nonviolence gleaned from selected works of mahatma gandhi and martin luther king, jr.

Non-violence Gleaned from Selected Works of Mahatma Ghandi and Martin Luther King, Jr.. NONVIOLENCE GLEANED FROM SELECTED WORKS OF MAHATMA GANDHI AND MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR _____________

Non-violence Gleaned from Selected Works of Mahatma Ghandi and Martin Luther King, Jr

A Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School

Batangas State University

Batangas City, Philippines

NONVIOLENCE GLEANED FROM SELECTED WORKS OF MAHATMA GANDHI AND MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR

A Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School Batangas State University Batangas City, Philippines

APPROVAL SHEET This dissertation entitled NONVIOLENCE GLEANED FROM SELECTED WORKS OF MAHATMA GANDHI AND MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR prepared and submitted by MA LE THI THU HUONG in

partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree doctor of Philosophy in English has been examined and is recommended for oral Examination

Accepted and approved in partial fulfillment of the requirements

for the degree doctor of Philosophy in English

ABSTRACT

Title: Nonviolence Gleaned From Selected Works of Mahatma

Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr Author: MA Le Thi Thu Huong

Degree: Doctor of Philosophy

Major: English Language and Literature

Specifically, the study sought answers to the following questions:

1 What is the historical root of nonviolence in India and America?

2 How is nonviolence dealt with in the selected works of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr.?

3 What humanitarian issues are given focus on each of the selections?

4 What literary devices are used by the writers in projecting the humanitarian issues particularly nonviolence?

5 What teachings on nonviolence maybe drawn from the analysis which shall benefit Vietnamese students?

This study employed the qualitative method of research in analyzing Gandhi‟s and King‟s concept of nonviolence in the representative literary works chosen Likewise, this analysis made use of the sociological and philosophical approaches as the bases for analysis This paper also involved content analysis, which is a systematic technique in analyzing message content and message handling

The following representative literary works were analyzed:

Mahatma Gandhi‟s The Story of My Experiments with Truth, Harijan and

Letter from Birmingham Jail and I Have a Dream These articles, letters

and oratorical speeches constituted the primary and twining sources of the study

FINDINGS

The results of analysis and interpretation revealed that:

1 Nonviolence originated among a few of the forest sages of India

about three thousand years ago It was recorded in the Upanishads Buddha and the Jain Tirthankaras took it up and developed it further

about 500 B C But it was Mahatma Ghandi who made nonviolence a resounding method in solving social and political upheavals in India

However, in the United States of America, the philosophy of

nonviolence originated early in the 1800's the Bhagavad Gita and the

Upanishads were translated into English, crossed the seas and came to

America, - a leap of 2,000 years in time and 10,000 miles in space There Henry David Thoreau read them, made his nonviolent protest against the war by the U.S Government against Mexico based on the

said philosophy, went to jail for his principles and wrote his Essay on

Luther King, Jr that nonviolence became a sharp sword to put a stop to social and political differences in America

2 Mahatma Gandhi viewed nonviolence as a philosophy of life and to fully understand his philosophy of nonviolence, readers need to look closely at three basic principles that guided his life These are

ahimsa, satyagraha, and tapasya All of these principles were deeply

embedded in his religious beliefs and permeated all he did in his personal and public life In contrast, Martin Luther King, Jr viewed nonviolence as spiritually aggressive but not physically aggressive; designed to obtain the opponents understanding, not to humiliate them; directed at the forces of evil, not the persons caught in those forces, it avoids both physical violence and internal spiritual violence, and is based on the conviction that the world is just a place

3 The humanitarian issues given focus on the selections of Mahatma Gandhi includes the struggle against racial inequality in South Africa; the struggle for economic justice in India; the struggle for the abolition of the caste system in India; the struggle against unfair taxes in India; the struggle against increased Salt Tariff; the struggle to correct economic injustice in India; and the struggle for India‟s independence

On the other hand, the humanitarian issues given emphasis on the selections of King includes the struggle against racial injustice and the struggle for desegregation

