The Essay On Everyday Nonviolence: Key For A Peaceful World.

Concept and principles of non-violence

The concept and principles of non-violence are important for reducing several ongoing societal concerns like conflicts, protests and anger problems from personal, regional, national and international levels. Non-violence has been considered as an important strategy for maintaining the peace among the individuals as well as the communities (Mehta 2019). There are many theories, concepts, campaigns and movements related to the non-violence that has happened previously, which has transformed the social conditions. Some of the eminent personalities, like Mahatma Gandhi and Dalai Lama, were considered to be the greatest followers of the non-violence concept. According to Mahatma Gandhi, practising non-violence and promoting the peace among the societies are considered as the mightiest weapons, that are also beneficial for saving lives (Roy 2019). There are several examples of non-violence movements and documents that promotes the idea of personal development, and being harmless to oneself as well as others. In many cases the term non-violence is often utilised as the synonym for peace; therefore, it can be considered that practicing non-violence everyday is helpful for maintaining a peaceful world. The concepts and theories, in regards with appropriate evidence will be discussed further in the essay.

Non-violence practices should be an integral part of the values and beliefs developed by the individuals, which also increases trust among each other. The main purpose of the non-violence practices in to enhance the communication and cooperation among each other, in order to maintain transparency among the communities (Chae 2020). It also prevents any conflict or misunderstanding from occurring, which reduces the risks of violence among each other. In the context of human rights, economic sustainability, and social justice, the non-violence practices can be incorporated, which is also beneficial for leading a healthy life. Therefore, it can be considered that non-violence practices are beneficial for creating social peace, as it is an integral part of the human rights.

Non-violence can also be utilised as a strategy in terms of preventing the abusive practices or violence in the community, local or international levels. According to the non-violence practices, the individuals can highlight their concerns through boycotts, protests, strikes or any other types of demonstrations without harming any one physically (Wang 2019). In this way, the social issues are also highlighted without incorporating abuse on any other individuals. Therefore, increasing the communication level is also necessary, as it prevents any one from suffering violence, and open up regarding any ongoing issues.

One of the major examples of the non-violent movement or campaign was the “Satyagraha” or the “Ahimsa” campaign created by Mahatma Gandhi (Gogoi 2018). This movement was highlighted in order to protest against the British rulers, who colonised the Indian continent as well as tortured the Indian people. He also included a philosophy in this particular movement, which sated that non-violent action will be beneficial in terms of bringing justice to the political struggle that the people were facing at that point of time. The term “Ahimsa” translated into non-violence, and it was the main purpose of the movement, which was to bring peace in the society as well as truthful outcome to the movement with polite actions.

Non-violence and personal development

One of the major examples of non-violence protests in the current days are the peaceful demonstrations, picketing or sit-ins. This type of protests does not induce any harmful or violence nature among the individuals, however, with peaceful protests, the individuals can raise their concerns through this type of protests. Ethical considerations play a crucial role in terms of managing the societal conflicts and maintain the non-violence concept in various aspect of life (Llewellyn 2021). Non-violent measures as well as the ethical considerations, do not allow an individual to make the opponent suffer from harmful abuse or violence, because according to the non-violence practitioners, every one has equal human rights. The violence and harmful acts are against the humanity; therefore, in order to protect the human right factors, the non-violent practices and ethical considerations are incorporated in the protests.

Another major example of the non-violent movement, which highlighted those protests can be performed in a peaceful way, especially without harming the opponents is Alabama bus boycott in 1955 to 1956, led by Martin Luther King Jr. In this campaign the followers mainly conducted sit-in protests, and highlighted their concerns (Ogunnusi 2020). This movement continued peacefully, and during the protest sit-ins, no one was abused or harmed. In addition, this non-violent movement helped the protesters to achieve a significant result in accordance of their favour.

Nowadays, one of the major concerns of the individuals is the mental peace, as the mental abuse is also considered to be a violent crime, for which an individual can get charged with legal punishment. In this context, the nonviolent social change can be discussed (Zembylas 2020). In terms of bringing social change and enhancing the positive nature of the environment, peace is the greatest option. Therefore, incorporating the non-violent factors are beneficial for bring social change in a positive way. There are mainly six different steps or principles of the non-violence, which are information gathering, education, personal commitment, discussion or negotiation, direct action and most importantly reconciliation (Kundu 2019). In order to bring positivity and peace in the society, it is important to collect all the information regarding the issues and concerns, according to which appropriate solutions and strategies can be developed. It is also important to provide education to the people regarding the harmful effects of promoting violence in the society. Appropriate education also helps an individual to develop empathy and support towards other, which is an important factor for developing non-violence nature. Personal commitment increases faith among individual, and the individuals also starts to follow particular philosophy, which increases personal development (Engelkamp, Roepstorff and Spencer 2020). Negotiation has the capacity to limit the misunderstanding among both parties, who have different views regarding a certain topic. Direct action helps the individuals to develop strategies that are influential in terms of decreasing the tension among the opponents. And lastly, reconciliation, helps in achieving understanding or commitment of others. All of these factors are important in terms of creating peace within the society. It can also be considered that the non-violence practices enhance the understanding nature among each other, which is beneficial in terms of maintaining the peace among each other.

