is exhibited in the remarkable progress the African-American community has made, despite continuing challenges. The high school and university graduation rates have increased exponentially since 1966, the rate of poverty been halved and have risen up the ladder to be some of the most famous entrepreneurs, scholars, and literary achievers. 

With President Barack Obama serving his last year of the second term of his presidency, there are currently 43 Black serving Representatives in the House of Representatives and two Senators in the Senate, as well as a hopeful presidential candidate from the Republican Party. These are the instances of the power of American democracy and progress in which Dr King had a great hand. He continues to inspire and empower people around the world to forge ahead, breaking down barriers of inequalities rooted in prejudice, hostilities and fear, in the hope of eventually creating a just and equitable society.
http://www.huffingtonpost.in/simi-mehta/dr-martin-luther-king-jr-_1_b_9000776.html?utm_hp_ref=india

****************************************************

Martin Luther King: "Gandhi was probably the first person in history to lift the love ethic of Jesus above mere interaction between individuals to a powerful and effective social force on a large scale. Love for Gandhi was a potent instrument for social and collective transformation. It was in this Gandhian emphasis on love and nonviolence that I discovered the method for social reform that I had been seeking.  I do not want to give the impression that nonviolence will work miracles overnight. When the underprivileged demand freedom, the privileged first react with bitterness and resistance. Even when the demands are couched in nonviolent terms, the initial response is the same. So the nonviolent approach does not immediately change the heart of the oppressor. It first does something to the hearts and souls of those committed to it. It gives them new self-respect; it calls up resources of strength and courage that they did not know they had. Finally, it reaches the opponent and so stirs his conscience that reconciliation becomes a reality...If we assume that mankind has a right to survive then we must find an alternative to war and destruction. In a day when sputniks dash through outer space and guided ballistic missiles are carving highways of death through the stratosphere, nobody can win a war. The choice today is no longer between violence and nonviolence. It is either nonviolence or nonexistence.." Martin Luther King, full text here: My Pilgrimage to Non-violence, September 1958

see also
Gandhi visits the poor people of England in 1931
The music of humanity
The Abolition of truth (on the 'parivar's celebration of Gandhis murder)

Popular posts from this blog

Third degree torture used on Maruti workers: Rights body

By Dilip -
The People’s Union for Democratic Rights on Tuesday alleged that third degree torture methods were used by the Gurgaon Criminal Investigation Agency while interrogating workers of Maruti Suzuki India Limited’s Manesar plant who are accused of involvement in the killing of an HR manager and the violent attack at the plant on July 18. The PUDR alleged that the Gurgaon CIA investigation “did not seem” to be directed at solving the crime or probing the involvement of the arrested workers in the incidents and crimes recorded in the FIR but instead was based on their involvement in trade union activities. Grave doubts  “The use of third degree torture in police custody, and the securing of arrestees’ signatures on blank papers by the police, gives rise to grave doubts regarding the ability of such an investigation in effectively identifying or arresting those guilty. The police and the State seem keener to reassure Maruti Suzuki Ltd. and ensure that production continues,” the PUDR stat
Read more

Haruki Murakami: On seeing the 100% perfect girl one beautiful April morning

By Dilip -
According to Murakami, “1Q84” is just an amplification of one of his most popular short stories,   which (in its English version) is five pages long. “Basically, it’s the same,” he told me. “A boy meets a girl. They have separated and are looking for each other. It’s a simple story. I just made it long.” One beautiful April morning, on a narrow side street in Tokyo's fashionable Harujuku neighborhood, I walked past the 100% perfect girl. Tell you the truth, she's not that good-looking. She doesn't stand out in any way. Her clothes are nothing special. The back of her hair is still bent out of shape from sleep. She isn't young, either - must be near thirty, not even close to a "girl," properly speaking. But still, I know from fifty yards away: She's the 100% perfect girl for me. The moment I see her, there's a rumbling in my chest, and my mouth is as dry as a desert..." read the story: http://www.youmightfindyourself.com/post/22131227
Read more

Albert Camus's lecture 'The Human Crisis', New York, March 1946. 'No cause justifies the murder of innocents'

