NOVEMBER 2007 E-Magazine - Pravasi Today

War, Gandhi's puppets, posters and
placards are prominently displayed.
Some of them hardly resemble him,
looking more like a caricature of him.
But what is heartening is the sincerity
of the peace activists placing their
trust in Gandhi's message of nonviolence.
Gandhi not only adds drama
a n d p o i g n a n c y t o t h e s e
demonstrations, he also emerges,
often in the company of Nelson
Mandela and Dr Martin Luther King
population perished during the great
potato famine of 1845-49. In 1994,
the people of the valley put up a
memorial at Doo Lough pass to
commemorate those who suffered
from hunger in Ireland and also to
remember the victims of apartheid in
South Africa. The inscription on the
memorial said: "To commemorate the
hungry poor who walked here in 1849
and walk the Third World today…
'How can men feel themselves
Mahatma Gandhi not only adds drama and poignancy
to these demonstrations, he also emerges, often in the
company of Nelson Mandela and Dr Martin Luther
King Jr., as a symbol of world peace.
Jr., as a symbol of world peace.
In October 1998, Hurricane
Mitch left a trail of unprecedented
destruction in Nicaragua. When the
inhabitants of a destroyed village,
outside the capital Managua, returned
to rebuild their homes, they painted
an inspiring mural of Mahatma
Gandhi on the first wall they erected.
They named their resettlement village
as Nueva Vida or New Life.
Perhaps one of the most poignant
homage to Gandhi was paid by the
people of Black Valley in Ireland. The
valley got its name after most of its
honoured by the humiliation of their
fellow beings?' - Mahatma Gandhi in
South Africa."
This book includes striking
images by two US photographers
Joshua Hough and Gill Granberg
who spent considerable time in the
West Bank. Violence has been
plaguing this land for the past six
decades. Palestinian suicide bombers
and Israeli tanks have destroyed its
civilian life. In a time of despair, as
the photographs show, Gandhi's
message of non-violence raises a
flicker of hope.
BOOK REVIEW
Every Friday, a group of
residents from Bel'in, a small town
northwest of Ramallah, carry out a
peace march. Hough's photograph
captures the Gandhian spirit of these
peace marchers. Far from anger and
hate these protesters demonstrate
with the photographs of Gandhi,
Mandela and Martin Luther King,
declaring to the world: "Non-violence
ends occupations and restores peace."
They go up to the electric fence that
Israel says it had to erect to keep the
Palestinian suicide bombers away.
They do a peaceful sit-in, as shown in
the remarkable photograph of
Granberg. It is a small event, but
raises hope in an environment full of
vengeance and violence.
For years, Gandhi's ideas have
been used to restore sanity in this
troubled world. And now this book
explores a new dimension on how
Gandhi's image is being used to reject
violence, spread peace and promote
multi-faith dialogue. ■
– P.T. Bureau
November 2007 ✦ Pravasi Today
53