“In battling against untouchability, and in dedicating myself to that battle, I have no less an ambition than to see a full regeneration of humanity.” ~ Gandhi, Mahatma, p. 126 Untouchability is, or was, perhaps the most extreme example of racism and dehumanization still existing in a modern society. Gandhi knew that India could claim… read more
Tag Archives: Dehumanization
Despair: Daily Metta
“You must never despair of human nature.” ~ Gandhi, Harijan, November 5, 1938 This is not an utterance from an overly optimistic “saint” who knows nothing about what human beings can do to one another. Gandhi saw human violence: prejudice, beatings, mob killings, exploitation and starvation, you name it. But he understood that these atrocities… read more
Supporting Others: Daily Metta
“Society is sustained by several services. The bhangi (scavenger) constitutes the foundation of all services.” ~ Gandhi, Mahatma, 4.104 Disunity, especially prejudice or disrespect of another caused Gandhi personal pain. Because widows in traditional society were feared and rejected he would write: “God created nothing finer than the Hindu widow.” He of course strove with… read more
“Necessities and Nonviolence”–Daily Metta
January 28 “A starving man thinks first of satisfying his hunger before anything else.” -Gandhi (Young India, 3-18-1926) At the basis of the Indian Freedom Struggle was the spinning wheel. It represented independence through grassroots employment and freedom from the dependence on the British to supply their basic need of cloth. Gandhi worked endlessly… read more
Basics of Nonviolent Communication
Nonviolent Communication is one way of applying the principles of nonviolence into our way of being in the world, and it facilitates our deepening relationships with others when the practices are internalized and made fluent by the person trying to use them. In this series of videos, Marshall Rosenberg, founder of the NVC practice, introduces… read more
Spinning Wheel #3: Facing Fascism
by Michael Nagler Police brutality, suppression of dissent, heartless cruelty toward the disadvantaged, xenophobia and other forms of racism, Freikorps-type vigilante groups, corporate domination subjugating law and government, election fraud and war — America has virtually all the telltale characteristics of fascism, not just some. And it could not be otherwise, because the culture of… read more
interposition
In third party nonviolent intervention, interposition is the act of literally getting in between conflicting parties to deter them from using violence against one another. Commonly, it is assumed that interposition owes its effectiveness to the conflicting parties’ unwillingness to harm an innocent bystander. However, there is also a more subtle and compelling reason for why… read more
Dehumanization
Dehumanization is seeing an individual or a group as lacking human qualities. Dehumanization occurs when an individual or group establishes in their belief system that another individual or group is inferior. While no one can clearly define all the reasons for violent action, most sociologists and historians believe that dehumanization is a clear antecedent to… read more