4 To give meanings and a logical framework to their works through language, to enhance and give deeper meanings to the concept of nonviolence, and to motivate readers‟ imagination to visualize the characters and scenes more clearly, Gandhi and King employed literary devices in the selected literary pieces Gandhi implanted a stirring principle through the use of repetition and religious connotations Likewise, he reminds the people that the confinement of India is not due

to British people but British colonialism Ergo, the utilization of logos in the representative literary works was employed to promote his main idea that nonviolence is essentially an effective weapon on its own Through these devices Gandhi depicts himself as a religious, calm and peaceful man throughout his speeches and in his letters On the other hand, King‟s speech reflected the mood and status of the Civil Rights

Movement His political speeches flowed with biblical imagery, religious dialogue, and spiritual references As the movement carried on, King‟s political rhetoric became increasingly interwoven with his style of sermonic or preachyto the point where today, in hindsight, distinguishing the influences of his speeches on his sermons and his sermons on his speeches is a challenging task

5 Both Martin Luther King and Gandhi were people who gained tremendous inspiration from their faith traditions and were able to perform tremendous feats of courage through the implementation of non-violence Today, as a culturally diverse society, people, specifically the Vietnamese students, can glean teachings on nonviolence from their works and imbibe these nonviolent advocates‟ spirit and carry forward their legacy by practicing daily the non-violent principle They can realize this by becoming more compassionate in their thoughts, speech, as well as their actions in dealing with people from all walks of life and nationality regardless of their age, color, gender, and faith

have much deeper understanding, perception and the moral, human values on the non-violent struggle as well as its major role in the maintenance to a better and equal society

2 Nonviolence resistance is not only considered as a method of persuasion of the opponents, but also a strategy for social and political change Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King‟s vision of a reconciled society was that of an inclusive community with a sense of responsibility to formulate equal opportunity and solidarity

3 The Vietnamese students may glean teachings on nonviolence

to become more compassionate in their thoughts, speech, as well as their actions in dealing with people from all walks of life and nationality

regardless of their age, gender, and faith

Recommendations further studies

From the foregoing findings and conclusions, the researcher offers the following recommendations:

1 The academic managers can utilize this study as a frame of reference when they prepare developmental priorities, programs, projects and policies in the educational institutions to ensure that the practice of nonviolence can access the academe and spawn nonviolent-related activities in the curricula

2 College instructors of literature may use this analysis as one of their methodologies in teaching literature to raise students‟ awareness

on nonviolence and develop their students‟ appreciation and sense of

value in order to guide and allow them to crystallize and synthesize what philosophy of life is best to learn and to live by

3 Students of literature and linguistics realize the significance of nonviolence and may be inspired to treat literature as a work of art as well as inspire them to engage in literary analysis related to non-violent resistance

4 Research the applications of this study‟s results on the issue of school violence education in Vietnam

5 Research on non-violent struggle in a number of works of Viet Nam contemporary literature

I am also grateful to the other members of my doctoral committee from the Batagas State University, Phillipines, Prof Matilda H.Dimaano, Prof Amada Banaag, Prof.Lavage B Labura for their valuable comments and suggestions

I would like to thank to Dr Prof Dang Kim Vui, the President of TNU, for the linkage between the Thai Nguyen University and the Batangas State University and Dr Prof Nguyen The Hung, Director for International Training Centre for his help so that the learners complete this course

Many thanks should also go to other related people for their academic supports towards the end of this research, Ms Le Quynh Anh

in International Training Center, College of Agriculture and Forestry,Thai Nguyen University

I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to my family who are always there to cheer me up and stand by my side with the unquestioned support

Last, but not least, I am deeply indebted to my husband, for his patience and for his unlimited support and love Without him, I would not have been able to complete this long journey

The Researcher

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page TITLE PAGE ……… i

Table of Contents ……….…… …… ii

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION Statement of the Problem ……….… 1

Objectives of the study……… 8

Significance of the Study ……… … 9

Scope and Limitation of the Study … ……… 10

CHAPTER II REVIEW OF LITERATURE Conceptual Literature ……… 12

Research Literature ……… 28

Synthesis ……….……… 36

Conceptual Framework ……… 39

Definition of Terms ……… 47

CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHODOLOGY Research Method ……… 51

