Satyagraha

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An interpretation of the Satyagraha teaching
Wall chart for Satyagraha in the Sabarmati ashram

Satyagraha ( Sanskrit सत्याग्रह satyāgraha ) is a basic attitude developed by Mohandas Gandhi from his period of life in South Africa , which (as a political strategy) is essentially based on addressing the opponent's reason and conscience

The ulterior motive is to “turn your opponent around”, to win him over as an ally and friend for your own cause. This strategy is based on the idea that appealing to the opponent's heart and conscience is more effective than appealing based on threats or violence . According to Gandhi, violence only leads to counter-violence - possibly with a time lag. Non-violence, on the other hand, interrupts the spiral of violence and is able to pull the opponent to your side.

Gandhi sees Satyagraha not as a weapon of the weak, but as a weapon of the spiritually and morally strongest.

Definitions

The designation

The word Satyagraha is a combination of two other words, devised by Gandhi:

  • satya- (सत्य-), (n.): the ideal ( how something should be , the truth ); (adj.): actually, originally, really ( Satya is derived from satellite , that his means) and
  • ā-graha- (आग्रह-), (v.): to cling strongly to something ; (m.): Insist on something, perseverance, tenacity, enthusiasm.

Satyagraha literally means grasping the truth, i.e. h . hold on to the truth . In a figurative sense, the power of truth ( truth force ) is meant.

This is a common practice in Hindi of expanding vocabulary, similar to the compound words in German . The term Satyagraha was intended to make clear to its followers what Gandhi was all about in enforcing the civil rights of Indians in South Africa . The word satyagraha was found in a competition because there was no established term in Hindi for this context at the time.

His nephew suggested "Sadagraha" (clinging to good), Gandhi improved it and made it "Satyagraha". "Clinging to the truth" means this new word, which did not exist in any Indian language before. It was meant to describe the political practice of deliberately breaking unjust laws. Gandhi defines the expression as: "Holding on to truth, strength in truth, strength of love, or strength of soul" and finally: "Triumph of truth, victory of truth through the forces of soul and love".

Gandhi also called his followers "Satyagrahi", who, held together by a jointly taken vow , were trained on his salt march as an expression of civil disobedience to the British salt monopoly for both the control of the crowds and the corresponding propaganda work .

In the West, Satyagraha is often confused with Ahimsa ( non- violence), another Sanskrit word used by Gandhi.

Concept of passive resistance

Satyagraha served Gandhi to distinguish it from the concept of passive resistance , which he viewed as a weapon of the weak. Passive resistance only avoids the use of force due to the lack of availability of weapons for the weak, but does not fundamentally rule out violence.

Concept of civil disobedience

According to Gandhi, civil disobedience is a sub-area of Satyagraha , the concept of which probably goes back to Henry David Thoreau and which essentially provides for the breaking of immoral laws, in particular not paying taxes. The Satyagrahi evokes the sanctions of the unjust law in a non-violent manner and tolerates imprisonment in a friendly manner.

“To say that I derived my idea of ​​civil disobedience from Thoreau's writings is wrong. The opposition to the authorities in South Africa was well advanced before I received the essay ... When I saw the title of Thoreau's great essay, I began to use his expression to explain our struggle to English readers. However, I found that even civil disobedience did not convey the full meaning of the struggle. That's why I adopted the expression civil resistance. "

Term non-cooperation

Non-cooperation means above all the withdrawal from cooperation with a corrupt system. Non-cooperation excludes civil disobedience in the strict sense described above and is therefore a safe means for the masses.

Principles

According to Gandhi, the perfect Satyagrahi must be an almost, if not completely, perfect person ("A perfect Satyagrahi has to be almost, if not entirely, a perfect man.").

vow

Taking a vow, in Gandhi's view, is not a sign of weakness, but of strength. According to Gandhi's definition, a vow means “to do something that should be done at all costs”.

Someone who says they would do something "as much as possible," Gandhi's view, betrays either his pride or his weakness. To do something “as far as possible” would then be to succumb to the first temptation. You can z. B. Not paying attention to truth "as far as possible".

The Satyagraha fighter submits to the following vows, which, according to Gandhi, also represent the foundation of the development of spiritual and spiritual strength. There are some similarities to the commandments of Yama and Niyama , as they were formulated by Patanjali as the first stages of Raja Yoga in the Yoga Sutras.

