http://resurgence.gn.apc.org/issues/gandhi214.htm Resurgence issue 214 - by Ela Gandhi South Africa
GANDHI AND DEVELOPMENT Ela Gandhi Mahatma Gandhi in South Africa, 1895 photo: Vithalbhai Jhaveri/Gandhiserve The Mahatma is more relevant in South Africa today than ever before. from Resurgence issue 214 GANDHI'S TWENTY-ONE years of experience in South Africa transformed his views on life and human existence. He started to look at the world from a poverty-trapped peasant's perspective, rather than from a middle-class bourgeois perspective. Stories of atrocities committed against exploited workers by their masters shaped his thinking and brought him closer to the Earth. He said, in interpreting Ruskin's book Unto This Last: 1. The good of the individual is contained in the good of all. 2. A lawyer's work has the same value as the barber's, as all have the same right of earning their livelihood from their work. 3. A life of labour, i.e. the life of the tiller of the soil and the craftsperson, is a life worth living. The profoundness of these three simple statements provided the essential philosophic underpinning of his movement in South Africa, and led to the creation of three principles, Sarvodaya, Swadeshi and Satyagraha, which have such importance for sustainable development in South Africa today. Sarvodaya (upliftment of all) was a philosophical position that Gandhiji maintained. He believed that morality must underpin all human actions. Society must strive for the economic, social, spiritual and physical well-being of all, not just the majority. He favoured a holistic approach to well-being, and a total approach to the community. For him the well-being of every individual was an important concern. He advocated that the locus of power must be situated in the village or neighbourhood unit. He believed that there should be equitable distribution of resources and that communities must become self-sustaining through reliance on local products instead of large-scale imports from outside. In this way each individual would be able to utilise his or her particular skills and be able to market his or her goods in the neighbourhood. People would then make goods for local consumption and become interdependent within each locality. Gandhi was opposed to large-scale industrialisation, and favoured small local industries instead. In this way there would be a certainty that each individual would be gainfully employed and able to live a self-sufficient fulfilled life. This local self-sufficiency he called Swadeshi. It means buy local, be proud of local, support local, uphold and live local. It was based on the theory of decentralised local interdependence and universal employment. When we buy or sell something outside our area then we are depriving a local person of his or her livelihood. The question many in South Africa ask is, do we remain under-developed? When one looks at the pollution and the environmental degradation, the climatic changes and the possible effects of these on the survival of life, caused by large scale industrialisation and so-called development, it becomes clear that one needs to call for a suspension of industrialisation. One needs to review carefully what is to the advantage of all people and the environment and what is not. We are on a collision course, and if we do not heed the warning signs, it will be at our own peril. Finally, Gandhi's best-known theory of Satyagraha or non-violent direct action is in fact a way of life, not just an absence of violence. He believed that to carry out non-violent action one needed to be disciplined. His discipline entailed the important element of self-restraint in respect of all the sensory urges and consumptions. It also entailed respect for all beings regardless of religious beliefs, caste, race or creed, and a devotion to the values of truth, love and responsibility. TODAY WE FACE the spectres of global warming, lack of water through deforestation, and continued depletion of natural resources and diversity on Earth. The unnatural cloning of animal life, the unbridled consumption on the part of some and the total deprivation of others, are some of the results of 'development' and economic growth. Should South Africa follow the path of unsustainable growth or the path of Gandhi and the principles of Sarvodaya, Swadeshi and Satyagraha? This is the challenge we face. The Gandhian way is gaining ever more support as people find it gives guidance in both how to resist destructive processes and how to build constructive ones from a position of inner moral strength. Next year will be the centenary of Gandhiji's work in South Africa, when he set up his first newspaper, which he used as a tool for mobilisation, and 2004 will be the centenary of his first communal agrarian ashram creating his first community at Phoenix. The celebrations will help to inspire more people to embody the Gandhian way to help humanity create a just and healthy future for the next generations. o Ela Gandhi, granddaughter of Mahatma Gandhi, is a political activist. She can be contacted at [EMAIL PROTECTED] _______________________________________________ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainablelorgbiofuel Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (70,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/
