To: Jacob Snyder who wrote (117370 ) 10/23/2003 3:45:27 AM From: frankw1900 Read Replies (1) | Respond to In war, you win by breaking the discipline, command structure, and unit cohesion of your opponent's armed forces. Satyagraha does the same thing, but without killing the opponent or his followers. Successful Satyagraha takes as much discipline, and is as risky, as making war. We have been happily born ? or perhaps have unhappily dragged our weary way ? down the long and crooked streets of our lives, past all kinds of walls and fences made of rotting wood, rammed earth, brick, concrete, iron railings. We have never given a thought to what lies behind them. We have never tried to penetrate them with our vision or our understanding. But there is where the Gulag country begins, right next to us, two yards away from us. In addition, we have failed to notice an enormous number of closely fitted, well-disguised doors and gates in these fences. All those gates were prepared for us, every last one! And all of a sudden the fateful gate swings open, and four white male hands, unaccustomed to physical labor but nonetheless strong and tenacious, grab us by the leg, arm, collar, cap, ear, and drag us in like a sack, and the gate behind us, the gate to our past life, is slammed shut once and for all? pour encourager les autres . He did do that you know. Dubya didn't make it up.) This idea, that non-violent resistance only works against "humane" rulers, is a variation on the theme of calling pacifists cowards When the ruler's self-confidence finally cracks, it happens precisely because he sees his orders no longer being obeyed, he realises he is not feared any longer. Message 19422381