Non-violence as a strategy

Even in today’s society the children and women are considered to be most vulnerable, as daily complaints of tortures or abuse are reported. In fact, United Nations also agreed with this statement, because women and children mostly are the victims of violence in the society (Branagan 2021). Therefore, education and empowering them through appropriate education has become an important factor in the society. According to many experts’ collaborative efforts of the individuals are beneficial in terms of maintaining peace and reduce non-violence nature in the society. Collaboration efforts can be described as an approach of helping others and developing a peaceful society with each other. In addition, incorporating non-violence practices in every aspect of society such as schools, government, and multiple other factors, increases the chances of peace in the society (Wang 2018). However, in often cases non-violence cannot justify extreme violence from other opponents. Therefore, negotiation increases the opportunity to reduce conflict from both sides, ultimately leading towards peace.

In present days, media plays a beneficial role in promoting everyday non-violence principles. Peace journalism is one of the important aspect and approach of media, through which the importance of maintaining peace in the society (Guta 2019). In many cases, it has been observed that the media has glorified several events that are full of violence. This type of events can trigger several people in terms of doing injustice and violent crimes in the society. Therefore, it can be said that media has the capacity to create both positive and negative impact on the people regarding the non-violence practices. Nowadays, the media platforms can be easily accessed by the children, especially the digital media, because of the technological improvements. In addition, it is important for the children to learn about the non-violence practices from an early age, because they are considered to be the future leaders. Therefore, media can create a negative impact on the children by promoting harmful or violence reports. As a result, increasing the peace journalism is a beneficial factor for enhancing knowledge about peace among the children (Standish et al. 2021). There are several video games in the internet, which includes the concept of killing enemies, which is a portrayal of violence. Therefore, it can be considered that the media plays a huge role in promotion of violence and non-violence practices in the society. Therefore, it is responsibility of the media to promote non-violence practices more, in order to enhance peace in the society.

Financial differences, gender inequality, societal and cultural differences are also the reason behind triggering violence among the individuals. Due to these factors, many individuals do not get equal opportunities, that are beneficial for meeting their basic needs. Therefore, these individuals select the illegal options, and even take help f the violence crimes in order to satisfy the daily needs. The people who face difficulties regarding the poor financial conditions, often do violent crimes like monetary theft, or robbery from others (Haessly 2021). Therefore, it can be considered that reducing the poverty level with providing equal career opportunities to the people are beneficial in terms of reducing the violence from the society. Individuals can contribute small amount of donations to others, and help the people in needs. As it has been discussed previously that the collaborative efforts of the individuals are beneficial in terms of enhancing the non-violence and peace in the society. It is high time for the individuals to reduce the hate crimes among each other based on the basis of the cultural or societal differences. Therefore, encouraging humanitarian practices are also helpful for maintaining the everyday non-violence for a peaceful world. Although in several example of non-violence movements like “Satyagraha” movement led by Gandhiji, it can be seen that non-violence practices did not provide appropriate justice in terms of India’s freedom from the British rule (Koopman and Seliga 2021). Therefore, non-violence cannot always be a justified option against the violent crimes. As a result, it is important to reduce violence, with the help of non-violence strategies from every aspect of the society, in order to bring the desired peace in the world.

Therefore, it can be concluded from the overall discussion that non-violence can be considered as a restricting factor that prevents the individuals from performing and crimes or vengeance upon others. The individuals who practice non-violence on a frequent basis, tends to show forgiveness towards other. It has been observed that, in order to promote peace in the society, enhancing the collaborative nature reduces the differences among the individuals, which also decreases the chances of conflict from occurring in the society. The main purpose of all the previous non-violence movements and campaigns was to promote peace among the individuals by reducing physical abuses and violent crimes. It can also be stated that continuous non-violence practices in every aspect of the local, national or international societies, can help in achieving a desired level of peace in the world.

References

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