Treatment of Materials ……… 52

CHAPTER IV ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF

DATA

58

Analysis and Interpretation………

CHAPTER V SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND

RECOMMENDATIONS Summary……….… 166

Findings ……… 187

Conclusions ……… 196

Recommendations ……….…… 199

BIBLIOGRAPHY

CURRICULUM VITAE

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND OF STUDY

Mahatma Ghandi and Martin Luther King, Jr are two of the world‟s most famous advocates of non-violence Both struggled and committed themselves to create a society without the use of force While Mahatma Ghandi never claimed to be a prophet or a philosopher, he was proud to say that the real significance of the Indian Freedom Movement was that it was waged non-violently As for Martin Luther King, Jr., he envisioned a society in which race was not an issue in how people were treated or in how they were allowed to live their lives His involvement on this became prominent in civil right movements that gained the respect of many political leaders and gave him the potential

power to enact major change

Mahatma Ghandi adhered to non-violence not only because he believed that an unarmed people had little chance of success in an armed rebellion but also because he considered violence a clumsy weapon which created more problems than it solved During his time, his emphasis on non-violence had a harsh or unpleasant effect both on his British and Indian critics, though for different reasons During the

Indian struggle, the British critics saw non-violence as a camouflage They didn‟t see it as a remarkable peaceful nature of Ghandi‟s campaign To the Indian critics, especially the radical Indian politicians, who looked up on the French and Russian Revolutions or the struggles

of the Italian and Irish nationalists, Ghandi‟s campaign on non-violence was a sheer sentimentalism That it was obvious that force will yield force, and that it was foolish to miss opportunities and sacrifice tactical gains for reasons more relevant to ethics than to politics

On the other hand, Martin Luther King, Jr had a major impact on civil rights He played a part in many well-known civil right movements

in the 1950‟s and the 1960‟s For instance, in 1955, he became heavily involved in the Montgomery, Alabama boycott of the city buses, which was spurred by the bus company‟s insistence that African Americans should only ride in the backseats King‟s support drew much attention to the cause and rallied many supporters even outside of the Montgomery area, which put pressure on bus companies all over the South to examine their rules, and eventually, to change them

A key part of Martin Luther King, Jr.‟s vision, aside from the quest

of racial equality, was the idea of non-violence He refused to use violence in any of his protests, and taught his followers to do the same Based on the principle of Ghandi, this factor of King‟s beliefs and

behavior was a major influence on the society at that time Police forces didn‟t hesitate to use violence against demonstrators and protesters, but

in the face of their quiet civil resistance, the overblown physical techniques of force and brutality lost their power Martin Luther King, Jr was responsible for the passing of the Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act for Africans, both in the mid of 1960‟s These acts literally changed the American Law so that the African Americans could not be treated separately from the Whites His victories in these two areas had

a major impact in the United States and the world

In spite of all these resounding advocacies for non-violence, men continue to use force and violence as means to an end Men didn‟t seem to have learned as proven by the presence of violence everywhere in the world In today‟s world, people continue to die violent deaths The struggle of mankind to survive almost always ends with violence In the new era of the twenty-first century, humanity must be guided by the overriding principle that killing is never acceptable or justified under any circumstance Unless men realize this, unless they widely promote and deeply implant the understanding that violence can never be used to advocate one's beliefs, they will have learned nothing from the bitter lessons of the twentieth century

Perhaps the best way to understand human nature fully and to know a nation completely short of going into a formal study of psychology, sociology and history, is to study Literature Through Literature, people learn the innermost feelings and thoughts of people – the truest and most real part of themselves Thus, men gain an understanding not only for others, but more importantly, of themselves and of life itself

Sometimes, people may have ideas and values that they wished

to pass on in order to form attitudes At other times, it may be because they wanted to spread knowledge and information which is worth recording and remembering In this way, truth is reserved

Today, the real struggle of the twenty-first century is neither between civilizations, nor between religions It will be between violence and nonviolence It will be between barbarity and civilization in the truest sense of the word

