[Nettime-bold] Get Gandhi to Gothenburg

[Reinhold Grether <Reinhold.Grether {AT} uni-konstanz.de>]

[In my opinion the Lund, Sweden, based Transnational
Foundation did an unmatched job in monitoring and analyzing
the Yugoslawian War. Consequently the Swedish Ministry
of Foreign Affairs cut its financial and organisational
support to zero. Even 1500+ protest letters from 
63 countries made no impression in Stockholm. All
EU governments execute a tacit agreement to militarize
the European Union. So I think it's worth reading what
Jan Oberg, director of the Transnational Foundation,
has to say about the imminent Gothenburg Summit. RG]



GET GHANDI TO GOTHENBURG
By Jan Oberg, TFF director
Transnational Foundation for Peace and Future Research
<http://www.transnational.org>
TFF Press Info No 117, April 19, 2001
<http://www.transnational.org/pressinfo/2001/pf117_GetGandhi.html>


THE MOST IMPORTANT QUESTION NOW

Only two things are worse than violence: to criticise it without 
presenting alternatives and to fight it with violent means.

The turbo-militarisation of the European Union (EU) is the most 
important on the agenda of the EU Summit June 14-16 in Gothenburg, 
Sweden. Shall the EU commit itself to killing by weapons in the name 
of peace and intervene up to 6000 kilometres away from Brussels? If 
so, shall it be allowed to do so virtually without public debate and 
without referendums, irrespective of the fact that it will imply that 
young boys, one day, come home in body bags?

Major EU countries have nuclear weapons; others are NATO members. EU 
bureaucrats and diplomats work intensely to integrate the 'Peace' 
Forces of the EU with NATO. Do you want the EU to support the
existence and possible use of nuclear weapons, or to be a force for 
common sense and humanity?

There are no threats to Europe, they say. Not true! The largest 
threat is EU militarisation and integration with a NATO dominated by 
the United States. We can still choose to make Europe a peaceful 
region with human security politics, genuine democracy and 
intelligent conflict-management.


PUT A SPOKE IN MILITARISM's WHEEL

War or peace, the fate of Europe and its future role in the world, 
must not be left to the military-industrial-bureaucratic complex with 
its contempt for democracy and peace. The EU Summit in Gothenburg is 
THE place to remind securo-crats of what democracy is and present 
them with alternatives. The next steps in this on-the-sly, 
step-by-step militarisation must be prevented there and then.

To help you deal with all this we have created a new Special Section 
"Fight EU Militarisation and Sweden's Zeal with Truth and Nonviolence 
with constructive alternatives and criticism, analyses, debate and 
links for the EU Gothenburg Summit at: 
http://www.transnational.org/forum/meet/2001/EU_militarization_index.html.


DECLARE YOUR NON-VIOLENCE

Protesters in the thousands are likely to convene. 5000 won't make a 
point, 50.000 or 100,000 will. They should make an early pledge to 
non-violence in thought, speech and action no matter what resistance 
they meet and inform the government, police, authorities and security 
companies about it. It's simple violence-prevention: you have nothing 
to fear, so don't put up all your barricades and water canons!

It is absurd to protest the development of EU war-fighting 
capabilities with violence. Better suffer and be harmed than harming 
anyone. Violence is the weapon of the weak, the coward, the 
desperado, the unprepared; non-violence requires knowledge, training 
and much courage. Those who fear that they may not be able to 
practise the latter should stay away from Gothenburg.

In contrast to violence, non-violence - or ahimsa - permits dialogue, 
openness, and creative search for solutions and truth in respect for 
differences. Europe needs that. The civil society representatives and 
the tens of thousands of concerned citizens must remind themselves of 
the Gandhian rule that "we must be the change we wish to see."


THE MEDIA CAN'T IGNORE CREATIVE NON-VIOLENCE - - USE WHEAT !

Violence attracts the media. But creative non-violent actions could 
be far more effective. Imagine that 50.000 citizens each carry a few 
kilos of wheat with them to Gothenburg. It symbolises the bread that 
the world's hungry need instead of weapons; together with salt it is 
a welcoming gesture in many cultures, a sign of friendship. Wheat is 
about sowing seeds and it would remind us of the folly of EU 
agricultural policies and globalisation.

Soft and harmless, it could be poured all over the meeting places, 
streets and squares and become a happening as good as a the famous 
buildings wrapped by Christo. Should a VIP mingle with the people 
he/she should be informed that Tibetan Buddhists throw wheat up in 
the air as a wish for long life and that that is what we wish for 
VIPs. Compared with paint, water, tomatoes or stones, wheat is pure 
nonviolenceŠ


GANDHI - - AND ALL THE OTHERS - - TO GOTHENBURG

Don't carry dolls, pictures or flags to be burnt. Carry pictures of 
Mandela, Mother Theresa, Luther King, Gandhi, Jesus, Buddha, 
Mohammed, Dag Hamarskjöld, Olof Palme and Willy Brandt to make the
point that we need a general ethos of non-violence, disarmament and 
cultural globalisation. We want leaders who practise it with courage, 
without weapons. Invite peace activists whom the EU officially 
supports such as Aung San Suu Kyi and Kim Dae-Jung (physically or on 
huge screens).

