

"Generations to come, it may be,
will scarce believe that such a one as this
ever in flesh and blood walked upon this earth."
Albert Einstein on Gandhi.
MOHANDUS (MAHÂTMÂ) GANDHI said that the root of every VIOLENCE or CONFLICT is UNTRUTH and that the only permanent solution of CONFLICT is TRUTH. Consequently, to resolve conflicts, he conceived of a novel technique which he called SATYAGRAHA. Literally it means SATYA (TRUTH) with AGRAHA (FIRMNESS) or, [Sanskrit: HOLDING TO TRUTH], acts of CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE marked by Indian tradition and his own high moral standards and sense of self-discipline. Perhaps the most influential exposition of the philosophy behind civil disobedience can be found in Henry David Thoreau's classic On the Duty of Civil Disobedience (1849), in which he claims that the individual, who grants the state its power in the first place, must follow the dictates of conscience in opposing unjust laws.
THOMAS JEFFERSON, founding father and third President of the United States, wrote in the defining document of the American Revolution, The Declaration of Independence, a radical statement of the colonists' right to rebel against the British government and establish their own government based on the premise that "ALL MEN ARE CREATED EQUAL AND HAVE THE INALIENABLE RIGHTS OF LIFE, LIBERTY, AND THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS." DESMOND MPILO TUTU, Bishop of Johannesburg, 1984 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate wrote "If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality." Ya'll COP OUTS (Big Val's generation) get ANTI, KICK MASS!
Background: Heart of Galaxy NCG 1808, courtesy HUBBLESITE.org. Mirror Image of dead playing violins from "The Fiddler" by Philip Garris, cover art Blues for Allah, ©Grateful Dead 1975. Download Background Graphic (194K). Graphics ©STUDIOVALENTINE.com.