This thought was supported by Hick(1988) when he said that Gandhi was indeed a living paradox, both extraordinarily attractive and yet powerfully dominating, and in admiring him people must be aware of both sides of his character His moral insights were so strong and uncompromising that he imposed them upon his followers by the sheer force of conviction This force arose from the fact that Gandhi lived what

he taught He never taught an insight or made a moral demand that he had not lived out in his own life Once, when asked by a foreign visitor what his message was, he replied “My life is my message‖ A proof that

he, indeed, taught what he preached

Obviously, one reason why Gandhi is so important and remembered today is that he was the first great example of a typically modern phenomenon, the political saint as most writers call him In addition, Hick mentioned that before the rise of democracy, people generally had no political power therefore, responsibility, and saintliness typically took the form either of acts of individual charity or of a life of secluded prayer and meditation

Gandhi‟s thinking was ahead of his own time and stays alive today in our time Underlying all this is Gandhi‟s impregnable faith in the possibility of a radically better human future if only men will learn to trust the power of non-violent openness to others and to the deeper humanity within us all To most people this seems impossible But Gandhi‟s great legacy is that his life has certainly shown that, with true dedication, non-violence is possible in the world as it is

In the same premise, Martin Luther King, Jr as an unknown quantity was gaining fast recognition for the same reason as Ghandi According to Dear (2012), certainly, no one expected him to emerge as

a Moses-like tower of strength No one imagined he would invoke Gandhi‟s method of nonviolent resistance in Christian language as the basis for the boycott But from day one, he was a force to be reckoned with This is in reference to what Dr King did during the rise of strike in

a certain bus company in Montgomery

With the help of Bayard Rustin and Glenn Smiley of the Fellowship of Reconciliation, Dr King articulated a methodology of nonviolence that still rings true It is an ethic of nonviolent resistance that is also a strategy of hope that can help people today in the thousands of Montgomery-like movements around the world

Dr King outlined his way of nonviolence and taught these six essential ingredients of active nonviolence until the day he died First, nonviolence is the way of the strong; Second, the goal of nonviolence is redemption and reconciliation; Third, nonviolence seek to defeat evil, not people; Fourth, nonviolence includes a willingness to accept suffering without retaliation, to accept blows from the opponent without striking back; Fifth, nonviolence avoids not only external physical

violence but also internal violence of spirit It practices agape/ love in

action, and sixth, nonviolence is based on the conviction that the universe is on the side of justice

The core principle explained why, for King, nonviolence was “the

Montgomery to Atlanta, Albany and eventually Birmingham, he demonstrated six basic steps of nonviolent action that could be applied

to any nonviolent movement for social change King stressed that every campaign of nonviolence usually undergoes these basic stages toward justice, and they are worth the reader‟s consideration: Information gathering, education, personal commitment, negotiations, direct actions; and reconciliation

Dr King‟s principle and methodology of nonviolence outlined a path to social change that still holds true to this day

Also, Dr King‟s essays and speeches are characterized with of wisdom His writings harnesses profound emotional power for purposes

of social action Within the pages of these works surfaces a collection of gems, reflecting deep philosophy and unique expressions

The wisdom embodied in the selected works of Mahatma Gandhi and the selected works of Martin Luther King, Jr could help the Vietnamese students re-examine their lives and values when they become aware of their genuine philosophical dimension Their writings could describe habits that define the Vietnamese attitude towards life in general and towards specific actions in particular They may rightly be

regarded as modifiers of human acts, influencing their deep motivations They are intertwined in the raw materials of the social development of a Vietnamese student as a person existing in a community of people They lend support certainly to the efforts of nation building

With these thoughts in mind, the researcher as an English teacher at Thai Nguyen University of Education is deeply motivated to explore and undertake an analysis of how nonviolence is reflected in the selected works of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr and gain honest implications on the teaching of nonviolence that may be drawn from the analysis which shall benefit Vietnamese students