By Dilip -
The morning after a great historical crisis, you feel as sad and sick as after a heavy night. But there is no aspirin for historical hangovers .. The world is no longer divided into the just or unjust, but into masters and slaves. He who is right is he who enslaves.  Albert Camus     La crise de l'homme : THE HUMAN CRISIS   (Text read by Viggo Mortensen on March 28 2016)   Ladies and Gentlemen: when I was invited to give a series of lectures in the United States of America, I felt some doubt and hesitation. I am really not old enough to give lectures, and I am more at ease with the process of thinking than I am making categorical statements... since I don't feel I have any claim on what is generally called the truth. I shared this reservation and was very politely told that my personal opinion didn't matter. What mattered was that I'd be able to offer some facts about France so that my listeners could form their own opinions. It was then suggested that I might
Read more

The Almond Trees by Albert Camus (1940)

By Dilip -
Image
'Do you know', Napoleon once said to Fontanes, 'what astounds me most about the world?  The impotence of force to establish anything.  There are only two powers in the world: the sword and the mind.  In the end, the sword is always conquered by the mind' Conquerors, you see, are sometimes melancholy.  They have to pay some price for so much vainglory. But what a hundred years ago was true of the sword is no longer true today of the tank. Conquerors have made progress, and the dismal silence of places without intelligence has been established for years at a time in a lacerated Europe. At the time of the hideous wars of Flanders, Dutch painters could still perhaps paint the cockerels in their farmyards. The Hundred Years War has likewise been forgotten, and yet the prayers of Silesian mystics still linger in some hearts. But today, things have changed; the painter and the monk have been drafted - we are one with the world.  The mind has lost that regal certainty which a c
Read more

Etel Adnan - To Be In A Time Of War

By Dilip -
NB: Etel Adnan, writer, poet, artist and musician was born in 1925 and raised in Beirut, Lebanon. Her mother was a Greek from Smyrna, her father, a high ranking Ottoman officer born in Damascus. This prose poem is the final chapter of her book  In the Heart of the Heart of Another Country .  Read more about her here  - DS To Be In A Time Of War To say nothing, do nothing, mark time, to bend, to straighten up, to blame oneself, to stand, to go toward the window, to change one’s mind in the process, to return to one’s chair, to stand again, to go to the bathroom, to close the door, to then open the door, to go to the kitchen, to not eat nor drink, to return to the table, to be bored, to take a few steps on the rug, to come close to the chimney, to look at it, to find it dull, to turn left until the main door, to come back to the room, to hesitate, to go on, just a bit, a trifle, to stop, to pull the right side of the curtain, then the other side, to stare at
Read more

After the Truth Shower

By Dilip -
Dear Readers Thank you for reading my blog for the past eleven years. (This is a link to the new one) During this time it has had nearly 1.7 million hits; and I have posted over 9500 posts covering a variety of themes. From July 11 to 19, 2022, my blog was withdrawn by the Blogger administration on account of what its machinery suspected to be 'Impersonation'. It took over a week and the efforts of several well-wishers to get it back online I thank them all for their kindness and goodwill  My blog has always been - and remains - non-commercial. I have used it for academic purposes; and to foster a culture of debate and informed commentary in civil society. Because it contains a large amount of material gathered and collated for over a decade, I cannot afford to lose its contents. I hope it will remain undisturbed now and function as an archive. However, I have decided to use a new blog on WordPress as a platform for my newest comments and posts The new blog is titled After the
Read more

Rudyard Kipling: critical essay by George Orwell (1942)

By Dilip -
Mother of Cities to me, For I was born in her gate, Between the palms and the sea, Where the world-end steamers wait  Rudyard Kipling , To the City of Bombay "Few people who have criticized England from the inside have said bitterer things about her than this gutter patriot" : George Orwell IT WAS a pity that Mr. Eliot should be so much on the defensive in the long essay with which he prefaces this selection of Kipling's poetry, but it was not to be avoided, because before one can even speak about Kipling one has to clear away a legend that has been created by two sets of people who have not read his works. Kipling is in the peculiar position of having been a byword for fifty years. During five literary generations every enlightened person has despised him, and at the end of that time nine-tenths of those enlightened persons are forgotten and Kipling is in some sense still there. Mr. Eliot never satisfactorily explains this fact, because in answering the shal
Read more