The first four vows

The remaining seven vows

Leadership principle of voluntariness

The guiding principle of the Satyagraha strategy is voluntariness . Strict discipline and obedience are based on voluntariness and conviction, so that leadership is based solely on leadership's strength of character and duty, not coercion. The link between leadership and being led is trustworthiness or trust .

Methods

Petitions

Gandhi combined petitions with the following thoughts and announcements to the rulers:

“If you do not admit our demand, we should no longer remain your petitioners. They can only rule us so long as we remain the ruled; we should then no longer have or keep any agreements with you. ”(Gandhi, Satyagraha , p. 14)

Non-cooperation

Satyagraha can take the form of non-cooperation . In this case it is not non-cooperation with the wrongdoer, but non-cooperation with the reprehensible act. The Satyagrahi cooperates with the evildoer where he sees positive approaches (see also the principle of positive reinforcement ), because he does not feel any hatred towards him. On the contrary, the Satyagrahi feels only friendship for the evildoer. By cooperating with him in everything that is not bad, the Satyagrahi wins the evildoer for detachment from bad deeds. The Satyagrahi fighter has unlimited capacity for suffering without the need to retaliate. Forms of non-cooperation , which Gandhi used with the utmost caution, since they could arouse the wrath of the government and bring more disadvantages to the people, are:

  • Abandonment of titles and honors awarded by the government
  • Resignation from government service
  • Withdrawal from the police and the military
  • Failure to pay taxes
  • Boycott of the courts, schools and administrations while at the same time operating appropriate institutions to maintain the functions

Fast

According to Gandhi, satyagraha can take the form of fasting . In this case, no self-referential motive is permitted, but fasting, according to Gandhi, is characterized by the highest humility before the fulfillment of duty and love for the opponent. The purpose is self-purification, as the inability to convince the opponent reveals a deficit of the satyagrahi. The opponent should be convinced and not forced to act contrary to his belief. Fasting is a kind of ultima ratio when all other methods have failed and when you are completely convinced of the correctness of your own point of view. In Gandhi's view, it should never be misused for personal gain.

Civil disobedience

Civil disobedience means non-violent resistance by the masses after the failure of negotiations and the exhaustion of constitutional rights against immoral and harmful laws.

The people who break the law treat the law enforcement officers with complete courtesy and friendliness and try not to anger or provoke the opponent if at all possible.

Artistic processing of the topic

music

In the late 1970s, Philip Glass composed an opera in three acts entitled Satyagraha, commissioned by the city of Rotterdam . Using minimalist music, he traces the development of Gandhi in South Africa . The opera is about the time that Gandhi spent in South Africa (1893-1914) and developed the concept of Satyagraha in the struggle for the "Black Act" , which ultimately brought about the repeal of the law through non-violent actions. After its world premiere in 1980 by Bruce Ferden in Rotterdam , Satyagraha had its German premiere in 1981 in the production of Achim Freyer at the Stuttgart State Theater under the direction of Dennis Russell Davies . Freyer's production was later taken over by the Wuppertal theaters . Since then, the work has regularly appeared on the repertoire of major opera houses.

The opera begins with an introduction to the theme as part of a scene from the Bhagavad Gita , the Sanskrit of the text is retained throughout the work. The three acts are each under a spiritual lead figure: Leo Tolstoy , with whom Gandhi conducted an intensive correspondence, Rabindranath Tagore , the only living moral authority that Gandhi recognized, and Martin Luther King Jr., the "Gandhi of modern America". This also addresses three aspects of Satyagraha, the connection between politics and spirituality, the moral responsibility of the individual and the practice of nonviolence. "Tolstoy, Tagore and King represent the past, present and future of Satyagraha ." (Philip Glass).
" Satyagraha is a huge difference to the usual opera spectacle. It is a work that is entirely on a moral, even religious level - more ritual than entertainment, more mystery play than opera" (quote from the CD booklet).

Science fiction

The English writer Eric Frank Russell processed the principle of Satyagraha with a wink in the science fiction short story "And Then There Were None", which was published in German in various anthologies under the titles "Keine Macht der Erde", ".. . Then they were all gone ”and“ Planet of Disobedience ”appeared.