1.2 OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDIES

This study is an analysis of nonviolence gleaned in the selected works of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr and the identification of the teachings on nonviolence that may be drawn from the analysis which shall benefit Vietnam students

Specifically, the study sought answers to the following questions:

1 What is the historical root of nonviolence in India and America

2 How is nonviolence dealt with in the selected works of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr.?

3 What humanitarian issues are given focus on each of the selections?

4 What literary devices are used by the writers in projecting the humanitarian issues particularly nonviolence?

5 What teachings on nonviolence maybe drawn from the analysis which shall benefit Vietnamese students?

1.3 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The aptness of literary analysis as an essential part of a research study is highlighted in terms of its importance to a number of individuals Therefore, it is vital to expound how this study is beneficial to academic managers, college instructors of literature, students of literature and linguistics sand other researchers

The academic managers can utilize this study as a frame of reference when they prepare developmental priorities, programs, projects and policies in the educational institutions to ensure that the practice of nonviolence can access the academe and spawn nonviolent-related activities in the curricula

College instructors of literature may use this analysis as one of their methodologies in teaching literature to raise students‟ awareness

on nonviolence and develop their students‟ appreciation and sense of value in order to guide and allow them to crystallize and synthesize what philosophy of life is best to learn and to live by

Students of literature and linguistics realize the significance of nonviolence and may be inspired to treat literature as a work of art s as well as inspire them to engage in literary analysis related to non-violent resistance

Further research can utilize this study‟s results on the issue of school violence education in Vietnam

Further research on non-violent struggle can be gleaned from a number of works of Viet Nam contemporary literature

1.4 SCOPE AND LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

This study analyzes the philosophy of nonviolence as embodied

in the selected literary pieces of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr pointing out the events and situations which show the teachings on nonviolence that maybe drawn from the analysis that may benefit the Vietnamese students Likewise, this paper tries to present the historical root of nonviolence in India and the United States; the humanitarian issues given focus on each of the selections, and the literary devices used by the writers in projecting the humanitarian issues particularly nonviolence

This study employed the qualitative method of research in analyzing Gandhi‟s and King‟s concept of nonviolence in the representative literary works chosen Likewise, this analysis made use

of the sociological and philosophical approaches as the bases for analysis In particular, the sociological approach is supported by Teixeira‟s Theory of Nonviolence, while the philosophical approach is supported by Holmes‟ Theory of Nonviolence Other approaches in literary criticism that may be employed in the analysis like the Formalist Criticism, Biographical Criticism, Historical Criticism, and Psychological Criticism are not part of this study

This paper also involved content analysis, which is a systematic technique in analyzing message content and message handling The data analysis in this research centered on pattern seeking and the extraction of meaning from Gandhi‟s and King‟s selected literary narrative or image data Much effort was focused on the task of recording data or making notes through concepts and categories; altering or creating new codes or more subtle categories; linking and combining abstract concepts; extracting the essence; organizing meaning; creating theory from emerging themes; writing an understanding; and drawing conclusions

The essential features in the treatment of materials were considered by the researcher in the conduct of this study The general rules cited by Stott (2014) as regards the seven standards a piece of

literature should abide to in order to be considered literary guided in the selection of works under study

The representative literary works were analyzed The Story of My Experiments with Truth, Harijan and Young India and The Montgomery Bus Boycott, Letter from Birmingham Jail by Mahatma Gandhi and I Have a Dream by Martin Luther King, Jr From these literatures, readers

will be able to see in them the seeds of all these two writers‟ most

important teachings The said selections were chosen because of their

correlation with the cited themes; the humanitarian issues given focus in the selections; the literary devices which helped in unveiling their concept of nonviolence; and the teachings on nonviolence that may be

drawn from the analysis

CHAPTER II REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

This chapter is presented with the view of identifying the constructs of the study

