THE COMPLETE BLOG ON MAHATMA GANDHI

Ravindra Varma All human beings do not think alike or feel alike. They have therefore no escape from having to encounter differences. Differences can lead to intolerance, intolerance can lead to confrontation, and hostile confrontation can, does often, lead to conflict. The objects that set one on the path of confrontation and conflict are therefore very important in understanding 'conflict'. So are the means-tactics and instruments that one uses to engage in conflict. Both these affect the individual as well as the group or society in which, or on behalf of which he or she wants to engage in conflict. They act and interact on the individual as well as the institutions that he fashions or lives under, and the "forces" that they generate and employ for bringing about change or resisting change. The problems that arise from these inter-relationships cannot be solved by saying that conflicts are inevitable in the life of the individual and society. Science and tech...

M. B. Nisal Horowitz argues, all conflicts based on ascriptive group identities -race, language, religion, tribe or caste - cause are called ethnic. In this umbrella usage, ethnic conflicts range from 1) The Protestant-Catholic conflict in Northern Ireland and Hindu-Muslim conflict in India to 2) black-white conflict in the United States and South Africa, 3) Tamil - Sinhala conflict in Sri Lanka, and 4) Shia-Sunni conflict in Pakistan. The form ethnic conflict takes, be it, religious, linguistic, racial, tribal does not seem to alter its intensity, longevity, passion and relative intractability, their emphasis on the ascriptive and cultural core of the conflict, imagined or real, and they distinguish it primarily from the largely non-ascriptive and economic core of class conflict. Ethnic conflict may have an economic basis, but that is not its defining feature. The politics of ethnic group can be defined irrespective of internal class differentiation, race, language, sect or re...

Thomas Weber Satyagraha, as used in interpersonal conflicts, often depends on the degree to which its values have been internalised rather than on a conscious adoption of tactics. Gandhi claimed that "there is no royal road" to achieve this. It will only be possible "through living the creed in your life which must be a living sermon". This "presupposes great study, tremendous perseverance, and thorough cleansing of one's self of all impurities", which in turn requires working through "a wide and varied experience of interior conflict". These interior conflicts, for example the questioning of one's own motives and prejudices, the sincere attempt to see if in fact the other's position is nearer the truth, and if need be admitting one's errors, are in some measure alternatives to wider conflicts. The critics of nonviolence often attack the pacifist approach or justify not trying nonviolent solutions by posing the hypothetical c...

Chhaya Rai (Dean, Faculty of Arts ,R.D. University, Jabalpur) "The world will live in peace , only when the individuals composing it make up their minds to do so". - Mahatma Gandhi (Hindu Dharma, p. 70) The above mentioned conviction of Gandhiji endorses/precedes the Preamble to the Constitution of UNESCO "Since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defenses of peace must be constructed". Undoubtedly each and every person or we should say every citizen of the global family, ought to be committed to peace in today's human predicament , caused by conflicts due to Ideological Extremism, Religious Fundamentalism, Misguided Nationalism, Economic Injustice and Inequality. Violation of Human Rights, Suppression of Freedoms, Militarism of Power Politics, Population Explosion, Racial and Ethnic Discrimination , Egoism and uncontrolled human instincts etc. Gandhi recognized .the potentiality of these various kinds of conflict as ...

Siby K. Joseph Introduction With the multiplication and escalation of conflicts at various levels, the need for conflict resolution has become urgent than ever before. There has been a government realization among governments, international organization and non-governmental organization that more resources and time need to be set apart for managing conflicts and that the work for peace has to place by harnessing the cooperation of several agencies at different levels. Governments by virtue of their rigid structure very often failed to address adequately questions related to conflicts of a delicate and complex nature. Also failed agencies and resources available with governments have been founding inadequate in this respect. The latest tendency is to search for other tracks of conflict resolution and also resources to compliment government effort. Towards Multi-Track Approach The movement from 'track - one diplomacy' 1 to 'track - two diplomacy' 2 resulted in t...