The media will focus on the presence of VIPs like George W. Bush and 
European heads of state. The alternative summit should invite the 
world's real peace-makers (or put them on huge screens) to tell how 
they did or do it without weapons. For instance: The Dalai Lama, 
Voices in the Wilderness, Plougshares, Thich Nhat Hanh, 
Pastrana-FARK, Fox-Commandante Marcos, Jody Williams, Jose 
Ramos-Horta, Otpor, Daisaku Ikeda, Neelakanta Radhakrishnan, Peace 
Brigades International, Christian Peace Makers, or peacemaking 
professionals such as Elise Boulding, Gene Sharp, Johan Galtung and 
the Quakers. Invite pensioned UN peacekeeping and peacemaking 
officers and diplomats, the few outstanding OSCE mission leaders. 
(The list could be made much longerŠ)

Invite those women for peace who occupied bases, listen to the 
priests, human rights and other intellectuals who fought against 
European nuclear missiles (SS20, cruise and Pershing II) in the 
1980s, together with Gorbachev. THEY made peace in Europe, they made 
the Berlin Wall crumble, they are the historical role models -- the 
ones today's EU leaders should learn from with humility.

In short, get the real, experienced people who have made peace, big 
and small, often outside the focus of the media-military-industrial 
complex to Gothenburg.

Let citizens compare them with Anna Lindh, Goran Persson, Javier 
Solana, Robin Cook and Nyrup Rasmussen, today's self-styled 
peacemakers who favoured bombing yesterday. Just give them equal 
media opportunity.

The audiences in Gothenburg and the world, the viewers on CNN and 
BBC, will be perfectly able to judge who has the knowledge, the 
ethics and the visions this world needs.


BE CONSTRUCTIVE: THERE ARE MANY ALTERNATIVES

There should be no criticism without what Gandhi called the 
constructive program. People are tired of negative criticism, it's 
too easy. The real challenge is to churn out better ideas and and 
concrete proposals (not too easy!) and invite the elites to comment 
and be inspired. They seldom have a chance to meet ordinary people.

Again, dialogues through a multitude of channels is the only means 
that will succeed, but of course it takes a bit longer time than the 
pushing through of EU decisions or the smashing of a few windows.
So, before you come to Gothenburg, form a brainstorming group to come 
up with ideas and concrete proposals to the answer: what would we 
like to see instead of EU militarisation? Put them on various 
websites and newsgroups and print them on a single page and hand the 
lists to journalists, police and decision-makers. Share them with 
like-minded groups. For your inspiration TFF provides you with 32 
such proposals here: 
http://www.transnational.org/pressinf/2001/pf112_PeacefulEurope.html.


DEMOCRACY VERSUS DILUTED FASCISM

Insist that the meaning of 'democracy' is to have many options. 
Gandhi warned us many decades ago:

"My notion of democracy is that under it the weakest should have the 
same opportunity as the strongestŠNo country in the world today shows
any but patronising regard for the weak. Western democracy, as it 
functions today, is diluted fascismŠTrue democracy cannot be worked
by twenty men sitting at the centre. It has to be worked from below 
by the peopleŠ"

As clear as true! Democracy is choice among goals and among means. 
Armed with weapons, the stronger always seek to reduce choice and 
patronises our votes.

We who will be voicing our concerns in Gothenburg are not against 
defending societies, we are not against helping ourselves and others 
to settle conflicts. We are against the blind belief in violence and 
the power of the strongest. We are for all the alternatives that 
human goodwill and creativity can mobilise. When we have many 
different European models and many different programs for defence, 
security and conflict-resolution, let citizens decide through 
referendum. Inviting citizens to vote yes or no to one alternative is 
to make a mockery of democracy: it is no choice to have one option!

Diluted fascism rears its ugly face in the fact that European 
countries that have or support nuclear weapons never dared ask their 
citizens whether they wanted them, whether they wanted to be 
"defended" by them. The militarisation of the EU is not about 
peacekeeping only, if at all. It is about EU as a future nuclear 
weapons-based actor. Whether you are for or against EU as such, this 
is a problem worth discussion.