2.1 CONCEPTUAL LITERATURE

The review of the conceptual literature yields four types of constructs, which are used in the analysis and interpretation of the literary pieces dissected These constructs include: Literature and Philosophy of Nonviolence, Mahatma Gandhi and his Significant Works, Martin Luther King, Jr and his Significant Works, Humanitarian Issues, Literary Devices and Historical and Philosophical Approaches

in Literary Criticism

Mahatma Gandhi and his Significant Works Mohandas

Karamchand Gandhi, commonly known as Mahatma Gandhi Father

of Nation, was the preeminent leader of Indian nationalism in ruled India

British-Employing non-violent civil disobedience, Gandhi led India to independence and inspired movements for non-violence, civil rights and freedom across the world

The son of a senior government official, Gandhi was born and raised in a Bania community in coastal Gujarat, and trained in law in

London Gandhi became famous by fighting for the civil rights of Muslim and Hindu Indians in South Africa, using new techniques of non-violent civil disobedience that he developed Returning to India in 1915, he set about organizing peasants to protest excessive land-taxes A lifelong opponent of "communalism", he reached out widely to all religious groups He became a leader of Muslims protesting the declining status

of the Caliphate Assuming leadership of the Indian National Congress

in 1921, Gandhi led nationwide campaigns for easing poverty, expanding women's rights, building religious and ethnic amity, ending untouchability, increasing economic self-reliance, and above all for achieving Swaraj - the independence of India from British domination

Gandhi led Indians in protesting the national salt tax with the 400 kilometers Dandi Salt March in 1930, and later in demanding the British

to immediately quit India in 1942, during World War II He was imprisoned for that and for numerous other political offenses over the years Gandhi sought to practice non-violence and truth in all situations, and advocated that others do the same He saw the villages as the core

of the true India and promoted self-sufficiency; he did not support the industrialization programs of his disciple Jawaharlal Nehru He lived modestly in a self-sufficient residential community and wore the traditional Indian dhoti and shawl, woven with yarn he had hand spun

on a charkha His chief political enemy in Britain was Winston Churchill, who ridiculed him as a half-naked impostor He was a dedicated

vegetarian, and undertook long fasts as means of both self-purification and political mobilization

In his last year, unhappy at the partition of India, Gandhi worked

to stop the carnage between Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs that raged in the border area between India and Pakistan He was assassinated on

30 January 1948 by Nathuram Godse who thought Gandhi was too sympathetic to India's Muslims January 30 is observed as Martyrs' Day

in India since then The honorific Mahatma or Great Soul was applied to him by 1914 In India he was also called Bapu or Father He is also known as the Father of the Nation; his birthday, October 2, is commemorated as Gandhi Jayanti, a national holiday, and world-wide,

as the International Day of Non-Violence Gandhi's philosophy was not theoretical but one of pragmatism, that is, practicing his principles in the moment Asked to give a message to the people, he would respond,

“My life is my message.”

Gandhi‟s Significant Works Young India, a weekly journal

published by Gandhi from 1919 to 1932 He was a prolific writer One of his earliest publications, Hind Swaraj, published in Gujarati in 1909, is recognized as the intellectual blueprint of India's freedom movement

The book was translated into English the next year, with a copyright legend that read "No Rights Reserved" For decades he edited several

newspapers including Harijan in Gujarati, in Hindi and in the English language; Indian Opinion while in South Africa and, Young India, in English, and Navajivan, a Gujarati monthly, on his return to India Later,

Navajivan was also published in Hindi In addition, he wrote letters

almost every day to individuals and newspapers

Gandhi also wrote several books including his autobiography,

The Story of My Experiments with Truth His other autobiographies

included: Satyagraha in South Africa about his struggle there, Hind Swaraj or Indian Home Rule, a political pamphlet, and a paraphrase in

Gujarati of John Ruskin's Unto This Last This last essay can be

considered as his programme on economics He also wrote extensively

on vegetarianism, diet and health, religion, social reforms, etc Gandhi usually wrote in Gujarati, though he also revised the Hindi and English translations of his books

Gandhi's complete works were published by the Indian

government under the name The Collected Works of Mahatma

Gandhi in the 1960s The writings comprise about 50,000 pages

published in about a hundred volumes In 2000, a revised edition of the complete works sparked a controversy, as it constituted large

number of errors and omissions The Indian government later withdrew the revised edition

