December 24, 2014

Gandhi's "Pacifist" View On War

English: Gandhi during the Salt March, March 1...
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)
I have never liked Gandhi, not only because I didn't like what I saw from photos, also some stories I read about his life convinced me that he was not the person people believe he was. And recently, one of George Orwell's essays again echoes my impression of this popular figure.

In George Orwell's essay Reflections On Gandhi, he mentioned that he never heard a (extreme) pacifist answering the question regarding to WWII:
"How about the Jews? Are you prepared to see them exterminated? If not, how do you propose to save them without resorting war?" Gandhi's answer to this question was that German Jews ought to commit collective suicide, which "would have arouse the world and people in Germany to Hitler's violence".

Very "interesting" view, indeed! And as matter of fact, based on some materials I read before about Gandhi, he was not at all a pacifist when he was young, and his later approach to this idealism seemed to have more to do with his political dream than his love of peace. He actually never really cared about people dying. The most immediate example could be how his wife died: he let his wife died without seeking medical help because of his disbelief in modern medicine. "Interestingly", a few months after his wife died, when he had some sort of disease, he received modern medicine care without a slightest hesitation.

George Orwell wrote this essay after he read Gandhi's autobiography, which (according to Orwell) "reminds one that inside the saint, or near saint, there was a very shrewd, able person who could, if he had chosen, have been a brilliant success as a lawyer, an administrator, or perhaps even a businessman." I think Mr. Orwell would not be surprised to see that after more than half century, this "shrewd" individual is still venerated as icon of pacifism.

7 comments:

  1. I think one should be as pacifistic as possible but not more than possible. War is a complicated business. It's not always easy to tell the good guys from the bad. I don't think there's much that could persuade me to fight in any war. I suppose it all depends on one's own perspective and concerns and interests.

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    1. Marty, I totally agree that we should avoid war as much as possible, and it's totally a personal choice to attend wars or not. However, generally speaking, using non-violence against all human crisis is simply not a realistic approach, and will certainly lead us to worse tragedy than fighting.

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  2. I agree with you Yun Yi. Gandhi actively supported the British in the Boer War and WW1 and hoped if Indians fought as well they would curry favour. This was at the same time as he was actively supporting pacifism, which critics have pointed out.
    Also in the Zulu War he stated that Indians were "undoubtedly infinitely superior" to the indigenous races in SA. He was labelled a racist because of this and later tried to back away from it.

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    1. Neil, thanks for your comment. Obviously you have knowledge to make proper judgement on this matter. I am glad! :-)

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  3. A very eye-opening post about Gandhi, Yun! Thank you for this information because I had no idea of the real person behind the “pacifist” legend. I had never read George Orwell’s essay and what he wrote, and what you wrote about it, is very revealing. I am betting most people think of Gandhi as nearly a saint, so peaceful, and he did a lot of good work. But I am totally appalled about his statement on the German Jews in WWII. I am not a fan of war either but history has proven there are times, because of the nature of humans, that war may be necessary to fight evil, such as fighting Hitler in WWII. Even being against war as a pacifist, Gandhi could have given a different and more compassionate answer! I am also dismayed by how he let his wife die without medical attention because he shunned modern medicine, yet embraced modern medicine when he himself was ill. That does not show courage of conviction. Clearly, he was not the near saint history has propped him up to be. Thank you for this post!

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    1. Thanks Madilyn! I read a book long ago called "Legend & Lies", which tells lots of untold stories in history. After that I also wrote a review in Chinese about Gandhi's chapter of this book. I am very skeptical about most of political figures.

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    2. You’re welcome, Yun. I believe it was Winston Churchill who said, “history is written by the victors,” and what you wrote proves that point. And I would add to that quote with my own thought that legends are created by those with a colorful way to spin a tale! I am skeptical of many political figures as well.

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