Gandhi

I had seen the book A Man to Match His Mountains but never read it. Its reputed theme was so simple and strong that I told myself I understood it well enough without having to work my way through the words: a Muslim man from a fierce warrior clan on the Pakistan-Afghanistan-India border emerges as one of Gandhi’s main co-workers in the cause of freedom and nonviolence.

“How can we be independent and self-sufficient?” This question is energetically posed to us by LouAnn Ha’aheo Guanson, director of the Pacific Justice & Reconciliation Center in Honolulu, Hawai'i. She is former vice chair of the National Council of the Fellowship of Reconciliation, and also former vice president of the International FOR.

The “we” LouAnn refers to are people adhering to the ideals of Martin Luther King and Mahatma Gandhi, two prototypes she and her co-workers follow in working with indigenous and other populations at the University of Hawaii, on the outskirts of Honolulu in homestead communities, and wherever the need seems to be. “It’s hypocritical to accept government money for what we do,” she says, since the government is so much a part of the problem.

Tomorrow, Mahatma Gandhi's birthday will be observed and honored across the globe through the International Day of Nonviolence, as initiated by the United Nations. Just a few months before his assassination, which occurred exactly 60 years ago (January 30, 1948), Gandhi delivered a rare speech in English that was recorded. It is one of only two of his speeches delivered in English which is known to have been preserved in audio form (many of his public speeches were given in Hindi or regional Indian dialects), and until recently was basically unknown. Click here to read about that speech and to find a link to listen to it.

This summer, I had the great opportunity to meet George Lakey, someone who is renowned in the peace and justice community for his lifetime of activism and his teachings. George and I were both speakers at the 2008 Seabeck conference in the Seattle, Washington, area. He had just been announced as the awardee for this year's Martin Luther King, Jr. Peace Prize, so there was a special connection when we met, and just a few weeks later we reconnected via the phone to talk more about his work through the years.