Martin Luther King, Jr and his Significant Works During the

less than 13 years of Dr Martin Luther King, Jr.‟s leadership of the modern American Civil Rights Movement, from December, 1955 until April 4, 1968, African Americans achieved more genuine progress toward racial equality in America than the previous 350 years had produced Dr King is widely regarded as America‟s pre-eminent advocate of nonviolence and one of the greatest nonviolent leaders in world history

Drawing inspiration from both his Christian faith and the peaceful teachings of Mahatma Gandhi, Dr King led a nonviolent movement in the late 1950‟s and „60s to achieve legal equality for African-Americans

in the United States While others were advocating for freedom by “any means necessary,” including violence, Martin Luther King, Jr used the power of words and acts of nonviolent resistance, such as protests, grassroots organizing, and civil disobedience to achieve seemingly-impossible goals He went on to lead similar campaigns against poverty and international conflict, always maintaining fidelity to his principles that men and women everywhere, regardless of color or creed, are equal members of the human family

Dr King‟s “I Have a Dream” speech, that won Nobel Peace Prize

lecture, and “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” are among the most revered orations and writings in the English language His accomplishments are now taught to American children of all races and are also being used in universities His teachings are studied by scholars and students worldwide He is the only non-president to have a national holiday dedicated in his honor, and is the only non-president memorialized on the Great Mall in the nation‟s capital He is memorialized in hundreds of statues, parks, streets, squares, churches and other public facilities around the world as a leader whose teachings are increasingly-relevant to the progress of humankind

Some of Dr King‟s most important achievements include the following:

In 1955, he was recruited to serve as spokesman for the Montgomery Bus Boycott, which was a campaign by the African-American population of Montgomery, Alabama to force integration of the city‟s bus lines After 381 days of nearly universal participation by citizens of the black community, many of whom had to walk miles to work each day as a result, the U.S Supreme Court ruled that racial segregation in transportation was unconstitutional

In 1957, Dr King was elected president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), an organization designed to provide

new leadership for the now burgeoning civil rights movement He would serve as head of the SCLC until his assassination in 1968, a period during which he would emerge as the most important social leader of the modern American civil rights movement

In 1963, he led a coalition of numerous civil rights groups in a nonviolent campaign aimed at Birmingham, Alabama, which at the time was described as the “most segregated city in America.” The subsequent brutality of the city‟s police, illustrated most vividly by television images of young blacks being assaulted by dogs and water hoses, led to a national outrage resulting in a push for unprecedented civil rights legislation It was during this campaign that Dr King drafted the “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” the manifesto of Dr King‟s philosophy and tactics, which is today required-reading in universities worldwide

Later in 1963, Dr King was one of the driving forces behind the March for Jobs and Freedom, more commonly known as the “March on Washington,” which drew over a quarter-million people to the national mall It was at this march that Dr King delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech, which cemented his status as a social change leader and helped inspire the nation to act on civil rights Dr King was later named Time magazine‟s “Man of the Year.”

In 1964, at 35 years old, Martin Luther King, Jr became the youngest person to win the Nobel Peace Prize His acceptance speech

in Oslo is thought by many to be among the most powerful remarks ever delivered at the event, climaxing at one point with the oft-quoted phrase

“I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final

word in reality This is why right temporarily defeated is stronger than evil triumphant.‖

Also in 1964, partly due to the March on Washington, Congress passed the landmark Civil Rights Act, essentially eliminating legalized racial segregation in the United States The legislation made it illegal to discriminate against blacks or other minorities in hiring, public accommodations, education or transportation, areas which at the time were still very segregated in many places

The next year, 1965, Congress went on to pass the Voting Rights Act, which was an equally-important set of laws that eliminated the remaining barriers to voting for African-Americans, who in some locales had been almost completely disenfranchised This legislation resulted directly from the Selma to Montgomery, AL March for Voting Rights lead

by Dr King

Between 1965 and 1968, Dr King shifted his focus toward economic justice – which he highlighted by leading several campaigns

in Chicago, Illinois – and international peace – which he championed by speaking out strongly against the Vietnam War His work in these years culminated in the “Poor Peoples Campaign,” which was a broad effort to assemble a multiracial coalition of impoverished Americans who would advocate for economic change