PREPARE YOURSELF - - CELEBRATE LIFE

You may not have had an opportunity to train yourself in non-violent 
principles action as no part of European educational system provides 
such a decent choice. But there are groups who can help you (see the 
Special Section). It is essential that there are trainers on the spot 
in Gothenburg so that everyone can get at least a couple of hours of 
instruction about the basics and build mutual support before engaging 
in "battles" and dialogues.
Until then, go to your bookstores and libraries and study the books 
of the leaders of nonviolent struggles throughout history. You may 
include "Lysistrate" by Aristophanes (411 BC), the story of how the 
women of Athens behaved seductively in front of the men but deny them 
satisfaction in a general love strike until they stop planning and 
fighting wars. Presumably it works both ways, so men married to women 
politicians, please report after Gothenburg!
In a similar vein, alternative summits in Gothenburg should make up 
one big feast, a feast of the intellectual together with 
spirituality: music, poetry, drama, happenings - all to celebrate 
positive values, life and love. Thousands holding hands in chains, 
hugg- and kiss-ins may not be among the means advocated by Gandhi but 
it is foolish to treat him as a museum piece or leader of a puritan 
sect.


SWEDEN'S COMPLICITY - - PEACE DRIVE OR TRAIN FROM STOCKHOLM

The meeting is held in Gothenburg but the rapid militarisation is 
taking place while Sweden chairs the EU. Sweden's complicity must be 
highlighted. Perhaps, therefore, civil society organisations and 
citizens should make themselves heard outside the government building 
Rosenbad, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Defence 
well before the Gothenburg Summit, of course giving flowers and lists 
with alternatives to those who walk in and out, engaing them in 
debates.

A week or so before the event in Gothenburg a "Peaceful-Europe Drive" 
with thousands of cars, buses, trucks, motorbikes and even bicycles 
slowly moving the 480 kilometres from Stockholm to Gothenburg could 
make a dramatic statement. Or it could be a special "European Peace 
Train" with thousands of people having seminars, brainstorms and 
ahimsa training on board and dialoguing with people at every station, 
or collecting signatures for a referendum or other important issues.


START TODAY

Here are some ideas of what you can do before June:

* Study the EU and the documents which advocate militarisation, all 
on TFF's site 
http://www.transnational.org/forum/meet/2001/EU_militarization_index.html. 
Chances are that you will be surprised how far it has developed while 
the media and your parliamentarians told you so littleŠ

* Study Gandhi and other classical peace activists. Do not say that 
you can do nothing because you can't be like Gandhi. Just be inspired 
and do what YOU can do! It's much better to do a little good than 
lean back and let others do a lot of bad! Here you will find a lot of 
inspiration about non-violence: 
http://www.transnational.org/forum/Nonviolence/Nonviolence.html

* Plan to take a week of holiday before the summit. The surrounding 
nature, the coast and the nearby islands are just magnificent. And 
then you can also take some non-violent action training and 
participate in the planning of surprising events.

* Go to TFF's Special EU militarisation site (click above) and get 
the contacts to organisers and networks so you can find out quickly 
where you can make a contribution.

* Tell others that Gothenburg is the place to meet to promote peace 
in Europe this summer. Alert others through letters to the editor of 
your papers. 100.000 will make a point!

* Build local idea and brainstorming groups and select the most 
political potent and humorous actions, happenings and your best 
political proposals. Disseminate them to the press, ministries, 
embassies, other NGOs -- and to your family and friends. Use email 
and Internet. Remember this is the most important issue for the 
future of Europe!

* If you can do training in non-violence, speak on security and peace 
issues, do cultural events: send your name, address, phone, email to 
us and we put it on this EU militarisation Special Section for 
everyone to contact you back. Tell the organisations and write to the 
e-mail addresses there. In Sweden we need people in Umeĺ, Lund,
Karasuando and Vaxjo etc.

* Train yourself in positive thinking together with others. It's fine 
to be upset about the world's violence and injustices. But do not 
look at the world as it is and ask in despair : why? Develop 
beautiful images of the world and Europe as it could be and ask: why 
not? Say to yourself every day: "Of course, I/we can do it!"


NON-VIOLENCE WILL EVENTUALLY WIN

Imbued with that energy, body and soul, 50.000 people can sweep 
violence disguised as "peace" out the door like a broom. We may not 
stop EU boot tramping in Gothenburg but we can raise it to the top of 
the public discourse.

The whole point is not to be anti-military but to be pro-democracy. 
Blow open the doors to the few men in the EU centres, bring all 
information to the people, let's turn it upside down and discuss all 
models, aspects and scenarios. Let's discuss what the word peace 
means to different people and cultures. Let all Europeans and those 
worldwide affected by EU policies participate.

Only then the peoples of the EU are ready to decide and tell their 
elected representatives what they want them to work for. The EU 
leadership needs a mandate but doesn't know it!

If after such an transparent and lively process, the majority favours 
the language of the weapons, threats and killing, if they prefer an 
interventionist, militarist and nuclear-based EU that must be 
respected, however with due accommodation of the minority that may 
not. If so, it would be acceptable, one could even call it peace.

Diluted fascism is one road to war. True democracy the road to peace.


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