Nonviolence

‘Resistance to oppression without violence? Without hate? Read this little book, where an Iranian scholar who has studied the world asks inescapable questions on humanity’s behalf.’
Rajmohn Gandhi, author of Gandhi: The Man, His People and the Empire

The history of humanity is dominated by violence – it has oppressed and degraded us for centuries.

Drawing on the values of ancient religions and moral leaders such as Buddha, Socrates, and Jesus of Nazareth, Mahatma Gandhi was the first modern thinker to apply to philosophy of non-violence to politics in his successful campaign for India’s independence.

Since then, non-violence has been the core philosophy of freedom fighters such as Martin Luther King Jr, Nelson Mandela, the Dalai Lama and Vaclav Havel in their resistance against oppression. Characterised by courage, love, and freedom, and the belief that no political act can be just or truthful unless it is morally legitimate, non-violence is a strategy of dissent that uses many methods of civil disobedience – be it strikes, boycotts, or demonstrations – to put to an end the social and political evil that it seeks to resist.

In his powerfully argued short book, Ramin Jahanbegloo contends that the time has come for humanity to renew its commitment – politically, economically, and culturally – to the idea of non-violence.

RAMIN JAHANBEGLOO is an Iranian-Canadian philosopher. He is presently the executive director of the Mahatma Gandhi Centre for Nonviolence and Peace Studies and the vice-dean of the School of Law at Jindal Global University, Sonipat, India. He is the winner of the Peace Prize from the United Nations Association in Spain (2009) for his extensive academic work in promoting dialogue among cultures and his advocacy for nonviolence. More recently, he is the winner of the Josep Palau i Fabre International Essay Prize. Some of his most recent publications recent publications are The Decline of Civilisation (2017), On Forgiveness and Revenge (2017) and The Global Gandhi: Essays in Comparative Political Philosophy (2018).