Dr Martin Luther King, Jr.‟s less than thirteen years of nonviolent leadership ended abruptly and tragically on April 4th, 1968, when he was assassinated at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee Dr King‟s body was returned to his hometown of Atlanta, Georgia, where his funeral ceremony was attended by high-level leaders of all races and political stripes

Later in 1968, Dr King‟s wife, Mrs Coretta Scott King, officially founded the Martin Luther King, Jr Center for Nonviolent Social Change, which she dedicated to being a “living memorial” aimed at continuing Dr King‟s work on important social ills around the world

Humanitarian Issues in India During Mahatma Gandhi’s Time

Over many centuries, world civilization has witnessed countless instances of warfare, battles, and conflicts duly capable of employing the power of transmuting the human kind into forms what the emperors and rulers had never thought of There existed peerless and rarest men among the human species who preached and practiced theories of

peace that made the human race to evolve into a more enlightened genre living of what he is today on this planet

Satyagrah, the philosophy and practice of non-violent or civil

resistance, was developed by Mahatma Gandhi It was a practice he used to help fight racial inequality in South Africa and to pave the way to independence in India

Gandhi, while he was in South Africa, had developed a deep sense of respect for humanity and considered it to be his religion He had formed a great idea and a philosophy for human rights and also believed

in a nonviolence approach When he returned to India from South Africa,

he found the country was in great turmoil under the British rule

Leaders like Bhagat Singh, Lokmanya Tilak were already fighting the atrocities of the British Government but through violence Gandhi tried to convey them his idea of nonviolence and also opposed their violent path towards their goal of freedom

As a global humanitarian icon, Ghandi is said to have been a unique character in South African and global history – Mahatma (which means 'great soul' in Sanskrit) could take on strong colonial forces without a weapon at hand, but was also petrified of the dark This didn't stop him from battling against – and triumphing against – some of the darkest forces in modern history

Mahatma Gandhi is the greatest apostle of peace the world has seen after Buddha and Christ His notion of peace is centered on nonviolence, individualism, soul force and forgiveness Gandhi is not seen in this platform of world peace His ideologies remain neglected at the global forum and are considered as a tonic for social and cultural development only

As he is known as the Father of the nation politically, economically his dictum stands as a medicine merely for building local economy Global communities have not come and thought of Gandhi as

a "solution provider", "conflict breaker" or even as a peace activist World peace continues to be at the hands of world powers that use violence and warfare Indeed the situation is so grim that even a global peace campaigner is quite plausibly to localize and narrow down himself and his campaign giving in to the pressures and rigid policies of the governments Gandhi said, "If we have no charity, and no tolerance,

we shall never settle our differences amicably and must therefore always submit to the arbitration of a third party." Many of today's conflict management techniques and resolution process have a clear shadow of what and how Gandhi had seen inter-national issues in his times A war-hunger nation has nothing in this world whilst a starving nation needs every kind of help from the world A nation endangering

peace in the world has no security for itself Peace can never be achieved by one-dimensional and unilateral talks or efforts It has numerous facets of social, ethnical, religious and political elements and copious ways to deal with them to bring and stabilize worsened situations under control The true character of a conflict must be identified and may perhaps be attributed any of those hidden elements Gandhi's perception of bringing peace and resolving conflict had such a diversified point of interest every time when he insisted on taking fast to bring hostile situation under control

Gandhi contributed in a great way to human rights development

He started the Satyagraha Movement so that all Indians should bear an identity under the British Government itself He also started the Dandi

March which was led to stop the tax on salt and that Indians should be

allowed to make salt from their own sea water Gandhi also fought for abolishing the untouchable concept which was prevalent among the higher castes of India The untouchables were people who were poor and from low caste These people were not allowed to draw water from the wells, bathe in the ponds or enter any place of worship Gandhi fought for their rights and brought them also recognition among his own people He accepted the low caste whole heartedly and set an example for others to learn