Further information

  • Breaking through the escalation of conflicts and a strategy of not reacting have become scientifically recognized methods of negotiation and conflict resolution.
  • Gandhi's conception could provide indications that in addition to the elite conception of system elites and system opposition developed by Vilfredo Pareto , there is a third possibility of elites: elites of intellectual strength.
  • In this context, reference should also be made to Gandhi's second strategic concept, that of Swadeshi (= connection of ecology and regional economic cycles )
  • Reference to the learning principle of positive reinforcement
  • Leadership Principle Trust

Related approaches

  • The Nonviolent Communication (also: Appreciative communication) by Marshall Rosenberg was also influenced by the teachings of Gandhi. Ahimsa is already mentioned in the preface in the standard work on GFK . Rosenberg also makes it clear that his teaching has a spiritual component.
  • The later philosophical-religious writings by and an exchange of letters with Leo Tolstoy formed an important source for Gandhi's Satyagraha teaching. Tolstoy's beliefs about nonviolence were viewed by psychologist William James in his last work, The Moral Equivalent of War, as a moral alternative to war .

See also

literature

Primary literature

  • Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi: Non-Violent Resistance (Satyagraha) , Dover Publications, Mineola (New York) 2001, ISBN 978-0-486-41606-9
  • Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi: Non-Violent Resistance (Satyagraha) , Schocken Books, New York 1961
  • Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi: Non-Violent Resistance (Satyagraha) , Navajivan Publishing House, Ahmedabad 1951

Secondary literature

  • Dietmar Rothermund : Mahatma Gandhi. A political biography. Piper, Munich 1989, ISBN 3-492-02882-9 .
  • Ronald Stuart McGregor (Ed.): Oxford Hindi-English Dictionary. Oxford University Press, Oxford 1993, ISBN 0-19-864317-9 .
  • Michael Nagler (Ed.): The Search for a Nonviolent Future :. A Promise of Peace for Ourselves, Our Families, and Our World. New World Library 2004, ISBN 1-930722-40-0 .
  • Dieter Conrad, Gandhi and the concept of the political, W. Fink 2006, ISBN 978-3-7705-4312-0

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Gandhi, Dover 2001, p. Iii (Editor's Note)
  2. ↑ orig .: The statement that I had derived my idea of ​​Civil Disobedience from the writings of Thoreau is wrong. The resistance to authority in South Africa was well advanced before I got the essay… When I saw the title of Thoreau's great essay, I began to use his phrase to explain our struggle to the English readers. But I found that even 'Civil Disobedience' failed to convey the full meaning of the struggle. I therefore adopted the phrase 'Civil Resistance.' from: Letter to PK Rao, Servants of India Society, September 10, 1935, quoted from: Louis Fischer: The Life of Mahatma Gandhi, London (HarperCollins) 1997, pp. 87-88.
  3. ↑ Gandhi, Dover 2001, p. 35: The Theory and Practice of Satyagraha , Text No. 7, from an article in the Indian Opinion of 1914.
  4. ↑ Gandhi, Dover 2001, p. 37: Satyagraha Ashram Vows , Text No. 8, Section Importance of Vows , for the members of the Sabarmati Ashram
  5. ↑ Gandhi, Dover 2001, p. 14: Means and Ends , Text No. 4, from Hind Swaraj or Indian Home Rule, Chapter xvi .
  6. ↑ Gandhi, Dover 2001, p. Iv (Editor's Note)
  7. ^ Rosenberg, Marshall: Nonviolent Communication, Junfermann-Verlag, 12th edition, 2016. ISBN 978-3-95571-572-4 . Foreword by Deepak Chopra , p. 10.
  8. ^ Rosenberg, Marshall: Nonviolent Communication, Junfermann-Verlag, 12th edition, 2016. ISBN 978-3-95571-572-4 . List of the most important needs, p. 65.
  9. ↑ Online article by Marshall B. Rosenberg: The spiritual component of nonviolent communication on the homepage of the Center for Nonviolent Communication . Retrieved October 6, 2018.
  10. ↑ regarding source for Gandhi: cf. Gandhi, Dover 2001, p. Iii (Editor's Note): Gandhiji derived his doctrine of Satyagraha from many sources. [...] and recently to the writings of Thoreau, Ruskin and more especially Tolstoy. [...]
  11. ↑ regarding William James: The Moral Equivalent of War online . Retrieved September 19, 2018.
  12. ↑ In Hind Swaraj or Indian Home Rule , Satyagraha is not spoken of but passive resistance . In later writings the distinction between passive resistance and satyagraha was made clear.