Message from 30th January Event
Coordination Committee, India
30 Dec 1997
As we approach the end of the 20th century, arguably one of the most violent, mankind is faced with one definite option Nonviolence or Non-existence.
The 20th Century produced its share of luminaries who left behind their indelible impression on the sands of time some who will be revered and some who will be hated.
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, The Mahatma, was one of the foremost personalities of the century. Born in the later half of the 19th century, 2nd October 1869, he strode across the 20th Century with one philosophy of life, Nonviolence. During the most violent period of the century while the rest of the civilized world was indulging in a mad orgy of violence the Mahatma led two nonviolent movements and achieved success. The equal rights movement for Asian immigrants in South Africa and the movement for freedom in India. He also spearheaded the social reform movement in India with the motto of intermingling and not segregation. He taught a poor country the advantage of self reliance and simplicity and turned them into weapons of nonviolence.
The Mahatma never won the Nobel Peace Prize, may be it did not matter, but people who admitted to have been inspired by his philosophy continue to win. The Mahatma influenced some of the Greatest leaders of the downtrodden and the enslaved, Martin Luther King jr., Nelson Mandela, The Dalai Lama, Mother Teresa and Aung San Su Kyi to name a few.
Today we speak of an environmentally friendly way of life and the need for eco-friendly technology, the Mahatma perfected and practised the most eco-friendly model community in his Ashrams as early as the second decade of the century in South Africa and later in India.
30th January 1998 marks the 50th anniversary of the martyrdom of the Mahatma. Let us get together and pay our tributes to Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi the apostle of peace and also join in a homage to all the victims of violence of the 20th Century.
Email your Tributes to the Mahatma and to the Victims of Violence to Jan30@mahatma.org.in. We would also appreciate your suggestions to help us make this event more meaningful. We are also planning a chat room on Nonviolence or Non-existence : Options for the 21st Century, and Religion : Should it Unite or Divide.
We will also launch a People s Initiative for Brotherhood Amongst Neighbours where we will invite people sharing similar aims from our neighbouring countries to participate and evolve a strategy to boost understanding and unity amongst us and our neighbours. The Mahatma wished that the people of India and Pakistan build such close ties of friendship that the divisions created by foreigners and fostered by politicians would break down till a time was reached when the borders dividing our motherland would become meaningless. A Virtual exhibition is also planned where artists will display their thoughts in the form of art on the subjects of the event.
The event is organised by the Mahatma Gandhi Foundation, the M. K. Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence, Memphis, and the 30th January Event Coordination Committee.
Tushar Arun Gandhi,
Vijay Mukhi,
K. Pandyan.
30th January Event Coordination Committee.
Mumbai, India
Mail to:
announce@mahatma.org.in
or Jan30@mahatma.org.in
