MLK and Ghandi Today, Can Non-Violence and People Power Work?

In the 20th Century two groups of oppressed people were led to greater freedom by two different men in two different places. The circumstances, other than shared oppression, were wholly different. But but both movements were successful, to a large and undeniable extent. Will this method of change work today?

Yes it will.

But only if the People choose to make it work. And only if the People learn not just the lessons and the methods of non-violent change….but also learn the lessons of how that changed was stopped.

If the method of non-violent change was so successful, why are we not practicing it now in large numbers to fight the current battle of Justice vs. Oppression?

What is lacking is not the method, but someone to lead the movement.

Without the charismatic presence of Ghandi and MLK, neither movement would have succeeded. The People rallied around them and bought into nonviolence because of their personal examples and their personal sacrifices. But Ghandi took on the whole British Empire. And King took on a whole culture. And won.  

In that sense, the ‘enemy’ doesn’t matter. It was and is the people finding a way to unite to fight whatever monolithic force is on the horizon that matters. The People united can never be defeated. The only question is how to unite the people.

In another sense…..the fact that they were both assassinated… it does matter, very much. Since MLK …and Malcom … and JFK ….and RFK were all killed, you’ll notice that no strong charismatic leader that has the power to unite people has emerged and gained power and been able to lead. You’ll notice that any strong leader of a populist movement is destroyed either through violence, or now in our modern age by being smeared and discredited. And you will notice that for now at least, the entrenched interests, the establishment, is more powerful than ever and is constantly seeking to gain new and expanded powers over The People.

Coincidence or conspiracy? That really doesn’t matter, much, either. What really matters is that all of these men, these very prominent agents for real popular change were cut down, and the movements that they led were stopped because of it. Read this excellent essay by TomP over at Dkos and you will see that Martin was just about to lead a Poor People’s Campaign. To steal some of Tom’s quotes    

In his last months, King was organizing the most militant project of his life: the Poor People’s Campaign.

   He crisscrossed the country to assemble “a multiracial army of the poor” that would descend on Washington – engaging in nonviolent civil disobedience at the Capitol, if need be – until Congress enacted a poor people’s bill of rights.

   Reader’s Digest warned of an “insurrection.”

   King’s economic bill of rights called for massive government jobs programs to rebuild America’s cities. He saw a crying need to confront a Congress that had demonstrated its “hostility to the poor” – appropriating “military funds with alacrity and generosity,” but providing “poverty funds with miserliness.”

, branching out from fighting just racism to fighting all oppression of the weak by the strong….when he was killed.

“There are millions of poor people in this country who have very little, or even nothing, to lose. If they can be helped to take action together, they will do so with a freedom and a power that will be a new and unsettling force in our complacent national life…”

MLK

He had also begun actively opposing the Vietnam War….and by extension those in government and financial power structure who were propagating it and profiting from it.

The ‘establishment’ has learned the lessons of these, for the sake of argument, coincidental assassinations well. To stop meaningful change, cut off the head of the movement. As I said, today we see this in the tactics of Fox News and their cohorts, who eagerly smear and swiftboat anyone who steps up to lead…or even just challenge the status quo.

Now the question is, what is our next lesson, what is our next move?

For there can no longer be any doubt of the battle that we are engaged in, the battle of our time. Under George Bush any pretensions have been stripped. There is no doubt that the battle of Oppression vs. Justice and Equality continues as a battle between the entrenched financial and political power structure versus The People.

So…what hope does a non-violent transformative People’s Movement have?

The pat and obvious though so far unrealized answer would be a de-centralized, leaderless movement, that doesn’t rest its hopes for success solely on the charisma and leadership of one man. The internet is obviously a huge and important tool to achieve that, but it has yet to reach maturity or fruition. Will it?

And interestingly enough, a new young charismatic leader who preaches (literally!) a new unity has come on the scene. Just when societal and economic conditions have made the country ripe for change. This time leading not a societal movement….but a politically based one. In some ways, the fulfillment of some of the Dreams of Dr. King. But also evoking fears for his safety.

And interestingly as well, he is urging us to discard the old battles….even as the ripples and the echoes of these battles that made his candidacy possible swirl around him.

Is Obama message of unity the new iteration of a Peoples Movement? Or, thinking cynically, the co-option of it by the powerful interests that he will most likely need the backing of to succeed? CAN he succeed without those interests if The People buy in to his campaign?

Though it may be crass or impolitic or perhaps TOO political to ask the question on MLK’s day of celebration…..the question must be asked. Do we invest again in a single man to lead us? I personally am torn by ALL the possibilities presented, both hopeful and fearful.

The times don’t get much more interesting than this.