“Swaraj of a people means the sum total of the swaraj of individuals.” ~ Gandhi, Harijan, March 25, 1939, p. 64

“Person power” is a term coined by the Metta Center for Nonviolence to describe the vision of swaraj, or self-rule, that Gandhi propounded. Large masses of people do make an impact and can uproot dictators and change the rules of how society works. Absolutely. But without deep change in individuals, we only recreate what didn’t work, but this time with different personnel.

If you’ve been following this column, you’ll know what we say at Metta: “nonviolence is not about putting a different kind of person in power; it’s about awakening a different power in people.” Even during the Philippines “people power” movement in the 1980s, Cardinal Sin pointed out how the climactic action of the movement was as though “It was a million individual decisions; each one said, ‘I will go.’”

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About Daily Metta

Stephanie Van Hook, the Metta Center’s executive director, launched Daily Metta in 2015 as a way to share Gandhi’s spiritual wisdom and experiments with nonviolence.

Our 2016 Daily Metta continues with Gandhi on weekdays. On weekends, we share videos that complement Michael Nagler’s award-winning book, The Search for a Nonviolent Future: A Promise of Peace for Ourselves, Our Families, and Our World. To help readers engage with the book more deeply, the Metta Center offers a free PDF study guide.

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